SOME of the biggest names in folk will play at venues across the city later this month for the seventh Folk Weekend Oxford event.

Eliza Carthy, Sam Carter and Jackie Oates will be among the performers from Friday, April 20 to Sunday, April 22.

While the performances will be the main draw, the variety of venues is also a big attraction for folk fans.

Festival director Cat Kelly said: “Once again we’ll be infiltrating some of the most beautiful venues in Oxford for our concerts, including the Wesley Memorial Church, Quaker Meeting House, and the Norrington Room at Blackwell’s Bookshop.

“There will be craft stalls, workshops, and family fun at the Oxford Deaf and Hard of Hearing Centre - for your dance action head to St Barnabas Church in Jericho, or the back hall at the Wesley Memorial Church.

“The intimate events at The St Aldate’s Tavern promise to be just as good as last year, and new for 2018, we will also be visiting the Bodleian’s Weston Library on Sunday.”

Although this is the seventh year of Folk Weekend Oxford, an Oxford folk festival ran for many years under the guidance of Tim Healey.

When he retired as organiser a new team came in to take over and it has been a success ever since, featuring well-known local folk artists and musicians from further afield.

This year organisers have announced that Jackie Oates, festival patron since 2013, has been joined by John Spiers, of Bellowhead and Spiers and Boden.

Ms Oates is a singer and fiddle player hailing from Staffordshire and now living in Oxford. Her treatment of English ballads and songs, and pure, haunting singing style has attracted increasing attention.

Since appearing as a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards 2003, she has performed extensively at festivals and folk clubs across the country, in a solo capacity and with a number of bands.

Her second album The Violet Hour’ was one of the Top 10 on the Mojo folk album of the year chart in 2008, followed by Hyperboreans reaching number five in the chart the following year.

New patron John Spiers, known better in folk circles as Squeezy, has made a name for himself as one of the leading squeezebox players of his generation. He is well known for his long-standing partnership with Jon Boden in Spiers & Boden and for his contribution to the popular band Bellowhead, who have now split up. Mr Spiers has also played with Eliza Carthy’s Ratcatchers. Born in Birmingham, Mr Spiers moved to Abingdon at an early age where his association with the traditional folk music and dance of the region began. His road to success started when he met Jon Boden in the late 1990s.

Visit info@folkweekendoxford.co.uk for general enquiries.