A gig held at The Jam Jar on Thursday 9th April. The event starts at 20:00.
MIKEY KENNEY
Mikey Kenney is primarily a respected fiddle player, singer, songwriter and composer from Liverpool, but he is also a multi-instrumentalist, often performing many of the parts on his recordings (on banjo, mandolin, guitar, melodeon etc).
Embracing duality, Kenney is very much the musical outsider artist; he is hailed by many as an important conduit of learning, conserving and handing down both English and Irish traditional fiddle music in England's Northwest (previously the musical director for the Lancashire Youth Folk Ensemble and currently the Vice-Chair at Comhaltas Liverpool) and yet he is constantly composing alternative and progressive music of his own with his last two releases Counsel of Owls and The Reverie Road receiving widespread acclaim (both 5/5 fRoots magazine).
For Kenney both of these releases serve as stepping stones in his artistic disciplines, as he seeks a way to use his knowledge of traditional fiddle music in his own compositions without compromising the integrity of either. Through direct experience, Kenney allows other musical forms such as psychedelia, bluegrass, jazz and Italian tarantella to seep into his music but never so far as to allow any one influence to dominate his deep love for traditional fiddle playing. The result of crossing these stones is his forthcoming work Tiny Little Light, set to be released in September 2025.
Tiny Little Light is, with the exception of two instrumentals, a collection of songs written around original fiddle tunes in keeping with traditional forms but progressive in their arrangement and instrumentation. Kenney considers it his finest work yet and the truest expression of a life devoted to his craft. He will spend 2025 celebrating this new material by performing it live accompanied by various ensembles including Michael Paul Metcalfe (drums), Awen Blandford (cello) and Andy Raven (guitar).
Aside from his reputation for his original work, Kenney is also very much in demand as a collaborator and session musician for his fiddle-playing and string arranging and has worked with the likes of: Vinicio Capossela, Alabaster dePlume, Katherine Priddy, Josephine Foster, Bex Burch, Band of Burns, Adam Beattie, Emily Portman, Dominie Hooper, Victor Herrero, Alessandro 'Asso' Stefana, Dan Haywood's New Hawks, Liverpool Céilí Band, Jon Wilks, Johnny Campbell and more.
“Mikey Kenney is an artist for whom music is a calling, not a career choice…a singular and inspiring talent... unfettered by expectations of geography or genre, and a wanderer of worlds both seen and invisible, Kenney is an authentic free spirit”. - 5/5 fRoots
"Superbly charismatic fiddle playing / once heard, never forgotten singing" - FRUK
“This is magical, medicinal music that defies labels and borders” - Liverpool Echo
ÂELLIN
Âellin is the project led by writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Siân Magill. A burgeoning musical force in the UK experimental folk scene, Magill’s songcraft is marked by a spirit of restless exploration and curious wonder.
Weaving together the acoustic instrumentation of a folk upbringing, synthetic granular textures and captured sound; Âellin forges new auditory worlds that embrace nonlinearity and experimentalism through narrative song and bold improvisation. Drawing on literary influences and rich intertextual layers, the project evokes themes of collective memory, dream states, and the unconscious realm.
ÂELLIN’s sonic environment traverses genres with a deeply textural sensibility. Expect an intricate blend of fingerstyle and jazz guitar, cello and violin strings grounded in the UK/Celtic folk and Hardanger traditions, double bass, deep sub-bass, beat-driven percussion, and an ever-shifting tapestry of augmented vocals and granular synthesis.
eartrumpet
Entry requirements: 16+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio
Mikey Kenney is primarily a respected fiddle player, singer, songwriter and composer from Liverpool, but he is also a multi-instrumentalist, often performing many of the parts on his recordings (on banjo, mandolin, guitar, melodeon etc).
Embracing duality, Kenney is very much the musical outsider artist; he is hailed by many as an important conduit of learning, conserving and handing down both English and Irish traditional fiddle music in England's Northwest (previously the musical director for the Lancashire Youth Folk Ensemble and currently the Vice-Chair at Comhaltas Liverpool) and yet he is constantly composing alternative and progressive music of his own with his last two releases Counsel of Owls and The Reverie Road receiving widespread acclaim (both 5/5 fRoots magazine).
For Kenney both of these releases serve as stepping stones in his artistic disciplines, as he seeks a way to use his knowledge of traditional fiddle music in his own compositions without compromising the integrity of either. Through direct experience, Kenney allows other musical forms such as psychedelia, bluegrass, jazz and Italian tarantella to seep into his music but never so far as to allow any one influence to dominate his deep love for traditional fiddle playing. The result of crossing these stones is his forthcoming work Tiny Little Light, set to be released in September 2025.
Tiny Little Light is, with the exception of two instrumentals, a collection of songs written around original fiddle tunes in keeping with traditional forms but progressive in their arrangement and instrumentation. Kenney considers it his finest work yet and the truest expression of a life devoted to his craft. He will spend 2025 celebrating this new material by performing it live accompanied by various ensembles including Michael Paul Metcalfe (drums), Awen Blandford (cello) and Andy Raven (guitar).
Aside from his reputation for his original work, Kenney is also very much in demand as a collaborator and session musician for his fiddle-playing and string arranging and has worked with the likes of: Vinicio Capossela, Alabaster dePlume, Katherine Priddy, Josephine Foster, Bex Burch, Band of Burns, Adam Beattie, Emily Portman, Dominie Hooper, Victor Herrero, Alessandro 'Asso' Stefana, Dan Haywood's New Hawks, Liverpool Céilí Band, Jon Wilks, Johnny Campbell and more.
“Mikey Kenney is an artist for whom music is a calling, not a career choice…a singular and inspiring talent... unfettered by expectations of geography or genre, and a wanderer of worlds both seen and invisible, Kenney is an authentic free spirit”. - 5/5 fRoots
"Superbly charismatic fiddle playing / once heard, never forgotten singing" - FRUK
“This is magical, medicinal music that defies labels and borders” - Liverpool Echo
ÂELLIN
Âellin is the project led by writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Siân Magill. A burgeoning musical force in the UK experimental folk scene, Magill’s songcraft is marked by a spirit of restless exploration and curious wonder.
Weaving together the acoustic instrumentation of a folk upbringing, synthetic granular textures and captured sound; Âellin forges new auditory worlds that embrace nonlinearity and experimentalism through narrative song and bold improvisation. Drawing on literary influences and rich intertextual layers, the project evokes themes of collective memory, dream states, and the unconscious realm.
ÂELLIN’s sonic environment traverses genres with a deeply textural sensibility. Expect an intricate blend of fingerstyle and jazz guitar, cello and violin strings grounded in the UK/Celtic folk and Hardanger traditions, double bass, deep sub-bass, beat-driven percussion, and an ever-shifting tapestry of augmented vocals and granular synthesis.
eartrumpet
Entry requirements: 16+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio
Other folk gigs
— The Mount Without
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