Duncan and Nick Hall have performed around Europe, sharing bills with the likes of Fairport Convention, Kate Rusby and The Wedding Present. The Hall Brothers are joined by ex-Magna Carta fiddle player John Carey. Expect emotional songs, with sweet sibling harmonies and “seriously nifty guitar-playing”.
Originally, the duo was formed out of the ashes of a teenage rock band, as Duncan and Nick, approaching 20, wandered into a folk club and never looked back. Discovered (literally) bouncing off the furniture at a gig, they were signed up to play the second Otley Folk Festival, quickly building a reputation for their ‘must-see’ live performances. Adding ex-Magna Carta fiddle player John Carey to their line-up broadened their sound and they quickly began to perform concerts and at festivals across Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands.
Nick has also toured as lead guitarist with Ian Prowse & Amsterdam and is also a member of Plumhall - with whom he has played at Costa Festival Ibiza, appeared with Al Stewart at the London Palladium, toured with Fairport Convention and played as part of an extended Fairport line up at their Cropredy Festival with Ralph McTell.
A collection of folk songs about people, groups and special places in Bradford District.
To mark Bradford City of Culture in 2025 the Topic Folk Club is gathering together folk songs about the story of the people and/or groups who work to make Bradford District a welcoming and supportive place.
THE TOPIC'S HOME is at Hullabaloo, a couple of minutes walk from Groove Pad, nearer the station. There is parking on Crowgill Street. See MAP for venue location. Hullabaloo site: hullabalooshipley.org.uk/ Hullabaloo's Facebook page: facebook.com/PuttingTheHipInShipley/
PLEASE NOTE: The club room is downstairs and the only toilets are upstairs. (There is a plan for construction of downstairs toilets but that will take some weeks yet before completion)
Coming Soon
Bradford is City of Culture this year - Bradford Booking in the listing below indicates when a guest artist from Bradford has been booked to appear.
16 Jan
Singers and Musicians
A chance for you to sing a song or play a tune or just listen.
£1 Entry
Doors open 7pm
23 Jan
The Waite Collective
The Waite Collective are a family harmony trio from Chester, comprising mother Mal Waite and her two daughters, Rebecca Holmes and Katrina Turner. They’ve been singing together for longer than Rebecca and Katrina can remember (often while washing up after the evening meal) but the group in this form dates from around the year 2000.
During the ‘80s and ‘90s, Mal did a lot of travelling around the folk clubs and festivals of the country, singing both as a soloist and later with Chris Pollington and Alison Younger as First Principles. As teenagers, the girls often joined Mum on stage so that performing together came to feel a natural part of family life. These days they try and meet up once a week for chat, catch up, practice – and cake. There is normally a lot of laughter involved too, together with loads of singing.
They each have solo quality voices so they take it in turn to sing the lead vocals. They have very similar ranges, so Mal usually arranges harmonies that often interweave. They sing a lot of acapella, although occasionally Mal will provide an accompaniment on her custom-built Terry Docherty ‘Doctor’ guitar of which she is inordinately proud. Mal still sometimes performs as a soloist while Katrina also sings with another Chester-based band, The Time Bandits.
Support -Kath Reade & Colin Speakman
Kath Reade is a prolific singer-songwriter with a musical career spanning the best part of 60 years. During her formative years, Kath was offered a recording contract with Polydor but had to turn it down when her father insisted she got an education instead. A university degree in Social Sciences followed, but Kath has continued to write and play music throughout her life so far.
Kath has written hundreds of songs and true to form, many of them have been inspired by her life experiences and the people she has met along the way. She has a large and loyal following on the folk scene and beyond with many of her songs becoming well-known and even being learnt and played by other musicians.
Colin Speakman is a keen walker and environmental campaigner, and the author or co-author of over 50 outdoor books. These include The Dales Way (now in its 11th edition), and walking guides to areas both in the UK and in mainland Europe, as well as poetry, topography, biography, transport history, and two literary anthologies.
A major contributor and star of the folk scene for over 40 years now, Jez Lowe continues to develop new material with a strong emphasis on social and political commentary. A double nomination in the 2015 BBC Folk Awards – for best singer and best new song – was a timely reminder of Jez Lowe’s standing in the UK folk and acoustic music scene. His songs are among the most widely sung by other performers, whether by long-established acts like Fairport Convention, The Dubliners and Bob Fox, or by the new breed of stars like The Unthanks, The Young Uns, Megson and The Duhks.
His collaborations with a variety of individuals and groups including The Bad Pennies, The Pitmen Poets, The Broonzies ,Men at Words and Steve Tilston, alongside his involvement in the award-winning BBC series The Radio Ballads show a willingness to push boundaries and venture boldly into pastures new.
Five of his Radio Ballad contributions were included in the BBC Radio broadcast featuring the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2019. Many of these songs also featured on his 2016 solo album, The Ballad Beyond.
A special anniversary was celebrated at the beginning of 2020, when Fellside Records released a five CD set of Jez’ solo albums, forty years since the release of his debut LP in 1980. The Jez Lowe Fellside Collection.
Jez’s latest albums are Crazy Pagan, a solo album made during the lockdown of 2020 and Snow Dancing recorded with the Bad Pennies.
A chance for you to sing a song or play a tune or just listen.
