10 years of True North Music & a look back at my 2023-24 live music series

A long overdue update! It’s just over 10 years since my very first gig as a music promoter, on 24th January 2015. After a stellar start selling out that first concert in Sheffield featuring Cahalen Morrison & Eli West, it’s been a rollercoaster decade for me, promoting over 60 local gigs in Yorkshire and booking around 40 full UK tours for some of the finest bluegrass, Americana and folk-roots artists from the USA and Canada. I’m so appreciative of all the wonderful musicians I’ve worked with, all the dedicated folk who keep community venues running, and of course all the lovely people who bought gig tickets.
I’m not planning to put on any gigs in the next couple of months as I’m working on a couple of exciting projects of my own – the release of my own EP of original songs (featuring a stellar cast of musicians from the USA and UK) and my upcoming podcast, featuring interviews with some fascinating women working in roots music. I do hope some of you may want to support one or both of these projects – please sign up to my mailing list on the right to be first to hear about all my music news, and follow me on socials here.

In December I wrapped up True North Music’s 2023-24 local live music series, which was the most amazing cornucopia of folk-roots, bluegrass and Americana., featuring some of the finest roots artists from the UK, USA and Canada, including Jaywalkers, Gangstagrass, the Jake Blount trio, Mishra, Kris Drever, Golden Shoals and Evie Ladin & Sophie Wellington, just to name a few. We hosted ticketed workshops in fiddle, banjo, body percussion, harmony singing and Appalachian flatfooting, and delivered warmly received school workshops in fiddle, ukulele, body percussion, singing and tabla language! Our Huddersfield-area concerts and festival took place at delightful community venues The Carlile Institute (in Meltham) and Marsden Mechanics. Check out the video highlights reel above! I also want to add my appreciation to series sponsor Dark Woods Coffee and event sponsors Eagle Music Shop and the British Bluegrass Music Association for their contributions. Most of all, I’d like to acknowledge the vital support from Arts Council England, whose Project Grants funding made it possible for me to deliver such an excellent programme of events and guarantee decent fees for artists, alongside the ticket income (which was also absolutely essential).