Music
Every Friday night we showcase quality LIVE music from established and up-and-coming acts. Doors open at 8pm.
"..the Grain Barge is hot on The Theklas heels for nailing some of those local musicians on the cusp of stardom. Bristol 24-7
MAY
 SAM AMIDON
Friday 24th May ~ 8pm
£10 Adv tickets available from Bristol Ticket Shop or Grain Barge
We're extremely happy that critically acclaimed SAM AMIDON will be playing an intimate duo show to support his new album "Bright Sunny South", which is released on May 14th through Nonesuch Records. An independent folk artist from Vermont, Sam is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist (most notably The Fiddle, Banjo and Guitar) and unconventional arranger who has performed all over the globe and collaborated with (his wife) Beth Orton, Bill Frisell and Nico Muhly, amongst many others.
It would be incredibly silly to miss this. It's very very likely to sell out so get your tickets early.
Here's some things other people have said about Sam...
"His interpretations are so singular that it stops mattering how (or if) these songs existed before - all that matters is that they exist now" - Pitchfork
"It's official Sam Amidon has burnt everything to the ground. It smells good, now that the rain has come. I can see the tips of blades rising" - Justin Vernon (Bon Iver)
+ DAN MICHAELSON
"your ears naturally tune into Michaelson's skill at putting words to the parts of relationships that usually stay silent. The cruel asymmetry of romance is addressed exquisitely, recalling the resigned grandeur of the Go-Betweens' Robert Forster " **** The Times
 ALASDAIR ROBERTS & OLIVIA CHANEY
Monday 27th May ~ 7.30pm
£7 Adv tickets available from Bristol Ticket Shop (with Booking Fee) or Grain Barge
Alasdair Roberts is a musician/artist based in Glasgow, Scotland. He was born in Germany in the late 1970's of mixed Scottish and German parentage. Between 1995 and 2001 he fronted the band Appendix Out, which released three full-length albums on Drag City Records. Since 2001 he has released several albums under his own name on Drag City Records, all featuring a broad array of fellow musicians.
Primarily a singer and acoustic fingerstyle guitarist, his work consists of the interpretation and arrangement of traditional ballads as well as the writing and composition of new songs which draw extensively on the traditional musical and folkloric stock of Scotland and beyond, among other sources.
'It's a long time since balladry has sounded this vital and primordial' Uncut
One of Britains most singular and original talents Colin Irwin, fRoots
Olivia Chaney has been described as a 'quintessentially English Joni Mitchell'.
Olivia studied voice and keyboard at Chethams and the Royal Academy of Music. She then taught herself guitar and harmonium and has since created her own sound as a song-writer. As a songstress of great power and magnitude, she is increasingly in demand. She has toured internationally both as a solo artist and lead singer/collaborator with Zero 7, Trembling Bells, The Unthanks in venues from Glastonbury to the Royal Opera House and New Yorks Webster Hall.
+ NINETREE STUMBLERS
Old time string band from Dan Weltman (Snails, Hollowbody), Liam Kirby (Boxcar Aldous Huxley) and Gaby Maas (Stornoway).
 HOWLIN' LORD
Friday 31st May ~ 8pm
£5 Adv tickets available from Bristol Ticket Shop (with Booking Fee) or Grain Barge
"In keeping with the spirit of Hank Williams, bleak, broken and classy."
**** Venue Magazine
"This my friends is the real thing.. Howlin' Lord have all the cards in their hands anyway, multi-instrumentalists, killer song writing, perfect yearning cracked vocals that punch out in an all directions undefeated and ready to take on all comers..Together they have made a debut album which many bands would be proud to have as a career highlight. "
Jonathan Aird - Americana UK
"It is said that in order for music not to become stagnant and die, it must reinvent itself so as to progress, and here we have a major reinvention. HOWLIN' LORD come from Bristol and this, their debut album, falls within the country music genre, but it goes beyond that, harnessing some of the punked up energy that was apparent in American bands like The Gun Club.¨In 'Gold Fury', Howlin Lord have produced a classic album, with some of the best and inventive music and lyrics for a while. Only once every couple of years does a debut come out which paradoxically is both stunning in its simplicity and in its complexity."
