Folk Club logo The Black Swan Folk Club

Club Programme

Following last season's successful trial using online bookings for guest artist nights at the Black Swan Inn we are now continuing to make these available.
Go to www.wegottickets.com and search under venue "York Black Swan" and you will find a list of forthcoming events or click on the links in the listings below.
Note that there are separate entries for Full Price and for Concessions for each event.
They charge you a simple 10% commission on the face value of your tickets and send you a booking reference rather than physically posting a ticket, meaning you can book until 6pm on the day of performance.
Please note that this new scheme only applies to club guest nights. Early Music Centre concert tickets will continue to be handled by the NCEM Box Office (with a few available for sale through the club as well), while Singers Nights will continue to be "pay-on-the-door" only events.

Doors open at 8pm each Thursday, 7pm at the NCEM.

All concerts Club guests Special Events Singers Nights
11th Mar Singers & Musicians Night £2.50 / Concs. £1.50 / Perf. £1
All acoustic performers are made welcome, and listeners besides, at our popular Open House session. The more the merrier, so do come along

 

18th Mar Dana & Susan Robinson £8 / Concs. £6.50
www.robinsongs.com
A fifth visit by two of our favourite American troubadours, still combining traditional US folk songs with evocative original numbers deeply rooted in that same heritage. Rich, intimate harmonies are supported by Dana’s powerful guitar and fiddle playing and Susan’s delicate mountain banjo sound. “Rural America explored with elegant simplicity” said one critic.
Buy Tickets:www.wegottickets.com/event/68683
Concessions:www.wegottickets.com/event/68684

 

22nd Mar (NCEM Concert) Uiscedwr £13 / Concs. £11 BOOKING OPENS JANUARY
www.uiscedwr.com
This phenomenal trio has been one of Britain’s most exciting small bands ever since winning the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award in 2002. Featuring founder members Anna Esslemont on fiddle and vocals and Cormac Byrne (of Seth Lakeman band fame) on virtuoso bodhran and percussion, they produce some of the most innovative modern “folk” music you’re ever likely to hear. Exhaustingly energetic and thrillingly open-minded, they draw on classical, rock, world and jazz influences, tearing apart hoary old folk stereotypes while retaining the respect, admiration and affection of folk’s traditional base. Underpinned by the driving guitar and bass playing of guest musician Nick Waldock, this power trio promises a night you won’t forget in a hurry. Support from York's singing harpist SARAH DEAN - the "incredible string blonde".
Buy Tickets:www.ncem.co.uk

 

25th Mar Emily Slade £6 / Concs. £5
www.emilyslade.co.uk
After a seven-year, three-child “maternity break”, this delightful singer is making a limited return to live performance. We’ve been fans ever since she took part in one of our first Young Performer events, so it is our pleasure to bring her back to York for an evening of superlative vocal work, deft guitar accompaniment and mature songwriting.
Buy Tickets:www.wegottickets.com/event/68685
Concessions:www.wegottickets.com/event/68686

 

1st Apr Pete Morton £6 / Concs. £5
www.petemorton.com
Pete is one of Britain’s most distinctive songwriters and a skilled interpreter of other songs, whether traditional or modern, English or international. We’ve admired his work ever since his first visit over twenty years ago. His stage presence is dynamic and intense yet approachable and amiable, delivering songs that speak of the human condition from a unique perspective.
Buy Tickets:www.wegottickets.com/event/68687
Concessions:www.wegottickets.com/event/68688

 

8th Apr Edwina Hayes £6 / Concs. £5
www.edwinahayes.co.uk
This very special local singer and songwriter is a real treasure. This winter she supports Nanci Griffith on her UK tour. Nanci says: “a wonderful young woman so gifted and full of song, with a voice as sweet as the angels” and we can only agree wholeheartedly.
Buy Tickets:www.wegottickets.com/event/68689
Concessions:www.wegottickets.com/event/68690

 

15th Apr Singers & Musicians Night £2.50 / Concs. £1.50 / Perf. £1
All acoustic performers are made welcome, and listeners besides, at our popular Open House session. The more the merrier, so do come along

 

16th Apr (NCEM Concert) Breabach £13 / Concs. £11 BOOKING OPENS JANUARY
www.breabach.com
Breabach are one of the most inventive and diverse young bands to have sprung from the Scottish folk scene in recent years. Their huge sound is dominated by the twin bagpipes of Calum MacCrimmon and Donal Brown. This uncompromising force is complemented by the extraordinary fiddle playing of Patsy Reid and is further supported by the charismatic yet propulsive guitar of Ewan Robertson, named BBC Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician of the Year in 2008. Patsy and Ewan both add vocals to the mix, while Donal also step-dances. From foot-stomping reels to their heart-warming delivery of songs, Breabach combine enviable musicianship with a delightful ability to connect with their audience, qualities which are steadily gaining them an international reputation. Support from a very fine expatriate Scottish singer and songwriter, WENDY ARROWSMITH.
Buy Tickets:www.ncem.co.uk