£1 Entry
Doors open 7pm
13 Feb
Gordon Tyrrall Bradford Booking
Singer, guitarist and flute-player, Gordon Tyrrall has played in various bands (Iona, Dab Hand, Morgan Rattler, Roisin Ban), a few duos (with Dave Townsend, Brian Peters and Maggie Boyle) and mostly as a soloist. Gordon has been a professional musician most of his working life and has released 17 albums. He became a full-time musician in 1979 as the news of Mrs Thatcher’s election victory in May that year came through he was driving a battered Ford Transit down an autobahn in Germany in a futile attempt to escape.
Gordon is mainly interested in traditional music but has also written songs and instrumentals including various projects such as his settings of John Clare’s poetry and a Zen album ‘Mumonkan.’
Besides being a musician and artist, as an author Gordon wrote the book “Around The Blooming Heather” about Whitby Folk Week and the Northern folk scene.
A chance for you to sing a song or play a tune or just listen.
£1 Entry
Doors open 7pm
27 Feb
Maddie Morris
Maddie Morris is an artist who strives to make a difference in the world. Bold, insightful and refreshingly unique, she takes traditional song in new directions to shine a light on contemporary issues, offering new perspectives about the world we live in today.
After graduating with a first-class honours degree from Leeds Conservatoire, Maddie soon made waves by winning the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, as well as landing a grant from the Alan Surtees Trust. From these firm foundations, her career has gone from strength to strength, with recent performances including Cropredy and Cambridge Folk Festival.
Folk songs have always told stories, but how Maddie makes her mark is by turning this storytelling into action. Described by Jim Moray as “leading the next generation of socially conscious songwriters”, she uses her work to highlight inequality, challenge viewpoints and provide an inclusive space for shared experiences. She was recently commissioned by Rural Arts to explore LGBTQIA+ experiences through traditional music and has also been proud to collaborate with organisations such as Queer Folk, Esperance and Trans Pride Brighton.
Whether she’s turning a centuries-old ballad on its head or writing something completely new, Maddie places her focus on drawing out true meaning rather than being true to tradition. From tweaking tunings to adding ornamentation, she’s never afraid to put her own stamp on things and create something distinctively her own.
Maddie Morris is an extremely accomplished young singer - not just the possessor of a haunting and delicately ornamented vocal style, but also a performer with serious insight into how to tell a story in song. Traditional ballads or inclusive social commentary - she always connects with the deepest meaning in her material. Not to be missed by any audience wanting to hear something new and passionate - Nancy Kerr
A chance for you to sing a song or play a tune or just listen.
£1 Entry
Doors open 7pm
13 Mar
Skinner and T'witch Bradford Booking
Drawing on music-hall and vaudeville traditions, Skinner & T’witch combine comedy and satire with folk, flamenco and theatre-style songs.
‘Skinner & T’witch are unique: there is nobody to compare them with. A pair of comic geniuses'. The Living Tradition
They have released five albums; performed widely around the UK; and recently toured in both Australia and the US.
'Some things just work. Skinner & T’witch are one of those things. An absolute must see.' Lakefest
Steve Skinner has a background in musical theatre, having managed a theatre company and toured the country with musical reviews such as The Cuts Show and the Third World Road Show. Steve is an experienced songwriter, including comedy and satire.
Sandra Twitchett (T’witch) has a classical training, and has a passion for Choral music and singing, having herself sung with various choirs, including the Bradford Festival Choral Society, of which she is currently a member, the Huddersfield Choral Society and the Munich Philharmonic Chorus. T'witch is a folk-rock chick at heart. She has an excellent ear for sound production and harmony singing, which contributes to the distinctive Skinner & T’witch sound.
Book them if you can, and don't miss them if they are playing anywhere near you - Ulverston Live Music
Support - Andrew Metheven
Andrew wants to write lo-fi folk from the hills and the concrete. His songs set out on journeys across births, over hills, into decay, past daydreams. They skirt around nightmares, hazard guesses at new ways and old muck, starve the soul and cut our losses free.
He tries to avoid just writing songs about birds, but sometimes that’s hard.
Andrew released his first EP, called A Quiet Life, in March 2022, and his first album – Sister Winter – in June 2024.
A chance for you to sing a song or play a tune or just listen.
£1 Entry
Doors open 7pm
27 Mar
Crowes Pasture
A roots-infused, internationally touring folk duo, Crowes Pasture performs sometimes joyful, and oftentimes, poignant, songs that reflect a mutual passion, sense of discovery and celebration of the human connection. Monique’s romantic clawhammer banjo playing and Andy’s expressive guitar picking are enlivened by their personal chemistry, intimate harmonies and unique instrumental style that can only be described as a “banjo-guitar romance.”
Crowes Pasture has been a supporting act for The Kennedys and The Small Glories, and has performed at internationally renowned folk venues such as Club Passim in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Rockwood Music Hall, in NYC and Cafe Mariposa in Montreal. Crowes Pasture was chosen to showcase at Folk Alliance Regionals Midwest by DJ Al Kniola, and was nominated for Roots Act of the Year (New England Music Awards 2022 and 2019) and Americana Artist of the Year (Boston Music Awards 2019). The duo was named Finalist for Best Group/Duo in the International Acoustic Music Awards in 2020 and 2021. Crowes Pasture has had eight singles reach Top 10 Songs on the Folk Alliance International Folk Chart, including their #1 hit, “Slow it Down,” the title track of their 2019 album. Fresh from touring in Southern Ontario and Quebec (Summer 2022), the duo is currently recording their fourth album, with award winning producer Eric Lichter of Connecticut’s Dirt Floor Recording Studios.
An uncanny blend of voices, the duo sound born to mesh their voices, his a handsome sandpapery timbre, hers an angelic firmness [...] with a lovely lilt - Bill Copeland Music News
Bradford Booking* 
