With a talent that belies his tender years, LUKE JACKSON is a star both on the rise, and at the top of his zenith, and he will grace the stage at Frenchay Village Hall as he headlines our March concert.
As a singer and songwriter strongly in the roots vein, Canterbury-based Luke has already made a reputation for himself as a solo performer as well as with his trio. Festival appearances and support slots with the likes of Show of Hands, Steve Knightley, Martyn Joseph and Karine Polwart have wowed crowds up and down the country, including on two short tours of Scotland, where he’s played at the Belladrum and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. His international touring has included Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany, and now brings his disarming singing and guitar playing to South Gloucestershire.
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All of this hard work on the road has resulted in some great recognition. As well as nominations for the Horizon Award and the Young Folk Artist of the Year at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Luke was rightly named Fatea Magazine’s Male Artist of the Year.
Luke’s style is both rich and tender, with a percussive guitar technique to match his impressive voice. His songwriting, too, has come on leaps and bounds in the years he has been performing. His stories will envelop you in their words and melodies, and we just know he will be a hit with the Downend crowd. He’ll be performing songs from across his career, from debut More Than Boys to the 2015 EP This Family Tree. These releases are supplemented by 2014’s Fumes and Faith. Luke will also be playing songs from his new record, to be released later this year.
"Reminds me of Jeff Buckley, which can only be a good thing" – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2
“It’s been a great start to the year, and Luke’s appearance at Downend Folk Club just reinforces that,” said chairman Ant Miles. “Luke’s a very rootsy singer and player, and he is seriously talented. We fully expect yet another sell out, so we really would urge people to buy their tickets early."
Support on the night comes from the superb fiddle singer, HANNAH CUMMING. After classical training, Hannah learned a more folk-leaning style and has gone on to find success in the band Dyer:Cummings and performing and running workshops with her brother Alex. Playing at Towersey Festival as part of the Shooting Roots programme exposed Hannah to yet more influences, she joined young klezmer group The Klezbians whilst at University. She will kick off what is guaranteed to be a great night.
The event will be held at Frenchay Village Hall on Friday 18th March 2016. Doors open at 7.30pm and there will be a full bar serving GWB real ale, cider, wine and a range of soft drinks, for which we encourage you to bring your own glass.
Tickets cost £10 each, but you can get them for £9 if you book before Friday 11th March. They are available from Melanie’s Kitchen in Downend, Bristol Ticket Shop in the city, or online here. Members tickets are £8 eafh and are available from the Members Only area of this website or direct from Ant Miles (before Friday 1th March).
We are thrilled to reveal our fabulous line-up for Summer 2016!
Kicking us off on Friday 20th May will be JIMMY ALDRIDGE & SID GOLDSMITH, who will be launching their brand-new album at the event. Our visitors on Friday 17th June will be KIRSTY BROMLEY & LUCY WISE, who will be joined on stage by SIMON DUMPLETON as they bring the 'Two Hemispheres Tour' to the UK. Headlining our July event on Friday 15th will be SUNJAY, who is touring his new album 'Black & Blues', while the programme is rounded off with another new album tour as ALEX CUMMING & NICOLA BEAZLEY visit us on Friday 19th August.
We also have some great support acts lined up, as KITTY MACFARLANE opens for Jimmy & Sid, STEVE PLEDGER joins us to kick of the June event. LARA CONLEY will get things underway in July, while local favourites ROAD NOT TAKEN open for Alex & Nicola in August.
All events will be held at Frenchay Village Hall and doors will open at 7.30pm.
Tickets for each event cost £11 (with an early-bird rate of £9) while members can get tickets for each event for just £8 each (up until a week before each gig), and they're available online here right now!
What a great evening! I knew SUSIE DOBSON would be good, as I have heard her sing and play many times. However, I wasn’t expecting to be quite so bowled over by GILMORE & ROBERTS! No wonder there was a full house!
Katriona and Jamie absolutely blew me away with their wonderful singing and imaginative use of their instruments: guitar (Jamie) and the fiddle and mandolin (Katriona).
Particularly poignant was 'Dr. James', which had a powerful message even though it was somewhat macabre. Another favourite for me was 'Every Midnight Mile', a very quiet, tranquil song. They wrote the song and released it as a single to raise funds for Shelter. So far sales have reached over £500. This song was in stark contrast to many of their other songs, but just as amazing in its message and delivery.
We were also treated to songs from the latest album, of which some have already been covered by others. What an accolade! Their next song, 'Selfish Man', written by Jamie whilst on the Isle of Man, got us all singing along!
I asked the people sitting close to me, during the main interval what they thought of the session so far… ” very peaceable and sung very well. An amazing session”. Another comment was that it was one of the best Folk Club evenings they had been to.
Other songs included 'All I Have Known' and 'Billy Green'. The latter was written for the project “Songs For The Voiceless”, which was about recording stories from WW1. 'Billy Green' tells the story of someone in the trenches who, the night before he was due over the top, prayed for the safety of Billy Green, rather than his own safety. This was because in his opinion, Billy was more worthy of being saved from death.
After more wonderful songs, we were treated to a rock song as a lively finale to end the evening. Obviously there was an encore which, unusually, was performed unplugged. A wonderful end to a great evening.
Susie, accompanied by Joe Futak, opened the evening. In his introduction, Ant mentioned that people who have had the pleasure of hearing Susie, are sure "she is going places". Certainly her performance did nothing to make me doubt that!
Their opening song, The Staves' 'Facing West' was wonderfully performed, in a most poignant and evocative manner, while 'Why We Build The Wall' delivered a powerful message about the prevalence of inequality and poverty in the World. Joe’s voice as Hades, added an additional dimension, a perfect blend of voices, to this beautiful song.
This was followed by Passenger's 'A House On A Hill”, which Susie had sung at her debut with the Folk Club, early in 2015. Since then she has developed her delivery of it, to be even more beautiful. Their next song 'How Long Will I Love You' was very poignant despite the absence of a fiddle player! Susie and Joe concluded the set with 'Travelling Alone' and 'Underneath the Stars', the latter being a fitting finale to an amazing session.
So in conclusion, as I said at the beginning, what a most enjoyable evening! Massive thanks are due to Susie, Joe, Katriona and Jamie. Oh, and by the way, also to Ant and the rest of the Downend Folk Club Committee, without whom such great evenings would not be posssible.
- Jan Bacon, DFC member
Photos by Chris Dobson
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