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I must begin this latest and rather overdue blog with a tribute to Martin Carthy given the latest sad news on his health and the fact that he will no longer be able to tour.

I didn’t really get into folk music until the early seventies by which time I had missed out on the years when he first made his reputation playing solo in the clubs and then with Dave Swarbrick. Many years later I was fortunate enough to see Carthy and Swarbrick when the two performed together at Hitchin Folk Club whilst Swarb was still recovering from yet another operation but my first exposure to Martin’s unique voice was mainly through albums with bands such as Steeleye Span and The Albion Country Band. I remember being delighted when he briefly rejoined the former for the Storm Force Ten tour in 1978 when I luckily got to a concert in Bath. Over the years I have probably only seen Carthy in concert on around ten occasions, not enough really, but last of all in Royston Folk Club a few years ago when I was pleased to be able to say thank you to him personally for another very enjoyable performance. I have always thought of him as the male ‘Voice of English Folk’ with respect to all the other great English folk singers I have heard over the years and of course he was justly renowned for his unique style of guitar playing. I hope his final years will be peaceful which would be the least he deserves for the huge contribution he has made to English folk music and beyond over the course of his long and distinguished career.

On a happier note Ninebarrow will embark on a short series of concerts starting tonight Friday February 6^th in Upwey, Weymouth and finishing on 2^nd May in Sturminster Newton. In between there are just 6 dates and they do not venture too far out of the South West apart from their concert in Hackney, London on 27^th March. However, they are planning at least one e-concert from Ninebarrow HQ on 7^th March and all the details can be found using the link in the ‘Gigs & Tours’ Listing on the main Unicorn Folk website.

The new year is a good time to consider learning new skills or brushing up on old ones and there is an opportunity for folk musicians to do just that at The Stables in Milton Keynes which is hosting a six week course covering The Ceilidh Experience which starts on Sunday 8^thFebruary. In a similar vein, Chiltern Folk Association are hosting a number of events during February and March including a Caller’s Workshop led by no lesser practitioner than Mr Barry Goodman and that will take place in Amersham on Saturday 28^thMarch. Details of both the 6-week course and the workshop can be found amongst the ‘Featured Events’ on the main Unicorn Folk website.

The Unicorn Diary has been updated to include some additional gigs not previously in various folk club’s programmes at the beginning of the year and now covers the period February to April and includes over 110 events. It would be really good to get a Dance Diary off the ground this year so dance clubs and societies and Morris sides are all invited to send in listings of their events to info@unicornfolk.uk ideally in the same format as in the Unicorn Diary.

Finally, the latest edition Show 114 of Filby’s Folk has been available since last Thursday and as it was recently Burns Night this edition of the podcast is dedicated to Scottish Folk music, old and new. If you like Scottish Folk music then you will enjoy this podcast and if you don’t but listen anyway then you might change your mind!

Happy New Year everyone and there is plenty for folk fans to look forward to in 2026.

All the main ‘Listings’, the Unicorn Diary, Festival Finder and Gigs & Tours have now been updated on the main Unicorn Folk website and there is plenty to choose from. You can even find a festival or two in January if you are so inclined with Celtic Connections starting on the 15^th and the West Coast Folk Festival at Blackpool Winter Gardens from Friday 23^rd to Sunday 25^th. Seth Lakeman, Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings and The Webb Sisters are the headliners for the latter.

Amongst the many gigs listed in the Unicorn Diary in January Phil Beer and Johnny Coppin can be found at Hitchin Folk Club on the 11th and some of the artists listed in Gigs & Tours are also kicking off tours or playing dates in January, including Le Vent Du Nord.

The festive season is a time when many Morris sides are active and it would be good to get a Dance Diary off the ground in 2026 to include not only the activities of Morris sides but also folk dance societies. So, please send in details of your club’s activities for a FREE listing in the Dance Diary and maybe attract some new members in the process.

Other things to look forward to in 2026 include the Fairport Convention Winter Tour which kicks off on 17^th March and Cropredy tickets are already on sale for those looking ahead to the summer. An added attraction of the Winter Tour is that the support act is the very talented singer-songwriter Jenn Butterworth whose debut solo album appeared in 2025. A track from that album, Her By Design, rated one of the best for last year, can be heard on Filby’s Folk (Show 113) which is mentioned below. If you are reading this blog on the Unicorn Magazine you will find a link to both the tour and Cropredy ticketing sites in the Gigs & Tours Listing on the main Unicorn Folk website.

