An ensemble of 40 young musicians will take to the stage at Cambridge Folk Festival 2026, showcasing the creativity, musical skills and collaborative work they have developed throughout the week. This performance is the culmination of a fourday summer course delivered through the third-year partnership between Cambridgeshire Music and Cambridge Folk Festival, where participants have explored ensemble playing, creativity and folk music traditions under the guidance of Cambridgeshire Music’s Creative Learning and Wellbeing specialists, Prue Ward, Jack Johnson and Orla Casey, alongside award-winning folk musicians Kate Griffin, Ford Collier and Josie Nugent. This promises to be a festival highlight and a unique opportunity to celebrate the next generation of talented musicians. Don’t miss this one-off performance and come along to support these young performers as they share the results of an inspiring week of music-making on the Cambridge Folk Festival stage.
Dean Frost is an Essex based artist writing in the tradition of late 60s troubadour folk, reimagined through a modern alt folk lens. His music is built around intricate acoustic guitar and quietly revealing lyrics, sitting in the space between doubt and belief, where small moments carry lasting weight. His debut EP Two Minds, written between 2022 and 2024, documents a period of personal change, turning hesitation into something more hopeful. The release has received support from BBC Introducing and continues to build a growing audience across the East of England. Live, whether solo or with a full band, Frost creates a sense of stillness that draws people in, with performances that are intimate, restrained, and focused on honest songwriting.
Jack, Conor, and Bernard collectively known as the Downright Musical Trio have been performing together since 2023. It’s a musical journey of friend ship and talent. Their journey began through music classes and recitals initiated by Dr. Josie Nugent (Music Therapist and All Ireland Fiddle Player), evolving into regular performances at major events, including Ulster Fleadh gig rigs, Gradam Ceoil awards, the Bardic Awards Ceremony, Dublin TradFest, and multiple appearances at the All-Ireland Fleadh including a live performance on TG4s Fleadh 25.
Born in Cambridge and with Norwegian roots, the indie-folk singer-songwriter’s lilting voice and explorative songwriting has been described as ‘dreamful’ and ‘truly transformative’. Her latest EP, Big Old House, was written at her grandmother’s remote cabin in Norway and explores the dreamlike state one enters when isolated in the wilderness. The singer-songwriter’s work has resonated widely, earning significant editorial support from Spotify and Apple Music, alongside recognition from BBC Introducing, BBC Radio 1 and 6. In the last 18 months, Fran has sold-out multiple headline shows in London, gone on two Europeans tours, and performed at festivals such as Secret Garden Party, How The Lights Get In, Glastonbury, Lazy Days and Latitude.
Katacombs has roots across continents. With a mother from Spain and a father from Greece, she was born in Miami and has called Austin home for the past decade. When she’s not on tour, she divides her time between Texas and London, infusing her sound with multicultural exposure. For the past three and a half years, she’s been playing keys for Amigo the Devil, a journey that’s deepened her voice as both a player and a storyteller. In 2022, she released her first EP, You Will Not, and in October 2025 she stepped forward with her debut album, Fragments of the Underwater — a collection shaped by the places, people, and phases that made her who she is.
Fraser Morgan; a rapidly up and coming Folk-Punk/Singer-Songwriter who’s known for their relentless gigging and for bringing to the stage high levels of passion, energy, and showmanship. Whether he’s playing solo or with his band “Fraser Morgan and the Great Catastrophes”, Fraser keeps the crowd on their toes and captivated, delivering a performance that is often compared to the likes of Ren, Frank Turner and Jamie T. Fraser recently played his 1000th show to a sold-out crowd at Colchester Arts Centre, and this experience shows when he’s putting on a beautifully chaotic, yet passionate and enjoyable performance. Throughout his live shows, Fraser keeps the crowd laughing between songs with his unpredictable, dad-like humour, whilst also delivering important messages of mental health within the songs themselves. If you like leaving gigs with a heart full of life and a bamboozled smile strapped to your face, then a Fraser Morgan show is exactly where you need to be.
