The Live Room
The best all round roots music club in West Yorkshire
Thursday 20th November 2025
Photos Nigel Plant, videos Keith Belcher, review Mike Latham
Another stunner of a show last night.
The musicianship of the four players was outstanding. I was mesmerised by the intricate patterns that each instrument created and how they all meshed together to create those fabulous tunes.
It will definitely require a lot of thought whittling down all those outstanding performances we have witnessed this year.
Friday 31st October 2025
Photos, review and videos by Keith Belcher
Friday 31st October 2025. The return visit of CUA, just a few days short of 3 years since their debut at TLR (13th November 2022). CUA are: John Davidson (fiddle, percussion, vocals) Shane Booth (guitar, vocals) and Ros O’Meara (bouzouki, guitar, percussion, vocals).
Usually bands progress from standing during a gig to sitting as the years pass. CUA seem to have gone the other way, 2022 found them all seated but 2025 was definitely all standing (the band, not the audience). The penultimate gig of their tour, they certainly gave an inspired performance.
The conversations I heard (and read) were all praise. Praise for their musicianship, praise for the quality of their songs, praise for their adaptation and interpretation of musical genres and especial praise for their outstanding harmony work.
Acapella songs opened and closed the evening. The first , one of their own compositions , “The Other Man”, a very hard hitting and political song. I imagine it would have been greatly approved of by the author of their final song , another acapella ,“The Tunnel Tigers”, a Ewan MacColl song about the dangerous and difficult work of constructing tunnels, specifically in the tough clay soil found beneath London.
The delivery of the show was really well paced mingling quiet reflective songs like “Sail Home With Me” with the very fast “The Guisers Fancy”, very apt for Halloween. It featured some extremely interesting and quite unusual time signatures. To my old ears leaning very heavily towards Eastern European music. I’m biased, I saw them twice last week . They are very good.
Many songs tonight were from the new EP “WILL YOU BE OK” .All songs were CUA compositions with the exception of “The Tunnel Tigers” and a really superb version of “The Auld Triangle” I’m sure they’ll be welcome back for a 3rd visit in the (hopefully) not too distant future.
Thursday 26th October 2025
Photos Richard Leach, review Mike Latham, video courtesy CMA fans Facebook group
It was magical.
An intimate show with Courtney and her guitarist, Jerry Bernhardt.
Her tales of events and experiences were also very intimate in feel, the revelation of some very private feelings or observations, underscored with the great meshing of voices and music.
It was clear that there was a lot of expectation in the room and we were not disappointed.
The evening began with another excellent, albeit short, session from Chris Helme.
Sunday 19th October 2025
Review, photos, videos by Keith Belcher
This was the last time we’ll see Rod here at The Live Room, as he is hanging up his guitar to concentrate on writing from now on. We’re sad to see him go but grateful for a lovely show to end with.
(First up)…we had the beautiful voice and guitar of Gráinne Hunt opening for Rod Picott. Monaghan born and getting rave reviews Grainne was first seen by Ron and Hilary in Kansas in 2024 (they call it work!). She stepped in at the last minute to open for Rod.
From the opening notes of Between the Pines we knew we were in for a treat. After Rod Picott’s opening song he said: “What a beautiful opening set that was. I was sitting there listening and I thought , S**t, this is like a bird opening for a lawn mower”.
Rod was indeed in the audience listening just as intently as the TLR crowd. That’s pretty good praise as I doubt many people describe Rod’s voice as a lawnmower. A short but very good set. I have no doubt she will be back at TLR in the future.
Rod’s “Retirement” farewell tour arrived at Saltaire. He announced it as being sponsored by “Viagra and the early bird special at BeefEaters” ….Many very funny stories, songs and wry observations of the differences noted and experienced within European cultures from Rod’s 25 years plus of touring. Even a discussion about The Archers on Radio 4.
Fifteen albums to his credit between 2001 and 2023. He was 36 when his first album was released in 2001. He said it’s all he’s wanted to do since he was 10. He is planning to devote himself to writing . He is a rare talent , having written with the likes of longtime friend Slaid Cleaves (friend since school days) and Fred Eaglesmith and many more. The wealth of the songs played tonight demonstrated that. It all comes to an end at The Greys Brighton on November 3rd.
Sunday 12th October 2025
Review, photos and review by Keith Belcher
Sunday 12th October. The Live Room, Caroline Street Social Club, Saltaire. The 5th visit of Bronwynne Brent from Greenville , Mississippi. This visit as a trio comprising Bronwynne on lead vocals and acoustic guitar with Texan Chris Maresh on bass and Graeme Stephen, Scotland on electric guitar.
As one might gather from a 5th appearance Bronwynne is a firm favourite at The Live Room. Bronwynne did, however, ask for a show of hands on who hadn’t seen her before and there were quite a few souls who were in for a quite unique experience. Bronwynne is , without doubt, a one off. I can’t think of anyone like her. Her voice and songs and overall sound and approach to performing are very distinctive.
Her album , Stardust, saw her voted Female Performer of the Year twice in a row by Americana UK and called up for television and radio appearances on the BBC. Listening and watching Bronwynne (and I have seen Bronwynne far more than 5 times) I thought of some words of the late, great Kris Kristofferson. Joni Mitchell had played her album Blue to Kris and staggered by the extreme vulnerability and openness displayed on the album. He said “God, Joni, save something of yourself”.
In a similar fashion Bronwynne’s songs are very intimately personal and her on-stage dialogue is basically brain to mouth with no filters in-between. If a train of thought occurs, she follows and shares it with the audience. You don’t really get “well rehearsed and relatively safe ad-libbing” as song intros, it’s what she’s thinking at the time and it’s shared in real time. It’s sometimes very funny , always very honest sometimes the threads and train of thought are lost but it is quite unique and her vocals are superb.
