Three artists from the Front Room Songs roster have been selected to showcase at this year’s Manchester Folk Festival, which runs in tandem with the English Folk Expo.

Nina Harries, The Nightjar and Young Waters will all play over the course of the conference and festival, which takes place between the 19th and 22nd October in Manchester.

English Folk Expo is a platform for the world’s music industry to experience the wealth of English folk music talent, showcasing a new generation of young, daring and skilled artists alongside iconic artists, some of whom first took to the stage in the original folk revival of the 1960s,

Manchester Folk Festival is an urban folk festival that puts a spotlight on English folk, in all its guises. With its roots firmly in the traditions of the past, it has its has its eyes on the future. The festival line up includes some of the biggest names in the industry alongside the stars of the future. Performances will take place across the stages of HOME and nearby venues, including Bridgewater Hall, Gorilla, The Ritz.

Details of performance for Nina Harries, The Nightjar and Young Waters to follow.

St Patrick or the Pagans? An interactive comedic banquet exploring Ireland’s pagan roots and the true story of St Patrick with live music from Honeyfeet.

Eschewing latter-day St Patrick’s Day clichés, this night offers revelers a radical alternative to shamrocks, green hats and Guinness. Guests will be invited to take a journey of exploration through Ireland’s pagan roots and the true story of St Patrick in an evening of immersive performance, feasting and live music, all in the stunning setting of Hackney Round Chapel.

Whose side will they take? The pagans and the witches? Or will they give St Patrick the chance to prove his divine powers and banish the snakes forever?

And will they dine in heaven, hell or in purgatory? Or maybe even join St Patrick at his holy table.

An explosive night of performance, comedic storytelling and music, combined with an Irish themed menu designed and prepared by Masterchef quarter-finalist Ingrid Wakeling.

Performances will include musicians from the recent Union Chapel Burns Night sell-out smash ‘Band of Burns’, Honeyfeet, along with actors from Glastonbury’s biggest secret, the Piano bar.

The banquet will be followed by a hoe-down-in-an-Irish-town party with live music from the legendary Honeyfeet.

Friday 17th March, Hackney Round Chapel, London. Tickets available from Design My Night

“Haunted folk with a stark, phantom-like feel, the group fuse skeletal arrangements with a powerfully literate lyrical sense” – Clash Music

The launch of The Nightjar‘s debut LP ‘Objects’ will showcase the band as a vibrant collective of multi-disciplinary artists and celebrate the value of collaboration. The Nightjar, in partnership with artists Paul Blakemore and Anna Barrett, present a night of sound, light projections and film.

‘Objects’ came into being in the autumn of 2015, when the band relocated to a farmhouse in rural Portugal to begin recording what would become their first full-length offering. The limitations of their equipment and the remoteness of the setting proved to be fertile, creative conditions; leading not only to the raw honesty and directness of the songs, but also a body of artworks, including photography, film and animation.

The Nightjar are supported by The PRS Foundation.

Tickets available here

Front Room Songs is teaming up with Time Out Live to present a night of some of the very best emerging talent on the folk and roots scene.

Taking place at the iconic Jazz Cafe, Camden, on 24th January, the night features a stellar line up of featuring self-taught guitarist Ruth Theodore; Bristol based experimental folk act The Nightjar; Whiskey Moon Face, Bath Folk Festival ‘New Shoots’ winners Snowkin (formerly known as Snufkin); and double bass playing singer-songwriter Nina Harries.

Tickets available from https://www.timeout.com/london/shop/event-time-out-live-presents-folk-roots-jazz-cafe

Brooke Sharkey was named today as one of The Guardian’s Future 50 rising stars.

Not yet 30, Brooke Sharkey already has more than a decade’s worth of performing across the UK and Europe under her belt and a very accomplished second album in Wandering Heart. File her under folk if you have to, but her distinctive sound and strong narrative skills bring to mind Regina Spektor, French chanteuses such as Juliette Greco (her own French upbringing means she sings in both languages) or even Tom Waits – a live highlight is her stripped-back version of The Briar and the Rose. The sparse fragility of Sharkey’s music and her intimate delivery mean that it gives up its charms slowly, but very surely.