Ustad Noor Bakhsh, from near Pasni, Balochistan, is a maestro of the Balochi Benju (a keyed Zither), which he has played since he was a child. Noor Bakhsh is well known as a legendary instrumentalist throughout the Makran Coast, but only garnered wider attention after his most recent recordings and videos. The Benju, was once a Japanese children’s toy called the taishōkoto before it was adopted by Balochi musicians and made into the refined folk instrument that it is today. Noor Bakhsh plays an electric Benju, getting his sound through an old pickup and small Phillips amp he bought from Karachi 2 decades ago. He carries forward the legacy of his teachers and inspirations such as Bilawal Belgium and Misri Khan Jamali but his own music elicits influences from various traditions and musical forms far beyond Balochistan. His virtuosic playing is deeply rooted in Balochi musical forms and enriched by his knowledge of South Asian Raags, which he also renders in his own, experimental style. His repertoire includes Persian and Kurdish tunes that have probably floated in his land since before the modern borders of Iran and Pakistan were set up and Balochistan, divided as it were. In one of his recent recording sessions, he even played an Arabic Ghazal on his Benju. Needless to say, he also renders popular and folk tunes in all the major languages spoken across Pakistan. His Sindhi repertoire is particularly novel in that it reflects a beautiful conversation between the neighbouring musical cultures of Sindh and Balochistan.
Maddie Morris is a bold and socially conscious folk artist who uses traditional music to explore contemporary issues. Winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, they have been described by Jim Moray as “leading the next generation of socially conscious songwriters.” Their work explores personal narratives and political storytelling, blending English folk traditions with their lived experience as a trans, autistic person. Rooted in the oral tradition, Maddie’s music seeks to preserve, challenge, and expand folk heritage by writing historically excluded voices into the canon. Recent projects include a residency at Ferens Art Gallery, and commissions from Unlimited, Rural Arts, and the English Folk Dance and Song Society. Passionately political yet gently understated, this is music that deftly treads the path between art and activism.
Across the genres; folk/jazz/blues and more, singer-songwriter-pianist Angie Collins brings the melancholy as well as dark humour through her warm, smoky tones reminiscent of Norah Jones or Amy Winehouse accompanied by Cambridge’s finest music icons
Composers and creative interpreters of traditional tunes, Frog on a Bike’s frenetic energy, distinctively big folk-rock sound and driving rhythm is guaranteed to have you up and dancing. With a luscious line-up of sumptuous melodeon, recorder, fiddle and mandolin, backed by a riotous rhythm section of guitar, bass and drums, you won’t be disappointed you came along for a ride. As a Cambridgeshire band, we are delighted to welcome them back to Cambridge Folk Festival! Frog on a Bike are: Tom Sennett (melodeons), Sarah Sennett (recorders), Tim Sparrow (fiddles and mandolin), Edwin Beasant, of the Iron Masters & Pilgrims Way (electric guitar), Bryan Hatt (bass) and Paul O’Neill, founding member of the Bolton Iron Maiden (drums).
The next generation of British folk rock has finally arrived thanks to ‘Lost Robins’, and they’re not being quiet about it. Formed in the summer of 2025, this ragtag of seasoned young musicians from the Cambridgeshire and Fenland areas are hellbent on keeping folk music alive and kicking out at the modern world. Their stacked-up symphony of electric guitars and hard-hitting bass’n drums, peppered with the fiddling’s of accordion, flute, and violin creates an organised mess that would make the Levellers proud. You might be forgiven at first glance for confusing them with a country pub session band, swapping stories and songs (from either 200 years ago or last week) late into the night around the big table at the back until the landlord begs them to go home. And whilst all this is of course true, this band undoubtedly hail from a community that takes their music, culture, poetry and history very seriously. They are a band out of time, just old enough to cultivate respect for the tradition that came before them, and just young enough to carry that torch forward.
