Mockingbirds are Cath Harney and Pam Johnson. We both love singing and writing songs together. Although we both perform solo we seem to spend most of our time enjoying being ‘Mockingbirds’.
We’d both been singing and playing guitar and ukulele for years before getting together and realising how well our voices blended. Now we sing and play together as Mockingbirds whenever we can at local venues, open mic nights and charity fundraisers.
“Mockingbirds are a very vocal bird. They love to sing and often do it every evening throughout the year.”
Please note: start time of 8pm to finish at 10:30 pm
Please note: The Trials of Cato were due to perform tonight but due to an arm injury, on medical advice they have had to cancel (or postpone, anyway)
Topic Historic Photo Gallery Pictures from the 50s, 60s, 70s and more on the website in a single gallery here.
The Topic at 60 The view from 2016, by John Waller. This is not a comprehensive history - insteadJohn has put together a snapshot of the Topic as it is now, telling the story of how those currently responsible for the club's running came to be involved.
Topic Club Membership £5 a year from 1st January. That gives you £1 off concert tickets, and you can get more involved with running the club too if you are interested.
PS: CASTLE HOTEL Plenty of Topic regulars play and listen at the Castle Hotel in Bradford on Fridays - why not join them? April 26 - Barry Smith
Clicks since03-2-2004:
Apr 25
Róisín Bán
A predominantly Irish night with Róisín Bán, a band formed in the early months of 2013, now working as a 3 piece with the line up of Chris Dyson on fiddle, octave mandola & vocals, Paddy Heffron on melodeon, vocals & sean nos dancing , Gordon Tyrrall on flute, guitar, vocals. Bound to be good craic!
May 02
Singers and Musicians
A chance to sing a song or play a tune or just listen. Entry free.
May 09
Greg Russell
Possessed of an extraordinary voice that’s ‘full of character’ (The Telegraph), over the last 5 years Greg Russell has established himself as one of the most significant players on the U.K. folk scene. Playing guitar, bouzouki and singing, in 2013 he won the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award and in 2014 won the Horizon Award from the same source alongside Ciaran Algar.
Since 2016, Greg has also been involved in two critically acclaimed projects; The Transports (5 stars The Guardian) and Shake the Chains (4 stars The Guardian), the latter a project put together by Greg which included Peggy Seeger, Martin Simpson and many more.
Singing a mixture of original and traditional songs in 2017, Greg released his debut solo album Inclined to be Red, declared ‘a powerful statement’ (Acoustic), ‘excellent’ (RnR Magazine), ‘a splendid thing’ (Maverick) and ‘convincingly individual’ (fRoots).
May 16
The Dovetail Trio
Presenting England's traditional songs with a bold and fresh approach, The Dovetail Trio explores familiar narratives and modern themes with infectious energy and a passion for musical heritage.
Barnsley's Jamie Roberts is renowned for his narrative singing and driving guitar rhythms. In 2007 he joined folk quartet Kerfuffle with Hannah James and Sam Sweeney, and in 2013 was a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominee with duo Gilmore & Roberts.
Rosie Hood's pure voice and engaging performances are garnering widespread acclaim. With a keen eye on the history of the songs she sings, particularly those of her native Wiltshire, she has performed at a number of the country's leading festivals and folk clubs, and opened for the Cecil Sharp Project.
Multi-instrumentalist Matt Quinn has been playing the melodeon, mandolin and fiddle, and singing his way around the English folk scene for the last few years in various bands including Dogan & the Boombox Karavan, The Mighty Quinns and the Eliza Carthy Ceilidh Band.
May 23
Becky Mills
North Yorkshire solo singer-songwriter Becky Mills brings a uniquely personal and touching slant to the modern folk genre.
Listeners and audiences have characterised her touching, witty and evocative songs as “uplifting”, “heart-rending” and “sung from the heart”, and after 20 years on the circuit (including gigs at Glastonbury, Trowbridge and Cambridge festivals) she is a firm favourite with audiences large and small.
A close collaborator with Fairport Convention founder Ashley Hutchings, Becky has also worked with Pentangle, Fairport Convention, Barbara Dickson and Ken Nicol, as well as being a former member of acclaimed all-girl ensemble Waking The Witch. In 2013 she released her acclaimed solo debut album, “Dandelion”.
In 2019 she releases her new album, Tall Tales and Home Truths. Cut through with the superstitions, folklores and mysteries of the North Yorkshire moors she calls home, the album mines her family’s past to bring astonishing real- life stories to the listener’s attention. Myths, community tales, bonds and travails, all rooted in a magical sense of place, where the wild moors suddenly meet the sea and the promise of a potentially different life beyond...
“A storyteller of immense talent and imagination" – FATEA Magazine
"I don't remember when I was so amazed at a singer-songwriter's work ... she sings from the soul," - Mike Harding.
