Sam Carter and Jon Wilks Double Bill

Event information

Midlands-born Sam Carter is a BBC Folk Award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist renowned for his lyrical storytelling, which Uncut described as being “as penetrating as Richard Thompson’s best work”. For over 15 years, he has been stirring audiences from Camden to Canada, from major festivals to intimate clubs. Carter’s expressive fingerpicking led Jon Boden of Bellowhead to call him "the finest English-style fingerpicking guitarist of his generation," while Ivor Novello-winner Nitin Sawhney has praised his "killer voice."

With a discography that spans six solo albums and two releases with the folk-rock band False Lights, Carter’s music reflects a blend of traditional English folk, shape-note singing, and rock. Notable highlights in his career include a spellbinding performance on Later… with Jools Holland, where he played songs from his shape-note-inspired album The No Testament alongside renowned fiddler Sam Sweeney.

Sam Carter’s spring tour celebrates the release of The Oakham Poacher (2025), his first solo collection of traditional songs; some captured on record for the very first time. The EP highlights Carter’s distinctive fingerstyle guitar and storytelling flair, arriving soon after his acclaimed album Silver Horizon (2024), a Top 40 Folk Chart success and one of KLOF Mag’s Albums of the Year.

Sam Carter’s live performances are nothing short of captivating, filled with the raw honesty, humour, and skilled musicianship that underscore his standing as one of contemporary folk’s brightest talents.

Jon Wilks is a singer, songwriter and acclaimed fingerpicking guitarist whose work is rooted in English folk traditions, memory, and place. Described by The Quietus as being at the centre of the current folk scene, he began by exploring traditional songs from Birmingham and the wider Midlands, releasing two regionally focused albums: Midlife (2018) and Up the Cut (2021). Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost (2023), was named Folk Album of the Month in The Guardian, and his latest, Needless Alley (2025), marks a shift toward original, autobiographical songwriting. “If you’re looking for a thread,” he says, “maybe it’s the way we carry the past with us, whether we mean to or not. For me, the album is a patchwork of memories — what you'd find if you rummaged around in my head for an afternoon.” A former journalist for Time Out, The Guardian, and Dazed & Confused, Wilks brings a sharp storytelling sensibility to his songwriting and stagecraft. He founded and was the original editor of Tradfolk.co, and has been featured regularly on BBC Radio 2’s Folk Show. He performs both solo and with his occasional band, The Grizzly Folk.

Doors at 7pm, music at 7:30pm.