Amelia Coburn has a knack for making the unusual sound timeless. Her honest, occasionally hilarious and quintessentially north-eastern persona disarms and beguiles in equal measure. Drawing inspiration from gothic literature and the shadowy allure of film noir, there is a darkness at the heart of many of her songs, populated by vivid characters and nocturnal creatures that inhabit the liminal space “between the moon and the milkman”. Supported by PRS Foundation’s Open Fund and inspired by the feminist works of writers like Angela Carter and Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Coburn’s latest single ‘Something Wild’ continues to solidify her burgeoning reputation.
Emily is a singer songwriter whose work blends creative openness with a quietly arresting emotional depth. Her voice—with great range and agility—carries songs that are deeply personal and lyrically candid, drawing influence from artists such as Joni Mitchell, Laura Marling, Norah Jones and Kate Bush. Evolving gradually from lived experience, her writing translates intimate moments into a wide angled picture of life’s shifting landscapes. On stage, she is a compelling presence—powerful in impact yet understated in manner—holding audiences with a quiet intensity. She is currently progressing a long form recording project with collaborator Jonners Czerwik, expected to reach completion in the near future.
Celebrating one of the greatest songwriters of all time, through the unique voices of the artists she continues to inspire. Following a revered debut at the Roundhouse in 2024, two sold out tours and widespread critical acclaim, The Songs of Joni Mitchell returns for some very special shows and festivals in 2026. Jesca Hoop & Lail Arad, acclaimed singer-songwriters in their own right, will perform intimate interpretations of their favourite Joni Mitchell songs. They’ll be joined by special guest performers at every port, each bringing something new to Joni’s vast catalogue. Previous guests have included Kate Stables (This Is The Kit), Vashti Bunyan, Simon Armitage, Lisa Hannigan, Gail Ann Dorsey, Rachel Sermanni and Sam Amidon.
Over the last ten years Smith & Brewer have played together all over the UK, toured with 10cc, Ralph McTell and Fairport Convention, amongst a busy performing schedule, and have played hundreds of shows together. Ben and Jimmy originally met at an event organised by Joan Armatrading for the acts she had chosen to support her on her 2015 tour. Although they originally planned to just write together, they soon realised that their different guitar playing styles and voices complemented each other and they started performing together regularly after their inaugural gig supporting Joan in front of a thousand-strong crowd.
It is nothing short of criminal, that Nick Harper is one the UK’s best kept musical secrets. Those who have witnessed the spellbinding, one-man show will tell you this. A childhood growing up surrounded by the musical prowess of some of the 60’s most revered songwriters & musicians, not to mention being son of Roy Harper, along with 20 years of crafting songs & touring the land has spawned a truly one-off, original guitarist & songwriter who stands alone as a UK great, to be cherished & revered. Following a prolific creative chapter that has seen three studio releases since 2020, Nick returns to the setting of his father’s living room in a small flat in Kilburn, London in the mid 1960s ‘58 Fordwych Rd.’. The flat was an after hours hang-out for the legends who played at Les Cousins in Soho at the height of the acoustic explosion in swingin’ sixties London. People like Bert Jansch, Davy Graham, John Renbourn, Paul Simon, Marc Bolan, Sandy Denny & others dropped in, to drop out, jam & try new tunes. But, all along, there was someone else there... a toddler, part of the family, inhaling the music & absorbing the vibe; Roy’s young son, Nick Harper
Since 2009, Skinny Lister have been at the forefront of first-rate folk/punk in the UK. Making waves with the irrepressible energy of their debut album ‘Forge and Flagon’ in 2012, the London-formed crew went on to sign with Xtra Mile Recordings for the release of their classic second album ‘Down On Deptford Broadway’ (2014) and so beginning a partnership that has birthed a further four records with the label including ‘The Devil, The Heart, The Fight’ (2016), ‘The Story Is…’ (2019), ‘A Matter Of Life & Love’ (2021), and most recently ‘Shanty Punk’. Given its mastering polish at the iconic Abbey Road Studios by Frank Arkwright, their latest effort ‘Shanty Punk’ finds the band delivering their most autobiographical and arguably most definitive Skinny Lister album yet. A concept album all about the myths and madness that have defined Skinny Lister themselves, it was warmly received by The Morning Star who praised in a 5 review “If you’re feeling out of sorts and in need of festive cheering up, the exuberant Deptford sextet Skinny Lister are the remedy, the balm that no festive season can do without. Ever.”, whilst RNR Magazine hailed the record as “very good…raucous!” (4).
