The Folk Forecast: 16–30 Dec 2021
Including Kate Rusby, Jackie Oates and John Spiers, Melrose Quartet and more, plus have your say on the Record of the Year!
Hello, and welcome to a festive edition of The Folk Forecast! There’s lots in store over the next few days, including Kate Rusby, Martin & Eliza Carthy, Jackie Oates and John Spiers, The Lock In Christmas Party, Melrose Quartet and lots more.
As the year comes to a close, I’m also asking all of you for help with choosing The Folk Forecast Record of the Year - read all about it below and pick your winner!
Thanks to all of you for sticking with me through the ups and downs of 2021. Merry Christmas, and all the very best for the New Year!
Record of the Year - have your say!
Over the last year, I’ve highlighted a Record of the Week in each issue, and now it’s time for you to vote for your favourite. There are 34 to choose from, all released this year. If you need to refresh your memory, this week’s playlist features tracks from each of them, with the exception of the following, which are on Bandcamp instead:
Click the button below to vote for your winner. Voting closes at midnight on 29th December, and the Record of the Year will be revealed in the next issue. I’m really intrigued to see what you all choose!
THURSDAY 16 DECEMBER
Martin & Eliza Carthy* — 8pm GMT
Live to your Living Room
This gig was originally set to take place in November and was postponed, so it’s going ahead at last! Join folk legends Martin and Eliza Carthy live from their home in Robin Hood’s Bay as they perform songs and tunes from their family repertoire. Their in-person tour was postponed to next year, so this is the best chance to catch them for a while!
Tickets £15, with options to pay a bit more or less depending on your circumstances.
FRIDAY 17 DECEMBER
Show Of Hands: The Best One Yet — On demand, 17 Dec – 3 Jan
Firebrand Music
Show of Hands present 'The Best One Yet', the complete show from their Autumn tour recorded live at Marshwood Manor in Dorset. The evening features a set of iconic signature tracks from the last 25 years, encapsulated on the new album Singled Out, whilst the second set brings together new material and classic Show of Hands tracks. Tickets also include a free bonus link for the 2020 concert 'The Dartmoor Midwinter Sessions', with seasonal songs and carols featuring Geoff Lakeman, Rob Murch, Miranda Sykes, Chris Hoban, Jim Causley, Paul Downes, Odette Michell, James Studholme and Seth Lakeman.
Tickets £20 for a household or £15 for a single viewer.
SUNDAY 19 DECEMBER
Nick Cope Family Festive Concert* — 11am GMT
Live to your Living Room
This is one for the younger members of the family! Nick Cope has been writing and recording his beautiful and totally unique songs for children and their families for over a decade. These gigs are really interactive and fun, so it’s a great chance to introduce little ones to live music in a very accessible way.
Tickets £15, with options to pay a bit more or less depending on your circumstances.
The Lock In Christmas Party — 6.30pm GMT
Live to your Living Room
Breaking Tradition, the UK’s leading folk and hip hop dance company, and multi award-winning folk powerhouse, The Demon Barbers, invite everyone to join them for their Christmas party this year! This 90-minute special show will feature material from ‘The Lock In Christmas Carol’ - a retelling of a Christmas classic featuring everything from clog to break dancing. There will be lots of interactive fun and games with competitions, Q&As and more!
Tickets £15, with options to pay a bit more or less depending on your circumstances.
Lunatraktors — 7pm GMT
Lunatraktors on YouTube
Lunatraktors are choreographer and percussionist Carli Jefferson, and nonbinary vocalist and composer Clair Le Couteur. Influenced by flamenco, post-punk and trip hop, their ‘broken folk’ sound strips trad folk back to rhythm and voice. Their latest release, The Missing Star, was #2 in MOJO Magazine's top 10 folk albums this year.
Free to view, with donations encouraged.
John Kirkpatrick: Carolling & Crumpets — 7.30pm GMT
John Kirkpatrick on Zoom
Join John Kirkpatrick live on Zoom for a very special Christmas show! Taking its title from John's hilarious song about the nativity, as seen from the point of view of the animals in the stable in Bethlehem, this is his well-loved show of Christmas songs and carols, full of toe-tapping tunes with plenty of opportunities to join in the fun and sing your Christmas stockings off!
John will be doing a second show on 22nd December, so if you can’t make this one there’s another chance to see it later in the week.
Tickets £10
MONDAY 20 DECEMBER
Awake Arise — 8pm GMT — CANCELLED, but an alternative gig has been scheduled for 23rd December
Kings Place
I’m so excited for this one! Awake Arise is a collaboration between Lady Maisery and Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith, and they play the most beautiful seasonal songs. I’ve been to their gigs for the last couple of years and they’re up there with some of my favourite gigs ever, but I can’t make it in person this year so I’m delighted there’s a livestream. If you haven’t come across them before, have a listen to their album - it’s a good’un!
Tickets £12.50
Christmas at Home with Jackie Oates and John Spiers — 8pm GMT and any time for a month afterwards
Jackie Oates and John Spiers - tickets via WeGotTickets
Following the success of last year's Christmas concert, join Jackie Oates and John Spiers as they perform a brand-new set of traditional Christmas songs and tunes. The concert has been recorded at Jackie's house in Wallingford, and it will be interspersed with interviews and chat from various locations around John's home village of Wootton. After the initial broadcast, you can watch it again whenever you like for the next month.
Tickets £12 + booking fee, with the option to pay a bit more or less.
