We round up York’s year in music, including Rachel Croft, The Howl and The Hum, and a certain homecoming series of shows at The Museum Gardens.

By Miles Salter

Feature photo by Graeme Smith

2024 has been quite a year for the York Music scene. The headline-grabbing act of the year was Shed Seven – York’s most well-known band, who reached the number one spot on the Album Chart with the aptly titled A Matter of Time. The band played two dates in York’s Museum Gardens in the summer and went on tour late in the year, releasing Liquid Gold (two albums in a year!) in the autumn. They’ve lined up summer dates for 2025, including a spot at Scarborough’s Open Air Theatre, one of Yorkshire’s best venues, with a strong support line-up that includes The Lightning Seeds.  

Shed Seven (acoustic) play at Huntington Working Men’s Club on 21 December at 7pm.

Chris Helme, another famous musical resident of the city, says he doesn’t like playing in York, but he’s had a very good year. His new album, World Of My Own, was released, and he’s been on tour for much of the last twelve months, playing acoustic / solo for the most part. Late in 2024, Helme reformed his band The Yards for a show The Crescent on 23 November. The Crescent’s highlights in 2024 included shows by Alabama 3, Robyn Hitchcock, Echobelly, Tom Robinson and Goldie Looking Chain, as well as supporting spoken word nights and offering ‘zinefest’ for those needing some home-made graphic delights.

The Barbican has had a good year, playing host to famous bands such as ABC, The Cult, The Pretenders, Kim Wilde, Peter Hook and The Light, Suzi Quatro and more, with music fans travelling from around the north to see their favourite acts. A particular highlight was seeing The Pretenders play at the venue on 31 October  – the last time they played York was 40 plus years ago. Chrissie Hynde led her band of younger males through a romp of the band’s infectious back catalogue. There was no Brass in Pocket, alas, but otherwise it was a highlight of the year.

Up and coming local act Sun King have had a great year, playing festivals including Isle of Wight and putting on a showcase in London. The York-based band are getting close to signing a deal, after having the backing of BBC Introducing presenter Jericho Keys. Their gig list in 2024 has included the Isle of Wight Festival, Leeds and Reading with BBC Introducing, and a support slot opening for Jake Bugg  at Manchester Academy. Sun King’s bassist Anthony Falkenberg is the king of open mics in York – at the time of writing he’s running three separate nights, check our his regular night at Kennedy’s (Thursday nights) – it’s a lot of fun. 

Sun King will play at The Fulford Arms on 12 December at 7.30pm.

Martin Ledger is a big Mark Knopfler fan, and one of York’s premier guitar players, and this year you could hear the riffs from Sultans of Swing emerging during the evenings from pubs on Goodramgate. Martin has taken his Dire Straits show with his band to various venues around the UK in 2024.

Jonny Hooker at Young Thugs studio, York’s Abbey Road, isn’t the most public facing guy (he’s not given to selfies), but he works quietly behind the scenes to support bands. This year he’s put on a series of shows, co-curated with Jericho Keys, called ‘Welcome To The North’, featuring acts to watch out for. The final event in this series takes place at the studio on 13 December, and features ex-York busker Rachel Croft, now turning heads in London with her quality song writing.

Welcome to The North Number 8 is at Young Thugs Studio on 13 December.  The line up features Pennine Suite, Scott Quin, Rachel Croft and Sleuth Gang. 

Another busker who had their moment in the sun in 2024 was David Ward Maclean. David played a show at Friargate Theatre in the summer, and ran a songwriting workshop for the Festival of Ideas. He also popped up at The Habit, alongside Sam Griffiths from The Howl and The Hum, who released their second album, Same Mistake Twice. The band are more Leeds than York these days, but have racked up nearly nine million plays on Spotify for their song Godmanchester Chinese Bridge. Sam’s song No Calories in Cocaine is terrific, folky with faintly savage lyrics about consuming substances that might be better left alone.

Local folk-rock songwriter and performer Joshua Burnell released a live album of his set at the 2023 Cropredy festival this year. Joshua and band are nothing if not ambitious; their website has a section called ‘Road To The Albert Hall’ where they ask fans’ help in achieving their goals. That’s what you call involving your followers. Another local (ish) act with a Cropredy link are Plum / Hall, who toured with the festival organisers Fairport Convention this year, winning over many new fans in the process.   

A mention also to Miles and The Chain Gang – the York band’s cover of Griff’s Black Hole was released in September and played around the world on indie and internet radio, reaching everywhere from United Arab Emirates to USA and Australia. One radio producer described it as a ‘genius cover’. The band have released three songs in 2024, doubling their streaming numbers on Spotify. A long-awaited album from the band is ‘coming soon’.

Moving into the Young Thugs hub late in the year was Wintaura Guitars supremo Chris Bilton, who has worked tirelessly on fixing guitars, basses, banjos… in fact more or less anything with strings attached. Chris’ other half, Holly Taymar, released an album of songs in 2024. Diem features seven songs including the single The Moth, and you can hear it on Spotify. Holly’s contemporary, Dan Webster, has played numerous gigs in 2024 and is forging a relationship with the music fans of Australia – he’s heading out there in January to play another series of dates. You can catch Dan at The Curious Rabbit in Wagga Wagga on 25 January.

Not everything in York’s music scene was rosy this year. A big loss to local music was the closure of The York Vaults on Nunnery Lane. Owner Chris White called time on the project due to financial pressures, in common with many other pubs that have struggled with the multiple costs involved in running a drinks-based business. It’s a blow to York. Local favourites The Mothers, featuring excellent guitarist Rob Wilson, played a final show there on 1 December, with the room crammed with punters to give the venue a warm send off.

One door closes, another opens… the York Burton Lane Club and Sports Bar, near to the former York City site, is now hoping to promote music. Local harmonica player and man-about-town Mark Ellerker is acting as organiser and promoter, taking his series of ‘Emerging Talent’ to the venue. Mark is interested in hearing from local musicians, including young bands. He is open to ideas and can be contacted at theelkyork@gmail.com

So there you have it, folks. It’s been a brilliant year for York music. It’s a city full of talent and there’s bound to be loads more great stuff in 2025 – onwards!

Miles Salter is a writer and musician based in York. He fronts the band Miles and The Chain Gang. You can follow him @MilesWrites