We are delighted to announce our programme for Spring 2027. We’ve kept our eyes closely on your requests and we’ve booked some of the artists that you’ve asked for the most.

 

 

The season kicks off on Friday 22 January as we welcome MAZ O’CONNOR. Described by The Observer as “a highly individual singer-songwriter”, Maz is a truly unique artist. Known for her haunting, emotive vocals and her poetic lyricism, her songs are most often short stories inspired by her love of literature, folklore and mythology. After taking a few years out of recording and performing to have her son and work on her musical, Maz has just released her new album, ‘Love it is a Killing Thing’. Recorded live to tape in Spring 2025, this record is a collection of ancient songs about the perils of love, reimagined and in some cases re-composed by Maz. It marks a triumphant return to her folk roots. Opening the evening will be CHRIS AVERY, a Welsh guitarist and composer drawing from the deep well of Welsh musical tradition. Rooted in folk song and dance music, his work moves between traditional material and contemporary composition, all shaped by his classical training.

 

Next up will be firm Downend Folk & Roots favourites HANNAH SANDERS & BEN SAVAGE on Friday 19 February. Hannah & Ben’s fifth studio album The Strangers' Share was released in late 2025; a record centred on dreams and the supernatural that captures all the magic, intimacy and spontaneity of the pin-drop single microphone live shows for which they’ve become renowned. Hannah has an alluring mystique and a voice of disarming purity that massages your senses. Ben is a singular guitarist with a sound as distinctive as it is innovative. Together their harmonies and unique stage presence shimmer with an infectious enthusiasm and joy for the connection music offers. Getting us underway will be ZOË NICOL, who believes songs can do more than tell stories; they can also build worlds. A singer-songwriter from Kent with Liverpudlian and Irish roots, Zoë is best known for her work with Worry Dolls, the acclaimed duo who performed alongside artists including Robert Plant and Mumford & Sons.

 

Contemporary acoustic roots duo GILMORE & ROBERTS combine award-winning songwriting with astounding musicianship and their trademark harmonies to create a lasting connection with their audience, and they will round off our Spring 2027 season on Friday 19 March. With a show full of songs ‘capable of making you dance, cry and think’ (Folk Radio UK) delivered with their ‘relaxed, banter-laden stage presence’ (Spiral Earth), a performance by Gilmore & Roberts will stay with you long after the final note fades. Supporting the duo will be Bristol’s own bluegrass mavericks STILLHAÜS, who have been hitting stages, bringing their own brand of stomping hollering music for the past couple of years. Combining riotus upbeat songs, heartfelt ballads and waltzes, and death defying instrumental fiddle tunes, Stillhaüs bring something for everyone.

 

All three concerts will take place at CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND as usual, and seating is unreserved. Tickets are £15 in advance (£17 on the door) and are available online HERE, and from Downend Cards and Gifts (correct cash only). There is also the option to buy a season ticket for all three concerts for £40, which saves a few pounds as well as booking fees. All tickets are non-refundable. There will be a full bar at all concerts, as well as a prize draw, all proceeds of which go towards booking our support artists. Doors open at 7.00pm for a 7.45pm start.

 

We're really excited about this season, as we welcome back some firm favourites, and we hope you will be too. Keep supporting live music, it’s becoming more and more important with every passing month! For further information, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or find us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, BLUESKY, YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.

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Tom Hodgkinson, in his brilliant magazine/manifesto/guide to life The Idler, describes being an Idler as "not a lazy or passive person, but a visionary, a free spirit who rejects modern hustle culture, a conscious time-controller". This sounds like a great thing to be and, if this is so, then Bristol's mini-folk-supergroup TARREN are glorious Idlers.
 
Alex Garden, Sid Goldsmith and Danny Pedler make music that is so timeless that it hangs, suspended, above us; it flits and drifts, darting into corners, filling spaces, it reaches out and stills the hands of a clock.
 
In fact, their last album was called Outside Time, and its title track tumbles like rain. There is a wildness as Garden's fiddle and Goldsmith's cittern run around, catching raindrops and Pedlar's accordion thrums behind them. The three of them grinning as this beautiful music, rooted in the English folk tradition, just engulfs this place.
 
 
Much of their first set is taken from their first two albums; the mix of glorious instrumentals and thoughtful, conscious songs warm every heart. A rare sighting of Hot Wax, from their debut Revel, is most welcome, fiddle and cittern peeking at each other as the accordion sneaks in the background. Dan-y-bont points to new ways, it is liquid, fluid, Goldsmith's concertina giving it direction. 
 
Goldsmith describes Wanting for Nothing as "cute and smug" but it's still a fantastic song of contentment and found family. Garden's fiddle hovers, bee-like, right in the middle of it all, it is light and shines like gold. Sunk has a fuzzy pop edge that builds beautifully as all three instruments converge, it then expands into a pastoral lushness in its final acapella moments, a calm green space.
 
