There's the smell of mulled wine in the air, hundreds of people muffled up against the December night, the finest Folk choir in the country harmonising beautifully, there are sparkles and woolly hats and an expectant hum that there will be magic again.
It can only be the Downend Folk & Roots Christmas shindig. The best way to usher in the festivities imaginable.
As is now traditional, HEARTWOOD CHORUS start things off. Thirty-two voices in perfect harmony, gently tearing the wrapping paper from a longed-for gift. The Wexford Carol ebbs and flows, layers upon layers as voices surge, exultant, towards the heavens. Homeless Wassail may not be traditional but its message is clear, a simple wish for some dinner, a bed and a warming fire. The contrast in the voices always stunning, subtle variations that throw fireside colours across Christ Church Downend.
Johnny Flynn and Robert Macfarlane's The Sun Also Rises is simply exquisite. Those voices rise to meet the sun, rise to meet the moon, they are as warm, as welcoming, as the winter sun on your face. Finally, Three Harks is a familiar carol with an unfamiliar tune but is wholly glorious. If only every choir could sound like this one, worship would be an entirely different thing.
A WINTER UNION have been over this way before, bringing their celebration of wintertime to Downend in 2021, they are warmly welcomed back. They are made up of Ben Savage, Hannah Sanders, Jade Rhiannon, Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts, each one an incredible musician in their own right, each with their own voice, their own song to sing.
The songs are, obviously, mighty festive. They open with Ding Dong Merrily on High, Sanders and Rhiannon angelic together as the guitars of Savage and Roberts chime. Katriona Gilmore's violin is simply glorious. It's all heavenly sky, bright, stirring and golden. It is the sound of sweet fresh air. The Holly and the Ivy is country tinged, Rhiannon singing, Sanders and Gilmore harmonising, a dulcimer reflecting back the light as if so many mirrors had been scattered there.
There are wassails and cover versions. The Band and Townes Van Zanndt are dutifully paid homage, trees are praised, cider discussed, Sanders bends the knee to Joni Mitchell’s The River and Roberts gets all angry and socialist on Robb Johnson’s Boxing Day.
It is, however, the original songs that are most affecting. Gilmore’s Every Midnight Mile is the Christmas song that should issue from every radio in the land. Forget Carey, forget Rea, this is the one that offers hope and love, offers peace and redemption. If her violin is extraordinary (and it always is), then her voice is even better. It’s comforting and welcoming, as sleepy as it is wide-eyed. It is the voice of a Christmas Eve fireside. With the dobro of Savage and Gilmore's mandolin, it is a refuge in the darkness.
Ben Savage shows his gleeful, childish side on A White Christmas Somewhere, where a small child wishes for snow everywhere, all winter long. His dobro gives a winter-y tale country tassels, Rhiannon's voice a fuzzy, velvety blur. Mandolin and bells the sleigh-bound tinkles that Savage’s inner-child is so desperate for.
It is, once again, Katriona Gilmore that squeezes the heart on Raise a Candle. Her song reminds us that Christmas can be a tough time, that some of us struggle. She also, crucially, reminds us that we are not alone. The swoon of the female voices is wonderful, utterly transporting. If this is the loneliness of Christmas then it is hard not to embrace it, not to fall in love with the gentle contemplation. As the friends gather around a single microphone so the wintertime despair disappears.
All that is left is a storming Jethro Tull cover and a beautiful counting song. By the end Downend is giddy - too many sherries, too much egg-nog - and Sanders thinks that if you can't count along then you shouldn't drive. She's probably right, but by the end the end the whole of the audience is so full of the Christmas spirit, so infused with yuletide joy, that walking on the air is the only sensible option anyway.
Words: Gavin McNamara
Photos: Barry Savell
Photos: Barry Savell
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Our festive concert has seen some incredible lineups take to the stage, but the one that local music lovers have kept talking about is A WINTER UNION, and the Christmas folk supergroup return to South Gloucestershire on Friday 13 December, for a concert that will also be live-streamed around the world in partnership with LIVE TO YOUR LIVING ROOM.
Five leading lights of the British roots scene join forces to create a festive folk band like no other. Expect soaring harmonies and exquisite musicianship as the five-piece blast through a repertoire of brand new, specially written songs, fresh arrangements of traditional carols both well-loved and little-known, and seasonal classics from both sides of the Atlantic.
Originally formed in 2015 for a one-off yuletide concert, A Winter Union have gone from strength to strength in the following five tours, and are now fast becoming thought of as the pre-Christmas knees-up for folk & roots lovers all over the country. The band, which features members of The Willows, Gilmore & Roberts and Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage, have gone on to play the likes of the Great British Folk Festival, Cecil Sharp House and were invited for a live session on BBC Radio 3’s inTune. Put on your glad rags and come and raise your voices with A Winter Union!
