Two days of traditional folk, Americana, folk rock, bluegrass and everything in between, all live and free in the Tuesday Market Place. From 10:30am until 5pm each day.
Folk in the Town returns to King’s Lynn for a sixth time on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 July 2023.
Richard Tree from KL1 Radio will be compere on both days and it will be streamed by West Norfolk Radio.
More about some of the artists
Man The Lifeboats
Man the Lifeboats play raucous, upbeat folk music, for those who like a drink with their tunes. This London five-piece use an array of instruments to craft songs with big choruses that tell stories.Formed in the wake of a blistering Skinny Lister gig back in 2016, Harvey, Rich, Sam, Aaron and Dan have taken their shared love of straight-up lyrics, lilting mandolin and fiddle melodies and stomping beats and created a sound that would not be out of place at a party at the end of the world.Influences? Well, up there with Skinny Lister we have the Pogues, Bellowhead, Waterboys, Tom Waits, Dylan, Springsteen, Frank Turner, Holy Moly & the Crackers, and of course, Chic.Throw all that in a cauldron and you end up with a blistering live experience, tales of lost evenings, ballads of doomed love and shanties about whisky-soaked nights, Michael Palin, and the end of the world.Tonic for these troubled times.
The Fried Pirates
Purveyors of fine traditional and acoustic songs & music, the Fried Pirates, based in West Norfolk, began playing together since 2012 and have now evolved into the 5 - piece lineup of Adrian, John, Sharon, Chris and Roger, with guests dropping in occasionally. They vary their very extensive set list of upbeat traditional songs and tunes, modern songs, original material, bluegrass and Americana to suit the venue and their audiences. Having sold out their first EP and selling their CD ‘Sailors, Strumpets,and Scallywags’ as far afield as California they are about to go into the studio to record their this album. Featuring mandolins, bouzouki, banjo, harmonica, flute, whistles, melodica, percussion, guitar and vocal harmonies they can be seen at festivals, busking and concert gigs around East Anglia and beyond. Join them for a foot tapping singalong event.
Adam Clarke
Adam Clark plays traditional music with guitar, banjo and voice. After three decades of performing, recording and writing with various bands, exploring the rich traditions of American folk and bluegrass (The Cobbler Bob String Band and The Corncutters), West Africa (with Sefo Kanoute), and his own songwriting (Nobodaddy), his focus is now on folk music with links to his native Norfolk and the British Isles.
He is interested in songs that explore themes of our relationship to the natural world, our land and each other. He says “for years I couldn’t find a way into the music of the country I live in, but since the pandemic, something has shifted; I feel deeply drawn to the songs and tunes of my ancestors in Britain and Ireland, songs that have been survived because they may carry deep wisdom and knowledge that can help us face the challenges of the 21st century…or just tell a good story.”
The Tildens
The Tildens are a rock band in a tea cup, or possibly a folk band in a whiskey bottle.
Playing a mix of original songs and covers. The Tildens are a long established West Norfolk band playing a mix of folk/country rock with original songs and covers. The trio has recently added drums and bass for those rockier venues.
Americana meets Jansch with a dash of the Wurzels.
The Larks
The Larks, Liz Miller and Chris Wilbraham, a duo based near Bury St Edmunds, use guitar and mandolin to compliment their voices, as they call on a wide range of influences and experiences to entertain their audiences. The Larks met in the Bear pub in Beyton where locals gathered to sing songs. They started a regular music night there whilst honing their own skills. Over years they have played in festivals, pubs, clubs and theatres around East Anglia.
Their original songs can be populated by mermaids, nightingales and vampires and have been known to describe a lifeboat disaster or warn of climate change.
Issy Smith
“I’ve been singing at open mics and events since I was about 13 years old. I’ve always loved music, especially singing, so I feel really lucky to be able to perform for everyone at folk in the town. My style is more Modern/ indie folk as opposed to traditional folk, so you’ll hear quite a few songs you mights not know! Along side my solo singing I’m in a duo called ‘Songbird and the crow” where I sing more party style songs, and I’m currently playing “truly scrumptious” in Watlington players current musical, showing in October, of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. so if you’d like to see me again I’d love to see you there too!”
Ouse Washes Molly Dancers
Ouse Washes Molly Dancers have been performing the traditional Molly dances of the Fens since 1984. Based in Norfolk, UK, we regularly perform at major international festivals in the UK and beyond. Our powerful dances and mysterious stories from the depths of the Fens provide our audiences with a memorable experience! New members are always welcome to join us.
Although some of our very earliest dances were adapted from existing molly and morris dances, most of our dances have been inspired by the rich store of myths, legends and folk-tales to be found in the Fens of East Anglia. Old or new, our dances remain firmly rooted in tradition.
Banter
Banter are: Simon Care on melodeon, Nina Zella on keyboards & vocals, Tim Walker on drums, percussion, brass, vocals & dance calling and Mark Jolley on bass, fiddle, guitar & vocals.
