The Folk Forecast: 15–21 March 2021
A feast of Irish folk including Daoirí Farrell, Atlas and Sharon Shannon, plus The Hut People, John Kirkpatrick, Iona Lane and lots more!
It’s that time of the week again! We hope you’ve had a great Sunday, whatever you got up to. The next week is looking busy, with plenty to keep you entertained. With St Patrick’s Day coming up on Wednesday, there are a few Irish treats coming up this week, and we’ve put together a playlist of some of our favourite Irish folk to get you in the mood, as well as our usual playlist of the week.
Due to the nature of events right now, things can sometimes be added, amended or cancelled at the last minute (or we can find more things we didn’t spot - there are probably countless more St Patrick’s concerts out there!). If anything changes, we’ll update these listings on the website. Bye for now, and have a great week!
WEDNESDAY 17 MARCH
Reg Meuross - Calendar Concerts: March — 7.30pm GMT
Fromthewhitehouse / Company of Song
Reg Meuross will be singing a selection of songs from his extensive back catalogue: one set of requests, and a second set of his own choice. Make a donation to get access to the Zoom link, and get the chance to make any requests!
Tickets via a donation of your choice.
Iona Lane — 8pm GMT
Live to Your Living Room
Iona Lane’s emotive and well-crafted songs are delivered with immense passion and an understanding beyond her years. She is currently working towards recording her much-anticipated debut album (see the crowdfunder here), and this is the perfect chance to see her perform live and find out more about what she’s been working on.
Tickets £14, with options to pay a bit more or less depending on your circumstances.
The Askew Sisters with Laurel Swift — 8pm GMT
Benslow Music
Emily and Hazel Askew rework and reinterpret songs and balladry, creating breath-taking arrangements to allow words that are hundreds of years old to resonate profoundly with contemporary audiences. They are both skilled multi-instrumentalists, playing fiddles, melodeons, concertina and cello. They’ll be joined by Laurel Swift for fiddlesinging, tunes and clog dances. Expect a lively set with a few sweet and poignant moments.
Tickets £10
Daria Kulesh, supported by Ian Thompson — 8pm GMT
Great Knight Folk Club
Mixing her Eastern roots with Western folk influences, Daria Kulesh creates an original and exciting sound, full of passion and magic. She’ll be supported by singer and guitarist Ian Thompson for this gig hosted by Great Knight Folk Club.
Free to view, but donations encouraged to the tip jar.
Phil Beer with Winchester Folk Club — 8pm GMT
Firebrand Music Events/Winchester Folk Club
Phil Beer of the ever-popular Show of Hands presents a solo gig for you to enjoy from the comfort of home, hosted by Winchester Folk Club.
Tickets £10 plus booking fee.
Steve Knightley Live with Ely Folk Club — 8pm GMT
Firebrand Music Events/Ely Folk Club
Steve Knightley of Show of Hands presents a solo gig hosted by Ely Folk Club.
Tickets £10 plus booking fee.
Lizzie Hardingham with Eastbourne Lamb Folk Club — 8pm GMT
Lizzie Hardingham Facebook page
Join Lizzie Hardingham on her Facebook page as she performs an evening concert for Eastbourne Lamb Folk Club. She’ll be playing some brand-spanking new songs, but she’s also taking requests if you have any favourites!
Free to view
Daoirí Farrell St Patrick’s Day Covid Corner — 10pm GMT
Daoirí Farrell on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
Join Daoirí Farrell for a very special St Patty’s day edition of his Covid Corner sessions. You can watch on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Free to view.
THURSDAY 18 MARCH
Ceili at the Roundhouse Celtic Festival — Various events from 18-20 March
The Arts Inc
Enjoy a variety of virtual workshops from Ceili at the Roundhouse, over in Wyoming in the USA! Tutors include Daoirí Farrell and Tom Delany.
Workshops from $7 to $20 (approx £5 to £15) each.
Tradfest Ireland - Various events from 18-21 March
Tradfest Ireland
A variety of events celebrating Irish traditional music, including Frankie Gavin, Sibéal, Phelim & The Drew House Band and ‘Ireland in Music’, featuring Denise Chaila and Sharon Shannon, Clannad, Lisa Hannigan, Wallis Bird and The Stunning.
Events from €2.99 to €4.99 (approx £2.50 to £4.50) each.