Man the Lifeboats – Explosive shanty folk that has gained them a great reputation across the UK. MTL’s second album ‘Soul Of Albion’ hit no. 27 in the Official Folk Charts in 2022 cementing the band as a favourite of lovers of lively folk. Recently the 6-piece have performed at Beardy Folk, Folk in a Field, Bearded Theory, Purbeck Valley Folk Fest and more, drawing comparisons to Bellowhead, Waterboys, Oyster band, the Levellers, and those folk-punk heroes The Pogues.
Seth Lakeman was catapulted into the music mainstream when he was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2005 for his album ‘Kitty Jay’. Inspired by the legends and stories of Dartmoor in the Westcountry where Seth grew up, it was produced by his elder brother Sean Lakeman and cost just £300 to record in his kitchen in a Dartmoor village. Seth’s follow up was the gold-selling ‘Freedom Fields’. 2026 celebrates the 20th anniversary of the release of the original album, which includes ‘Lady of the Sea’, ‘King and Country’ and ‘White Hare’. The album was produced again by Seth’s brother Sean. Multiple albums, tours and high-profile collaborations later, the acclaimed folk artist released his latest studio effort The Granite Way, in February 2025on his own label, Honour Oak Records. This is a collection of songs recorded alongside a group of longtime collaborators of Seth’s, staying true to his roots and referring to ancient stories that inspired early West Country storytelling. In recent years Seth was delighted to be asked to record on Van Morrison’s album ‘Moving On Skiffle’ and he collaborated with Public Service Broadcasting. Seth has also previously worked and toured extensively with Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) with his band the Sensational Space Shifters.
Chris is a Cambridge-based genre-defying folk troubadour, firmly established on the UK folk scene with 2 CDs to his credit. His original song writing utilises a variety of styles across the roots lexicon of traditional and contemporary folk. Most recently, he has added Appalachian dulcimer accompaniment to his existing repertoire of rich vocals, complex guitar work and loop pedal alchemy. His naturally relaxed stage presence draws listeners into his tales of the everyday and the unexpected, with their humorous yet thought-provoking lyrics. He has opened for some of the top names in the folk world.
Ruairidh Maclean A.K.A RuMac is a Scottish accordion player who started off playing traditional Scottish music and slowly drifted into a strange mix of genres. From traditional Gaelic Songs to Heavy metal rock there’s no telling what racket will come out of his mouth and box, but slowly the world is becoming aware of his anarchic unique performances and they can’t get enough of it. A weird but fun performer that is always best experienced live… From ranting about Gaelic choirs to grim versions of worldwide hits, RuMac’s debut album ‘The Bloody Box’ is a punishing cacophony for yer ears that’ll keep you on yer toes and reaching for the skip button. But if ya stick around and don’t take shit too seriously, you might be part of the niche group of freaks like himself ready to tear shit up. And that niche group of freaks is rapidly growing. With the debut album clocking over 1,500,000 plays online, just two videos on YouTube with over 2,000,000 plays, and an already bulging diary for 2026, it would seem that RuMac is the kind of freak that is going to get freakier and freakier.
Frank Turner is one of the UK’s most successful artists. He released his tenth studio album ‘Undefeated’ in May 2024 which debuted at Number 3 in the Official Album Chart and Number 1 in the Independent Album Chart. His album ‘FTHC’ (Feb 2022) became his first #1 hit with the previous four albums all peaking in the Top 3. With over a million albums sold worldwide, he has three gold-certified albums and one silver status. Since his first solo gig in 2004, Frank has played his 3000th show in Feb 2025 at Alexandra Palace, London, which sold out within 24 hours of being on general sale. His biggest UK headline shows include aforementioned Alexandra Palace, O2 Arena and Wembley Arena. He has performed at almost every UK venue imaginable, from tiny clubs to stadiums as well as the opening ceremony of 2012 London Olympics. Internationally, Frank has played headline shows in all continents with big followings across Europe and North America. He completed the ambitious 50 States in 50 Days tour in 2022 – the first non-US citizen to do so. His award-winning 4-day festival, Lost Evenings takes place in a different city each year - this year in Edinburgh, Scotland, and next year in Dallas, TX. From Frank; Cambridge Folk Festival is a legendary gathering, one that I’ve long yearned to be part of. After growing up with punk rock, I moved closer to folk (or folk-influenced) sounds, and being invited to be a part of the festival for the first time in 2008 was an honour and a validation of what I was trying to do. To be coming back so many years later to headline is no less of an elevation, and I am grateful and humbled. I’m looking forward to singing some songs and telling some stories.
