Come join us a for a Sunday late afternoon and evening of merriment with a full band performance from doom crooner Louis Brennan and his complement of minstrels featuring Ederlezi, Jack Francis & Angela Gannon alongside some very special guests

Please note - doors are at 5pm and the performance will start around 6

Tickets here: www.wegottickets.com

Black Cat Music are delighted to welcome back to the upstairs room of the Betsey Trotwood...... Karen Jonas

Karen Jonas returns for her annual UK Tour September 2025, with seven records and a brand new collection of poetry, “Poetic Evidence” (Aug 2025) in tow. Karen Jonas is a powerhouse songwriter, storyteller, and poet with a voice to match. Smart, witty, and rooted in femininity, Rolling Stone Germany called her “a bit dangerous and a bit wicked.” Her magnetically retro seventh album The Rise and Fall of American Kitsch (2024) is “gloriously whimsical” (Rocking Magpie UK), “ambitious, thought-provoking, relatable, and very entertaining” (Country Music People UK). Her ten-year touring history and the true joy of her art charm international audiences. Karen is a four-time Wammie (Washington Area Music) Award winner for Best Country and Americana Artist, Mid Atlantic Song Contest winner, Ameripolitan Award nominee, and official SXSW and UK Americanafest Showcasing Artist. A mother of four (and five cats), she prioritizes time at home but shines just as brightly there, with casually strummed songs and carefully-crafted poetry touching fans all around the world.

This will be an accoustic show. The upstairs roome at the Betsey is mainly unreserved seating with some standing if you wish to!

Support from Susannah Glegg

Tickets here: www.wegottickets.com

Showcasing some of London’s finest new comedy talent JESTER JESTERS is an intimate night of
COMEDY, JOKES & REFLECTIVE TOMFOOLERY in our upstairs venue on Mondays.

Come down, invite your mates & enjoy or even try some open-mic comedy!

8pm UPSTAIRS

More info and tickets: www.facebook.com/jjesters

Wesley Stace was born in Hastings, East Sussex, and currently lives in Philadelphia. He released many albums under the name John Wesley Harding, before switching back to his birth name for more recent recordings, including 2021’s Late Style, and has recorded duets with, among others, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, and Rosanne Cash.

Stace has published four novels, including the international bestseller Misfortune, and recently co-authored Mark Morris’ memoir Out Loud. His Cabinet of Wonders, a monthly show at New York City’s City Winery, was described by The New Yorker as “one of the finest nights of entertainment this city has to offer.”

The Betsey Trotwood
Sunday 31st August 2025
Doors 2:30pm

Tickets here: www.wegottickets.com

Join us for a wild night of comedy and music featuring hilarious New Yorker Dyan Forest!

Comedienne, cabaret artist, and living legend D'yan Forest (currently Guinness World Records Title Holder for Oldest Female Comedian in the World) is coming to London! 

At 91 years old critics have called D’yan everything from "saucy," "witty," "irrepressible," and a "naughty version of Betty White." D’yan has performed on "The Drew Barrymore Show," "France’s Got Talent," and has had notable performances in New York, Paris, Edinburgh and even Ethiopia. If there’s a stage, chances are she’s been on it. She has been featured in The New York Times, Time Out NY, New York Post, and The Guardian. www.dyanforest.com -www.instagram.com/dyanforestwriter

Other acts include Lily Phillips (BBC New Comedian of the Year FINALIST) and David Tims (Amy Winehouse Band) and more…

We will also be raising money for Alzheimer's Society! Comedy AND a cause what is not to like?

£10 on the door

The Morris Folk Club runs on the last Tuesday of most months (excepting December and some other holiday months). Entry is free, and all are warmly welcome. 

Morris Folk Club runs 7.30pm-10.30pm-ish.

Check Twitter and Facebook for information on what's happening this month, not least in case of cancellations or special themes, or sign up to the Morris emailing list.

Our Folk Club runs from 7.30pm till about 10.30pm, and generally follows an open, floor performers/singers night format. You can just listen, and sing along, if you like, or you can perform. Let the MC know if you'd like to sing or play something - it's typically up to one item per half, time permitting. It's always a very appreciative audience - and, if you're worried about that kind of thing (which you shouldn't be), a supportive and forgiving one too.

