SUNDAY MUSICIANS:
Sunday October 19, 6pm NIKKI LANE (USA) - TICKETED SHOW
Sunday October 26, 4pm - 6.30pm AZO BELL & THE NEIGHBOURS
Sunday November 2, 4pm - 6.30pm MATT ARMITAGE
Sunday November 9, 4pm - 6.30pm CHRIS ARONSTEN
Sunday November 16, 4pm - 6.30pm LONESOME BOATMEN
OCTOBER 17 & 18. OFF-SITE W/ CONNAN MOCKASIN
SYDNEY, MELBOURNE, REPENTANCE CREEK!! Connan Mockasin is back to play a handful of shows in Australia for the first time since 2019 and thanks to Jet Black Cat Music & Mistletone, he’s playing in trio form right here in the northern rivers!
In 2021 we were set to host Connan’s sold out gig at the pub but alas, old covid closures got the best of that tour! Back now and more excited than ever, we’re proud to play a part in these very special shows at the Repentance Creek Hall where we’ll bring a little bit of pub bar magic to the room for two incredible nights in October.
Tickets on pre sale tomorrow (Tuesday 9th) at 9am for those on the Jet Black mailing list. General on sale Thursday 11th at 9am.
DO NOT SNOOZE, tickets are super limited for these ones.
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From cult classics Forever Dolphin Love to Caramel and Jassbusters, Connan’s catalogue resists genre, but remains unmistakably his own: strange, intimate, and influential. His singular style has quietly shaped a generation of artists. Figures like Radiohead, Frank Ocean, Doja Cat, Tyler, The Creator, Mac DeMarco and Steve Lacy have all expressed admiration for his work — some collaborating directly, others taking cues from his genreless sound
OCTOBER 19. NIKKI LANE & HER BAND (USA)
Nashville’s outlaw country queen, NIKKI LANE returns to Australia for the first time in eleven years, bringing her signature blend of vintage country and rock ‘n’ roll swagger to stages from coast to coast this October. Best bit, she's coming right here to the pub too!
Born as a Baptist in South Carolina, Lane discovered music as an outlet for creative expression from an early age, dropping out of school at 17 to move to LA, then to New York and finally settling in Nashville where she launched her songwriting career (and a downright excellent vintage clothing store).
With a voice as sharp as her style and songs that walk the line between heartbreak and honky-tonk rebellion, Nikki Lane has carved her place as one of Americana’s boldest and most authentic voices.
With three albums under her hand tooled leather belt, Lane released the highly praised Denim & Diamonds in 2022 which was produced by Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme and has since collaborated with the likes of Lana Del Rey and Sierra Ferrell. In June, Lane released a surprise single, Woodruff City Limit, setting the scene for an exciting year ahead of new music and style from the star.
Experience country music with a rebel heart when Nikki Lane comes to town, with shows packed with road-tested anthems and favourites from her wide-ranging collection of country and twang, served with grit and glamour.
OCTOBER 25 ONWARDS! 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)
OCTOBER 30 . 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!
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.
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.
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!