One simple trick for saving the arts
Plus: a glut of gigs, a new album, and a festival line-up
I don’t know about you, but I had a pretty busy March for gigs. I caught the Brazilian musician Gustavo Andrade and his 10-piece band in the jazz bar we host our monthly Nottingham events at, and a set of experimental storytelling songs by Marco Woolf. I was lucky enough to squeeze into the second of two sold out instore performances by one of the most exciting new bands in the UK, Divorce.1 My highlight of the month was probably a rescheduled show by the band Honeyfeet (above), who are among the most irrepressible live acts in the country right now. Fronted by the recently crowned RTÉ Best Folk Singer, Rioghnach Connolly, Honeyfeet keep finding their way into folk festivals - perhaps because nobody has quite worked out what to do with their distinct brand of soulful, swagger-laden, brass-and-flute-fuelled music. Whatever the case, they - and every other act I saw in March - were an absolute joy to behold, and I knew they would be. Which is why I bought my tickets the first chance I got.
I don’t want to be that bore, but there’s a reason everyone is always banging on at you to buy the things you love long before they happen. Musicians are sharing crowdfunding campaigns for albums that may not arrive for another year. Authors are sharing pre-order links for their books the moment they have them (give me a couple of months, just you see). And promoters are begging you - begging you - to book your tickets in advance.
The thing is, you see, the arts aren’t thriving anymore. They might have been once, when government funding was ample, and competition was low. But things have changed. In the folk club peak of the 1960s, advance ticketing wasn’t a thing. There were enough people willing to turn up on the night and shell out a couple of coins with names that gave absolutely no hint of their value whatsoever. It was that, or choose between (at best) three TV channels.
The competition is tougher now. Tonight I finished watching the new season of The White Lotus, streamed via one of the ten (TEN) services I have on my TV (which itself is big enough to give any 1960s television a serious complex). Each year my Spotify Wrapped tells how many tens of thousands of minutes I listened to for a monthly subscription fee that amounts to less than two hours of work at my full time job.2 On any given night, the choice is between going out to a live event, or sitting on your sofa and devouring art to fit almost any mood you could conceivably be in, very likely at no cost beyond what you’ve already paid for the month.
And so it’s tough. Not just for folk musicians, but for anyone creating art right now. Every month my local concert hall emails me with last minute discounted tickets to classical concerts. Authors are pleading with potential readers to take a risk on their books because, in a dazzlingly broken system, these pre-orders determine which books the shops order.3 Musicians are funding their own albums because it’s the only way to get their music out there - and they aren’t earning enough money from their music to put aside the thousands of pounds necessary to record an album.
As a live music promoter, I know as well as anyone how terrifying it is to put your energy into a project and not know if it will work out - if you’ll coming away breaking even, or take a hit that will impact your personal finances for a little while. A few years ago, we’d see sales trickle in over the course of several months, and have some sort of idea of just how well a gig was going to do. Now - and particularly post pandemic, when we all became so much more afraid of committing to something that we may end up missing - tickets simply don’t sell until the very last minute, and it’s impossible to work out whether the right people are hearing about what you’re doing, or adjust your promotions to ensure you’re reaching the new crowds. So on behalf of all the artists, musicians, authors, playwrights and promoters who are creating and sharing exciting new art, I say one more time: buy more art, and buy it as early as you can.
And now, as they say, for something completely different:
Upcoming Folkroom gigs and releases that are available for purchase right now:
Gaelynn Lea is responsible for two of the most evocative Folkroom memories I have from the past fourteen years of running gigs. One of these was very personal - stepping out into the tunnel below Brighton station during her soundtrack, and watching as passers-by were mesmerised by her accompanist’s theremin, echoing through the space like an other-worldly siren call. The other was strangely communal at a time when we needed it most - during her stunning set during our pandemic-fuelled live-streamed Pillow Fort Festival, a lightning storm broke out above the south of England. Though Gaelynn performed half the world away, from her own home in Duluth, Minnesota, much of her audience shared this moment of wonder. I still have people bring up their own recollections of that moment to me.
Now Gaelynn, who won the NPR Tiny Desk Competition in 2016, is back for her first tour of the UK in years. Folkroom is hosting her in three cities, and I couldn’t be more excited. Gaelynn remains a unique artist, and I’d love you to join us in London, Brighton or Nottingham to see her play this May. In London she’ll be supported by Miss Jacqui, a spoken word artist and songwriter. In Brighton and Nottingham, we will be joined by Kelli Blanchett - a really exciting new singer-songwriter who has spent much of the last few years working with the deservedly inescapable Self Esteem.
May 11th - The Rose Hill, Brighton
May 15th - By Our Hands We Make Our Way, Nottingham
If you caught our email last month, you’ll have seen that our old friends Patch & the Giant are back with their long-awaited second album. Fragments is their most accomplished work to date, and is available to pre-order now.
To celebrate the release, our good friends at Nest Collective are hosting an album launch gig at St John on Bethnal Green in London. As well as a headline set by Patch & the Giant, support comes from Folkroom alumni The Lost Cavalry. This promises to be a real reunion for a lot of the Folkroom crowd from our last fourteen years - and I don’t even have to run it! Which means I’ll be extra available to hang out and talk to you all about what you’d like to see from Folkroom in the future.
In the spirit of entering into an unbalanced competition with your sit-at-home options, this gig just happens to fall on the same night as this year’s Eurovision. And look, I get the temptation. But ask yourself: is it better to watch competitive singing from organisers who continue to let countries compete even as they commit war crimes on your screens each night, or to come to a live grassroots gig by a band who are so sweet they once wrote a song for their bandmate after they lost his violin?