Big Band Ceilidh Tunes Workshop — 6.30pm GMT
Live to Your Living Room
A fantastic chance to learn ‘big band’ arrangements of a few of your favourite ceilidh tunes, with Jenny Newman and Andy Glass of The Party Band. Suitable for all instruments and abilities.
Tickets £12, with options to pay a bit more or less depending on your circumstances.
FRIDAY 19 MARCH
Lady Maisery Grow Your Own Songs Workshops — Workshops from 19-21 March, plus sharing session on 31 March
Lady Maisery on Zoom
After years of running singing courses and creativity workshops, Lady Maisery present a brand new course designed for people who want to take the next steps on their musical path. This will be a deep dive into songmaking in a small group, designed to help you grow, develop, build on and finish your songs. There will be facilitated independent work, as well as group work, support and feedback, and also a 1:1 lesson for each participant during the course.
Tickets £150 for the full course.
An Hour or So With… Emily Barker — 8pm GMT
Downend Folk Club on Facebook
Enjoy an hour or so of song-sharing and conversation with award-winning singer-songwriter Emily Barker. This event is presented by Downend Folk Club, who have been hosting weekly events on Facebook to help us get through lockdown.
Free to view, but donations gratefully received to the tip jar.
Tim Dalling — 8pm GMT
The Globe Newcastle
Tim Dalling, songwriter, performer and former member of the New Rope String Band, performs songs from his albums Blossom and Eve’s Bonie Squad, along with new numbers from emerging album Animal Dances Vol 1. To ramp up the fun and dance groove, Tim will be joined by Jeremy Bradfield and John Pope for a touch of drum n bass. The set will also include a live outing for Tim’s Lockdown hits Round for the NHS and Song for the Cumberland Arms.
Livestream tickets £7.50, with the option to pay more to support the artists and venue. Stream is available to view for a week.
Hannah Rarity — 8pm GMT
Furness Tradition
Hannah Rarity is one of Scotland’s foremost young singers. Having won BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2018, as well as being nominated for Scots Singer of the Year at the 2017 Scots Trad Music Awards, she’s certainly one to watch, and this is a fantastic opportunity to see her perform live.
Tickets £12 plus booking fee, with the option to pay a bit more or less depending on your circumstances.
SATURDAY 20 MARCH
The Hut People — 7.30pm GMT
Rosslyn Court
The Hut People (Sam Pirt and Gary Hammond) mix global rhythms with folk tunes from Quebec to Spain, Scandinavia to Sussex and everywhere in between. Expect feel-good dancing tunes, step dancing, Quebecois foot-percussion (whilst playing the accordion!) and humour aplenty.
Free to view, but donations encouraged.
Atlas — 8pm GMT
Live to Your Living Room
Cillian Doheny of Moxie (guitar) & Cillian King of Notify (concertina) met through the Irish traditional music festival circuit and were drawn together by their diverse musical interests. Atlas was born, with a sound that is at once totally unique and distinctly Irish. Catch them live from Limerick to wherever you are in the world!
Tickets £14, with options to pay a bit more or less depending on your circumstances.
Sharon Shannon — 8pm GMT
National Concert Hall Dublin
The legendary Sharon Shannon performs a global livestream from the National Concert Hall, Dublin. In this St Patrick's Day celebration of music and song, Sharon will perform music from her new album The Reckoning live for the first time, as well as many favourites from her back catalogue.
Tickets €16.50 (approx £14), access to the stream lasts for 48 hours.
Phil Beer with Firbeck Live — 8pm GMT
Firebrand Music Events/Firbeck Live
Phil Beer of Show of Hands presents his second gig of the week, hosted this time by Firbeck Live.
Tickets £15 plus booking fee.
SUNDAY 21 MARCH
Road Not Taken — Fragment Listening Party — 5pm GMT
Road Not Taken on YouTube
Join Road Not Taken via their YouTube channel for a listening party of their debut album Fragment. They’ll reveal some of the stories behind the songs and arrangements, as well as stories from the studio and from the road.
Free to attend, but donations encouraged via the tip jar.
John Kirkpatrick: The Joys of Spring — 7.30pm GMT
John Kirkpatrick on Zoom
A programme of uplifting, cheerful songs and tunes to celebrate the coming of spring, the rising of the sap, and everything that used to make us want to dance, leap, caper, and rejoice at this time of year.
Tickets £10.
