SUNDAY MUSICIANS:
Sunday November 9, 4pm - 6.30pm CHRIS ARONSTEN
Sunday November 16, 4pm - 6.30pm LONESOME BOATMEN
NOVEMBER 8 : THE LAST SHOW OF SYLVIE (USA) RESIDENCY
Here’s something new! Alongside our good mates at Jet Black Cat Music, we’re excited to have US folk outfit SYLVIE join us for a spring residency. Each week we’ll see a new performer join the stage, including Leah Senior, Jack Davies and a wrap show with a host of favourite Northern Rivers friends forming an unofficial House Band. It’s going to be a time! Come for one, or come for all!
WEEK 1 - SAT 25 OCTOBER w/ LEAH SENIOR
WEEK 2 - SAT 1 NOVEMBER w/ JACK DAVIES
WEEK 3 - SAT 8 NOVEMBER w/ (unofficial) HOUSE BAND
Named for a song by British folk-rockers Matthews Southern Comfort, Sylvie is the nostalgia-steeped collaborative project of SoCal native Ben Schwab (Golden Daze, Drugdealer). Reminiscent of the amber-hued sounds of the Laurel Canyon scene, the project and its 2022 eponymous debut album were inspired by Schwab coming across a box of tapes that had been recorded by his father's band in the 1970s.
In 1975, John Schwab and his band “Mad Anthony” sat in a barn in Southern California and recorded their songs. It was a narrative that was common during this period - the band was close to a record deal but it never came, and the tapes were stored in a box in a closet. Decades later, in a small town in Ohio, his son Ben Schwab came across them. The recordings would imprint a sound and feeling that he would end up chasing. They were timeless, effortless, and soulful. A harmonic birthright.
Ben had a long career as a professional inline skater that sent waves through the subculture, before watching the industry fade away. Following a period at CalArts, he formed his first band, Golden Daze, and later joined the group Drugdealer. Sylvie is the full return to the musical lineage and spirit that lived in all those lost yet beloved cassettes and reels. True to Mad Anthony’s form, Ben and his friends also sat around in a garage in LA to make these recordings. Of course his father’s voice is featured prominently, he sings one of the songs. Not much has changed. - Mike Collins (Drugdealer)
NOVEMBER 5 . NOT QUITE FOLK (OPEN MIC NIGHT)
Join us for the iconic, long running (coming up to 15 years!) NOT QUITE FOLK open mic night here at the pub hosted by Phil Levy.
All welcome, (just no Wonderwall or Under the Bridge covers and you’re good with us). Come in and ask for Phil at the side of stage to register. 6.30pm kick off!
Happening the first Wednesday of each month.
NOVEMBER 12. MONTHLY IRISH FOLK JAM
Guinness lives here all year and so do our beaut’ Irish folk friends. For around 18 months now, on the second Wednesday of each month, a bunch of local musicians gather round a few tables near the fire place for an evening of traditional folk music. Naturally the pints flow and the pubs abuzz with the sound of Ireland!
All welcome, as audience or to join the jigs. 5-8pm, every 2nd Wednesday of the month.
NOVEMBER 15. MESS ESQUE
Mess Esque is a collaboration between Helen Franzmann (McKisko) and Mick Turner (Dirty Three). Their highly acclaimed third album Jay Marie, Comfort Me (Drag City / Remote Control) is a bold third missive from the Australian duo - who sound like they literally dreamed themselves into being, and perhaps might even still be in the dream.
Propelling their uniquely twisted aural circus to heights of exaltation and effect, Mess Esque build out their handmade, openhearted soul into new dimensions, pushing them – and yeah, us! – into more vivid states of being.
The album has recently been announced as an official nominee for the Australian Music Prize 2025. Don’t miss Mess Esque during their final shows for the year, live in full band mode at The Eltham Hotel on November 15th.
November 21. FLOrIST (USA)
Florist is the musical project of songwriter Emily Sprague, whose work drifts between the deeply personal and the cosmic, the everyday and the supernatural. Across four full-length albums and numerous collaborations, Sprague has cultivated a body of songs that reflect on memory, change, and the unseen connections that bind people to each other and to the natural world.
The songs of Florist are built around Sprague’s voice and guitar, intimate in tone but expansive in vision. Sometimes that world is quiet and solitary, as heard on the self-reflective Emily Alone. Other times it blooms into something vivid and collaborative, as on the technicolor dreamscape of Jellywish. Whether sparse or full, acoustic or electric, Florist’s music holds a constant sense of wonder and presence - a reminder that love, loss, and transformation are all part of the same shared fabric.
On stage, Florist takes many forms, but at its center is Sprague’s songwriting: delicate, searching, and magnetic. Her songs offer listeners an invitation - to sit inside life’s mysteries, to hold joy and grief at once, and to believe in the quiet magic of existence.
NOVEMBER 27 . MONTHLY BLUEGRASS JAM
Bring your gee-tar, fiddle, or song singin’ voice, grab a pint and join Bobby and the gang for our new monthly bluegrass jam. All welcome!
DECEMBER 4. SHANNON LAY (USA)
Out here for a run of supports with the one and only Sharon Van Etten, we're excited to welcome Shannon Lay to the pub stage, we know it'll be a good one!
