Cottingham Folk Festival

Confirmed for 2026 - Elephant Sessions Over the past decade and more, Elephant Sessions have grown from grassroots beginnings to become one of the most prominent acts in contemporary folk music, performing around the world. Creating a progressive blend of intricate tunes, with a bass and drum heavy backline, their music combines the very best of folk, funk and electronica, resulting in a new and exciting sound, with four studio albums and renowned energetic live shows earning them a loyal international fanbase and critical acclaim.

Confirmed for 2026 - Striking Matches Sarah Zimmermann and Justin Davis combine harmony-rich hooks and raw, guitar-driven sound to create Striking Matches. Blending rock, blues, and Americana with modern edge and soulful storytelling, the spellbinding Nashville duo has carved out a space where grit meets groove. After breaking out with multiple songs featured on the hit show Nashville, Striking Matches toured extensively across the US, UK, and Europe, building a loyal grassroots following. They’ve shared stages with artists like Ashley Monroe, Sierra Hull, and Train, and their work has earned praise for its emotional firepower and dynamic live energy. Now independent and fiercely self-driven, Striking Matches continues to grow their audience through unforgettable performances, international touring, and a deep connection with fans. With new music rolling out soon, the duo is ushering in their boldest and most authentic chapter yet.

Confirmed for 2026 - Steady Habits A flair for alt-country sounds, melodic pop-hooks, and a voice that can blast it to the back of the room, Steady Habits is centred around the lyrical narrative of New-England native, Sean C. Duggan. Holding a place in “the youthful side of Americana” [Country Queer], Duggan’s songwriting is poignant, with a sensitivity and grit that is reminiscent of artists like Jason Isbell, Dawes & BJ Barnham [American Aquarium]. Pinned as one of the UK’s ‘Best of UK Country & Americana‘ [Holler], Steady Habits has moved from strength to strength, performing in both the UK & Internationally, supporting touring artists such as The Hanging Stars, Our Man in the Field, Native Harrow, Matt Owens, Austin Lucas & Demi Marriner.

Confirmed for 2026 - True Strays True Strays are a Bristol-based duo blending alt-Americana, blues rock, and neo-psychedelia into heartland anthems filled with soul and grit. Lifelong friends and DIY warriors, they’ve supported Lukas Nelson, rocked stages from Glastonbury to Joe Bonamassa’s cruise, and returned with their boldest, most personal album yet: Never Ending Sunset. For fans of big hooks, real stories, and music that hits home.

Confirmed for 2026 - Roswell Road Jasmine Watkiss and Zoë Wren formed Americana duo Roswell Road after a chance meeting led to them being gently forced to sing together in a busy Cambridgeshire market square. Their musical chemistry was instantaneous and they've been singing and writing songs together ever since. The London-based songwriters and performers blend close harmonies with candid storytelling, drawing on experiences from mental health to family love to real-life activist adventures at sea. Roswell Road, whose acrobatic vocal harmonies have seem them compared to First Aid Kit and Fleetwood Mac, have gained accolades including Purbeck Valley Folk Festival’s ‘Purbeck Rising’ award, Fatea’s 'EP of the Year' for their debut EP, and Celtic Connections’ Danny Kyle Award. Their debut album 'Rebel Joy' - out March 2026 - was given four stars by Record Collector.

Confirmed for 2026 - Elles Bailey There’s a steeliness that courses through Elles Bailey’s latest album, Can’t Take My Story Away. Fiercely independent, the British singer-songwriter has been steadily honing her craft for the better part of a decade. Her magnificent voice – instantly recognisable, full of grit – weaves stories of resilience and survival, of hope and new beginnings. In her music, we find liberation as she picks at the threads of human connection, carefully unravelling the truths we might not have realised about ourselves. “My most recent albums felt very much like they were snapshots in time,” Bailey explains. “Once your debut is out, the ball starts rolling, so those records were made very quickly, released and toured.” By contrast, Can’t Take My Story Away was created over a three-year period, using songs whose origins can be traced back almost 10 years. “There’s definitely an empowerment to this record,” she says. “I feel like that has actually evolved since I first started making it – as though I was a different person.”

