Jon Wilks

Tickets £16.50.
Doors open 7.30pm, starts 8pm.
This gig is for a seated audience.

Jon is a much admired finger-picking folk guitarist and singer in the Martin Carthy/Martin Simpson vein. His upcoming 5th solo album (due out Autumn 2025) promises an absorbing blend of historical richness, trad influences and Jon's own sublime song writing.

'Wilks proves once again what a stand-out talent he really is. There is an honesty and compassion in Wilks’s writing and performance, which is entirely charming.' KlofMag

Lauded by Folk Radio (KLOF) as ‘a rather special performer with an authentic and abiding love of traditional song’, Jon is a prominent fingerpicking guitarist and singer who performs traditional English folk songs and broadside ballads, as well as his own songs. His talent has been recognised by Guitarist, one of the world’s biggest guitar magazines, which featured him as one-to-watch in July 2022.

‘Very much part of the UK’s living folk tradition, Wilks excels at reanimating broadside ballads and antique pieces with a scholar’s ear for vernacular and a dashing sense of verve on fingerpicked guitar…. Wilks also showcases a trio of original compositions, at his eloquent best on poetic Soho encounter Greek Street.’ Uncut Magazine

Jon spent many years overseas, interviewing renowned musicians and uncovering their stories. His current music highlights his well-developed writing and research skills - expertise Jon refined over his years as a journalist, serving as editor of Time Out magazine in Tokyo and Abu Dhabi and contributing to The Guardian, Dazed & Confused, and many other publications.

Jon has a keen eye and ear for storytelling. During his live shows, he mixes entertaining folk song performances with fascinating tidbits about the original singers and collectors that he has unearthed during his extensive research on traditional folk music in the UK.

Jon has released four solo albums and one solo EP Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost (2023), Up the Cut (2021), The Trial of Bill Burn Under Martin’s Act (2019) EP, Midlife (2018), Songs from the Attic (2016) He co-arranged and performed tracks on Jackie Oates’s Gracious Wings 2022 album and was a part of Slow Jane, the quartet that created videos of Nick Drake songs during lockdown.

www.jonwilks.online
http://www.facebook.com/jonwilksmusic 
www.instagram.com/jonwilksmusic
www.youtube.com/channel/UCF4nDwDpihppwR9PT0d2htg