We are thrilled to reveal that the latest person to join us for an hour or so on a Friday evening will be BLAIR DUNLOP, who will be with us at 8.00pm on Friday 22nd January, live via our FACEBOOK page.

The award-winning British singer, songwriter and guitarist has now released four albums and two EPs and toured widely around the globe. All of this in a short career is astounding alone but what sets Blair apart from his peers is the lyrical and musical maturity with which he writes. 2018 Blair saw the release of his fourth album Notes From An Island on his own label, Gilded Wings, to rave reviews.

Prior to this Blair released his his third album Gilded in May 2016 and was widely acclaimed gaining BBC Radio 2 Playlist status for the two single releases (The Egoist and 356). This followed the acclaimed album House Of Jacks in mid-2014 which, in turn, lived up to the promise of his 2012 debut Blight and Blossom, the quality of which contributed to his winning the BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award. 

Blair has now cemented his place as one of Britain’s most exciting talents to emerge in recent years. The Guardian stated that House Of Jacks proves Blair is "an increasingly adventurous songwriter"; Uncut reviewed it as "thoughtful and exploratory"; The Independent on Sunday described it as "fluent and accomplished"; while Q Magazine wrote that House of Jacks is "an exciting glimpse of where traditional folk might go".

The focus of our "an hour or so with..." events is very much on chat, although each guest will play a few live songs too. You are invited to ask questions in the comments, so it is very interactive... the more people watch and engage, the better it will be for everyone. The events are free, although there is a PayPal donations box, with 100 per cent of the donations (after PayPal charges) going direct to the guest. You can donate at www.paypal.me/downendfolkclub. There's also a link and a QR code at the bottom of this page.

We’ll keep these sessions going for as long as we’re locked inside, and certainly until February half-term at least. Watch this space, and do sign up for our mailing list HERE to make sure that you don’t miss anything!

Well, Lockdown 3.0 is now upon us, but you’ll be pleased to hear that the tiny silver lining to that particularly dark cloud is that we’re back with some more of our hugely popular "an hour or so with…" sessions, every Friday night on our FACEBOOK page. Kicking off this third series will be the last act to actually play a full concert for us, back in February last year, and firm favourites of our regulars, GILMORE & ROBERTS.

The contemporary folk/acoustic duo combine award-winning songwriting with astounding musicianship and their trademark harmonies to create a powerful wall of sound. Nominated three times at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Katriona Gilmore (fiddle, mandolin) and Jamie Roberts (guitar) met while studying at Leeds College of Music and released their debut album in 2008.
 

Since then, the duo have toured Canada and mainland Europe, played some of the UK’s biggest acoustic festivals, toured with folk rock legends Fairport Convention and won countless accolades for their genre-spanning work. Gilmore & Roberts released their fifth studio album, A Problem Of Our Kind, in October 2018.

Recorded at the duo’s home in South Yorkshire by co-producer Ben Savage (well-known on the UK roots scene for his own acclaimed musical output with The Willows and Hannah Sanders), A Problem Of Our Kind contains some of the most stripped-back arrangements of Gilmore & Roberts’ career so far, alongside full-tilt band numbers featuring their regular festival rhythm section of Fred Claridge (drums) and Matt Downer (double bass).

The focus of our "an hour or so with..." events is very much on chat, although each guest will play a few live songs too. You are invited to ask questions in the comments, so it is very interactive... the more people watch and engage, the better it will be for everyone. The events are free, although there is a PayPal donations box, with 100 per cent of the donations (after PayPal charges) going direct to the guest. You can donate at www.paypal.me/downendfolkclub. There's also a link and a QR code at the bottom of this page.

We’ll keep these sessions going for as long as we’re locked inside, and certainly until February half-term at least. Watch this space, and do sign up for our mailing list HERE to make sure that you don’t miss anything!