Arthur Coates & Kerran Cotterell på Wiese

Arthur Coates & Kerran Cotterell are a two-man trad tornado tearing through the folk world with foot percussion,fiddle, guitar, vocals, and groove to spare.

Kitted out with grooving basslines, tight harmonies, and offbeat charm,they’re just a couple of lads with a tangle of strings - yet they somehow summon the sound and swagger of a muchbigger band.

Their music blends original compositions with tunes and songs they’ve found in the wild, deliveredwith harmonies, tall tales, and a streak of serious silliness.

Their shows mix clickety clacks, plucks and strums,with easy repartee and sharp turns - every piece crafted to keep toes tapping, faces smiling, and the whole roomleaning in.

It’s groove, grit, and guaranteed good times.Musically, they straddle tradition and invention, bridging the folk archive with a fearless modern edge.

Sometracks glisten with clean lines and elegant harmonies - crystalline structures that shimmer in the light ofcontemporary trad.

Others veer gleefully off course, hopping on the blues train for a whistle-stop tour of theQuébécois folk line.

One moment it’s reels and foot taps, the next it’s jazz chords, pop turns, and grooves that couldjump the track and land somewhere between Vulfpeck and Le Vent du Nord.

Arthur, a fiddler raised inAberdeenshire, builds rolling, riff-heavy tunes grounded in his family’s musical traditions and shaped further bystudies with Jonny Hardie (Old Blind Dogs).

Kerran, a melodic schemer from Cumbria, draws on pop and choraltraining to weave in crisp harmonies and satisfying twists.Since first meeting at Sidmouth Folk Week in 2018 (one of them tipsy - you can guess who), Arthur and Kerranhave grown from pub jam sessions to becoming festival favourites across the UK.

As broadcaster Mike Blackburnput it: “One of the very best live acts I’ve ever seen - and I’ve seen a lot!” They’ve earned repeat invitations andenthusiastic followings at events like Sidmouth Folk Week, the UK’s longest-running folk festival; Purbeck Valley,known for spotlighting rising talent; and Edinburgh’s Scots Fiddle Festival, a cornerstone of Scotland’s traditionalmusic scene.

Their growing profile has also reached international audiences, with a 2024 tour of Québec andOntario and a standout set at Festival Trad Montréal, one of Québec’s premier traditional music events.

In 2025,they were named winners of the Robinson Emerging Artist Showcase at the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival,Canada’s leading pan-Celtic celebration.

With performances in 2025 at the prestigious Shrewsbury Folk Festival,as well as FolkEast and Aberdeen’s Tall Ships Races, they’re quickly becoming one of the most talked-about actson the circuit.After charming critics and crowds with their last album Music for Cows (2024), Arthur and Kerran have tradedpasture for pyrotechnics.

Their latest record, Controlled Burn (released February 2026), leans hard into originalmaterial - with foot-stomping grooves, driving tunes, and a few tracks that come in smoking hot.

The name? It wasinspired by chance encounters, good times on the road, and possibly a barbecue on Lake Huron - but that story’sfor another time.

As Folkworld put it, their sound is “powerful and dark, fresh and fun” - and this time around,they’re striking the match on something bold, strange, and entirely their own.

Expect trad turned sideways,storytelling with soul, and grooves that smoulder, spark, and occasionally catch fire