Music / gig listings
Bristol’s month in Folk and Roots – July 2025
Despite the fact that most of the world is sitting in a variety of fields around the country, there’s still plenty of interesting Folk & Roots gigs in Bristol through July.
The festival has music, dance and drumming workshops during the day, and performances at night – photo: Ham Farm Festival
If Glastonbury seems a little bit big, a little bit hectic, then the festival at Ham Farm in Emerson’s Green is the perfect hidden gem.
It’s spread over three days (from Friday 25 to Sunday 27) and features all manner of wonderful treats. Among other things, the Andrews Massey Duo play on the Friday, Flamenco Raices bring intricate dance and complex rhythms on Saturday and then the brilliant Orkney-based folk quartet Fara brings things to a close on Sunday evening.
Each of the double bill concerts runs from 5:30 to 9:30, the surroundings are a glorious garden tucked away in Emerson’s Green and there will be some fantastic food on each evening. It really is one of the highlights of a Bristol summer.
After the packed-out wonders of last month’s Cara Dillon show, Downend Folk & Roots bring the -summer to a close with up-and-coming singer-songwriter Lizzy Hardingham on Friday 18.
Hardingham will be debuting a new band of top folk names at the gig – photo: Lizzy Hardingham
Her most recent album, How Did We Get Here?, is a beautifully woven collection, brimming with fantastic songs and a voice that is somewhere between Sandy Denny and KT Tunstall.
Lizzy will be joined on-stage at Christ Church by Katriona Gilmore on fiddle, Jonny Wickham on double bass and Lukas Drinkwater on electric guitar.
As ever, a warm July breeze drifts through Folk House, and with it comes a handful of gems.
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The Bookshop Band brings their gorgeously book-ish songs to Park Street on Friday 4. Their most recent album, Emerge, Return, includes songs inspired by Margaret Atwood, Philip Pullman, various Brontes and Aldous Huxley, amongst others. Beth Porter and Ben Please make music that is, simply “achingly good”.
Lucy & Hazel help to launch the second annual Queer Artists Exhibition for Pride Month on Thursday 10.
On Monday 14, Daphne Gale & Stevie Toddler form a dreamy double bill — Gale is a New-York based singer/guitarist while Toddler is a Bristol-based wonderfully mellow lyricist.
Bristol’s finest art-pop-folkster, Rachael Dadd, helps to raise money for the people of Palestine on Friday 18. She is joined by Wisp and her own Folk choir, Oak Choir.
Finally, Les Caravanes on Thursday 24 promise to be something pretty special. They feature members of Broadside Hacks and Shovel Dance Collective and seek to channel the spirit of those legendary 60s Folk clubs like Les Cousins.
Bristol Beacon
A little slice of the Greenbank appears at the Beacon to help celebrate Pride month thanks to the Bristol Pride Ceilidh on Friday 4. Alex Garden is joined by Tess Livingston, Rhiannon Takel and Will Bremner; there will be dancing and a joyful feeling of inclusivity.
Then FitkinWall return on Wednesday 9 — the harp-and-synth duo’s new album UIST blends ancient traditions with cutting edge technology.
Ann Liu Cannon does one of those brilliant live and signing things on Thursday 10. She’ll be playing acoustic versions of new tracks from her debut album, Clever Rabbits. It’s full of elegant, wonky folk that weaves Anglo-Celtic folklore around more traditional singer-songwriter brilliance.
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Jade Bird makes a very welcome return to Bristol on Wednesday 23 to play live and sign some things. The new album, Who Wants to Talk About Love, is dark and infused with break-up heartache but is still tinged with her trademark Americana.
Things get a bit weird and psych-folky over at the Louisiana at the tail end of this month.
Kibbo Kift make shoegaze-trip hop influenced folk inspired by ancient landscapes and symbolism – photo: Kibbo Kift
Kibbo Kift get all Shoegaze-Folk-ish on Tuesday 29, while Old Moll “catches stories and folklore that fell through the cracks of history in her own brand of folk-tinged melancholia” on Thursday 31. Which all sounds pretty brilliant. Both of those gigs are a bargain at a fiver(ish).
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By now it’s no real surprise that Bedminster attracts some of the most interesting Americana in the city, and this month is no different.
Juliet Lloyd starts things on Thursday 3: she is able to transcend genres, moving between indie-pop, folk, soul and rock effortlessly and her new album, Carnival, is inspiring comparisons to Chris Stapleton and Patty Griffin..
The Weeping Willows are brooding, banjo-driven and utterly beguiling — they are Bluegrass draped in Gothic Americana and play on Thursday 24.
Madison Violet bring Canadian warmth, tight harmonies and emotional richness, as they tour for their twenty-fifth year (and the final time), playing Bristol on Tuesday 29.
Then, on Thursday 31, the Alan Fletcher Band (of Aussie soap Neighbours fame) close things with a swagger — new album, Back to School, is full of fine Americana.
Unusually there are a couple of things in the gorgeous environs of St Thomas the Martyr – the church just next to the Fleece – this month.
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There’s a double bill of Folk Choir goodness on Saturday 5 with Island Folk Choir and everyone’s favourite, Heartwood Chorus.
Then, on Friday 18, emerging folk-pop artist Willow Maddocks celebrates her first headline show.
Other places and other things
Old Market’s brilliant drinkery, Ill Repute, hosts Saint Senara on Sunday 6: expect dirty blues rock, sweeping Americana and delicate folk songs with a dark twist from this Cheltenham based duo.
At St Anne’s in Easton, Kate Griffin of Mishra joins forces with Matchume Zango on Wednesday 9. Their collaboration promises a thrilling cross-cultural conversation and a distinctive set of original tunes and songs – sheer delight for the listener. Support is from Tamsin Elliot.
Griffin and Zango create new music fusing traditional and contemporary sounds from the UK and Mozambique – photo: Kate Griffin
Over at Lightship 55, North Carolina’s A Different Thread will weave a rich transatlantic tapestry of British folk and Appalachian country, blending soul-soothing harmonies with heartfelt songs of hope and renewal on Saturday 19.
Finally, Café Kino’s Works in Progress, on Sunday 13, is where the future of Bristol folk is being quietly shaped — raw, vulnerable, full of promise.
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Legend of the folk and festival scene, Beans on Toast, is throwing a Wild Folk Party to celebrate his new book on Saturday 12 at Rockaway Park over in Temple Cloud — aside from his own irreverent, heartwarming, rebellious storytelling, he will be supported by Leo Baby, Nuala and Will Varley. It’s going to be a fantastic party.
A short drive away from Bristol, Somerset’s best festival takes place between Friday 11 and Sunday 13. Priddy Folk Festival is always the loveliest place to be at this time of year and this year they have Bonfire Radicals, Blackbeard’s Tea Party, Opa Rosa, Merry Hell, Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman, Blair Dunlop, Tarren and the Drystones amongst many, many others. There is nowhere I’d rather be.
Main image: Louis Veillon
Read next:
- Bristol’s month in World Music – July 2025
- Bristol’s month in Metal & Prog – July 2025
- Bristol’s month in Jazz – July 2025
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