When: 7.30pm on Thursday 15 September 2022
Where: Gullivers, 109 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LW

We’re excited to be working with Rory Butler for the first time, as we bring him to Gullivers!

‘The most exciting Scottish talent to emerge in recent times’ – Roddy Hart, BBC Scotland

Every acoustic singer-songwriter will claim they were born with music in their blood, but few were born with music in their basement. Rory Butler‘s childhood home was built on music; his father ran a recording studio in the cellar. It’s unsurprising, then, that music became Rory’s world. Growing up in Edinburgh, he then spent his early twenties in East London, writing and performing new music.

His first single Black and Blue was included on the Apple Music ‘Best of the Week’ and Spotify’s ‘New Music Friday’ playlists. Subsequently, the track peaked at #6 on the Spotify ‘Viral’ chart and made it onto ‘New Music’ lists in Brazil, Germany, Portugal and Sweden. Total world-wide streaming figures now exceed 800,000.

But really, you need to be in the room to completely get it. It’s like watching a young Jackson Browne pouring out his heart and humour in a thick Scottish lilt while John Martyn and Nick Drake scatter woody, earthy chords around Beverley’s feet.

In the build-up to recording his debut album Window Shopping, he has opened for the likes of John Paul White (The Civil Wars) and folk legend Richard Thompson.

The start of 2019 has seen him invited to share a stage with Paul Weller, Lucy Rose, Eric Bibb and Ross Wilson (Blue Rose Code) in a sold out concert celebrating the life of the great John Martyn. The album was recorded at Konk Studios, for the most part live, featuring Matt Ingram on Drums, Nick Pini and Tom Mason on double bass.

‘Adept guitarist, wonderful storyteller, Rory Butler was a highlight of the evening’ – Keira Brown, The Fountain

2022 will see Rory release a new set of beautiful songs, produced by London-based Matt Ingram. Out now is Carefree. It’s the stunning first single off the much-anticipated upcoming EP, expected to be released later this spring via Leafy Outlook.

Special guest is Chris Brain. Bound to Rise is the debut album from Leeds-based, Yorkshire-born artist Chris Brain. Recorded onto analog tape, the album consists of 10 live performances that offer an enthralling meditation on nature, with glimpses of the confessional. Recorded at The Nave in Leeds with producer Tom Orrell (Koyo, Weirds, Wandering Monster), Bound to Rise is a debut that captures the shoulder-to-shoulder warmth of a live setting.

Firmly rooted in place, from the choice of recording location to its lyrical content enveloped in soaring figures from the natural world, Chris Brain renders a work embedded in folk tradition and the pastoral, with a contemporary resonance. Glancing off The Nave’s eaved ceilings, each track arrives in an alternate tuning and uses distinctive fingerpicking patterns that place Bound to Rise on the shelf right next to the likes of Pink Moon and London Conversation.

Buy tickets now. Tickets are also available from Dice.fm, WeGotTickets.com, Ticketline.co.uk and on 0871 220 0260.

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