Nick Browne - Whisperin & Hollerinm
JUNE
 ANNETTE BERLIN
Friday 7th June ~ 8pm
£5 Adv tickets available from Bristol Ticket Shop (with Booking Fee) or Grain Barge
Annette Berlin are ready. Here it is. Come and party with us!
Local girl-boy art post grunge punk duo Annette Berlin are launching their debut album 'The Playground' with support from french/anglo punk funk girls The Veees (single out on Bristol's Invada label) and DJ Shake Appeal (Spinning groove ridden hiphop / punk / guitar / noise / analogue nonsense OR Rock n Roll, Rockabilly, Surf, 60's garage! Be surprised).
 ANT NOEL & THE PEABODY DRAKES
Friday 14th June ~ 8pm
£5 Adv tickets available from Bristol Ticket Shop (with Booking Fee) or Grain Barge
8-piece foot-stomping, toe-tapping, pixie-dancing, folk-swamp-rock band from Bristol led by Jersey boy Ant Noel. Cajun folk can quickly turn into fist to air Springsteen style anthems with this incredibly dynamic, harmonic and powerful band.
"An eccentric gaggle of musicians" (Venue Magazine)
+ POOR OLD DOGS
Poor Old Dogs play songs about everyday fishmongers, questionable milkmen, tight-fisted estate agents and general weirdos, amongst other subjects; all folk songs to stomp to.
 GEORGIA RUTH
Friday 21st June ~ 8pm
£5 Adv tickets available from Bristol Ticket Shop (with Booking Fee) or Grain Barge
Raised bilingually in Aberystwyth, Wales, Georgia’s haunting voice has earned her favourable comparisons with the melancholy folk sirens of the late 60s. Her unusual harp playing was inspired more by the guitar on Bert Jansch, Meic Stevens and old folk revivalist records than by the classical method she was taught as a child.
She has performed at Glastonbury, Green Man Festival, SWN and several other festivals. She has been selected as an ‘MPFree of the day’ on the 6 Music Breakfast Show. BBC Radio Wales’ Adam Walton described her as “one of the most prodigious talents ever to grace my airwaves” whilst Huw Stephens deemed her In Luna EP (released on limited 10″ vinyl in 2012) “exquisite” on his Radio 1 show.
This Spring, she will be releasing her debut album - Week of Pines - on Gwymon Records. Recorded and produced by David Wrench over six days last August at Snowdonia’s Bryn Derwen studios, the record features members of acclaimed country-folk outfit Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog, and a very special contribution from Lleuwen Steffan. From the motorik drive of the title track, to the darker Eno-like string arrangements, the stark joyfulness of a Welsh sea shanty accompanied by wheezing reed organ, or the more wistful folk ballads: this is a varied and intriguing collection of songs.
+ MAHONEY & THE MOMENT
Mahoney & The Moment’ came together at the dawn of 2011 in New York City. They are London singer-songwriter Steve Mahoney, and Boston-born troubadour Emily Moment. Together they play melodic folk music "as wonderful as a baby's smile" with "an incredibly strong and unique sound". The Mahoney & The Moment live show is a fun, energetic and entertaining one that showcases their combined songwriting talent and musicianship.
+ ED CESAR
An astonishing voice, dynamic and dramatic, sweeps over inventive songsmithery. Think Rufus Wainwright and Nick Cave duets.
 RUCKUS COLLECTIVE
Friday 28th June ~ 8pm
£5 Adv tickets available from Bristol Ticket Shop (with Booking Fee) or Grain Barge
"Unique amongst local groups I’ve seen over the last few years, Ruckus Collective are a band that really make you move. No gimmicks, just a ferocious jazz-funk-rock fusion with a rhythm section that could drive any band. They have even the most apathetic of audience members tapping their feet; and most enthusiastic openly dancing - including a girl to my right almost rolling out of her hips.
Comparisons to The Red Hot Chilli Peppers are lazy; but built around solid bass riffs, and what sounds like (though probably aren‘t) improvised guitar ones, they do at times recall Tribute to Jack Johnson era Miles Davis. Add to that early Parliament, a dash of Dancehall, Hip-Hop, and some post-punk guitar work, and you’re closer to their sound.
Of course, none of this really matters nowadays when everything we listen to is hybrid. The important thing is that Ruckus Collective can’t be ignored. Even the guys on the fruit machines stop to listen."
– LiveMusicScene.co.uk
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