WELCOME TO SOHO FOLK
AND BLUES

2024 saw the long awaited new album from Gren Bartley. Two years in the making, “Unfold” expands further and deeper into the cinematic folk genre. Somewhere between R.E.M.s Automatic for the People and Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left, Bartley has found something entirely of it’s own mind.  Gren Bartley is part of the future of melodic songwriting. Forever evolving and adapting, and with unmatched guitar work, he is a modern day troubadour, using his influences from older folk and world music traditions, to create truly astounding records. He brings something new and unique to his audience. He is an artist not to be missed.

Back when Greg Brice played the pubs, clubs and bars of the West Midlands he’d often find some of the toughest audiences you could imagine hanging on his every word within a few bars. His intricate fingerstyle guitar and strident electric slide connected in the raw and immediate way that only proper roots music can. And that voice – clear as a bell, powerful and pure.  Now, in the hush of the UK’s Blues and Americana clubs it’s the quality of his song writing that’s capturing people’s imagination. Within just days of launching his debut album crowdfunding campaign, those lucky enough to have already discovered him came out in force. They knew something that the rest of the UK Blues scene will soon realise – that Greg Brice is a proper talent.

Bird in the Belly is a Brighton-based Folk group consisting of folk-duo Hickory Signals (Laura Ward and Adam Ronchetti), alt-folk singer-songwriter Ben Webb (Jinnwoo, Green Ribbons), and multi-instrumentalist and producer Tom Pryor. Together they collect little known and forgotten lyrics, poems and stories from around the UK, and set them to their own “hypnotically original compositions”.  Their sound is raw and bare-boned with “distinctively contemporary and earthy vocalising” (R2 Magazine) – and harks back to the 1960’s Folk Revival sound. Their debut album ‘The Crowing’ (March 2018, GF*M Records) was met with critical acclaim, the Sunday Express giving the album 5/5 and calling it folk album of the year.

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, poet, Abi Budgen is an artist in the deepest sense of the word, her work a beautiful explosion of everything that makes us human.  Abi’s innovative musical style is born of a lifetime’s love and study of traditional blues and gospel music, of which she is also an internationally respected teacher.  Also a well-loved voice in the Birmingham poetry community, Abi’s work has been published by Verve Poetry Press in anthology ‘Eighty Four’. She has recently collaborated with legendary Birmingham band The Destroyers performing her poem ‘The Wave’ with them both live and on their latest album, ‘Argonaut’.  Abi is frequently accompanied by long-time collaborator Dan Wilkins on drums and percussion.

Sara Milonovich is an alt-country singer, songwriter, and fiddler from upstate NY, who along with guitarist Greg Anderson, delivers a heady harvest of fiddle-driven original Americana roots music that captivates audiences with atmospheric, powerful storytelling; words that paint poignant scenes, and melodies that linger long after the last listen. They will be performing songs from their most recent album, ‘Northeast’, as well as previewing music from their forthcoming 2026 album.