Eliza Carthy has received Mercury Prize nominations, BBC Radio 2 folk awards and innumerable other accolades over a career during which she has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists from Paul Weller to The Wainwrights and Nick Cave to Joan Baez. A truly inventive and innovative singer-songwriter and fiddle-player, Eliza is one of the most impressive and engaging performers of her generation. She has helped revitalise folk music making it relevant to new audiences, capturing the most hardened of dissenters with intelligent, charismatic and boundary-crossing performances.

The Wayward Band is bursting with some of the finest players in recent times. Including members of Bellowhead, Mawkin, Blowzabella, Edward II, Emily Portman Trio, Peatbog Fairies, Dreams of Tall Buildings & Tyde.

‘And, of course, we already know the band is great. So what follows may not be a surprise – but it is completely thrilling… with Carthy dancing about at the centre of a joyful musical whirlwind, thrilling in the moment.’folkwitness.co.uk, Live Review

Kings of the South Seas is made up of three individual artists in their own right who have come together to create a boundary crossing folk album that merges folk, jazz, music hall and rock, with double bass, concertina, electric guitar and drums.

Ben Nicholls is known as a multi instrumentalist, double bass and ‘crane duet’ concertina player and singer. He is a member of the double BBC Folk Award winning Full English and Seth Lakeman bands and has performed with a numer of artisits including Cara Dillon, Dave Swarbrick, Patrick Wolf and Birdy. Richard Warren’s early work ranged from pure power-pop to psychedelic sonic exploration. The last 5 years have seen him release 3 critically acclaimed solo albums. The band’s lineup is completed by New Zealand born drummer Evan Jenkins, who, with the Neil Cowley Trio has won BBC Jazz Album of the Year and Jazz FM’s Band of the Year.

‘Uproariously rousing and darkly disturbing’The Guardian

Danish band Basco have captured the hearts and minds of audiences from all over Europe with their infectious energy, virtuosity and inventiveness. Their music is varied, full of nuance and beauty, of temperament and drive, of grand sweeping landscapes and of good old foot stomping power. They were the first folk string band to be short-listed for the prestigious Nordic Music Prize in 2014 for their latest album ‘The Remarkable Return of Old Man Basco’. Basco has also been very respectably represented on the podium at the Danish Music Awards, most recently with Artist of the Year 2013 (Cittern player Ale Carr), and Vocalist of the Year 2012 (Hal Parfitt-Murray).

‘Every track manages to surprise the listener’ newfolksounds.nl

Please note as this event takes place on Light Night the centre of Bury will be very busy with some roads being closed to allow for the celebrations. If you are driving or using public transport we advise you leave extra time for your journey to avoid any disruption.