Neither Maid Nor Man still feels like a supremely important song. A celebration of gender non-conformity in folk song, formed through finding rare verses in different places that hint at acceptance. In Tarren's free-spirited, visionary world this is as necessary as life itself.
 
 
The second set is packed with new things, just as vital, from a forthcoming album.
 
Royate Hill, named after the nature reserve in Easton, sees Garden's fiddle dipping and soaring. There is something magical about the tone that they get from their instrument, it is incredibly soft and light, like the last rays of a summer day. Granite Spiral celebrates circular forms, Pedlar's accordion pulsing away while the cittern indulges in all sorts of pagan naughtiness.
 
If there is one song that sums up the Tarren approach to Idleness, however, it is their version of Cyril Tawney's On a Monday Morning. The plucked cittern and fiddle-glide bring a languid sleepiness to this heartfelt plea to beat back normal life. It's so lovely. Goldsmith sings as though the modern world is a baffling nonsense, then Pedlar breaks through with a wonderfully poetic internal monologue. His words glittering though little specks of dust. Modern life, and all of its silliness, melt away at Tarren's hands.
 
 
Before all of this time-stopping magic, Scottish singer-songwriter RHONA MACFARLANE does a mighty fine job of shutting out the real world too. Her short set is gorgeous. 
 
Sitting somewhere between The Beautiful South's Briana Corrigan and Fairground Attraction's Eddi Reader, Macfarlane's voice is a dusty-edged Caledonian wonder. Resolutely indie-folk in nature but simply brilliant, her songs are fully formed, wholly realised. Going It Alone comes complete with audience-sing-along bits, Let the River Flow is piano-delicate and lovely while Closing the Window is a proper, grown-up pop song. 
 
On this mid-October evening, you half expected to step back out into twilight rather than the dark of night, such was the time-warping effect of both Macfarlane and Tarren. Timeless music for all those that want to reject the corporate nasties.
 
Words: Gavin McNamara
Photos: Chris Dobson
 
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A fast-rising Bristol four-piece headline our October concert as part of their Autumn tour of the UK.
 
 
TARREN is a collaboration between Sid Goldsmith (he/him), Alex Garden (they/them) and Danny Pedler (he/him). Formed in 2021, this trio is creating New-Folk music, inspired by the English tradition while incorporating modern influences and their trademark modular hooks and riffs. They released their debut album Revel in 2022 to high critical acclaim with the album being likened to Faustus and Lau’s iconic debut Lightweights and Gentlemen. This success was built on in 2024 with the release of their second studio album Outside Time. 
 
Tarren has built an audience that encompasses modern contemporary acoustic music lovers as well as the traditional Folk audiences. Frequently touring the UK and beyond, They are fast becoming known for intricate and dynamic arrangements of traditional and original material, tight musicianship, a forward-thinking outlook, and an inclusive and engaging on-stage presence.
 
 
Opening the evening will be RHONA MACFARLANE, a rising Scottish singer-songwriter whose emotive voice and evocative storytelling have been described as ‘casting a gentle spell over her audience.’ Macfarlane creates a deeply immersive and emotional soundscape, whether through gentle guitar and intimate vocals or expansive, cinematic arrangements with soaring strings, crafting worlds that feel both vast and personal. Her work has been described as “building an atmosphere of tranquillity and respite”, drawing listeners into a space of reflection and serenity.

Macfarlane released her highly anticipated debut album, As The Chaos Unfolds, in January, 2025. The album was co-produced by Macfarlane and Matt Ingram. As The Chaos Unfolds is an evocative collection of songs that captures the essence of a “coming of age” experience.

Tickets for the concert, which takes place at CHRIST CHURCH DOWNEND on Friday 16 October 2026, are available online HERE or in person from Downend Cards and Gifts (cash only please). They are priced at £15 each in advance or £17 on the door. Doors open at 7.00pm and the music starts around 7.45pm. This event is also included in our Autumn/Winter Season Ticket.

There will be a bar, stocking cider, soft drinks, wine, hot drinks and real ale from Bristol’s HOP UNION BREWERY. Audience members are encouraged to bring their own glass/mug/tankard, as well as reusable bottles for water, as part of the drive to be more environmentally aware; there is a 50p discount for those that do. There will also be sweet treats available at the bar courtesy of Radstock-based THE GREAT CAKE COMPANY, as well as a prize draw, which helps to fund the support artists for each concert. There is a decent-sized car-park behind the Parish Hall/Medical Centre, and free on-street parking in the surrounding area. Parking on the church grounds is not permitted unless agreed in advance.
  

For further information, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or find us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, BLUESKY, YOUTUBE or TIKTOK.

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