Preview: Bristol Folk Festival

Bristol can now add folk to its festival credentials, as Bristol Folk Festival announces a bumper bank holiday line-up for 3rd – 5th May

Cara Dillon and Kris Drever (Lau) are the folk royalty headlining the final Sunday at St George’s but before them is a bill bristling with talent.

The festival opens on Friday with the best of the west country. Bristol’s Spiro bring swirling kaleidoscopic folk to Saint Stephens church. A heady mix of violin, guitar, mandolin and accordion, this unique quartet are musical alchemists, blending classical, techno, and punk influences into an irresistible folk party. Whilst over at the Folk House, youtube ‘sea shanty’ stars The Longest Johns and young pretenders Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys (pictured, top) kick off proceedings with stomping folk in the lineage of Seth Lakeman or Mumford and Sons.

Grace Petrie

Pete Seger once said “if folk sing them, they’re folk songs” and Saturday brings a broad church of sound. From the squeezebox of the young Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, via electric folk from County Durham’s Harri Endersby and clog maestro Hannah James, to familiar Bristolian Mike Dennis, a classically trained violinist whose love for Run DMC and the Beastie Boys results in his own unique style of ‘violinica’, a joyful mash-up of exquisite strings and looped tales of the city.

The UK is currently experiencing something of a folk revolution, with Grace Petrie its unlikely white knight. Unafraid to challenge today’s politics of austerity and division, she does it with disarming charm and a warm humour – “you build a wall, we’ll bring a ladder”. And her brand of hope is proving contagious – acclaimed as a “powerful new songwriting voice” by The Guardian, Grace comes to Bristol following a double page spread in the broadsheets and a stadium tour.

Amadou Diagne

Saturday evening sees world folk go head-to-head with English tradition. Saint Stephen’s Church is headlined by Lady Maisery, a band whose inventive blend of past and present, has seen them widely proclaimed as the new Unthanks. Over at Bristol Folk House, Senegal rules, with strains of heart-lifting kora, and up-tempo funk from Amadou Diagne. Home favourite, the ever-inventive Rachel Dadd returns in support, fresh from a stint in Japan.

For the Sunday finale the festival takes over St George’s, where the new building comes to life in grand style. Bristol Folk Singers, Nick Hart and Somerset duo The Drystones are afternoon highlights. But all eyes are on the evening double bill of Cara Dillon and Kris Drever. Winning a cabinet of BBC Folk Awards between them, their combination of angelic vocals and gritty beauty is sure to send audiences home smiling with a tear in the eye.

Whether a folk aficionado or simply a lover of interesting sounds, this year’s festival holds something to discover. Dip in with a day pass or sign up for the whole weekend.

Bristol Folk Festival is held across St George’s Bristol, Bristol Folk House and St Stephens Church from Fri 3rd – Sun 5th May. More info and tickets at bristolfolkfestival.org