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Folk Nights & Acoustic Music in Bristol

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Bristol's Folk & Acoustic Scene

Like jazz, folk is an extremely broad genre. From Joan Baez and Joanna Newsom to Bon Iver and the Fleet Foxes to Sheelanegig and Beirut, the folk field is vast. Fortunately when it comes to catering for such a broad spectrum of live music, Bristol excels.

Was folk & acoustic born in the West Country?

With local venues like Bristol Folk House and Bristol University Folk society, folk and acoustic music has a strong foothold in Bristol. The romantic images of a farmer chewing grass sitting on a hay bale is a West Country classic, English folk music has always thrived in the countryside. While Bristol isn’t as rural as its surroundings, music people have always flocked to Bristol from the surrounding areas, bringing the folk sound with them. So while folk music wasn’t born in the west country, it sure does have a home in Bristol.

Folk venues in Bristol
For off-centre Twee and Anti-Folk, be sure to check out what's on at the Louisiana and check the Lost Horizon listings. Cafe Kino and The Arts House both on Stokes Croft also host occasional anti-folk bands and solo musicians.

For less lo-fi and more straight up folk, key venues include: The Leftbank, The Lansdown in Clifton, The South Bank Centre and The Folk House.

For more feisty folk bands keep an eye on gigs at The Attic and check out our gypsy jazz listings.

The folk big-guns and pop-crossover 'stars' like Noah and The Whale, Seth Lakeman and Mumford and Sons will be found at the biggest Bristol Venues (Colston Hall, o2 Academy and St George's Hall). For these gigs, arrive early as big folk events (at St Georges Hall in particular) can come packaged with some great (and potentially better) support artists.

Buy tickets for folk & acoustic events in Bristol

Our recent folk & acoustic recommendations

Incendiary triple bill joining quantum dots between Ahmed’s crazed modal jazz swing, Skylla’s bewitching ECM inspired vocal works and Josephine Foster’s sublime baroque folkways. It’s the last event of Bristol New Music, and all musical boundaries have been left in tatters. أحمد / Josephine Foster / Skylla at Strange Brew.

A full bill of uncanny AV experimentalism as avant-R&B innovator Klein brings her tripped out free jazz gospel drone mutations along with Aho Ssan’s cinematic, glitch-distortions and spectral improv hypnotism courtesy of a new collaboration between Dali de Saint Paul and Maxwell Sterling. Essential FFO: Mica Levi, EP/64, KMRU, AD93. Klein / Aho Ssan / Penumbra at Bristol Beacon.

The last true original of outsider gospel, spiritualist folk blues and astral synth wonderment! Lonnie Holley heads an inspired and adventurous triple bill with Jules Reidy’s trance-like American dream-primitivism and Elaine Michener’s glossal vocal acrobatics. Essential FFO: Sun Ra, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Emeralds, Grouper, Diamanda Galás. Elaine Mitchener/ Jules Reidy/ Lonnie Holley at Bristol Beacon.

The world will burn, but at least we have some Schwet to look forward to. The cvlt obscurity-wave generator returns with the greatest flamenco coldwave artist on earth; Fiesta en el Vacio serves singularly icy drum machine balladry alongside smudged radiophonic dub-pop sensations Leyden Jars. Unmissable FFO: Anika, Tuxedomoon, Broadcast, Mordant Music, CS & Kreme, Voice Actor. Schwet return with an incredible triple bill of multi-lingual folk-synth, unique experimental pop, electro-acoustics, disembodied dub +++

What our editors say

“Following the release of his critically acclaimed new album The Light Fantastic, one of the country’s most underrated yet most loved singer-songwriters, John Bramwell will play six full band shows this November as John Bramwell & The Full Harmonic Convergence.”
From: John Bramwell & The Full Harmonic Convergence

“In their early years Bellowhead played to hundreds of thousands of people at festivals and on tour and were regularly lauded as “one of the country’s greatest live outfits.” After a hiatus, the band reunited for a joyous sold-out tour in 2022 which reaffirmed their status as one of the biggest and most in demand UK folk acts.”
From: Bellowhead

“Armed with a potent mix of magnetic stage presence and soulful vocals, West Yorkshire-based singer songwriter Jade Helliwell continues to enamour audiences with her authentic blend of pop-country melodies.”
From: Jade Helliwell 'How Love Goes' Acoustic Tour

“Affectionately known as ‘Superlungs’, singer-songwriter Terry Reid is world-renowned as one of the greatest rock and soul voices that the country has produced, and an integral figure within rock and roll history.”
From: Terry Reid

“Tom’s debut album went Gold in France in 2001, selling over 60,000 copies, and he has divided his time between Paris and Wiltshire since 2021. Says Tom: “I grew up being intrigued by classic French songs. Before streaming services made all music readily available, only the huge crossover pop songs made it across the channel, but while my friends were listening to Vanessa Paradis, I was listening to Serge Gainsbourg. It seemed exotic, adventurous, and to be from another planet, let alone a country only 21 miles away from my own.””
From: Tom McRae