Music / gig listings
Bristol’s month in Folk & Roots – June 2026
It always feels as though June is a bit stuck in the middle of things. The Folk Festival is done (and it was so brilliant) and the outdoor festivals haven’t kicked off just yet, the students are drifting home but Bristol’s sun-worshippers haven’t quite emerged onto the harbourside.
Summer’s almost here, but not quite yet. Fortunately there’s still plenty of great stuff to while away the evenings until the holidays start properly.
Belinda O’Hooley is back, but solo this time – photo: Belinda O’Hooley
On Friday 19, one half of everyone’s favourite folk duo comes to everyone’s favourite folk club this month.
Belinda O’Hooley was last here as part of O’Hooley & Tidow (Gentleman Jack et al), but will be solo with her piano this evening. The last time that I saw her solo (at St George’s a couple of years ago) she was amazing so this is bound to be pretty special. upport comes from Gren Bartley.
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Alt-Country superstar Jason Isbell is back in Bristol on Friday June 5. He is, simply, one of the absolute finest songwriters of his generation and the main hall at the Beacon is guaranteed to be the place to be as he supports his latest album, Foxes in the Snow.
The Weston Stage sees Bristol-based artist/producer Emily Magpie launching her mini-album, Howl – out today, on June 1 – on Friday 19. Her music is gorgeous folklore-inspired alt-pop with added myth, storytelling and experimental instrumentation.
Welsh harpist Catrin Finch brings her extraordinary Notes to Self project to the main room at St George’s on Thursday 4. A reflective and deeply personal album, Finch has composed tracks for her 13-year-old self and it is incredible.
Also incredible, wonderful storyteller Hannah Scott is in the Glass Studio on Friday 26. Her new EP, Threads, is out mid-June and it’s another release that proves that she is one of the finest contemporary folk songwriters around.
You can always rely on the Folk House to put together a load of great things and this month is no exception. If the names are a little less well-known, there’s no let up in the brilliance.
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Rosina Buck, with a collection of friends, launches her debut EP Before it Snows on Sunday 14. Think ethereal folk, poetry and storytelling.
The next night, Monday 15, sees Devon-born, London-based, “dark folk” storyteller Austel in the Cafe Bar.
Rob Jones & co hail from Manchester – photo: @adamspenceryoung
Kate Dimbleby draws on 30 years of songs and storytelling on Saturday 20 as she uses songs by Kirsty MacColl, Dory Previn, Mary Chapin Carpenter and a myriad others to reveal soulful truths.
There’s the regular Irish Session on Monday 22 and then Rob Jones & the Restless Dream closes out the month on Tuesday 30 – heartland rock and midnight Americana with a hint of British melancholia.
There’s some seriously good stuff that stretches the definitions of folk to its limit at Strange Brew this month.
Tamikrest are a legendary Tuareg collective and they unleash their hypnotic, rolling “desert blues” on Friday 12.
One Leg One Eye, the project of Ian Lynch (Lankum) and George Brennan (Cholera House etc), play on Sunday 21. Expect a dark, immense and completely immersive wall of experimental noise-folk, black metal, drone and ancient song.
The longest day is celebrated on Sunday 21 with a Summer Solstice Ceilidh featuring Bearpit. There will be dancing and smiling, smiling and dancing.
Country fans are catered for at the long running venue this month – photo: @michellefredericks_photography
The Dusk Brothers are back in Bristol on Saturday 6 and they remain the gritty, foot-stomping, dark swamp-blues playing, wildly inventive, self-built instrument builders that they always are.
For something altogether more sun-drenched, go for the high-energy Americana and modern country-pop of Alyssa Bonagura on Friday 12. She’s an absolutely brilliant Nashville singer-songwriter.
Last time Jennifer Reid was in Bristol she was supporting Eliza Carthy at the Folk House. This time she’s in the Basement of the Exchange, on Thursday 25, and I can’t think of a more exciting show to see in that small space.
She is a vital voice in industrial folk, performing nineteenth-century broadside ballads and clog dancing. It’s living history at its most captivating and entertaining.
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The Bedminster favourite leans heavily into the toots stuff this month, and there’s never anything wrong with that.
There’s the soulful, rugged folk-blues of Joe H Henry on Thursday 4, Sophie Moore’s delicately woven indie-folk and crystalline vocals on Friday 26 and the breakneck, high-octane blend of bluegrass, country, and rock-and-roll of Los Angeles’ Rose’s Pawn Shop on Tuesday 30. Something for everyone, really.
The Greenbank pub in Easton is quickly becoming the place for interesting, community lead folky stuff in the city.
Alex Garden runs their brilliant Folk Jam Sessions on the first and third Tuesday of the month. There’s the Easton Shanties on the second and fourth Wednesdays and a Summer Ceilidh on Friday 12.
Add to that a Tune Writing Workshop on Sunday 14 and alt-poppers Shrub on Thursday 18 and it looks as though you could stay there for the whole of June!
Other Stuff in Other Places
There’s some great indie-folk at To The Moon on Thursday 4 as Django Durrant plays at Old Market’s loveliest little gem.
There’s an exquisite cross-cultural collaboration between singer-songwriter Ana Silvera and Palestinian oud virtuoso Saied Silbak, blending delicate contemporary folk with deep Levantine traditions, at Circomedia on Saturday 6.
Cafe Kino sees raw, evocative Blues and folk storytelling from Memphis Gerald on Tuesday 2, followed by the brilliant, introspective acoustic melodies of Nile Robinson on Monday 8.
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Stacy Antonel is described as “Tammy Wynette crossed with the Ventures” and that, frankly, is good enough for me! She plays at the Alma Tavern on Sunday 14. And soulful, gospel-infused R&B-folk songwriter Maddison Ryann Ward brings her stunning vocal range to the Thekla on Thursday 18.
And if that lot wasn’t enough, don’t forget the George & Dragon in Redfield – they have a regular Folk Night (every second Tuesday) that features Lizzie Morse and Nick Hart and a wildly energetic, foot-stomping Balkan Gypsy Klezmer Night (every third Tuesday).
Oh, and Hattie Whitehead from Herjira is performing her favourite Joni Mitchell songs at Norton St Phillip Church in Bath on Saturday 6 and the always brilliant Priddy Folk Festival is just round the corner too (July 10-12). Headliners this year are Dervish, Dallahan and the Melrose Quartet and the quite brilliant Malin Lewis is there as well.
Main image: Miranda Rutter
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