Dan comes from Halifax Nova Scotia but manages to visit the UK most years, largely because so many clubs and festivals welcome his intelligent songs, excellent guitar and fabulous Canadian voice. Whilst training as a teacher Dan hitched to a folk festival and heard songs by Stan Rogers which so inspired him that upon Stan’s untimely death a few years later, Dan added many of the songs Stan had written to those he wrote himself about incidents from history and life in Nova Scotia. When he appeared at the Black Swan Club in York the reviewer praised “his gorgeous baritone voice and exceptional command of phrasing, light and shade”. His spots at Derby Folk Festival a year ago matched that review and we feel sure he will do the same at the Gladstone on 30 October.

Folking.com Soloist of the Year 2019, Reg Meuross is a true troubadour. The breadth and depth of his material is unparalleled in contemporary folk: songs about forgotten heroes, famous names, folk legends, the climate emergency, tales from the kitchen sink and news from the world stage; if something needs to be sung about then Reg Meuross has a song for it. Mark Radcliffe introduced Reg Meuross onto the BBC Radio 2 Folk Show as a “brilliant singer-songwriter and true troubadour with a social conscience”. And it’s not all protest, as well as story songs which bring characters from history to life and comment on life around him Reg also writes and sings some of the most heart-aching love songs ever written, performed with depth and spellbinding delivery. Reg has that rare gift of being able to touch people through his songs and performance, on a really human level, his words and music painting pictures that remain with the listener long after the song has been sung, accompanying himself masterfully on guitar and captivating audiences with his beautiful tenor voice.

BELLA GAFFNEY & POLLY BOLTON Bella is no stranger to the club having started her acoustic career several years ago at Bradford’s Topic Folk Club. She then came to Nottingham University for her degree where she formed her backing trio, Bric-a-Brac, two of whom Chris and Caitlin were recent guests in May. She writes folk inspired songs which she performs with her own arrangements of traditional pieces and won the Danny Kyle Award at Celtic Connections last year. She moved to York after jamming with the accomplished mandolin player, Polly Bolton in autumn 2017 and a great musical collaboration began leading to festival bookings both as a duo and a group called Bella, Polly and the Magpies. The organiser at Cambridge Folk Festival said they were “well- liked by the punters, a proper hit” which we can endorse from their performance last month in the main marquee at Warwick Folk Festival. Admission is only £4 for members and £6 for non members

Marc shared a guest spot at our club in January 2017 with Tina Taylor. At that time he was making regular solo appearances on the Nottingham folk and roots scene and also fronting a Trio called ‘The Breezes’. He has recently described himself as a “rootsy Radical Faerie singer of original and traditional songs in the folk idiom”. For about 5 years Marc was regular driver and accompanist to Roy Bailey up to Roy’s death last November, but since then has a new collaboration with a “wizard accordionist” called Simon Dumpleton from South Yorkshire. Marc has a lot of new material to perform, since he is close to completing a crowd-funder for his third album, following ‘Brisk & Breezy’ in 2016 and ‘The Hawthorn Spring’ in 2013. Wednesday 17 July should be a brilliant night!

The Shackleton Trio will be our next guests appearing on Wednesday 19 June. They play an exciting blend of folk, Americana and self-penned material. Georgia Shackleton writes and performs “wordy songs about other people”, accompanying herself on the fiddle, influenced by her strong roots on the border of Suffolk and Norfolk. The other members of the trio are Aaren Bennett, a powerful guitar player and mandolin ace and Nic Zuppardi, who brings influences from American and Scandinavian folk traditions. They have toured Belgium and the Netherlands as well as the UK and have appeared at Cambridge Folk Festival main stage, Folk East and Towersey Folk Festival. Their latest trio CD called “Fen, Farm and Deadly Water” has won a lot of bookings in the last year. Come and see this trio on Wednesday 19 June from 8.30 pm.

Chris Elliott and Caitlin Jones are additional guests appearing on Wednesday 29 May. We have had them before as half of Bric-a Brac and as a duo they perform a good mix of traditional and original songs and tunes. Chris plays guitar, bouzuki and fiddle whilst Caitlin plays whistle or flute and sings. They both have day jobs as teachers but have found time to produce their first duo CD called “Carry Me Home” which has helped them to a main stage slot at Shrewsbury Folk Festival at the end of August. Come and see this young duo on Wednesday 29 May from 8.30 pm.

Quiet Loner, known to the authorities as Matt Hill, is a songwriter, singer, and guitarist originally from Eastwood, now living in the Dark Peak. His most recent album, “The Battle for the Ballot: songs and stories from the fight for the right to vote”, is the result of a year spent as songwriter-in-residence at the People’s History Museum in Manchester. His previous three albums weave deftly between English folk and Americana, and between the political and the personal. He was one of the five founders of We Shall Overcome in 2015 and was so popular when he played at our charity event last October, with songs he’d written about local characters and places that we asked him back. More on http://www.quietloner.com/about/