Shannon Lay’s music is shored by radical empathy. After 15 years of writing, recording and performing her singularly gentle songs in venues around the world, the self-taught singer-songwriter is most concerned with how her music may help people in emotional and spiritual need. In a world of persistent change, Lay’s goal is to have concentrations of love and energy in her work that double as a helping hand or a voice whispering “everything is going to be ok.” The singer’s abiding belief is that immense change also means invaluable transformation and permanent relief. Intention is her North Star.
Hailed by publications such as Pitchfork, The Guardian, SPIN and Uncut magazine, Lay’s solo albums, including “Geist,” “August”, “Living Water,” and “All this life goin’ down” are noted for their thoughtful and entirely tender reflections on life’s big questions. Her seraphic voice has drawn comparisons to British folk icons Anne Briggs, Sandy Denny and Vashti Bunyan.
Though an old soul, Lay aims to meet her listeners in the present. For her, creating a song, a recording or a live performance that is relatable and communal is of the utmost importance for we are constantly in flux and those unknowns, met with compassion, can be beautiful.
Having shared the stage with Ty Segall, Kevin Morby, Bedouine and the iconic King Gizzard festival 'Field of Vision' the last year or so. We welcome Shannon to Australia for a run of shows presented by Jet Black Cat Music.
DECEMBER 13. FENN WILSON & THE WEATHER w/ RED O’NEILL JR
JANUARY 12. JOHNNY FRITZ, JOSH HEDLEY & CHRIS ACKER
3 stars for a 5-star night out!
Love Police are thrilled to announce the return of two of Nashville’s most beloved country storytellers —JONNY FRITZ and JOSHUA HEDLEY—and have the pleasure to introduce music lovers to the talents of CHRIS ACKER for a run of special Australian shows in January 2026.
It’s been a few years between drinks, but the wait is over. Fritz and Hedley are heading back in Oz to share new songs, old favourites, and plenty of good times, performing music from their brand-newalbums alongside the country gold that’s earned them fans from Austin to Adelaide. Jonny Fritz remains country music’s most charming outsider. Once known as Jonny Corndawg, Fritz has carved his own path as a songwriter of rare wit and warmth, blending humour and heartbreak in a way only he can.
His latest songs on new album Debbie Downers (released October 2025), are full of crooked truths and plainspoken poetry, continue his legacy as one of Nashville’s great eccentrics — and a live performer like no other. Joshua Hedley —the rhinestone-clad “Mayor of Lower Broadway” — first stole hearts with his stunning debut Mr. Jukebox (Third Man Records), followed by the sharp and swaggering Neon Blue. His new album All Heart continues to dig deep into the heart of classic country, all velvet tones, weeping pedal steel and honky tonk melancholy delivered with that unmistakable Hedley polish.
Rounding out the bill is Louisiana-born, Seattle-based Chris Acker, whose rambling, narrative-driven songs echo the spirit of Townes Van Zandt and John Prine while carving out a voice all his own. His presence on this introductory tour is the perfect complement to two artists who prize honesty, humour and heart above all.
Together, the trio promise an unforgettable evening of songs and stories, performed by three of Americana’s most authentic voices. Expect heartbreakers and two-steppers, banter and brilliance —a triple threat tour of the summer featuring three starts for 5 star night out that will remind you exactly why you fell in love with country music in the first place.
MARCH 10. WILLIE WATSON (USA)
Following on from the release of his first true collection of original songs WILLIE WATSON, the celebrated folk singer returns to Australia this March for a run around the country sharing and celebrating music in the American folk tradition.
Co-founder of Old Crow Medicine Show and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings collaborator, Willie Watson is back with a suite of new music, produced alongside members of Punch Brothers and Milk Carton Kids, that reckon with heartbreak, memory, sobriety and hope, carried by Watson’s exquisite rural tenor and timeless sense of songcraft.
Stripped of the cowboy hat and expectations, Watson has emerged as a songwriter of rare depth and truth. His new work stands proudly alongside the folk canon he has long championed - songs that remind us of our shared burdens, resilience and the possibility of renewal.
This March, Love Police proudly presents Willie Watson as he returns Down Under for the tenth or so time. Supporting Willie Watson on his Australian journey is Melbourne-based guilt slinger, song singer, chain blinger A.C. Saunders.
This is one evening with Willie Watson that you won’t wanna miss!
MARCH 20. EMILY LUBITZ
Fresh from reaching #1 on the ARIA Country Charts, Emily Lubitz continues her remarkable rise following the success of her critically acclaimed 2025 debut album, Two Black Horses.
After completely selling out her national tour, Lubitz returns to the stage for an encore run across Australia, this time including a show right here ast the pub! Backed by her all-star band, Lubitz’s signature blend of lushly-arranged country music and soaring vocal harmony (with a pinch of Swiss yodel) delivers a captivating and intimate live show.
Formerly the frontwoman of indie-folk pioneers Tinpan Orange, Lubitz has collaborated and toured with the likes of Paul Kelly, Martha Wainwright, Mama Kin, and the late, great Justin Townes Earle. She is a veteran of the scene, yet she writes and performs with the energy of a breakthrough artist. This Encore Tour promises to be another unforgettable chapter for one of Australia’s most compelling country artists.
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‘Two Black Horses is a remarkable album made by a consummate artist who it feels is in the greatest creative form of her long career.’ - Women in Pop
'Emily Lubitz is a rare talent; she is a superb songwriter with a strong country voice' - Country Music People (UK)