Four fine musicians who’s roots are firmly in the traditional English genre, but who enjoy stretching the limits.
Formed in 2015, they realised that a common love for the living traditions of English song and dance music was at their core and began to pursue it’s evolution, bringing in flavours from a wider palette of musical influences.
They have gained a reputation for being powerfully unique in the English traditional music genre. Their popularity grew rapidly, placing them in great demand to perform at many of the UK’s largest festivals including: Glastonbury, Cambridge Folk Festival, Broadstairs Folk Week, Sidmouth Folk Festival, Whitby Folk Week, Folk East, Oxford Folk Week, Wickham Festival, Gate To Southwell Festival and Towersey Festival as well as internationally at European festivals.
Although just four people, they create a huge sound and have been described as the world’s smallest big band.
Peddars Way
North-West Norfolk based group with a shared interest for country music. Many self-penned original songs.
Alden and Patterson
Christina Alden & Alex Patterson are multi-instrumentalists and songwriters from Norwich. Their music is rich with intertwining harmony, sensitive accomplished musicianship and a creative song-writing style that is both delicate and moving. Deeply inspired by the world around them, they have a keen environmental eye to craft stories with the natural world at its heart, reflecting on the relationship between humans and the wild.
They have enjoyed touring extensively in the UK and Europe; including a twenty-three-date concert hall tour with Show of Hands (including Union Chapel and St. David’s Hall Cardiff), a show at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall for Celtic Connections, headline and main stage performances at some of the UK’s most prestigious folk festivals and performances in Norway, Belgium, France and Ireland. They have written and self-released four albums, composed music for a BBC Radio 4 documentary series and have had over a million streams on Spotify.
Different Accents
Different Accents are a band that have been together for around about 10 years but have been getting together in sessions for many years. The band consists of Banjo, Dobro, Guitar, Mandolin and upright bass.
Our main love is Bluegrass and Country with a splash of folk and blues. All members of the band have been playing for over 30 years individually and love to make good music together.
Sharp Folk
Sharp Folk are a new three piece outfit based in central Norfolk. Anto Morra (PunkFolkers) on vocals and guitar, John Dollery (Fried Pirates) on cajon harmonica and harmony vocals and John Lawson (Don’t Spook The Horse) on bass guitar. Their first and only show to date at Folk On The Pier festival in Cromer in May this year. Never scruffy ‘All style and no substance’ is their mantra and the music is an eclectic mix of Punk, Folk, Pop with more than a little Ska, Roots, Rock Steady influence.
Chris Moore
Chris Moore is a guitarist and singer with a particular interest in interpreting traditional folk songs. His music brings energy and vibrant guitar arrangements to both the old songs and his own songwriting. Over the years he has acquired a broad range of musical influences, from folk musicians such as Richard Thompson, Nic Jones and Bellowhead, and the worlds of blues, jazz and classical music.
Chris has been playing music in various settings since his early teens. During his time studying music at Bangor University, Chris played in several bands, including as a bass player in a jazz trio and blues / rock band and lead guitarist in a progressive rock band. This was also the time that he started to develop his interest in interpreting traditional songs.
Chris's Album 'Old Roots and New Shoots' is available on download from Bandcamp and on CD.
The Browns
The British folk and mid-century song-writing duo, The Browns, specialise in acoustic music that spans more than half a century. Known for their harmonies, they perform an eclectic mix of songs from a range of genres. When performing their own songs, The Browns engage listeners with tunes that are soulful, dynamic, with haunting lyrics, and performed with energy and enthusiasm. Regular performers at at local pubs, festivals and events around Norfolk and are looking forward to opening Folk in the Town on Sunday.
Annie Brown (vocals, harmonies, guitar and percussion) and Vernon Brown (vocals and guitar) have been writing, singing and performing together for 5 years. They first met at a school dance in Bedford in 1977, but lost touch after the dance and didn’t connect again for 38 years until 2015. Things went well between them and they married in 2017!
Their set lists are strongly influenced by the music they listened to with their friends and families as they grew up, and include popular songs from the 1960s and 1970s spanning all the way through to the 21st century.
The King’s Morris
The King’s Morris was formed in 1978 performing Cotswold Morris dances from many traditions across middle england.
The King’s Morris present dancing tours in North-West Norfolk on bank holidays, and on some Friday evenings in Summer we dance outside local village pubs. On the second Sunday in September we invite several other dance teams to join us for massed Morris in King’s Lynn (as part of Heritage Open Day). Like many other teams we perform on Boxing Day to mark the “re-discovery” of Morris dancing in 1899 by the folklorist Cecil Sharp. And we take great pride in presenting the traditional King’s Lynn May Garland on May Day.
The dancers outfits consist of white shirts and trousers, and light grey top hats. Their baldrics, bellpads and hat ribbons are in the King’s Lynn town colours of blue and yellow. We wear the old heraldic shield of the town, showing three dragons’ heads, on our baldrics. Our musicians perform the traditional dance tunes on fiddle, melodeons, accordion and pipe-and-tabor.