Sam Carter and Jon Wilks Double Bill

Sam Carter returns with a tour of intimate venues, previewing material from his fifth studio album, which is due for release in 2024.
Over the course of his fifteen-year career, Sam has earned a reputation for vivid, narrative-driven songwriting as penetrating as Richard Thompsons best work (Uncut). A highly regarded instrumentalist to boot, Sam is renowned by many as the finest English-style fingerpicking guitarist of his generation (Jon Boden) and has been described as having a killer voice by Ivor Novello- winning musician Nitin Sawhney.
His impressive back catalogue and captivating live shows attest to his ability to bring together a diverse set of influences from English folk song and American shapenote singing through to hard rock. Sam has made appearances on national TV, won a BBC Folk Award, and has toured the world, sharing stages with some of folks leading lights, including Richard Thompson, Eliza Carthy, Martin Simpson and Nancy Kerr.
Jon Wilks is a singer, songwriter and acclaimed fingerpicking guitarist whose work is rooted in English folk traditions, memory, and place. Described by The Quietus as being at the centre of the current folk scene, he began by exploring traditional songs from Birmingham and the wider Midlands, releasing two regionally focused albums: Midlife (2018) and Up the Cut (2021). Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost (2023), was named Folk Album of the Month in The Guardian, and his latest, Needless Alley (2025), marks a shift toward original, autobiographical songwriting. If youre looking for a thread, he says, maybe its the way we carry the past with us, whether we mean to or not. For me, the album is a patchwork of memories what youd find if you rummaged around in my head for an afternoon. A former journalist for Time Out, The Guardian, and Dazed & Confused, Wilks brings a sharp storytelling sensibility to his songwriting and stagecraft. He founded and was the original editor of Tradfolk.co, and has been featured regularly on BBC Radio 2s Folk Show. He performs both solo and with his occasional band, The Grizzly Folk.