Manchester Folk Festival First Artists Announced

Manchester Folk Festival Announces programme for October 2022 including Grace Petrie, Lady Maisery, The Longest Johns, The Magpie Arc, Thea Gilmore, Will Varley and a very special Irish partnership

Manchester Folk Festival announces the first wave of artists for 13th to 15th October 2022. Now in its 6th year, the festival returns once again to its hub at HOME with shows at 02 Ritz and new for 2022, The Blues Kitchen, with further venues to be announced in April.

Artists announced today include Grace Petrie, Lady Maisery, The Longest Johns, The Magpie Arc, Thea Gilmore and heading up an Irish partnership for 2022 Daoirí Farrell Trio and Moxie.

The festival is run by English Folk Expo as an international showcase for English Folk and acoustic artists. Each year 180 music industry delegates join Manchester audiences to see the most exciting artists based in England.

After a successful first time in 2021, The Festival Club also returns. Taking place at HOME from 11pm – 1am each night (Thurs, Fri, Sat), the Festival Club presents 3 of the best emerging folk artists nightly.

Thursday 13th October sees our 5th Manchester Folk Festival open in HOME’s Theatre 1 with a very special double bill from The Magpie Arc and Lady Maisery. The Magpie Arc brings together five very established folk musicians; Nancy Kerr, Findlay Napier, Tom Wright, Alex Hunter and Martin Simpson, to mix their song-writing styles and musicianship in a full-on electric band. A further three well-established folk musicians make up the multi award-winning Lady Maisery. Hazel Askew, Hannah James and Rowan Rheingans weave together a rich palette of sounds with their unique approach to harmony singing, intelligent and thoughtful arrangements of both traditional repertoire and original compositions.

Over at The Blues Kitchen on Thursday night, Grace Petrie returns to Manchester Folk Festival fresh from fresh off 2022 major tours with Hannah Gadsby and The Guilty Feminist. Protest singer Grace’s show features songs from her UK Top 40 2021 album ‘Connectivity’.

Following on from the success of 2021, we once again bring our Festival Club to the first-floor restaurant in HOME. Starting on the Thursday night and running from 11pm – 1am each night of the festival, the bustling club atmosphere is the perfect way to finish off your night at Manchester Folk Festival whilst being treated to three of England’s up and coming folk artists.

After releasing two successful, but very different albums in 2021, ‘Afterlight’ and ‘The Emancipation of Eva Grey’, Thea Gilmore headlines HOME Theatre 1 on Friday 14th Oct with special guest (and the first of our Irish partnership artists) Clare Sands whilst Theatre 2 sees the second of our Irish partnership artists Moxie bring their signature sound which has been described as “a swirling, almost cinematic sweep through the global electronic and acoustic landscape” by The Irish News.

Gigs on Saturday include our continued partnership with Ireland with a headline show from BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winner, Daoirí Farrell Trio. Sea shanty superstars The Longest Johns take to the stage at HOME’s Theatre 1 on Saturday night whist The Drystones promise ‘big bad beats for badass barn dancing’ in Theatre 2 before Hannah Moule and the Moulettes push what can be done with a traditional chamber ensemble, playing steel string Guitars, Cellos, Viola, Piano, Violin, Harp, Nyckelharpa (Swedish keyed fiddle) Percussion and singing close harmony vocals.

Over at the 02 Ritz Will Varley makes a welcome return to Manchester Folk Festival playing songs from his 2021 album ‘The Hole Around My Head’.

33 further artists will be announced next month.

Audiences can make a day or weekend of it by taking advantage of 15% off tickets when buying for 4 or more concerts via HOME’s box office.

A very limited number Manchester Folk Festival passes are also still available to purchase. The pass give you access to all Manchester Folk Festival gigs happening between 13th & 15th Oct (T&Cs apply).

Manchester Folk Festival is produced by English Folk Expo in partnership with So It Is and HOME, and is funded by Arts Council England and Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Tom Besford, Chief Exec of English Folk Expo:

“Manchester is one of the best places in the world to enjoy live music and I'm proud that the folk festival is able to highlight the very best of our city and the wider English folk, roots and acoustic music scene. At Manchester Folk Festival it's possible to see the very best in everything this broad genre has to offer, from well-established acts to incredible new artists, whether it's indie/alt/acoustic, internationally inspired or finger-in-your-ear trad, there's something for everyone in the programme this year.”

English Folk Expo and Manchester Folk Festival are proud to be in our 4th year with Keychange: a global network and movement working towards gender equality in the music industry.

About Manchester Folk Festival:

Established in 2017 as development of Homegrown festival in Bury, Manchester Folk Festival takes place over 4 days in venues around the festival hub venue, Home Manchester. The festival attracts over 2,500 audiences annually attending concerts in venues including Home, 02 Ritz, Gorilla, Yes, Comedy Store and Bridgewater Hall. Previous artists have included Billy Bragg, Afro Celt Sound System, Tom Robinson Band, Will Varley, Eliza Carthy, John Smith, Tunng, The Unthanks, Kate Rusby and This is the Kit.

“Manchester – this is some fucking folk festival!” Billy Bragg

About English Folk Expo:

English Folk Expo (EFEx) is a charity and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation which supports the English folk, roots and acoustic music sector through a variety of projects and initiatives including the annual Manchester Folk Festival and its parallel industry showcase attracting music buyers and programmers from across the world and generating over £2m spend on artist live bookings from each event (source: the hub). It also runs an annual artist mentoring programme, hosts an online platform of resources for fans, artists and industry, collaborates with export organisations across the world on initiatives including Global Music Match and produces The Official Folk Albums Chart with The Official Charts Company. www.englishfolkexpo.com

FULL DETAIL AND TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM MIDDAY, 17 MARCH 2022 - Visit www.manchesterfolk.com