Join British songwriter and broadcaster Tom Robinson in conversation as part of Manchester Folk Festival.
His music career began with the acoustic trio Café Society, whose eponymous 1975 album was produced by Ray Davies of The Kinks and sold less than 500 copies. He then formed the Tom Robinson Band (TRB) who were early supporters of Rock Against Racism and Amnesty International.
Tom subsequently wrote co-songs with Elton John while forming his third band, Sector 27. While enjoying only modest success in the UK, the band achieved cult status in New York. In 1981 they played Madison Square Garden with The Police and toured the US extensively before splitting later that year.
In the early 1990s his career as radio broadcaster began to take off: Robinson went on to host programmes on all eight of the BBC‘s national radio stations and win two gold Sony Academy Radio Awards.
He was on the founding team for alternative music station BBC Radio 6 Music when it launched in 2002 and figured prominently in the campaign to save the station when it was threatened with closure in 2010. Tom currently hosts three shows a week at BBC Radio 6 Music where he has become known as a champion of new emerging artists via BBC Introducing. He also hosts his own music blog for independent artists at Fresh On The Net.
In 2015 Robinson released Only The Now – his first new studio album in almost 20 years.
You can also see Tom Robinson live at 19:30 on Sat 21 Oct. Book tickets here.
This event is part of Manchester Folk Festival – a celebration of English folk in all its forms, from indie to traditional, familiar names alongside exciting new voices. From 19-22 October in and around HOME, the whole festival takes place in one area of Manchester over one weekend. The Festival presents an incredible music line-up, as well as craft workshops, film, a proper pub singaround, artists in conversation and a relaxed Festival Hub where you can watch the world go by. Friendly, inclusive and full of opportunities for discovery, it will have the spirit of a festival in a field, in the heart of the city.