You know the answer to this one.
May 17th - St John on Bethnal Green, London
What are you doing on Easter Sunday this year? If you live in Nottingham and your answer is anything other than ‘stuffing my face with a huge Sunday roast at lunch, and then staggering down to Peggy’s Skylight to loosen my belt and be soothed by some beautiful fiddle music from acclaimed folk musician Mikey Kenney’, you’re doing it wrong.
Our monthly gig at Peggy’s might fall on Easter Sunday this April, but that’s no reason to miss out. Mikey’s music is perfectly suited to soothe the soul as it recovers from devouring half a lamb and anywhere between three and eight whole Easter eggs.
Support for this gig comes from Dan Chapman, a Nottingham-based singer-songwriter with a spring-water voice and a talent for putting together gorgeous trad-folk sets.
April 20th - Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham
Our May gig at Peggy’s Skylight sees Jackie Oates join us. With two BBC Folk Awards to her name, Jackie is one of those artists who is as capable of rendering old songs new as she is of writing her own arresting folk music. I just know this gig is going to be breathtakingly beautiful.
May 18th - Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham
And rounding off a busy May for Folkroom,4 I’m really excited to be bringing Louis Brennan up to Nottingham. This is going to be a fun little gig at The Grove, a gorgeous new independent venue in Sneinton Market (my personal favourite corner of the city).
Nottingham readers of this email may not be familiar with Louis Brennan yet - this is my first attempt at changing that. Louis is one of my favourite lyricists, who manages to combine the wit of Father John Misty with the darkness of Leonard Cohen and the playfulness of Loudon Wainwright III. He is a towering songwriter in every sense, and I’m hoping you’ll be up for taking a chance on some new music. I’ll be announcing supports for this gig shortly, but do get your tickets now.
May 22nd - The Grove, Nottingham
This is a big one: it’s almost time for Home Farm Fest!
Folkroom has been a mainstay at the Somerset charity festival since 2013, and I’ve always tried to ensure that our tent is filled with an unmissable line-up of talented upcoming folk musicians. If you’re looking for a small independent festival to go to this summer, and can make your way down to the Yeovil vicinity for June 6th-8th, the Folkroom stage at Home Farm Fest will ensure you’re well rewarded.
This year I’m proud to have put together one of our strongest ever line-ups. Ahead of the official announcement by the festival tonight, I wanted to give our Substack readers an exclusive first look.
Alongside headliners The Lost Cavalry, Neev and The Water Chorus, I’m excited to bring some of the best new artists from across the UK (and beyond!)
For the first time, the Nottingham scene is represented with Catmilk and My Friend Wolf. First time Folkroom artists include Mezanmi, Chloe Leigh, Isa Howie and Zoe Eliza. Lindsay Clark joins us from the United States and Valerie Van Roey (more of whom in a minute) makes the trip over from Belgium.
We are also celebrating our fifteenth year as Folkroom with a rare set from our first ever headliner and label signee, Andrew Butler, as well as familiar Folkroom faces Patch & the Giant, Forty Elephant Gang and March. Our dear friend and award-winning illustrator Chris Riddell will also be back, live-drawing to each of the sets on our stage.
Here’s the full line-up for Home Farm Fest 2025: Andrew Butler, Catmilk, Chloe Leigh, Forty Elephant Gang, Isa Howie, Jack Pout, Lindsay Clark, The Lost Cavalry, March, Mezanmi, My Friend Wolf, Neev, Nick Edward Harris, Patch & the Giant, Phil Maguire, Valerie Van Roey, The Water Chorus, Whatcook, and Zoe Eliza.
You can get your tickets here, supporting the School in a Bag charity with each purchase!
We’re back with our monthly Peggy’s Skylight gig in June, bringing the phenomenal ‘Welsh Primitive’ guitarist Gwenifer Raymond to Nottingham. Gwenifer is one of my favourite guitarists on the planet - and I keep good company! She’s also a computer games programmer with a PhD in Astrophysics, which makes her easily the coolest one (sorry Ben).
Support on this one comes from the aforementioned Valerie Van Roey, one of the most exciting new folksingers I’ve heard over the last year. This will be Valerie’s first tour of the UK, so it’s a chance to get in early and discover a new artist you can boast about seeing in years to come.
June 15th - Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham
And finally, for now, a real treat: Joshua Burnside, who is behind perhaps the first great folk album of 2025, will be playing for us at Peggy’s in July. Anyone who has heard Teeth of Time will understand that it’s something special, and Burnside’s folk feels as vital as anything out there right now.
July 23rd - Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham
I suppose this email is as much proof as you’ll ever need that there’s plenty of great folk gigs out there for you to wrap your ears around. But this only works as long as you - or people like you - are there to enjoy it, to buy the merch, to support the artists you love. So do consider buying a ticket today, and share this email with anyone you know who might be interested in discovering great new music in gorgeous, intimate surroundings.
Who have a Folkroom connection by way of co-lead singer Felix, who has played several gigs for us in London over the years.
Last year, less than 24 hours of my work funded over 1100 hours of my listening. That’s over six weeks of non-stop music. Most of that was Billy Joel.
And just in case you aren’t aware of this, the British bookselling chain scene right now looks like this: there’s Waterstones, Foyles (owned by Waterstones), Hatchards (owned by Waterstones), Blackwells (owned by Waterstones) and Daunt Books (owned by one individual: James Daunt - managing director of, you guessed it, Waterstones).
The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that including the Patch and the Giant gig, I’m due to be at six Folkroom-related gigs over the course of eleven days next month. Not included in that is a Scissor Sisters arena gig that, for various reasons, I am not involved in the promotion of.