“I couldn’t take it off of the CD player. Cracking songs, lovely stories – just beautiful things” - Genevieve Tudor, BBC Radio Shropshire
"Becky Mills deserves far wider recognition for the unique talent she clearly is" – Nick Dent-Robinson
May 30
Jack Rutter
Still in his mid 20s, Jack Rutter (Moore Moss Rutter, Seth Lakeman band, Jackie Oates band) is a highly respected singer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist making music within the British folk tradition. The recent release of his debut solo album, which is a collection of eleven traditional folk songs, produced by Joe Rusby and recorded completely solo and live in the studio with no overdubs, has been received with across the board acclaim and recognition. Critics are praising his traditional style of singing ‘beautifully sincere, timeless and beguiling’ (Songlines), and playing ‘guitar, bouzouki or concertina accompaniments are beautifully constructed and played – never getting in the way of the song, but supporting and building it’ (The Living Tradition Magazine) that have come together to create Hills, an album which ‘takes him to a whole new level, quite simply outstanding.’ (★★★★ RnR Magazine).
Jack grew up in the Holme Valley area of West Yorkshire, a place steeped in a wealth of traditional song and since graduating from Newcastle University with a BSc degree in Countryside Management in 2014, he’s gone on to forge a hugely successful career playing music professionally in various guises across Britain and Europe. In this new solo outing, the BBC award winning musician delivers folk songs with a rich, unassuming Yorkshire charm and an easy going stage presence that gives a live performance which is ‘wonderful, pure and simple. The audience just falls head over heels for this man, and rightly so.’ (English Folk Expo)
A truly captivating singer of traditional songs, Jack Rutter’s new record feels like one of the classic folk albums of the 70s - Jon Boden
There's a refreshing integrity about its stripped-down values. What comes to the fore is the durable strength and beauty of the songs. - ★★★★★ Colin Irwin, fRoots
An astonishingly mature debut from this young folksinger; there is a heartfelt purity to his stripped-back approach.- ★★★★ Songlines
Jun 06
Singers and Musicians
A chance to sing a song or play a tune or just listen. Entry free.
Jun 13
Jez Lowe
Jez Lowe has long been one of the UK’s busiest folk performers, playing for audiences the world over, either solo, (with guitar, cittern and harmonica accompaniment), or with his band The Bad Pennies. As part of The Pitmen Poets (with Bob Fox, Benny Graham and Billy Mitchell), Jez has helped to rekindle the fire in the tradition of mining songs and culture of his native region in a series of sell out theatre performances around the UK.
Over the last couple of decades, the likes of Fairport Convention, The Dubliners, The Unthanks, Wizz Jones, The McCalmans, Mary Black, The Duhks, Bob Fox, The Young Uns, Enda Kenny, Cherish The Ladies, Tom McConville, The Clancys and scores more, have queued up to adopt his songs for their own repertoires. No wonder Richard Thompson has called him “The best singer songwriter to come out of the UK for a long time”, and personally invited him to play at Thompson’s Meltdown Festival at London’s South Bank Centre in 2010.
Jez Lowe’s contributions to the on-going BBC Radio series The Radio Ballads has cemented this reputation, with a Sony Radio Award among the many accolades coming its way. The project culminated in a live BBC Radio 2 broadcast In November 2018 to commemorate The Great War Centenary that featured Jez alongside the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and narrator Michael Morpurgo.
As BBC Radio DJ Mike Harding said recently, “No-one else writes or sounds like Jez Lowe”, and chances are, even if you’ve never heard the man himself, you’ll have heard his songs, sung at festivals, club-gigs, open-mikes or on CD, by the great and good, the professional and the enthusiast, the young and not-so-young. What higher accolade could a songwriter hope for?
‘Jez Lowe is one of our finest songwriters.’ BBC Radio 2
http://www.jezlowe.com
Jun 20
Kelly Oliver
Kelly Oliver is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player from Hertfordshire She came to performing music a little later in life than many other of the rising stars of the UK music scene. After graduating from Royal Holloway, University of London and then travelling around Europe, Brazil and Argentina, her passion for folk music was ignited with a visit to Ireland. It was there that she was exposed to traditional Irish folk music, and with her Grandmother having been born in Tralee in Ireland, Kelly was heavily drawn to the culture and especially the traditional music, played live with intricacy and passion.
