August is a quiet month in some respects as many folk clubs close for a month or two with some notable local exceptions including the Acoustic Club at Bishop’s Stortford, the Four Rivers Folk Club at Hertford and Redbourn Folk Club. Of course there have been numerous folk festivals to attend during the summer with plenty more to come throughout September and even into October as already listed in the Unicorn Folk Festival Finder. The other mainListings can also be found on the top menu on the Unicorn Folk website and include the Unicorn Diary and the Gigs & Tours listing both of which have been updated prior to this blog.
Coming up on the local club scene, if you are quick, tonight (Tuesday 1st September) St Neots Folk Club will be entertained by Vicki Swann & Jonny Dyer and tomorrow night Redbourn Folk Club host a solo gig by Jon Doran prior to a September tour with his usual singing partner Janice Burns. Later in the month on Tuesday 15th St Neots host Cohen Braithwaite Kilcoyne whilst the legendary John Tams makes one of his rare appearances at Hitchin Folk Club on Sunday 13th followed exactly two weeks later by another legend in Steve Knightley.
East Anglian Traditional Music Trust hold their annual Traditional Music Day on Saturday September 19th in Stowmarket and this year it features Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith, Nick Hart and ‘Flowers and Frolics’ the last of whom I remember fondly from my student days at Bath, which I mainly spent Morris dancing!
Megson are playing St Andrews Church in Hertford on Saturday 26th and the following day are hosting their Family Folk Show as part of Royston Arts Festival. Royston Live are also part of the festival once again and this year on Thursday 24th will see Thursday’s Band make a welcome reappearance at the Old Bull Inn. Ticketing details for both these events can be found in Featured Events on the front page of the main Unicorn Folk website along with those for another wonderful concert at Royston Museum on Friday 2nd October when there is a retelling of ‘Fen Song’ and a rare appearance by the wonderfully talented 3Folk.
I guess that I might as well give Royston Arts Festival a plug at this point for anyone who is interested in the arts and crafts, or music and drama, with exhibitions, workshops and talks aplenty and a final weekend with a fun family day and book fair, both with FREE entry. It runs throughout September with the main weekend being the final one and you will find more details on the festival website.
Also, a quick plug here for the new album by Spell Songs a folk supergroup coming together for the third in a series of albums based on The Book Of Birds a collaboration between conservationist Robert MacFarlane and artist Jackie Morris. The members of Spell Songs are Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Kris Drever, Seckou Keita, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter and Jim Molyneux. The new album is called ‘In Thin Air‘ and is released on Friday 4th September, the same night as a concert date at Cambridge Corn Exchange when Jackie Morris and Robert MacFarlane will give a pre-show talk. Tickets HERE.
If you missed the broadcast of Filby’s Folk shows on Sunday 2nd August and Sunday 9th August on the new Meridian1 radio station that covers South Cambs, North Herts and beyond, you can now listen to podcasts of the shows (119 & 120) HERE on Unicorn Folk. It is hoped that the Meridian1 radiostation will reappear after a full review of the 2-week trial and then continue to broadcast on a more permanent basis.
Finally, several of my favourite artists are out on tour or playing gigs in September so check out the Gigs and Tours Listing on the main Unicorn Folk website as well as the Unicorn Diary. (The Listings are mainly pdf files so the link address, or url, changes with each update which is why I don’t provide a direct link.) Fairport Convention’s Autumn Acoustic Tour starts further ahead on 6th October but you may be well advised to start checking out ticket availability now.