TUESDAY 21 DECEMBER
Kate Rusby’s Jolly Holly Christmas Wrap Party — 7pm GMT
Pure Records
Kate Rusby’s Christmas gigs are something of a festive tradition, and once again you can enjoy the fun from home this year. Enjoy music, stories, games and general merriment from Kate and the band live to your home - you can watch on demand for 48 hours, so if you can’t make it you can catch up later.
Tickets from £12.50
Melrose Quartet* — 8pm GMT
Live to your Living Room
Melrose Quartet invite you to join them for an evening of festive songs and good cheer. With their trademark close harmonies and high energy accompaniments on fiddles, melodeon, guitar and bouzouki, Nancy Kerr, James Fagan and Jess & Richard Arrowsmith bring you a wide range of joyous seasonal music, from traditional carols to contemporary wassails, including material from their latest CD, The Rudolph Variations. There will be lots of choruses to join in with, plus an award for the most memorable Christmas jumper and even a quiz, so it's sure to draw a smile from even the biggest scrooge!
Tickets £15, with options to pay a bit more or less depending on your circumstances.
Edgelarks - Live celebration of the Winter solstice — 8pm GMT
Firebrand Music
Edgelarks present a very special online concert in celebration of the winter solstice. On the evening of 21st December, the shortest day in the northern hemisphere, the duo will improvise a completely one-off piece, to celebrate the depths of winter and herald the return of the light. In the second half of this special concert, they will play a set of established favourites from their extensive musical catalogue.
Tickets £15 standard, or £20 to pay a bit more to support the artists.
Tuesday Folk People: Christmas Special — 8pm GMT
Home Stage on YouTube and Facebook
This year, Home Stage have been inviting a wide variety of artists to chat and share their music through their ‘Tuesday Folk People’ series. Now, it’s time for a Christmas special! Tune in on the Homestage YouTube channel or Facebook page.
Free to view
WEDNESDAY 22 DECEMBER
John Kirkpatrick: Carolling & Crumpets — 7.30pm GMT
John Kirkpatrick on Zoom
This is a second chance this week to see John Kirkpatrick’s Carolling & Crumpets show. It’s also on 19th December - see above for details!
Tickets £10
Jim Causley: A Causley Christmas — 8pm GMT
Jim Causley on Zoom
Join Jim Causley for some festive tunes and songs over Zoom.
Tickets £12
THURSDAY 23 DECEMBER
Awake Arise: A Christmas Show For Our Times — 7.30pm GMT
OnJam
After the last few Awake Arise gigs were sadly cancelled due to the latest developments in the pandemic, Lady Maisery and Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith are heading to a church in the Peak District to film the show to share online. It will be streamed on 23rd December, and then will be available to watch for 30 days afterwards.
Tickets £15 standard or £20 for 2 people or more, with options to pay a bit more or less depending on your circumstances.
TUESDAY 28 DECEMBER
Tuesday Folk People: Best of 2021 & What’s to Come in 2022 — 8pm GMT
Home Stage on YouTube and Facebook
Home Stage have been super busy running Tuesday Folk People this year, meeting lots of artists from right across the folk scene to chat to them about their music. In this New Year special, they’ll be looking back at the highlights from 2021, as well as looking forward to the next year. Tune in on the Homestage YouTube channel or Facebook page.
Free to view
Other digital news
Folk on Foot* have a new episode of the podcast out on 17th December, featuring Declan O’Rourke. Find out more.
Soundbox Acoustic & Roots will be sharing the festive gig they ran last year, A Seasonal Sprinkling, from 16th December to 6th January. The concert featured The Wilderness Yet, Jackie Oates, Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage, Ben Walker, Mishra, Christina Alden & Alex Patterson and more. To access it, you need to donate to their fundraiser for The Trussell Trust. Find out more.
If you’ve enjoyed the Tuesday Folk People events, they’ve now launched a podcast! Check out the Tuesday Folk People podcast on whichever podcast platform you prefer. So far, they’ve chatted to Bob Fox, Frankie Armstrong and Eliza Carthy.
Highlights in person
Alongside her livestreamed gig, Kate Rusby has a few dates left on her tour, including Sage Gateshead, Theatre Royal Nottingham and York Barbican. Find tickets here.
Cara Dillon will be calling by London, Southampton and Frome as she finishes her winter tour. Find tickets here.
As well as their livestreamed gig, you can catch Awake Arise in Wolverhampton, Sheffield, Cardiff, London, Totnes and Bristol. Find tickets here.
The Wassail with Jon Boden & Eliza Carthy is at Union Chapel in London on 21st December at 7pm. Find tickets here. – CANCELLED
The Lost Words: Spell Songs goes on tour in January and would make a lovely gift along with the new album. Find tickets here.
Other news
We Are The Monsters* is a new electro-folk fusion project from members of Monster Ceilidh Band, Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening and The Shee. To mark the launch of the project, they’ve released a new single, Trouser Worrier, and a brand-new video which you can watch below. Find out more about the project.
Support us
If you find The Folk Forecast useful, you can support us by making a small donation on Ko-Fi. Thank you!
Keep up to date - find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. We don’t actually do much on TikTok. We joined when the sea shanty thing was happening but we missed the boat and now we’re all at sea with it.
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 work with other organisations including Folk on Foot, Fancourt Music, Live to Your Living Room, Thank Folk For Feminism, Travelling with Thomas and Polyphony Arts, as well as individual artists including Jo Freya. Events where I have some involvement with the promoter, agency or artist are marked with a star for transparency. Although I have other affiliations, I strive to be fair and inclusive and tell you about anything I think you’ll enjoy!