Returning home to England, she began her musical career by playing support slots at folk clubs on the scene, including many at the prestigious Hitchin Folk Club, which happened to be her local. After supporting various high-profile acts such as Phil Beer (Show of Hands), Cara Dillon and Barbara Dickson, Kelly began playing her own headline shows and slots at festivals around the country. Since then, she has released two albums of her own original songs and has enjoyed many accolades for her work. Her debut album This Land' gained a 4* review from The Telegraph and her second album Bedlam was included in The Sunday Times Essential New Releases and was one of Paul Sexton's Top 20 Albums of the Year in Prog Magazine. Her last five singles have all gained BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music airplay and she performed her 2016 summer single 'Rio' on BBC One's Sunday Morning Live for her first national TV appearance.
Quite an amazing young songwriter – Mike Harding
A fantastic new talent – Chris Hawkins, BBC 6 Music
http://kellyoliver.co.uk/
Jun 27
Singers and Musicians
A chance to sing a song or play a tune or just listen. Entry free.
Jul 04
Roger Sutcliffe
This is Roger’s 56th year of playing at the Topic: there is very little we can say about him that his army of admirers don’t already know. But for any newcomers to the world of acoustic music Roger stands on his own as ragtime picker extraordinaire, blues supremo, and singer of songs of those genres. There are invariably a number of guitarists in his audience who have learned their craft first hand from Roger, so whether you pick, play or just listen, get down early for another packed night.
Jul 11
Cath & Phil Tyler
Often described as one the most raw and compelling acts on the scene, Cath and Phil play Anglo-American folk music, sharing a love of traditional folk narratives, mountain banjo and full voiced Sacred Harp singing. Using a combination of guitar, banjo,f iddle & voice they bring a highly concentrated and intimate musical experience that penetrates deep into the essence of the folk tradition.
Taking a more minimal approach to their material than some, they have been described as ‘one of the most compelling musical partnerships on the scene’.
They have performed on stages as diverse as the Royal Opera House in London and a dank tower in the old city walls of Newcastle.
Folk balladry has rarely been performed with such commitment and intensity – Record Collector
Beautiful songs, sung with care and love by two people who collect and cherish the history and impoortance of folk song – Folk Radio UK
Jul 18
Stables
Stables - The alt-folk duo formed by Matthew Lowe (Keston Cobblers Club) and Daniel Trenholme.
Stables was formed in January 2016 during late night drinks between Matthew and Daniel in London. Matthew was working on a new project idea at the time and, after playing through what was to become their first single, 'Steam', at 5 am, the duo was born, and quickly went public four months later.
'Beyond Brushes' (their debut album) was released to critical acclaim just nine months after, in August 2016, and was championed by the likes of BBC's Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson and BBC6 Recommends amongst others, soon establishing them firmly on the circuit, with a growing fan base.
Just a month after the release Matthew and Daniel embarked on their first UK headline tour, followed by a small French headline. Stables put emphasis on 'energy' when playing live; switching instruments and producing the sound of a full band, with big harmonies and varied styles. Matthew says; 'I always wanted to create a simple sound that could then be taken further when needed, from a small folk club, to a large festival stage'. Stables have gone on to tour the UK further, performing at major festivals including Glastonbury Festival and five European headline tours in just over a year.
Stables' second album, 'Reverie', was released at the end of February 2018.
Cracking Stuff!' Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 2 & 6 Music
Personal favourite- Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music
http://www.stablesmusic.com/
Jul 25
Double Header: Tom & Manny McKenzie and Chris Elliott & Caitlin Jones
Tom & Manny McKenzie
Tom McKenzie is a singer-songwriter from Bradford who performs both original songs and covers around Yorkshire. He records, mixes and masters all of his own music and has been doing so since the age of 15. His songs range from acoustic folk to indie. His newest album Tom McKenzie, is folkier than earlier material with a focus on acoustic instrumentation and live arrangements – the double bass, mandolin and fiddle taking larger roles.
Tom has performed in many venues including York Racecourse, Leeds University Union and Bradford Centenary Square, with radio play on a wide range of local radio stations.
Well accomplished musician and all round nice chap – Jericho Keys, BBC Introducing North Yorkshire
Go and check out Tom McKenzie, it is rare to find such talent – Success Circuit
Making waves across Yorkshire with his delightful style of acoustic folk – York Calling
A breakout artist with real potential for a swift upwards climb – Mad Alice Records
http://tommckenzie.co.uk/
Chris Elliott and Caitlin Jones
Chris Elliot and Caitlin Jones are a Staffordshire-based duo playing traditional and original music inspired by the English folk tradition. Well-known locally as part of the successful Bric-a-Brac, who gave the Topic a great night and also wowed audiences in other local venues such as The Castle and Black Dyke Mills Heritage Venue, we are looking forward to what is sure to be a great evening’s entertainment.
https://chrisandcaitlinmusic.org.uk/
August 01, 08, 15, 22 and 29
Singers' and Musicians' Nights throughout August, as traditional.
A chance to sing a song or play a tune or just listen. Entry free.
Or you can go and catch acts at a festival somewhere. That's where they mostly are!
