Cellar Upstairs folk club

Traditional music and song 

in central London 

Monday evenings at 8pm

Information: E-mail cellarupstairs@aol.com or phone the organiser on 020 7281 7700

Programme from September to December 2025

2 June: Brian Peters is one of the English folk scene’s great all-rounders, a highly entertaining performer, a compelling singer and an outstanding multi-instrumentalist on squeezeboxes and strings. Well known for towering renditions of Child ballads and other songs from the English tradition, including a good few infectious choruses, he adds beautifully played instrumentals to a repertoire full of variety, fire and humour. Brian has played most of the major folk festivals in Britain, and works all over the world, including regular tours of the USA and several appearances at the Australian National Folk Festival.

9 June: Tamesas are a London-based female folk trio consisting of Emmie Ward, Kate Jones and Aimee Leonard, who have a wealth of musical experience, from Somerset to Orkney and sing traditional songs with bodhran, fiddle and flute. Tamesas play folk songs and tunes from all over the UK and beyond, and enjoy creating quirky arrangements with strong vocal harmonies and funky rhythms.

16 June: Tom Reid is an Irish songwriter who’s popular in London folk clubs. He was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, grew up to the sound of his mother singing, and can’t remember a time when he wasn’t singing himself. He writes powerful songs with highly singable choruses – I Want to Go Down to the Sea, End of the Line, Take a Chance and many others.

 
8 Sept: Jez Lowe: Not only is Jez one of the busiest live performers in the UK, but his songs are also among the most widely sung by other performers, including Fairport Convention, the Dubliners, the Unthanks and the Young Uns; he also sings with the Bad Pennies, the Pitmen Poets and other bands and groups; his songs include Coal Town Days, Durham Jail, Last Of The Widows, Old Bones, The Bergen and The Wrong Bus, which was included in Radio 4’s Pick of the Year shortly after it was written.

 
15 Sept: Jess & Richard Arrowsmith are singers and musicians (fiddle & melodeon) and well established on the traditional English music scene. They bring you powerful vocals, subtle accompaniments, lively tunes and a broad range of material that will have you laughing, weeping, tapping your feet and joining in the choruses. Jess’s self-penned songs have been performed and recorded by a range of other artists and are entering the tradition in their own right. Jess and Richard’s project in conjunction with James Fagan and Nancy Kerr as the Melrose Quartet earned them a nomination for best group at the 2014 BBC Folk Awards. Other projects past and present include Hekety, Glorystrokes, Crucible and Pecsaetan. 

22 Sept: John Kirkpatrick is one of the most prolific figures on the English folk scene, performing solo, in duos, acoustic groups and electric bands, and is known as an instrumental virtuoso (melodeon, Anglo concertina and button accordion) and songwriter as well as a leading interpreter of English folk song. He has been a member of the Albion Country Band, Magic Lantern, the Richard Thompson Band, Umps and Dumps, Steeleye Span and Brass Monkey, among others.

29 Sept: David Jones, originally from England and now living in New Jersey, USA, has a large repertoire of folk songs from both sides of the Atlantic. He has performed in North America, Britain, Australia and Europe, singing at festivals, concert halls, clubs, maritime museums and colleges, presenting songs from the great days of sail, music hall favourites, traditional ballads and the works of contemporary writers. He sings both a capella and with guitar accompaniment and involves his audience in refrains and choruses ranging from boisterous to sentimental. As well as performing solo, David sang with Heather Wood and Tom Gibney as Poor Old Horse, with Jeff Warner, Jeff Davis and Jerry Epstein as the Bermuda Quadrangle, and with Peter Marston and Charles O'Hegarty as the Starboard List, and he was a member of the Clearwater singing crew. He has also sung and recorded with Dan Zanes and friends, and his work with the guitarist Bill Shute led to the award-winning CD Widdecombe Fair.