A unique part of Morris Folk Club is that it incorporates elements of 'open choir rehearsal', when anyone can get a taste of singing with the choir, as during the evening we all together learn a song or two or go over an old favourite. 

Nashville's emerging Country music artist, Alyssa Flaherty recently released her debut EP 'Heartbreak, Thank You' and has graced screens in Kevin Costner's critically acclaimed series, "Horizon: An American Saga Chapter: 1," where she rendered the timeless hymn, "Amazing Grace." The soundtrack was recently Shortlisted by the Academy for an Oscar of Best Score. Flaherty's touring has included select dates with artists like, LeAnn Rimes, Jake Owen, Old Dominion's Brad Tursi, Billy Currington, Jo Dee Messina, Kevin Costner's Modern West and more. Flaherty's 2025 is full of new music, tour dates, and limitless potential. Follow along at app.getpinpoint.io/af.

Tickets here: www.wegottickets.com

Trotwood Events present Semler

Semler aka Grace Baldridge (all pronouns) is a Los Angeles based musician who made history as the first openly queer artist to hit Number 1 on the Christian music charts with their 2021 EP, Preacher's Kid . Following this success, Semler released two more chart-topping EPs, joined Relient K on a national tour, and headlined the Troubadour. Semler has organically grown an engaged online audience, with 330k+ followers across all social media platforms. Semler's music has been featured by NPR, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, American Songwriter and Apple Radio. After three headline tours and another EP, Semler released their debut album, Revival In My Mind, on February 21st, 2025. They celebrated with two sold-out shows in Nashville and Chicago. Semler will be making their UK debut this Summer as a headliner at Greenbelt music festival and a special appearance at the Betsey Trotwood in London.

Tickets here: www.wegottickets.com

We are very excited to be welcoming New Orleans' singer songwriter Greazy Alice to Loose's relaunched club night Nashville Babylon for their UK debut. Also performing will be Liverpool based group Motel Sundown.

The usual Loose residents Danny Champ and Chris Minks playing records until late.

Tickets here: www.wegottickets.com

Trotwood Events present Semler

Semler aka Grace Baldridge (all pronouns) is a Los Angeles based musician who made history as the first openly queer artist to hit Number 1 on the Christian music charts with their 2021 EP, Preacher's Kid . Following this success, Semler released two more chart-topping EPs, joined Relient K on a national tour, and headlined the Troubadour. Semler has organically grown an engaged online audience, with 330k+ followers across all social media platforms. Semler's music has been featured by NPR, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, American Songwriter and Apple Radio. After three headline tours and another EP, Semler released their debut album, Revival In My Mind, on February 21st, 2025. They celebrated with two sold-out shows in Nashville and Chicago. Semler will be making their UK debut this Summer as a headliner at Greenbelt music festival and a special appearance at the Betsey Trotwood in London.

Tickets here: www.wegottickets.com

London's only monthly book quiz! Doors 6.30pm, quiz starts 7.30pm. £5 entry, maximum team size = 5. Prizes to be won

To book a table, please contact Gary via gpwigglesworth.co.uk

Showcasing some of London’s finest new comedy talent JESTER JESTERS is an intimate night of
COMEDY, JOKES & REFLECTIVE TOMFOOLERY in our upstairs venue on Mondays.

Come down, invite your mates & enjoy or even try some open-mic comedy!

8pm UPSTAIRS

More info and tickets: www.facebook.com/jjesters

Poet John Hegley and songsters Diego Brown &the Good Fairy, plus more poets and singers in a ClerknWell ARTslab Acoustic fundraiser for Together With Refugees - the nationwide solidarity movement. A positive response to division and hate.

£10 on the door for an evening of poetry, music and joining in.

Together With Refugees are organising the Welcome Weekend on 8-9 August 2025 – a national moment uniting communities across the country.