Christina Alden & Alex Patterson are multi-instrumentalists and songwriters from Norwich. Their music is rich with intertwining harmony, sensitive accomplished musicianship and a creative song-writing style that is both delicate and moving. Deeply inspired by the world around them, they have a keen environmental eye to craft stories with the natural world at its heart, reflecting on the relationship between humans and the wild. They have enjoyed touring extensively in the UK and Europe; including a twenty-three-date concert hall tour with Show of Hands (including Union Chapel and St David’s Hall Cardiff), a show at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall for Celtic Connections, headline and main stage performances at some of the UK’s most prestigious folk festivals and performances in Norway, Belgium, France and Ireland. They have written and self-released four albums, composed music for a BBC Radio 4 documentary series and have had over a million streams on Spotify
Lally MacBeth is an artist, writer and curator based in Cornwall. Her work takes in history, folklore, performance, ritual and artifice – and the links between high and low culture. She is the founder of The Folk Archive and co-founder of Stone Club. She has written for Caught by the River, House and Garden, and Hellebore, appeared on BBC Radio 3 and programmed events for the Tate, the British Museum and the ICA, amongst others. The Lost Folk is her first book. A fresh and engaging celebration of the customs, places, objects and peoples that make up what we know as ‘folk’ in Britain. Lally MacBeth is joining us to discuss her book The Lost Folk.
UK singer-songwriter from Northallerton, North Yorkshire. Organic instrumentation with a folk-rock influence reminiscent of classic Crosby, Stills & Nash and Jeff Buckley.Traditional folk signatures and themes run throughout, but are refreshed by and blended with country motifs, klezmer modes, and the steady bed-rock pocket of rhythm and blues, creating a unique and sonically rich sound“Skilled guitarist, distinctive songwriter & a fine singer” - Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2
Tom Jenkins hails from the hills of the South Wales valleys. A shepherd and Hill farmer by trade, he has woven the post-industrial landscape and the stories of the working class communities into a tapestry of unique, traditionally crafted songs, originally inspired by his family of Coal Miners and Farmers, with the stories of these Hills and beyond being captured in his most anticipated album so far - ‘When The Coal Dust Settled’ His 2019 self-released debut, ‘Misery In Comfort’ written in the solitude of the New Zealand back country as a working Shepherd and Sheep Shearer, was put out as nothing more than a passion project and a one off but instantly caught the attention of the music industry and his musical heroes, gaining him a personal invite to tour with American, Grammy and Oscar winning, Singer Songwriter and Yellowstone star Ryan Bingham.
The Thorn (formerly Large Plants), are a musical group from London, England who play psych-tinged heavy folk-rock with nods to jazz and soul that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Numero compilation of lost early 70’s fuzz jams. Initially formed in 2021 to play the solo recordings of founder Jack Sharp (Wolf People), the live band has since grown and changed, developing a life of its own. Joined by bassist Paul Milne (Hanging Stars, Green Seagull), and drummer Itamar Rubinger (Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats), they played many shows supporting the likes of Mudhoney, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Chris Cohen and Johnny Echols’ Love. In 2024 they were joined by Cambridge singer songwriter Naomi Randall and were able to explore their love of British folk-rock pioneers like Trees, Pentangle, and Fairport Convention. The new name The Thorn was chosen to mark the change whilst acknowledging a continuation of the spirit of the band.
