Jim Moray

Jim Moray is playing the Kitchen Garden Cafe in Kings Heath on Wednesday 10 February, and if you've missed him before, he's actually doing two dates in Birmingham: this one and another on Wednesday 27 January. Both are at the same venue, so you've got a second chance if the first doesn't fit your calendar.

Moray is a Liverpool-born folk singer, producer and guitarist who first made his mark in the early 2000s by taking traditional songs and reimagining them, blending acoustic instrumentation with electronic production. He's since become one of the key figures of the English Folk Revival of the last 25 years. He's a bit of a polymath, too: he plays nearly all the instruments on his recordings and produces, arranges and mixes them himself—a skill that's made him a sought-after producer for folk musicians across different generations.

There are seven albums behind him, including Sweet England (2003), Skulk (2012) and Upcetera (2016), and they all share a cinematic streak that takes old songs quite far. A few of his arrangements have become classics of the genre—'Gilderoy', 'Horkstow Grange' and 'Fair Margaret and Sweet William'—while his reading of the ballad 'Lord Douglas' is a must-learn for fingerstyle guitarists. He's played Glastonbury, the Royal Albert Hall and WOMAD, and his singing of old ballads won praise from Iggy Pop.

The Kitchen Garden Cafe is at 17 York Road, Kings Heath, B14 7SA, with the entrance via Fletchers Bar at 7 York Road. Doors open at 7:30pm and the music starts at 8:00pm. General admission is £18 plus a £1.80 booking fee, so £19.80 in total.