Filby’s Folk New Year/Best of 2025 podcast (Show 113) is now available and it includes the new music that I have enjoyed listening to during the past year. If I had to pick a best album of the year then it would have to be Turnstone by the Gigspanner Big Band. At seventy three minutes in length you can just close your eyes and imagine that you are enjoying the band in concert, as indeed I was lucky enough to do earlier in the year. Reg Meuross also produced a very fine album in Fire and Dust which tells the story of Woody Guthrie. The album consists of a dozen of his own songs coupled with covers of four of Guthrie’s and with the added benefit of a booklet containing biographical notes and lyrics I certainly felt much better informed about Guthrie’s music. The third stand out album in my opinion came at the end of the year courtesy of The Winter Wonderband and their seasonal album Joy Illimited which contained some lovely new compositions as well some interesting new covers. There is also plenty of other good music from 2025 to be heard in the podcast.

Finally, don’t forget that Unicorn Folk exists to promote folk music for the benefit of fans, musicians and music venues. It is run as a not-for-profit and all of the Listings are FREE with very modest charges (typically £10 for 2 months) made for events featured on the front page of the website in order to cover expenses. Some charitable events or those that promote the cause of folk music and/or folk traditions are also occasionally featured on the front page.

As it is that time of year and if you are keen on folk traditions then you might be interested in the Tradfolk Wassail Directory which has appeared for the last 3 seasons including the 2024/25 season last year. It is not clear whether it will be updated yet for 25/26 but it is still a useful resource to find out what is going in the way of ‘Wassailing’ in each county and the dates for this year are likely to be quite predictable based on last year’s information. There are also some other listings for Wassail events which may be useful including a well stocked one exclusively for the county of Somerset, comprising some free and family events, and another produced by the National Trust. The nearest to Royston is Dunton Wassail on Saturday 3rd January and details can be found in the ‘Featured Events’ section on the home page of the main Unicorn Folk website.

I am sure that at least some members of one organisation which I came across recently will be joining in with the nearest Wassail and that is the Chiltern Folk Association. I was most impressed with their Autumn newsletter sent to Unicorn Folk recently covering as it did a wide range of dance related activities around the area that is covered by the chalk escarpment known as the Chiltern Hills. I hope to be including a lot of their various club’s activities in the Unicorn Folk LISTINGS in future and in the meantime you can have a look at their website for further information and browse their newsletters going back several years.

Filby’s Folk Christmas podcast (Show 112) has just been published and it includes a fine range of festive songs, well in my opinion anyway, and it features a brand new album from the Winter Wonderband a four piece group consisting of Jennifer Crook, Saul Rose, Maclaine Colston and Beth Porter all very well established and respected names on the folk scene. The album called Joy Illimited contains some lovely new arrangements of well known traditional songs and carols plus a couple of covers of more recent songs – Last Christmas (yes, the one by George Michael but a much better version! ☺) and The Fairytale Of New York. Ideal listening over Christmas dinner I would say – either the album or the podcast!

Once the festive season is done and dusted there are plenty of things to look forward to in the New Year including at The Stables in Milton Keynes. They are once again running their popular Ceilidh Experience course which provides a chance for musicians interested in traditional and folk music to play in a band and play at a Ceilidh. All the details can be found by clicking on the link on the poster in the ‘Featured Events’ section on the home page of the main Unicorn Folk website.

I hope you are enjoying all the festive gigs listed in the current edition of the Unicorn Diary and I’m looking forward to the Royston Live Christmas Party this coming Thursday 18^th December. Do keep your eye on the update to the Diary which is coming in the week between Christmas and New Year which will contain all known details of folk club and other folk events in the principal Unicorn Folk area covering Beds, Bucks, Cambs, Essex, Herts and beyond into East Anglia and to the West, not to mention the national coverage given to folk festivals and some other events and tours which you can find in the LISTINGS one of the main menu entries at the top of the home page of the main Unicorn Folk website.