Raised in the East Yorkshire flatlands on the fringes of Hull (UK), Katie Spencer’s landscape has always been that of open skies and widening rivers. It is this sense of space and movement that flows through her assured guitar style and songwriting. Now, as Katie steps into this new era with a third album, her focus turns to those deeper inner spaces, inviting the listener to engage with her heartfelt and intricately-crafted songs. Her writing, and most notably her guitar playing stems from a time when the steel-stringed instrument was truly finding its voice. Artists like Joni Mitchell, Judee Sill, Julie Byrne and perhaps most evidently Michael Chapman, weave into her sound. Katie absorbs these influences into her songwriting and with her distinctive deep vibrato and crystal-clear guitar style, she makes the music inimitably her own. Katie released her third album What Love Is in October 2025; an intimate collection of ten brand-new songs produced by Matt Ingram (Laura Marling, The Staves). It reached #12 in the Official Folk Albums Chart upon release. Recorded in London’s Urchin Studios and featuring prominent players Giacomo Smith (clarinet), Max Clilverd (pedal steel), Tom Mason (double bass) and Matt Ingram (drums, synth). What Love Is evokes the spirit of Joni Mitchell’s finest later works, always honouring without emulating. Lyrically mature and at times pastoral; the album is melodically sophisticated and unflinchingly honest. She moves effortlessly from wide-open jazz-tinged soundscapes, influenced by Pharoah Sanders and John Abercrombie, through to the folk-baroque fingerpicking style that her fans admire her for. Her singing is powerful yet warm, true and pristine in delivery. The musicianship throughout the record feels liberated by Katie’s innovation and confidence, and the result is a master-class of inspired and beautiful-sounding craftmanship.
The rambunctious Celtic folk of The Pogues, the story-telling charm of The View, the lush pop harmonies of Teenage Fanclub, the jangly delicacy of the Smiths, the yearning of a classic Oasis B-side and a Scottish brogue as defiant as the Proclaimers… Brògeal have it all – and make it their own. A bubbling cultural cauldron set to boiling point, the sound overflows with accordion, banjo, bouzouki, mandolin and perky penny whistle, where ancient folk tradition meets an indie Gen Z sensibility and laughs, sings and dances in the face of 21st century darkness. The death of the swaggering good-time band has been greatly exaggerated. From small-town Falkirk in central Scotland the folk-punk-indie-pop fivepiece have big ideas, with a reputation as one of the best live bands in Britain, their communal, sing-along, delirious anthems igniting mosh-pit madness throughout the UK, Ireland and beyond. Everybody loves them.
Ollie Cook & The Hogwash are an Alternative Folk quintet from Birmingham, England. Having described themselves as “Brumicana Dad Rock”, Cook and his band embrace their slowly adopted ‘slacker’ ethos. After multiple years of performing Cook’s solo work, a spout of solitary songwriting came to an end. Favouring a more collaborative environment, Ollie would form The Hogwash with previous band members - Eddie Guthrie, Jack Brannon, Jaimie Jagger & Elliot Smith. What emerged was a new and fresh dynamic for Cook and the band, weaving through checked shirts and thick tweed.
Black Fen Folk Club regulars – past & present - share the stage in CLUB CORNER. With songs old and new from the tradition! Clockwise from top left:- Paul Vaes, Bernie Kedge, David Savage, Jenna Walker & David Cambridge, Andrew Smith, Tim Mellor, David Wilson & Barbara Oxley, Lizzie J Taylor & Hugh Boyde, Simon George-Kelso. Black Fen Folk Club meets every Sunday at the NCI Community Centre, in Cambridge.
Mark, once half of legendary radio double-act Mark and Lard, has been on the national airwaves since the early nineties and currently hosts the Radio 2 Folk Show and weekend breakfast on 6Music with Stuart Maconie. He was the leader of folk-rock bands The Family Mahone and Galleon Blast and has also written five bestselling books about music. His next publication is ‘Et tu, cavapoo’ one man and his dog in Rome which he has co-authored with his canine companion Arlo. Their debut album ‘First Light’ is now followed by their sophomore offering ‘Hearsay and Heresy’ which is released by Talking Elephant records and has attracted extensive national and local radio airplay.
