June

Sun 1st June
Square Peg
Peg's no square, even in her dancing: especially not! Old Time Stringband, in the style of (and pals with) our friends The WhiteTop Mountain family. Class.

Mon 2nd June
John Hegley
Top performance poet & comedian still making us smile and occasionally think 40 years later. Early adopter of the ukelele, but easy to forgive even for that.

Tue 3rd June
Lunatraktors
Folk music from a parallel reality: unexpected percussion instruments, analogue synth basslines, bags of attitude & movement.

Wed 4th June
The Breaks
9-piece collective of wild groovers & improvisers from the Borderlands, who also like to dance. Give us a break, we were told, well here's several...

Sun 8th June
Robb Johnson & The Acoustic Irregulars
Melodic & harmonic sweetening - not that it needs much, he's always had melody - for stirring & perspicacious politicised but never polemic observational songs.

Mon 9th June
The Clay Bottom Jug Busters
More solid than the Soggy Bottom Boys, and strong & solid when they get fired up... Jugband early Blues & Jazz.

Wed 11th June
Normal People
Putting in a strong bid as new favourite band in Bath after some riotous gigs in the Back Bar, you will recognise some faces and general approach.

Sat 14th June
ROOTSICAL
Mizizi PLUS The Golden Guild. Double-delight live reggae with a classic stance from 7.30 pm, in support of Fairfield House, Haile Selassie's home in Bath.

Sun 15th June
The Mike Bess Band
"Drum Titan Mike Hoddinott plus Mike Bessling guitar/vox & Patrick Farrell bass. Blues Originals and classics of impeccable high standard. 

Mon 16th June
The Desafinados
Azhaar Saffar of Global Wave, Sirius B etc, leads this light-hearted dance through Brazilian classics and more from the '50s to the '70s.

Tue 17th June
A Different Thread
Half Staffordshire, half North Carolina, strong sense of vintage but minimalist style, covering all the musical bases from American to British Old-Time

Wed 18th June
Ya Freshness & The Big Boss Band
Evocation of the Rude Boy era of Ska in Britain led by Ya Freshness himself, the most skanktastic operator out of Keynsham since Horace Batchelor.

Sun 22nd June
Trudgeon's Trad Jazz Troubadours
Always-immaculate selection of the finest local exponents of the '20s-'40s sing styles joined by London trumpeter Lewis Taylor.

Mon 23rd June
David Celia
Canadian traveller who has been here with more bands than someone three times his age: this one's the rock'n'roll family. Superlative '60s style rock/pop.

Wed 24th June
The Sun Kings
You'll believe Welshpersons can play Cumbia, or at least an infectious song style very inspired by it: great original material and sense of fun, proper summer hi-jinks.

Sun 29th June
Blue Lass
All-Fem Bluegrass band - Abbey will be famiar from other top bands of that ilk - who can be relied on for hitting the spot in both familiarity and originality.

Mon 30th June
Soul Fire Project
On the road back from Glastonbury, this 6-piece from South America & California step on to their European Tour via The Bell. A rhythm thing with passion for the burning issues of today in their homelands.

July

This is a selection only of some forthcoming gigs at The Bell. These shows are not necessarily fully confirmed and subject to change - only the current month's listings are complete and checked.

Wed 2nd - Loonaloop [Australia]

Sun 6th  - Tolstoys [Slovakia/Berlin]

Mon 14th - B D Lenz

Sun 20th - Carmina Trio

Mon 21st - Panemestiza

Wed 23rd - Revelation Roots

Wed 30th - Starlings