Pete will be joined by Ian Button (Go Kart Mozart, Death in Vegas) and Neil Scott (Denim, Summerhill, Everything But the Girl) to play a selection from his new record Unsent Letters (Home Recordings 1984-2024). It’s the weird cousin to songs on half a lifetime of albums. It has been living in the basement and is now emerging, blinking into the daylight. And Ian, Neil and Pete with some Casios, guitars and drum machines will be there to help it out.

Tickets here: www.wegottickets.com

Pete:  Unsent Letters contains a selection of songs that, like all my songs, started at home, but these stayed at home, tucked away at the back of analogue and digital drawers, coins lost down the back of the sofa. All musicians know that there is always the danger that, when you are making songs to formally release, you can end up aiming at that often-unhelpful place called ‘perfection’. These songs arrived before that process could begin. I think there is an openness, vulnerability and unguardedness here that I really like. I have to say I’m rather proud of these unsent letters. 

Pete Astor led Creation Records’ groups The Loft and The Weather Prophets, writing songs and releasing records that helped define the sound of the label and the emerging Indie genre. He has gone on to a lengthy solo career since then; writing, recording and releasing music on a range of labels including Matador, Heavenly, Warp, EMI and Fortuna Pop. He is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Westminster. As well as touring extensively, he also makes records with David Sheppard as Ellis Island Sound and releases his spoken word pop as The Attendant. Since 2017, Astor has been signed to the estimable Tapete Records, home to Robert Forster, Lloyd Cole and Comet Gain among many excellent others.

Sharon Wanjohi (Comedy Central Live) and Ben Pope ('a total delight' - Fest) preview their new Edinburgh Fringe shows.

Tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk

Jordan Brookes ('achingly funny' - The Scotsman) and Ben Pope ('a total delight' - Fest) preview their new Edinburgh Fringe shows.

Tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk

Ania Magliano ('truly original' - The Scotsman) and Ben Pope ('a total delight' - Fest) preview their new Edinburgh Fringe shows.

Tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk

Trotwood Events present Joana Serrat

Hailing from Vic, but recently relocated to London, Catalan singer/songwriter Joana Serrat has released six critically acclaimed albums (“…like Mazzy Star guesting on an early Neil Young demo,” Mojo), performed on the biggest festival stages across Europe and the USA and supported artists including The Jayhawks, Neko Case, Courtney Marie Andrews, The Handsome Family, and Israel Nash, while performing headline shows across the globe, including the UK.

Her music is a perfect blend of Lynchian Americana, shoegaze and cosmic country with echoes of the War On Drugs, Slowdive and Sharon Van Etten.

She’ll be performing a full band set with her brand new band of London music scene veterans (including members of The Hanging Stars, Lightshines and The See See).

Tickets here: www.wegottickets.com

London's only monthly book quiz! Doors 6.30pm, quiz starts 7.30pm. £5 entry, maximum team size = 5. Prizes to be won

To book a table, please contact Gary via gpwigglesworth.co.uk

Black cat Music and Evans above are proud to present a joint headline show featuring Chris Murphy and Casey Neill

Tickets here: www.wegottickets.com

Casey Neill is a songwriter from Portland, Oregon performing high energy indie folk, infused with haunting melodies and weather beaten narratives. His last two albums were released on Fluff & Gravy records, one with his band Casey Neill & The Norway Rats, Sending Up Flares, and one solo, time zero land. A prolific road warrior since the late 90s, Neill tours throughout the USA, Japan, and Europe, performing at venues such as Town Hall in New York, San Francisco's Great American Music Hall, and the Newport Folk Festival. Neill has been establishing himself in the UK over the last few years, playing at London’s Green Note, Hebden Bridge’s Trades Club and Maverick Festival, Suffolk and is set to return this summer with dates confirmed at Cafe #9, Sheffield, The Betsey Trotwood and Maverick Festival alongside guitarist Chet Lyster.
Born and raised in New York, Chris Murphy is a vibrant violinist, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, now based in Los Angeles. He performs over 200 concerts annually across the USA, The Netherlands, France, and the UK. His original songs explore themes of love, loss, redemption, hope, and fear. Murphy describes his music as a “live film score,” offering listeners a journey into his world. He is renowned for his proficiency across genres, from Jazz and Classical to Folk, World Music, and Ambient; his performances are charismatic and engaging, drawing in his audience to make them feel elevated. Rootstime notes that “Murphy is a master and a craftsman on his instruments…” promising memorable and captivating shows.