There were explorations of all the back albums tonight and a few new songs from the next one . Some quite different arrangements of the songs very ably played by Graeme and Chris. Some guitar and bass runs that drew spontaneous applause mid song. This was one of the great nights of 2025 at TLR and I have no doubts that Bronwynne would be very welcome to do a 6th visit at the club.
Review by Mike Latham, photos by Richard Leach
Two shows into the new season and they both confirm how lucky we are to access a venue like The Live Room.
Not only do we get wonderful artists like Andy Fairweather-Low and artists of the calibre of Sam Carter but we are constantly introduced to new, younger artists who, through their talents, will keep us entertained and impressed for years to come.
Last night’s opening set by Bassett may have been short but they showed their great range of interpretations of older songs as well as their own immaculate compositions. And that’s even before we were mesmerised by their combined voices and the wonderful guitar playing, both acoustic and electric of Sam Clark. There was mention of a return visit in the new year. That is already a concert to look forward to.
We also enjoyed the return of Sam Carter after a gap of four years. Another great voice and excellent guitar player. Solo on this occasion but he held the attention of the audience both with his playing and also his excellent songwriting, which he played alongside some more traditional songs. His writing shows an understanding of humanity and the struggles that we face. A wonderful contrast to the divisions that currently exist outside.
Thursday 24th July
Photos & video by Keith Belcher, review by Pete Lambert
Impeccable! Incroyable! Extraordinaire! Le pied, quoi!
This has to be up there with one of the best ever gigs at TLR … and that is saying something!
The atmosphere was electric, the overall musicianship was awesome, the individual mastery of instruments off the planet, vocals and harmonies exquisite…
Perhaps the most abiding characteristic of this band was its joyous enthusiasm for playing performance
For a musician, there can be nothing more rewarding than playing well to a most appreciative audience … and they absolutely revelled in it and each one was so grateful for the response.
I absolutely loved the rock ‘n’ roll vielle à roue (hurdy gurdy) and what the accordion was able to do was staggering
Comme je le dis, le pied!!!
Sunday 22nd June 2025
Photos, videos & review by Keith Belcher
Sunday 22nd June 2025. The long ago sold out debut appearance (in the flesh) of Breabach. The band did make a virtual appearance during you know what, but this was the long overdue live visit.
The band are all multi instrumentalists and comprise Megan Henderson (fiddle, vocals, step dance), James Lindsay (double bass, vocals), Calum MacCrimmon (bagpipes, whistle, bouzouki, vocals, step dance), Conal McDonagh (bagpipes, whistle, vocals), and Ewan Robertson (guitar, cajon, vocals).
I might be wrong but I think Sunday was the first time we’ve had double bagpipes and double dancers on the stage in the same show. To say they went down well would be a gross understatement. A truly great night . They received a well deserved standing ovation. Some shots of the night.
Sunday 25th May 2025
Photos, video and review by Keith Belcher
Kroke is a Polish instrumental ensemble of world music. The band’s name refers to the Yiddish language name for Kraków. The band were formed in 1992. They have collaborated with the likes of Steven Spielberg, David Lynch, Peter Gabriel and Nigel Kennedy (to name but a few).
Originally a klezmer band their range covers a mix of modern Polish, klezmer, contemporary jazz, and classical chamber music. The band members are Tomasz Lato (double bass), Tomasz Kukurba (viola and whistle) and Jerzy Bawof (accordion) .
An “interesting” show to photograph and film. You have men in shadows, all wearing hats and glasses with music stands with very brightly lit iPads reflecting in their glasses. The music was absolutely amazing though and the sound was as pristine as usual which is what matters. I really was stuck for choice on what to pick, everything they played was so good. A truly amazing show.
(For the videos) I settled on the 10 minutes plus opener Light In The Darkness, a solo 90 second opening on small whistle from Tomasz Kukurba before Jerzy Bawof starts playing an accordion that produces sounds ranging from full church organs to harmonicas, Tomasz switches to plucked viola and is soon ccompanied by Tomasz Lato on electric double bass. This is not the longest tune of the set. The set 1 closer Magic Day was over 18 minutes of astonishing music. Jerzy opened the delicate Love (Lullaby For Kamila). The third video is the well deserved standing ovation encore Ajde Jano (translates as Come Jane. A traditional Serbian wedding song urging the dancing to start). This really was a great night.
Friday 16th May 2025
Photos, video by Keith Belcher, review by Keith Belcher & Mike Latham
Friday 16th May 2025, The Live Room, Caroline Street Social Club, Saltaire. The return visit of Jocelyn Pettit and Ellen Gira accompanied by Miguel Girão on guitar. A multi national band who all met in Glasgow. Jocelyn from the West Coast of Canada playing fiddle, step dancing and vocals. From the East coast of the USA, now based in Glasgow, Ellen on cello and vocal. From the Portuguese Midlands Miguel on guitar and vocals, also resident in Glasgow.
A warm welcome back from Hilary and quite simply, we all had a wonderful night. On the TLR WhatsApp group Michael Latham wrote the following and I’ll just quote him as he sums the show up very well indeed.
Michael Latham wrote…
“And it happens again, another great evening show from the finest small folk and roots club.
I thought that Jocelyn and Ellen had grown in confidence since their last visit. It was wonderful, not only to witness their commitment and understanding of traditional tunes but to be amazed by the way in which they use their contacts with other musicians from around the globe and develop their own fabulous creations. I have to say that , although I cannot remember the title of it*, the tune that Ellen created in memory of her grandmother was one of the most beautiful pieces of music that I have heard.
The sound they created was magical and a special mention too, to Ron for his sound also.
Once again , we are so lucky to have this venue so close. Many thanks Ron and Hilary.”