Widely regarded as one of the foremost songwriters of her generation, Suzanne Vega emerged as a leading figure of the folk revival of the early 1980s. Accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, Vega sang what has been called contemporary folk or neo-folk songs of her own creation in Greenwich Village clubs. Since the release of her self-titled, critically acclaimed 1985 debut album, she has given sold-out concerts in many of the world’s best-known venues. Known for performances that convey deep emotion, Vega’s distinctive, “clear, unwavering voice” (Rolling Stone) has been described as “a cool, dry sandpaper-brushed near-whisper” by The Washington Post, with NPR Music noting that she “has been making vital, inventive music” throughout the course of her decades-long career. Bearing the stamp of a masterful storyteller who “observes the world with a clinically poetic eye” (The New York Times), Vega’s songs have tended to focus on city life, ordinary people and real-world subjects. Notably succinct and understated, her work is immediately recognizable—as utterly distinct and thoughtful as it was when her voice was first heard on the radio over 40 years ago. Suzanne Vega will perform a career-spanning show including favourites like “Tom’s Diner”, “Luka”, “Marlene On The Wall”, and many more, plus songs from her latest album, Flying with Angels, which was released in May 2025 to critical acclaim. She will be joined on stage by her longtime guitarist, Gerry Leonard (of David Bowie fame), and cellist Stephanie Winters.
This year we thought we would introduce some comedy to the festival, who doesn’t like to laugh! For the finale of Stage 2 we have Matt Bragg, Felicity Ward and Mark Watson closing the stage.
The son of television warm up man Bobby Bragg and one of the most stylish comedians out there, the mod-ish Matt Bragg has been entertaining crowds across the world for the past decade. With a unique, low-energy, deadpan style and meticulously crafted material he has been gaining critical acclaim from audiences, promoters and comedians alike.
Felicity is a London-based comedian, actor, writer and knucklehead.Born in a small town just a podcast north of Sydney, Australia, she started stand up in 2008...three years before being born. she is referring to herself in the third person and it’s making her very uncomfortable. She’s spoken at length in her stand up and personally about her struggles with mental health including presenting a documentary felicity’s mental mission and her netflix special for live at the BBC series: what if there is no toilet?
Mark Watson is one of the UK’s most successful comedians, the winner of the Panel Prize at the Edinburgh Fringe (where he has been one of the biggest-selling acts over the past twenty years), as well as Best Show at the Adelaide and Sydney Comedy Festivals, multiple Chortle Awards – including a Legend of Lockdown, in 2021, for his online work – Time Out Comedian of the Year and quite a lot more.
Richard Thompson’s musical influence cannot be overstated. Having co-founded the ground-breaking group Fairport Convention as a teenager in the ‘60s, he and his bandmates invented the distinctive strain of British Folk Rock. He left the group by the age of 21 which was followed by a decade long musical partnership with his then-wife Linda, to over 30 years as a highly successful solo artist. The Los Angeles Times called him “the finest rock songwriter after Dylan and the best electric guitarist since Hendrix” and Rolling Stone has named him one of the Top 100 Guitarists of All Time. He has received lifetime achievement awards for songwriting from the BBC Radio 2 Awards, the Americana Music Association, and was awarded the prestigious Ivor Novello Award. His song “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” was named one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Greatest Songs Since 1923.” A wide range of musicians have recorded Thompson’s songs including Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, R.E.M., Bonnie Raitt, Tom Jones, David Byrne, and many more. His genre defying mastery of both acoustic and electric guitar along with engaging energy and onstage wit continue to earn him new fans and a place as one of the most distinctive virtuosos and writers in Folk Rock history. Message from Richard: “It’s a joy to see Cambridge Folk Festival back on the calendar. I’ve had the privilege of playing here across the decades — from 1975 through to 2019 — and each visit reminds me why this festival holds such a special place in the folk world. It’s always a pleasure to return.”