Music / Bristol gig listings
Bristol’s month in Folk and Roots – November 2025
As ever, as we approach the end of the year, there’s all manner of good things lurking in the Folk and Roots world in Bristol.
As the nights draw in, there is almost nothing better than getting together to listen to a fiddle or two.
Two absolute legends of the folk world play at Christ Church this month.
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Peter Knight (of Steeleye Span) and John Spiers (of Bellowhead) play the third Friday of the month (21) in Downend. Violin and melodeon are class elements of English Folk music and these two know their way around more tunes than you can shake a stick at.
Support comes from Fly Yeti Fly and the whole thing will be on Live to Your Living Room too.
In keeping with the last few months, the Folk House is packed with folk and roots goodies.
Granny’s Attic at Downend Folk & Roots club last year – photo: Barry Savell
Scottish musicians, Donald WG Lindsay and Alistair Roberts (Furrow Collective), make a fine start to the month on Sunday 2 with their small pipes and guitar tunes.
There will be old timey dance tunes from the Interstate Express on Friday 7, as part of a Fire in the Mountain evening.
Brilliant folk trio Granny’s Attic return to Bristol on Sunday 9 and there’s a Ceilidh with the Molecatchers on Saturday 15.
Rising new-folk star and fantastic singer songwriter Hannah Scott plays the following day (Sunday 16) and the regular, free, Irish Music Session is on Monday 17.
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The Kimber’s Men show on Thursday 20 is already sold out – such is the power of a damn good sea shanty.
Transatlantic duo Sons of Town Hall merge American folk song, performance art, theatricality and podcast-ishness to create something very special on Friday 21.
Ellie Gowers is part of Filkin’s Ensemble but makes the most beautiful solo folk music too. Her show on Sunday 23 should be one of the highlights of the month.
And, if that wasn’t quite enough, Irish Folk legend Andy Irvine (Sweeney’s Men, Planxty et al) rounds the month off on Saturday 29.
On the other side of Park Street, St George’s is full of good stuff too.
Bristol musician Lou Shepherd appears this month as part of St George’s series promoting emerging folk artists – photo: Lou Shepherd
Jon Boden and Eliza Carthy bring their Wassail to the main hall on Thursday 13.
Local folkie Lou Shepherd play the following day (Friday 14) as part of the Rising Folk series. Her voice is simply gorgeous.
Chris Thile, of Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek, will mix classical, folk and improvisational brilliance on Sunday 16. This one is nearly sold out, unsurprisingly.
Finally, Declan O’Rourke celebrates 20 years since his debut album, Since Kyabram, on Wednesday 26.
Incredible folk guitarist and songwriter John Smith is supported by Katie Spencer in the Lantern Hall on Sunday 2.
Dreamy folk-poppers Foxwarren promise playful experimental grooves and indie-folk on Tuesday 11 while Fergus McCreadie blends jazz and Scottish Folk tunes in the Lantern Hall on Friday 21.
Tamsin Elliot is touring her new album of folk tunes, the Meeting Tree – photo: Tamsin Elliot
Sadly, the New Room has decided that there will be no more Folk gigs at the Wesleyan chapel after the current series.
That said, the penultimate one is going to be amazing. The Tamsin Elliot Trio features Elliot, Sid Goldsmith on cittern and Rowan Elliot on fiddle; they play their filmic folk on Thursday 20.
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If there’s one ridiculously exciting thing in the folk world at the moment, it is everything that musical collective/record label/gig promoter Broadside Hacks are doing. On Monday 3, Goblin Band and Spitzer Space Telescope represent the youthful take on tradition, both English and American.
Welsh musician, Gwenifer Raymond is pretty exciting too. She will bring splashes of folk horror, drones and twisted Americana to the Wardrobe on Wednesday 5 just as her new album, Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark, is released.
Over in Bedminster, there’s folk rock from Julie July Band Acoustic on Sunday 16 and the album release show for Bristol’s Holly Carter on Wednesday 19.
Carter is an extraordinary fingerstyle guitarist and a great pedal steel player too. The new album is called Leave Your Mark and it’s so good.
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Rising Folk star Laura Alden stops off at the Louisiana on Wednesday 19. She’s from Puerto Plata, was raised in Germany and lives in Dublin and makes subtle indie-folk music that is reminiscent of Daughter or Birdy.
Muireann Bradley is another remarkable musician with an Irish background, she is rooted in the country blues of years gone by and is, quite simply, astonishing. Bradley plays in Bristol on Monday 24.
True Strays are closing out their month-long UK tour with a hometown show – photo: True Strays
Nell Mescal is more of an indie-pop singer-songwriter than straight-up folk but she’s brilliant. Her support for the Bristol show on Tuesday 11 is Cece Coakley, a Nashville based country-ish singer songwriter.
For more Country-ish things, Bristol very own True Strays play the Fleece on Thursday 27. Expect UK Americana of the very highest standard.
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What would a month be without brilliant things at the Jam Jar? The return of Blair Dunlop to Bristol is always a welcome thing and he’s back again on Sunday 16.
One of Scotland’s finest voices, Kris Drever, plays on Tuesday 18 and he is, fantastically, supported by Polly Paulusma.
Finally, Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman play traditional appalachian banjo and fiddle just over the road at the Old Saw Mill in St Jude’s on Saturday 22.
Curated by the lovely people behind the Bristol Folk Festival, the Bristol Folk Club presents Luke Wallace at the Architect (down there, next to Arnolfini) on Tuesday 4.
Wallace is a politically charged folk singer from Canada – think Dylan, think Seeger, think environmental change.
Lady Maisery: “One of the finest” – photo: Lady Maisery
Visiting Bristol for their Autumn tour, Lady Maisery play the gorgeous Mount Without on Thursday 6. They, surely, need no introduction whatsoever and are, still, one of the finest folk acts around.
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As part of the excellent Greenbank Folk Club series, the Grace Smith Trio and Archie Churchill-Moss play at St Anne’s on Friday 7. Smith is a fantastic traditional fiddle player and this is going to be a superb evening.
It’s so good to have the Croft and its wonderfully eclectic line-ups back again – November is no different.
Mixing Americana and electronica, Hangover Square play on Wednesday 12 while singer-songwriter Laura Groves plays on Monday 17.
One of Bristol’s hidden gems, To the Moon on Midland Road (just off Old Market) has a couple of great gigs in the later part of the month.
The Finn Collinson Band shake up trad folk with some incredible musicianship (that man Archie Churchill-Moss is on accordion and guitar) on Thursday 20. Collinson is an astonishing recorder player who is just as likely to tackle Purcell or Van Eyck as anything else. Quite amazing.
Equally brilliant Painted Sky, an up-and-coming folk duo, play on Wednesday 26
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Are Opa Rosa the best band in Bristol? Yes. Yes they are. Probably. Go and see them at Strange Brew on Friday 7. Honestly, you won’t regret it. They make the most perfect Balkan, klezmer infused sounds that you’ll ever hear.
If there’s one thing that can be guaranteed, it’s that the Cube always pull something interesting out of the bag.
On Sunday 23, Muslim Shaggan and Quinie do wonderful things to the Cube’s wood-panelled auditorium.
Muslim Shaggan is a classical vocalist from Pakistan while Quinie is a singer working in the Scottish folk tradition. Both possess incredible voices and both are as at home with improvisation as they are with folk song.
O2
Irish band Amble return to the Fleece for another sold-out performance – photo: Andrea Loftus
Finally, a sold out one. Irish superstars Amble return on Tuesday 25 in support of their debut full-length album, Reverie. If you have a ticket, it’ll be a fine night out.
Main photo: Holly Carter
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