On this page we will bring you details of the artists we have booked and links to buy tickets.
30th anniversary year
Doors open at 8pm and the music starts at 8.30.
Please note that for gigs at The Great Northern Railway Tavern, this is an upstairs pub room and not wheelchair accessible.
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Adam Beattie
February 14
With support from The Blinkin’ Buzzards
£20
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Adam Beattie makes his debut at the Kalamazoo – and, it must be said, not before time!
This brilliant London-based Scot has been captivating audiences everywhere for 20 years with his gentle, haunting songs of love and loss.
Superlatives come thick and fast for an artist steeped in the folk tradition of his homeland and who is a proud member of 12-piece supergroup Band of Burns, an international ensemble casting a new light on the work of Scotland’s national poet.
“Incredibly beautiful,” said BBC Radio6 Music’s Mary Anne Hobbs. “Fantastic,” said Bob Harris and the verdict from Loud and Quiet magazine on the latest of his five acclaimed solo albums was “mesmeric.”
Just describing him as a singer-songwriter doesn’t come close. As Americana UK puts it: “Beattie’s arrangements, finger-picking acoustic guitar and distinctive vocals make short work of any such labelling as he throws jazz and blues into the folk mix and produces songs of great originality drawn from experience and observation of the human condition.”
The Errol Linton Band
March 14
With support from The Blinkin’ Buzzards
£20
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Three times winner of the British Best Harmonica Player of the Year Blues Awards, Errol Linton is a harmonica wizard from Brixton (of Jamaican descent), a singer, a songwriter, a painter and the hero of the London Underground, where he played his unique and highly original blend of blues with hints of reggae for 20 years! Following the release of his critically acclaimed 3rd album, Mama Said in 2011, his songs can now be heard on national and regional BBC radio and Jazz FM. Brixton born and bred, Errol funded the production costs for his latest album from busking for over 15 years and blends Chicago style blues with his Jamaican and London roots. But he’s playing much bigger gigs now and has supported Dr John and Screaming Jay Hawkins.
Martin Carthy
April 11
with support from The Blinkin’ Buzzards
£30
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Image by Jon Wilks
Lifetime Achievement Award – BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2014
For more than 50 years Martin Carthy has been one of folk music’s greatest innovators, one of its best loved, most enthusiastic and, at times, most quietly controversial of figures. His skill, stage presence and natural charm have won him many admirers, not only from within the folk scene, but also far beyond it.
Trailblazing musical partnerships with, amongst others, Steeleye Span, Dave Swarbrick and his award-winning wife (Norma Waterson) and daughter Eliza Carthy have resulted in more than 40 albums, but Martin has only recorded 10 solo albums, of which the much anticipated Waiting for Angels (Topic TSCD527) was the latest. Whether in the folk clubs (which he continues to champion), on the concert stage or making TV appearances (he was the subject of the acclaimed `Originals’ music documentary strand on BBC 2) – there are few roles that Martin Carthy hasn’t played.
He’s a ballad singer, a ground-breaking acoustic and electric-guitarist and an authoritative interpreter of newly composed material. He always prefers to follow an insatiable musical curiosity rather than cash in on his unrivalled position. Perhaps, most significant of all, are his settings of traditional songs with guitar, which have influenced a generation of artists, including Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, on both sides of the Atlantic.
`Arguably the greatest English folk song performer, writer, collector and editor of them all’ Q Magazine
‘Carthy is a master of the ballad of substance, songs that tell stories, whether they are traditional, his own or from contemporary writers.’ The Telegraph
Michael Messer and Chaz Jankel Trio, featuring Andy Crowdy on bass
May 9
with support from The Blinkin’ Buzzards
£20
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Slide guitar supremo Michael Messer with Blockheads legend and multi-instrumentalist Chaz Jankel. It doesn’t get better than this!
The pair have known each for 40 years but it wasn’t until a phone chat four years ago and the suggestion of a jam that it all came together. And how! The result was the acclaimed “Mostly We Drive” – “an exhilarating album of original songs with mesmerising grooves,” said Rough Trade.
” A gem of an album,” said At The Barrier. “Copious servings of blues and a healthy chunk of Blockheads-like funk.” The careers of these master musicians had gone down different paths after they met in the days when the Blocks and Ian Dury were storming the land. But the pair are beside themselves with excitement about the new project.
“There is a cross-over point where our different musical orientations chime and here it is,” says Chaz. “The songs are SO good to play.”
“A wonderful experience,” says Michael. “We were pulling each other in different directions and hopefully producing good music along the way.”
Michael and Chaz are joined by Andy Crowdy on bass.
The Black Feathers
June 13
With support from The Blinkin’ Buzzards
£20
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If you were of the belief that The Black Feathers are named because of their love of dark humour and the smooth blending of harmony, you’d be wrong.
If you were told that the name is more concerned with recognition of their gentle souls, a predilection for dark clothing and the sonic tumult of the plethora of (mainly US) progressive-metal bands doing mega-business around the world in the 1990s and beyond, you might doubt those who said so, but they would be accurate.
You’d be wrong as to the name, BUT you would be utterly correct that the sonic architecture of their lyrics and musical composition takes its imperious scope from a love of blended vocal harmony and idiosyncratic guitar shapes.
Americana to some, folk to others, The Black Feathers have those qualities in expansive quantity.
Sian Chandler’s soaring, dramatic, melodious but powerful voice is a perfect counterpoint to Ray Hughes’ piquant vocals and his sparkling and occasionally spicy guitar motifs. This is a duo who love what they play and play what they love with panache, humour, delight and rather a lot of commentary on the downside of being a human.
Seeing and hearing them will leave you with a smile on your face and a glowing heart of delight. You might not think that is possible when you’ve just spent some time hearing the themes of the songs they lay before an audience but it is testament to their sunny dispositions, infectious laughter and amused self-deprecation that you can only come away from a gig feeling a whole heap better about yourself and life.
“…stunning harmonies that were so good it reminded me of seeing Gillian Welch and David Rawlings” No Depression.
“It is so rare an opening act rival the main performance but that is exactly what the
seamless harmony singing Black Feathers achieved.” Jumpin’ Hot Club.
“The pure emotion and subtle timing of their song delivery is as evident as the enjoyment radiating from their onstage chemistry.” 3 Chords and the Truth.
Christine Collister
September 6
With support from The Blinkin’ Buzzards
£20
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Christine’s career now spans an incredible 40 years! Over that bridge of time she has released 24 albums … a DVD celebrating 20 years in the business and a single with the BBC : the theme tune for “The Life and Loves of a She-Devil” in 1984.
Throughout, she has mesmerized and astounded with her unique blend of soul, blues, pop, jazz, country and folk, and today she remains as powerful, subtle and effortless as ever.
‘..so much soul you think she’d been signed by Motown’ – Q
Solo albums recorded over the past decade or so have seen her convincingly interpret Smoky Robinson, Nick Drake, Robert Wyatt, Tom Waits, Paul Simon, U2 and Lal Waterson, amongst many others – whilst her own self penned or cowritten compositions have developed in depth and expression.
“Christine Collister can sing the birds down off the trees and send them back with a tiny flick of her vocal chords.” Mojo
Clive Carroll
October 10 2025
With support from The Blinkin’ Buzzards
£20
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