St Albans Folk Music organises pub music sessions, concerts and
an annual 'New roots' competition for young musicians. It is a part of
the 'Folk at the Festival' Committee which organises the annual St Albans
Folk Festival.
St
Albans Folk Festival June 5-7, 2026. The full programme of events is here and tickets for
the festival concert are on sale at
www.ticketsource.co.uk/stalbansfolkmusic.Enquiries at info@stalbansfolkatthefestival.org.uk
Festival concert, Sunday June 6, 7.30pm
Chris Newman and Máire Ní Chathasaigh
Virtuoso guitarist and award-winnng Irish harpist in long
standing duo. Support from Callum Granger, winner of the Watford Folk Club Songwriting
Competition and New Roots 2026 finalist Gabriel Bath. St Saviour’s Church, 21 Sandpit
Lane, AL1 4DF. Tickets £20, concessions £15, under 18 and students. Tickets for
this can be booked at www.ticketsource.co.uk/stalbansfolkmusic
by phone on 0333 666 3366 or by paying on the door
St Michael's Street folk evening
This takes place on the first Wednesday evening in July, with
dancing in the street and music everywhere so this year it will be on Wednesday
July 1 2026.
Concerts
Our concerts are held at St
Saviour’s Church, 25 Sandpit Lane, St Albans AL1 4DF. The church is a beautiful building with excellent acoustics, flexible
space and a licensed bar with real ale. Tickets for these can be booked
at www.ticketsource.co.uk/stalbansfolkmusic
by phone on 0333 666 3366 or by paying on the door. Tickets £15, concessions
£10, under 18 and students, except where stated otherwise. Despite its new
heating system, the church can be cold in winter and some concerts will be held
in the church hall.
Sessions
Mainly traditional Irish,
English, Scottish and other traditional music. All welcome to listen or to
play. Mainly tunes, but singers welcome.
Weekly sessions at 8.30pm on Wednesdays are now at the Farmer’s
Boy, London Road, St Albans AL1 1PQ and the Queen’s Head, 9 Church
End, Sandridge, St Albans AL4 9DL Sessions are at the Queen’s Head on second
and last Wednesdays of the month and at the Farmer’s Boy on other Wednesdays.
Contact Alison
Macfarlane
Tel 01727 852111
Email: info@stalbansfolkmusic.org.uk
New Roots, an event for young musicians who are under
25 and play or sing folk, roots or traditional music. For
further details, click here.
New Roots 2025-26 Owing to
the low number of entries in 2005, New Roots was held over to 2026 and the
combined final will take place on April 19 2026. The closing date will
be January 31 2026.
New Roots 2024 took place on April 7 2024.
If your club or festival would like to give an opportunity to a New Roots 2024
finalist, please email info@new-roots.org.uk.
New
Roots 2023 The final took place on Sunday April 23 2023 at Trestle
Arts Base, St Albans. The judges were Alice Jones, Jack Rutter, Valmai Goodyear
and Andy Stafford.
New
Roots 2021/22 The rescheduled final took place on Sunday March 27 2022
at Trestle Arts Base, St Albans. The judges were Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne,
Ffion Mair, Valmai Goodyear and Andy Stafford. Links to videos of the finalists
are here.
New
Roots 2020 The final of New Roots 2020 was postponed to Sunday
November 1 2020 from 11am to 5pm and was online. The music can be
heard on New Roots YouTube channel.
For further details, click here.
New Roots 21st anniversary celebration, Sunday June
28 2020
The first New Roots took place in 2000 and a 21st
anniversary event was held on Sunday June 28 2020, with performances by
some of the amazing singers and musicians who have taken part over the years.
This was an online event, with videos newly recorded by over 30 past New Roots
finalists. If you missed it, you can still hear it on New Roots YouTube channel
by following this link.