 

22nd Apr Bruce Molsky £9 / Concs. £7
www.brucemolsky.com
Last seen in York in thrilling concert with Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny’s Mozaik, Bruce is one of America’s top folk musicians, playing fiddle, guitar or banjo and singing too. He is closely identified with Old-Time Appalachian music, but takes on board influences from Delta blues to the haunting modal strains of Irish music to the rhythmically nimble sounds of Eastern Europe.
Buy Tickets:www.wegottickets.com/event/68691
Concessions:www.wegottickets.com/event/68692

 

29th Apr Skyhook £7 / Concs. £6
www.skyhookmusic.com
The music of Cath James, Martin Harwood and Eoin Teather is characterised by breathtaking twin fiddles combined with sublime guitar, bouzouki and voice. Shifting seamlessly between driving dance music and spine-tingling songs from Scotland, Ireland and North America, this Sheffield threesome plays with a joy and precision that is hard to match. A very welcome York debut.
Buy Tickets:www.wegottickets.com/event/68694
Concessions:www.wegottickets.com/event/68695

 

6th May Clive Gregson £8 / Concs. £6.50
www.clivegregson.com
A happy return for this acclaimed guitarist, singer and songwriter whose career spans early group Any Trouble, Richard Thompson’s band, the sublime Christine Collister partnership and work with Eddi Reader, Boo Hewerdine et al. Clive lives in Nashville nowadays, comes up with one fine song after another, and happily still finds time to tour small British venues like ours.
Buy Tickets:www.wegottickets.com/event/68698
Concessions:www.wegottickets.com/event/68699

 

13th May Singers & Musicians Night £2.50 / Concs. £1.50 / Perf. £1
All acoustic performers are made welcome, and listeners besides, at our popular Open House session. The more the merrier, so do come along

 

20th May Eddie Walker £7 / Concs. £6
www.eddiewalker.net
This great guitar picker, singer and all-round entertainer is one of our perennial favourites. Eddie performs a seamless blend of old blues, rags and hillbilly numbers, traditional and modern British and American folk songs, guitar instrumentals and original pieces. Top notch stuff!
Buy Tickets:www.wegottickets.com/event/68702
Concessions:www.wegottickets.com/event/68703

 

27th May Will Kaufman presents: Woody Guthrie - Hard Times & Hard Travellin' £6 / Concs. £5
www.myspace.com/willkaufman
Prof. Kaufman has won widespread praise for his Guthrie shows. Here he sets Woody’s songs in the context of Depression Era America, performing such hard hitting numbers as Vigilante Man and Pretty Boy Floyd and highlighting the mixture of music and radical politics that marks Guthrie's most powerful work.
Buy Tickets:www.wegottickets.com/event/68704
Concessions:www.wegottickets.com/event/68705

 

3rd Jun Dan McKinnon £7 / Concs. £6
www.danmckinnon.ca
We’ve really taken to this warm-hearted Nova Scotian on his two previous visits. He fits the Canadian mould of excellently written and strongly sung original songs about real people past and present (think Stan Rogers through James Keelaghan to Tanglefoot) while also slipping in some choice traditional material and modern covers. Thoroughly recommended.
Buy Tickets:www.wegottickets.com/event/68706
Concessions:www.wegottickets.com/event/68707

 

5th Jun CITY OF YORK FOLK WEEKEND 2010 Free

 

6th Jun CITY OF YORK FOLK WEEKEND 2010 Free

 

10th Jun Singers & Musicians Night £2.50 / Concs. £1.50 / Perf. £1
All acoustic performers are made welcome, and listeners besides, at our popular Open House session. The more the merrier, so do come along

 

17th Jun Anna Shannon £6 / Concs. £5
www.annashannon.co.uk
Details tba

 

24th Jun Archie Fisher TBA
www.myspace.com/archiefisher
Details tba

 

1st Jul Singers & Musicians Night £2.50 / Concs. £1.50 / Perf. £1
All acoustic performers are made welcome, and listeners besides, at our popular Open House session. The more the merrier, so do come along

 

8th Jul My Sweet Patootie TBA
www.mysweetpatootie.com
The new duo of former Tanglefoot members Terry Young and Sandra Swannell

 

15th Jul The Carrivick Sisters TBA
thecarrivicksisters.wordpress.com
Details tba

 

22nd Jul The Simon Hopper Duo TBA
www.simonhopper.co.uk
Details tba

 

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