The accolade is yet is another milestone for Brooke, whose new album ‘Wandering Heart’ garnered widespread critical acclaim and a packed out UK album launch at London’s Jazz Cafe last month.

Brooke recently signed to V2 Benelux and will support French artist Tété at Café de la Danse in Paris on 29 November. More UK and European dates for 2017 will be announced soon.

To mark the end of their epic month-long UK tour with Frank Turner, Felix Hagan & the Family will play a special one-night-only headline show at the Camden Assembly on Thursday 15th December.

Felix Hagan & the Family are a seven-piece beast made of makeup, hairspray and rock and roll. They fuse punk, rock, pop and musical theatre into a seamless, high-energy blend of genres, all held together by masterful musicianship and an outrageous desire to entertain.

Plaudits have come from the likes of Ray Davies, Tom Robinson and folk-punk legend Frank Turner. After seeing them live, Frank invited them to play a high profile support slot, saying “Within 30 seconds of them taking the stage, I was sold, a total convert, a newly-signed- up member of the cult.”

“Wow!” Tom Robinson – BBC 6Music

“It feels like the only live music you’ll ever want to hear again” God Is In The TV

Support will come from Jingo. Streamlined songwriting, amplified rawness, artfully implemented melodies deservedly draw attention to the kind of band they are: serious musicians brimming with promise. Egoless instrumentals and cascading percussion together with distinctive and devoted vocals scream Warpaint with a Portishead shade.

Buy a ticket, do some warmups, cover yourself in glitter and see you there.

Presented by Front Room Songs in association with Discovery Talent

For a full list of dates for their support tour with Frank Turner, visit www.frank-turner.com/live-gigs/

Tickets for the London show available from Eventim

The full line up for the next London Remixed Festival, London’s finest celebration of the best emerging talent, has been revealed.

Organised by Global Local, the power houses behind Glastonbury’s legendary Shangri-La stage, the festival will take place on 3rd-4th February 2017 at Rich Mix in Shoreditch. Expect remixed sounds from ghetto funk, drum and bass, reggae, anarchic hoedown, latin breaks, brass band hip hop, electro-afro music, balkan beats, folk remix, electro swing, tropical bass, afrobeat + more.

This year’s headliners include Beating Heart + Afriquoi (DJ set), Gypsy Hill ft Koby Israelite, and The Elephant Sessions from Scotland.

Front Room Songs, on behalf of legendary underground East London music promoter Woodburner Music, is providing the line up for the Folk Ghetto in partnership with Two for Joy Music. Confirmed to appear are Elephant Sessions, Ruth Theodore, Faith i Branko, Screamin’ Miss Jackson and Nina Harries.

Tickets available here

Lo-fi post folk outfit The Nightjar will play The Nest Collective‘s Unamplifire Festival on 26th November.

This is the second Unamplifire from Mercury-nominated singer Sam Lee’s Nest Collective. Unamplifire is a celebration of world wide roots music, performed fully acoustic in beautiful, characterful settings. This one will take place in St Mark’s church in Dalston.

The Nightjar join the line up with some of the most exciting artists making folk, roots and acoustic music in the UK and beyond, from legendary guitarist/singer Martin Carthy, to the innovative new sounds of Cosmo Sheldrake.

Tickets available here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/unamplifire-festival-2-tickets-26707058531

Brooke Sharkey’s new album, Wandering Heart, received yet another fantastic review, this time courtesy of Acoustic Magazine.

“Brooke’s got a lovely way of wrapping herself around a lyric, her voice a sensuous instrument that rises and falls like an incoming tide..it’s all strangely beautiful…”

Brooke is supporting Everything But The Girl’s Ben Watt at The Haunt in Brighton this Sunday (23 October) ahead of her album launch at the Jazz Cafe in Camden on Thursday 27 October.

Tickets available here http://thejazzcafelondon.com/event/brooke-sharkey-27-10-16

‘Who Knows for Tomorrow’, a track from Brooke Sharkey’s forthcoming album ‘Wandering Heart’ was played by Gideon Coe on BBC6 Music last night.

Listen here at 2h39m.

Brooke will launch her album at the Jazz Cafe in Camden on Thursday 27 October. Tickets available on WeGotTickets