Having been a founding member of one of the most revered power pop bands of all time tends to be a footnote that follows you around. Yet Jody Stephens’ contribution to the pop canon goes well beyond his beginnings in Big Star, helping to refine alt-country with Golden Smog and shaping the Ardent Records legacy well into the current era. Following the outpouring of love around the documentary, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, Jody reached out to his longtime friend, producer and songwriter Luther Russell to join him for some promotional appearances. A comfortability on stage became a kinship in the studio and eventually led to two albums as Those Pretty Wrongs. Luther and Jody bounce ideas off of one another with the kind of natural symbiosis that all bands shoot to achieve. Their third album together, Holiday Camp, finds Those Pretty Wrongs crafting a record that’s autumnal, searching for solace, and yet unsettled.

Those Pretty Wrongs

We’re so excited to welcome Michele, a London-based singer-songwriter, musician, mum and lover of all things creative, and of course well-known as a member of The Magic Numbers. This show will celebrate the release of Michele’s new solo album, her third. The album is called ‘Invitation’ – it is an intimate, personal record, with songs that touch on themes of motherhood, relationships, mental health, transformation, endings and new beginnings. As Michele says, “It comes from a place of inviting in the darkness, the hard times, the sadness, anger, loss, love and grief… all of the unknown feelings that get woken up inside you. To practice staying with them, no matter how uncomfortable. To understand that they are trying to tell you something… and that ultimately it’s ok to feel these emotions, even if you can’t make any sense of them. I believe that it’s in the learning and listening that we can transform, grow, stay conscious and wholeheartedly true, open, honest with ourselves and others.”

Michele Stodart

With a career now spanning six decades, Robyn Hitchcock remains a truly one-of-a-kind artist –surrealist rock ’n’ roller, iconic troubadour, guitarist, poet, painter, performer. An unparalleled, deeply individualistic songwriter and stylist, Hitchcock has traversed myriad genres with humor, intelligence, and originality over more than thirty albums and seemingly infinite live performances. From The Soft Boys’ proto-psych-punk and The Egyptians’ Dadaist pop to solo masterpieces like 1984’s milestone I Often Dream of Trains and 1990’s Eye, Hitchcock has crafted a strikingly original oeuvre rife with sagacious observation, astringent wit, recurring marine life, mechanized rail services, cheese, Clint Eastwood, and innumerable finely drawn characters real and imagined.

Robyn Hitchcock

A staple of the contemporary Americana scene, Annie Keating writes and sings like a woman who knows deep down that heartache is the price of hope, and she can make us believe — in that way that only the best artists can — that all of it is worth the cost. Talent spotted by BBC Radio‘s Bob Harris with the release of her breakthrough album, “Belmont” in 2008, Keating has been growing in stature and reputation ever since with each of the ten studio album and EP releases to date, drawing formidable comparisons to artists including Lucinda Williams and John Prine along the way. Annie Keating’s new release “HARD FROST” is another superb collaboration between songwriter Annie Keating and brilliant guitarist/producer Teddy Kumpel, who last produced the 15 song “Bristol County Tides” album in 2021. On this new album, Keating shows her range and depth, with no two songs sounding alike, ranging from raucous rock to tender acoustic storytelling. Performing as The Annie Keating Band, the line-up will feature Scott Warman on double/electric bass, rising star Joe Coombs on electric/acoustic/slide guitars (who has played internationally Grammy nominated songwriter Yola, Robert Vincent, Lynne Hanson and the Steady Habits) and Jamie Dawson on drums (also a member of the Steady Habits as well as The Dreaming Spires.) Photo credit: John Morgan

Annie Keating

In 1968 a Californian musician blows through a West Country village where he writes a set of haunting songs that will earn him a group of obsessive fans and a cult following. The set of eleven songs form the album Wallflower. The Californian is RJ McKendree, created by the best-selling author Tom Cox from his novel Villager, brought to life by musician Will Twynham (Dimorphodons). Villager, Tom Cox’s thirteenth book and debut novel synthesises his passion for music, nature and folklore into a psychedelic and enthralling exploration of village life and the countryside that sustains it. Wallflower is a dreamlike, poetic record that reaches through time, rich with metaphor from landscape, soil and rock. Drawing on outsider blues, psychedelia, and the early folk rock scenes of both the US and UK, Wallflower possesses an expansive feel that sometimes turns dark, dense and murky, leaning into the ritual and folkloric mysteries that lurk on the edge of a Dartmoor-esque landscape. Will Twynham – aka Dimorphodons, aka RJ McKendree – is a visionary multi-instrumentalist, guitar builder, and producer with production credits including Mary Epworth’s acclaimed album Dream Life, featuring the BBC 6 Music-playlisted single ‘Black Doe’. The debut Dimorphodons album will be released in 2023.

RJ Mckendree

The Breeze

Matthew Caws has been the lead singer/guitarist of the New York based group Nada Surf for twenty five years. He’s consistently toured the world with the band during this time, but only on rare occasions has he taken the stage solo to perform their catalogue of melodic, soulful pop songs. Matthew is also one half of Minor Alps, along with Juliana Hatfield, who released their debut album ‘Get There’ in 2013.

Matthew Caws

My Girl The River is American singer/songwriter Kris Wilkinson Hughes. Sometimes with husband & bassist, Joe, Kris paints pictures of life in the American south, explores complex human experiences and isn’t afraid to share her vulnerability or truth. Cardinal in the Snow, produced by Neilson Hubbard (Emily Scott Robinson, Mary Gauthier), received 8/10 from AmericanaUK. ‘Nashville meets southern gothic’, ‘a voice like sugared espresso’.

My Girl the River

Born In Louisiana, Kate Ellis uses melancholy Folk/Americana to conduct fearless soul-searching. A journalist for the Observer described hauntingly beautiful songs, Americana UK gave her latest album Spirals 9/10 calling it “An irrefutable, unquestionable joy” while Folk Radio UK noted it was “Beguilingly sung, melodic, warm, tender, open and insightful in its vortex of emotions – an early contender for the year’s best-of lists.” BBC Radio’s Ralph McClean recently said: “Kate Ellis’s beautiful album Spirals is absolutely brilliant, the Louisiana-born singer-songwriter really has something very special going on.”

Kate Ellis

The ARC Songwriters