Rock

Hypnotic New York based five-piece Ravens & Chimes are a band we are all going to be hearing more of, with their tender vocals, ballsy percussion and anthemic indie-rock earning them comparisons to Arcade Fire.

The band, fronted by the dusky-voiced Asher Lack, son of painter Stephen Lack, release their second album Holiday Life, in the new year, and headline a night of music at Modern Art Oxford – one of just six UK dates. The bill also features Oxford rising stars Rainbow Reservoir and Cat Matador.

Americana

  • Tift Merritt
  • Bullingdon Arms
  • Tomorrow
  • Tickets £15 from wegottickets.com

Tift Merritt’s brand of country soul stands up to the likes of Dusty Springfield and Bobbie Gentry. Her solo debut Bramble Rose was a massive hit with country-rock fans, with even Emmylou Harris describing her as “standing out like a diamond in a coal patch.”

She rolls up at the Bullingdon tomorrow, on her first UK tour since 2010, to support new album Travelling Alone. She is joined by singer-songwriter Rod Picott.

Country

  • Polly & the Billets Doux
  • The Cellar, Oxford
  • Saturday
  • Tickets £4 from wegottickets.com

Describing themselves as a “genre-defiant quartet”, Polly and the Billets Doux blend country, jazz, blues, folk and gospel but give it all a quintessentially English twist. A scorching live act, the double bass-wielding Polly Perry and her band present one of the most exciting shows you’ll see this winter.

Support comes from Americana sidekicks Knights of Mentis.

Folk

  • John Tams
  • Nettlebed Folk Club
  • Monday
  • Tickets £13 from nettlebedfolkclub.co.uk

John Tams is more than your average folk singer. the former member of Home Service and Albion Band is also a respected name on stage and screen.

He worked on the music for the West End production of War Horse, appeared in TV army drama Sharpe, and has even served on Lark Rise to Candleford. But it is as a singer, guitarist and melodeon player that he is best known.

He plays the Nettlebed Folk Club alongside harmony singer and keyboard player Barry Coope, of Coope, Boyes & Simpson fame.