Sam Kelly

Sam Kelly & Jamie Francis are no strangers to TwickFolk audiences. Sam brought his trio to the Cabbage Patch in January of 2015 and as a duo they returned in January 2017. In the intervening period, Sam was presented with the Horizon Award at the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. As a young child hailing from the depths of Norfolk, Sam's only link to folk music lay in the Gaelic folk songs that his Irish grandfather taught him. Although many individual songs and tunes have been lost in the blur of childhood memory, Sam has never lost his love for the beautiful sounds of traditional music, and this passion pours out of him in every note he sings. The EP 'Spokes' landed Sam a nomination in the Best Singer category at the 2015 Spiral Earth Awards, and his debut album (The Lost Boys) was released the same year, to great acclaim. It received a four-star review in R2 magazine and was included in the Daily Telegraph list of best folk albums of 2015. Jamie Francis (on banjo, guitar and backing vocals) met Sam when they were studying music and playing at open mics in Brighton. Jamie fronts his own alt-blues trio called Stark and brings his own varied musical influences to bear on the songs he writes with Sam. He is building a reputation as a formidable banjo player. ?Sam has such a beautiful voice and sings with so much soul. I've seen him perform live a few times and he's amazing? Cara Dillon ?One of the most interesting voices on the folk scene...He has a fine and powerful voice but with subtle delicacy too...I think this guy is absolutely brilliant? Mike Harding 'The banjo playing of Jamie Francis adds fantastic musical gems along the path Kelly treads with his voice? Danny Farragher