Guitarist Chet Lyster produced and co-wrote the songs on Sending Up Flares. A member of EELS since the early 2000s’, Lyster has been a staple of their Europe tours. He was a touring and recording member of Lucinda Williams’ band for a few years and plays on her Grammy nominated album ‘Little Honey’. Chet has been a member of Casey Neill & The Norway Rats since it’s inception and has contributed to many other recordings and bands in Portland.

The Canadian folk singer renowned for her purity of voice and composer of the ever-fresh ’Morning Dew’; once at the heart of Greenwich Village heyday when she sang at Gerdes Folk City with the likes of Paul Simon, and Bob Dylan. The UK’s premier purveyors of Cosmic Americana riding a wave of creativity and acclaim, with two successive classic albums Hollow Heart and On A Golden Shore. The spry octogenarian and the psychedelic cowboys proved a match ripe to be made.

Come and help us celebrate the release of the brand new Bonnie Dobson & The Hanging Stars collaboration album “Dreams” - out 11th July 2025 on Loose Music. Bonnie and the boys will be playing a short acoustic set and there will be a Q&A hosted by renowned writer Travis Elborough And yes, the album will be for sale. Doors 7.30pm. Upstairs at the Betsey Trotwood, 56 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3BL, London

Tickets here: www.wegottickets.com

Monday night is magic night at the Betsey! Close up sleight of hand magic performed by Caspar Thomas and Jerry Sadowitz. Original, classic and obscure magic that you probably won’t see anywhere else. Different material each week. For details, contact: caspar@casparthomas.com

Richie Philips & Rob Corcoran welcome you to an enchanting and charming musical evening in our upstairs acoustic room featuring the finest new and established folk influenced talent playing round the camp fire (but without the fire). And it's like a real society too, you know.

£5 entry (cash only)

More info here

Come by for an exciting gig full of Manchester charm, Essex attitude, funny healing and pagan spiritual sirens, a great lineup and who knows what might happen?!?
A bag of hats will also be there

BAND TIMES:
8:00-8:30 Danny Boy
8:35-9:05 Cormac Russell
9:20-9:50 Bill Dury and The Healers
10:05-11:00 Butterfly Wheel

Monday night is magic night at the Betsey! Close up sleight of hand magic performed by Caspar Thomas and Jerry Sadowitz. Original, classic and obscure magic that you probably won’t see anywhere else. Different material each week. For details, contact: caspar@casparthomas.com

Peter Doolan is a London based maverick poet and singer-songwriter originally hailing from Co. Tipperary. His musical output is rich and dynamic alternative rock, which incorporates indie, punk and folk music. Live he’s joined by his backing band “The St Valentine’s Day Massacre”.

Red Hash are a young London band whose sound is a heady mixture of folk, rock and psychedelica in ode to early 70s soulful songwriting with a modern British take. Not to be missed!

Georgia Maria are a female-fronted 3-piece rock band from Camden Town. Think Joni-meet-Joan-Jett.

Doors 7.30pm

£5otd

Bushwick'ers will be performing their hot-off-the-press, brand new compositions, at the infamous Bushwick Bookclub. 

Tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk

Come and see artists presenting their unique response to a common source material so you can unpick the creative mind in action and experience a unique glimpse into the performer's flow and imagination!

Showcasing some of London’s finest new comedy talent JESTER JESTERS is an intimate night of
COMEDY, JOKES & REFLECTIVE TOMFOOLERY in our upstairs venue on Mondays.

Come down, invite your mates & enjoy or even try some open-mic comedy!

8pm UPSTAIRS

More info and tickets: www.facebook.com/jjesters

Monday night is magic night at the Betsey! Close up sleight of hand magic performed by Caspar Thomas and Jerry Sadowitz. Original, classic and obscure magic that you probably won’t see anywhere else. Different material each week. For details, contact: caspar@casparthomas.com