Confirmed for 2026 - Gilmore & Roberts Contemporary folk/acoustic duo Gilmore & Roberts combine award-winning songwriting with astounding musicianship and their trademark harmonies to create a powerful wall of sound. Nominated three times at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Katriona Gilmore (fiddle, mandolin) and Jamie Roberts (guitar) have toured Canada and mainland Europe, played some of the UK’s biggest acoustic festivals and toured with folk rock legends Fairport Convention, all the while carving out a loyal following across the UK. Gilmore & Roberts will celebrate two decades of music in 2026 with an album of newly recorded career highlights in ‘pure duo format’, confirming their place on the UK folk roots scene as purveyors of ‘music to make you dance, cry and think…a masterclass in songwriting’ (Folk Radio UK) since 2006.

Confirmed for 2026 - Tom Bright Tom Bright is a relentlessly touring songwriter whose songs land with emotional weight and unvarnished honesty. 2025 saw him make his third television appearance on BBC One's Sunday Morning Live, serenade thousands at his fifth Glastonbury Festival, and sell out shows across the UK and beyond. His tireless graft has seen him hit iconic heights of the London Palladium, Shepherd's Bush Empire, appear on BBC's The One Show, Sky News, and record countless live sessions and interviews for BBC Radio 2, 5 Live, Radio X and more. Along the way, he's shared stages with The Libertines, Mystery Jets, Tom Grennan, Reverend & The Makers, Katherine Priddy (whom he performed Cottingham Folk Festival with a couple of years ago), Ed Harcourt and others. He has collaborated with The The, earned continued support from tastemakers Guy Garvey and John Kennedy and spent two years on Spotify's Most Beautiful Songs in the World playlist with 'If I Met Your Shadow'. Away from the stage, his story is just as remarkable: once the UK's youngest pub landlord, and a childhood marked by multiple life-saving surgeries.

Confirmed for 2026 - Ashley Campbell Ashley Campbell, daughter of country legend Glen Campbell began her career playing banjo and keyboard in her father’s band on several world tours and has found success as a solo artist in the country/Americana music scene; most notably with her debut single “Remembering” which she wrote for her father and is featured on the Grammy award winning and Oscar nominated album for the documentary Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me. Her original music has taken her all over the world, from China to Japan, to the main-stage at London’s O2 Arena to opening for Kris Kristofferson, the Bellamy Brothers as well as playing at Carnegie Hall with songwriting legend Jimmy Webb. With two internationally acclaimed solo albums under her belt, her forthcoming third album Goodnight Nashville is set for release in June 2025. In 2023 Ashley released a collaborative album, Turtle Cottage, with Thor Jensen as the duo Campbell Jensen. Ashley has also released three videos with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox and has performed on several tours in the UK and Europe with them since the spring of 2024.

Confirmed for 2026 - John Otway John first achieved notoriety with his eye-watering performance on Old Grey Whistle Test and subsequent hit single 'Really Free' in 1977. A heady mix of blind ambition and rank incompetence was to keep this microstar shining for almost two decades despite Otway's ability to turn any situation to his own disadvantage. His autobiography 'Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure' out sold, by a factor of ten, all the records he had released since his hit, and now Otway is struggling to live up to this billing - selling out London Astoria for his 2000th gig in 1993, filling the Royal Albert Hall in 1998, and charting at number 9 with his 2002 single 'Bunsen Burner'. For John 'Two Hits' Otway, 'the future's bright; the future's Otway!

Confirmed for 2026 - Rianne Downey Rianne Downey is an artist. She’s a writer, guitarist, performer and golden-voiced singer whose passion for country, folk and more has instinctively propelled her – via accidentally astute use of social media and authentically viral acclaim – to the creation of The Consequence of Love, as well as multiple sold-out shows and a Glastonbury Pyramid Stage performance already under her guitar strap; a young veteran of supports with Paolo Nutini, Texas, Deacon Blue, Tom Jones and of course her now hugely successful album, tours and performances with the legendary singer songwriter Paul Heaton! Join us for an unforgettable evening with the acclaimed Scottish songstress!

Delighted to be returning to @cottfolkfest this summer ☀️ Catch me on Fri 28 August, sharing the bill with the awesome @bluerosecode . On sale tomorrow from 7pm! 💙 📍 St. Mary’s Church, Cottingham, East Yorkshire 🎟️ #Folk #Festival #Summer #UK #Yorkshire