Kelso Folk&Live
Kelso Folk & Live Music Club promotes music making in traditional and contemporary fashion, both in a cabaret-style setting and in the more informal environment of a Scottish pub session and open mic. All are welcome and the many regulars involved try to make visitors feel a part of the circle. As well as weekly meetings It is also running a mini folk festival in September! More details here, or on its dedicated website www.kelsofolkfest.org
The club has two homes and meets on two nights in the week, on a Thursday and Friday night, very much throughout the year.
On a Thursday night in the Saddler’s Bar at the Cross Keys Hotel there is a traditional Scottish tune session that runs from 8.30 pm through to 11 pm. There is usually a wide range of acoustic instruments being played there, including Scottish Border and Shuttle smallpipes, hammered dulcimer, flute, mandolin, fiddle and guitar, and you will hear or can join in with a wide selection of jigs, reels, marches, hornpipes and airs from the Celtic tradition.
On Friday night there are two offerings. The earlier purely acoustic cabaret-style meet is in the Oak Room at the Cross Keys Hotel, which fronts onto the town square. It is held in a comfortable lounge, with food and drink available from the bar next door, and runs from 8.00 pm to 10.30 pm. This is a really relaxing place to hear a diversity of musical genres from local and visiting musicians and singers. With its good acoustics and attentive audience it is a great venue for performers.
The Cobbles Inn Friday night pub session runs from 10 pm, when you may find acoustic traditional music kicking things off. From 10 pm you will find two or three singers who anchor the open mic session. Although many pub regulars refer to us as ‘the band’ we are not! We are there to encourage others to join in, stand up and sing with accompaniment from our musicians. By 11 pm we usually welcome musicians and singers from the Cross Keys and also from other Borders activities (Friday is a popular night). It’s not unusual for performers to arrive after midnight if they’ve been to gig first. The night ends by 1am.