Opening the evening, in what has recently become another Downend Christmas tradition, will be HEARTWOOD CHORUS, the Bristol-based folk choir that have changed the local choir seen beyond recognition with their quality.
Made up of a mix of professional and amateur musicians, Heartwood Chorus have been wowing audiences since they got together in 2020, quietly building a reputation on the Bristol folk scene for high-class performances. They sing original arrangements of traditional songs, as well as their own versions of contemporary classics, sometimes with pathos, sometimes with humour and all in beautiful harmony. After opening for Lady Maisery at the Bristol Folk Festival, Lady Maisery’s Rowan Rheingans called them “brilliant.” They will be bringing a set of winter songs which will range from the quietly serene to the thoroughly rousing.
Tickets for the concert, which takes place at Christ Church Downend on Friday 13 December 2024, are available online HERE and from MELANIE'S KITCHEN in Downend (cash only). They are priced at £18 each in advance or £20 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 mulled wine, cider, soft drinks, wine, hot drinks and real ale from locally-based 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.
For those that can’t make it to Downend, or miss out on tickets, this concert will also be live-streamed in partnership with LIVE TO YOUR LIVING ROOM, so you can watch from the comfort of your own sofa! Head to livetoyourlivingroom.com for more information on live-stream tickets.
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 or YOUTUBE.
CLICK HERE TO BE ADDED TO THE WAITING LIST OR TO BUY LIVE-STREAM TICKETS
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There are those that will tell you that live music is struggling, that people just don't go and see gigs since Covid. Those people should have told the packed house for GRANNY’S ATTIC at one of the best folk clubs in the country. Downend was heaving, with hundreds of people only too pleased to welcome one of the UK's finest trios back to South Gloucestershire.
Granny’s Attic have, unbelievably, been going for fifteen years. Over that time Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, George Sansome and Lewis Wood have made themselves into one of the most reliably excellent folk bands in the country.
Their first set is, more-or-less, made up of new ones taken from two of their more recent albums, The Brickfields and Wheels of the World. Whilst they might be new recordings, they're hardly new songs. The Ship in Distress, Lovely Joan and Jack the Sailor are all from the trad cannon but Granny's Attic re-energise all three. Braithwaite-Kilcoyne's voice carrying with it echoes of folk clubs from years gone by, Sansome's just as strong, just as pure. Melodeon, guitar and Wood's fiddle seamlessly meshing together to help tell the old tales.
Braithwaite-Kilcoyne's concertina is fabulous on Wheels of the World, matched only by Sansome's wonderfully exuberant acoustic guitar as they build towards one of the best choruses of the evening. The harmonies, once again, absolutely spot on.
The Devil's Arch is an instrumental and sees the three of them crouched together, plotting and scheming, making danceable magic. Odd Thoughts/James’ Maggot sees the pace slowly increase until, as the first half ends, all three are bouncing with glee.
That feeling of glee spills into the second half too. Royal Oak is a set of tunes that Wood wrote when he was seventeen but they are as fresh and manic as they've ever been. A demented country dance ensues as each band member tries to out-do the others with ever-more ridiculously moves. Eventually Braithwaite-Kilcoyne falls over, much to Sansome’s amusement. These are three friends simply having the best time, playing music that they clearly love.
Another tune by Wood, After the Floods, is dedicated to the people of Valencia and is a stately, gentle waltz. Guitar, fiddle and concertina are respectful and restrained. Away to the South'ard sees an outbreak of audience swaying and, finally, Paddy on the Railroad has all three members, and a decent amount of the audience, bouncy, dancing and clapping.
To start things off, accordion virtuoso HEATHER FERRIER played a short set of wonderfully danceable, impeccably groovy folk tunes. Circles takes off at break-neck pace, Ferrier's fingers unbelievably nimble as they buzz over buttons and keys. While there are strong echoes of trad tunes in her playing, she is also innovative and questing, pushing her instrument to be more versatile, more expressive than it has any right to be.
A paean to her favourite cake, Lemon Drizzle, sees her gazing at the sky in wonder, while carefully picking her way through the greenwoods. Apple One, taken from her latest EP, is full of clever twiddly bits and a bass-y hum while Northern Frisk smashes together a church-organ depth, lightning-fast fingers and a delightful nod at the dancefloor. Ferrier is seriously brilliant.
If there’s one band that will get people out of their houses and into folk clubs then it is Granny's Attic. Fifteen years young and as much fun as it's possible to have.
Words: Gavin McNamara
Photos: Barry Savell
Photos: Barry Savell
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