Show of Hands Live at Shrewsbury Folk Festival, plus Making the Waking — 7.30pm GMT
Firebrand Music Events
Show of Hands with The Urban Soul Orchestra live at Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2013, PLUS a behind the scenes special - Making the Waking, a track-by-track account of the recording of Wake the Union, Show of Hands’ 14th studio album.
Tickets £15
Robb Johnson's Sunday Night at the Hove Palladium with special guests — 7.45pm GMT
Robb Johnson on Zoom
Join Robb Johnson for a live Zoom gig with special guests, Miranda Sykes and Saskia Tompkins. There will be break-out rooms in the interval so you can have a chat in the virtual equivalent of the bar!
Tickets by donation (recommended £8 minimum)
Regular events
‘Almost Acoustic’ with Eliza Carthy on Radio Scarborough - Mondays at 8pm. The show is also repeated through the week, so you can catch up if you miss it.
Afternoon Tea with Paul Walker and Karen Pfeiffer - Concerts are held on Fridays at 4pm on Facebook.
Winter Wilson Live from the Lounge - Concerts are held on Thursdays at 8.15pm on Facebook.
Jack Hogsden’s Kitchen Sessions - Concerts are held on Saturdays at 7.30pm on Facebook. All money raised goes to Don’t Stop the Music.
Paul McKenna - Paul regularly plays Facebook gigs on Saturday nights at 8pm.
Tim Edey’s Sleeping Tunes - Concerts are held on Saturdays at 9pm on Facebook.
Will Pound’s Sunday concerts - Concerts are held on Sundays at 11.30am on Facebook.
Social Dancing with Lisa Heywood - Regular chances to get together and learn about folk dances from the UK and further afield.
Honey and the Bear - Concerts are held on Sundays at 7pm on Facebook.
Cara Dillon: This Woman’s Work on BBC Radio Ulster - This radio series is being broadcast on Sundays at 4pm, and you can catch up on past episodes now.
The Isolation Pub Sessions - John Spiers hosts monthly sessions on his Facebook page, and you can submit recordings of you playing if you’d like to join in!
‘Folk from the Boat’ - a YouTube series exploring traditional songs and tunes with Anna Tam, as she travels through Britain’s waterways on her canal boat.
St Patrick’s Festival
Explore a wide range of events as part of St Patrick’s Festival, including music from Kíla, Moxie, Varo and more, plus storytelling, comedy, crafts, yoga… the list goes on!
English Folk Expo gig series
English Folk Expo have announced a new series of gigs from April through to August, which will be available to watch in person (where possible) and via livestream.
Here’s the line-up…
More details can be found on the English Folk Expo website.
Magnetic North East Tune-o-grams
If you’re looking for a unique way to send a message to a loved one, Magnetic North East have just launched ‘tune-o-grams’. Get a short audio recording of your favourite North East tune, accompanied by a message of your choice, played by North East musicians, including Kathryn Tickell, Tom Kimber, Amy Thatcher and more. Magnetic North East are also running a competition to win a tune-o-gram from Kathryn Tickell, so check out their Twitter and Instagram for details.
This week’s playlists
We’ve got two playlists for you this week! As well as the usual playlist of artists in this issue, we’ve also done one with some of our favourite Irish folk in honour of St Patrick’s Day. Check them both out below!
Record of the week
Dancing Tunes by Edward II, which was released on Friday. My mum is a fan of Edward II and I bought this for her this week, so it seems a fitting choice for Mother’s Day! The album includes a selection of traditional songs from Jamaica and the Caribbean, as collected by Walter Jekyll and recorded by Louise Bennet, the celebrated singer, folklorist and activist for Jamaican dialect. We certainly all need a dance right now, so have a listen and a dance around your house!
Keep up to date - find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
The Folk Forecast is created for artists, for audiences and for the UK folk scene. All information is correct to the best of our knowledge. If you have queries about the events listed, please contact the artists or promoters. If you have any suggestions for inclusion in future newsletters, please email TheFolkForecast@gmail.com. We may not be able to include absolutely everything, but we’re interested in UK folk events with a broad appeal, and would particularly welcome suggestions from Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The Folk Forecast is compiled by one person, so please bear with me if I can’t get back to you right away.
Alongside The Folk Forecast, I’m associated with other organisations on the folk scene, including Folk on Foot, English Folk Expo and Fancourt Music, and I steward gigs for Live to Your Living Room. Although I have other affiliations, I strive to be fair and inclusive and tell you about anything I find that I think you’ll enjoy!