Brown Horse plus Ollie Cook

Brown Horse are a Norwich-based country rock band. Rooted in a collaborative approach to song-writing, the six-piece mix guitar-driven 90s alternative rock with the folk & country sounds of the 70s. Recipients of this year's Janice Long Bursary Award, the band have a Friday slot headlining stage 2 at next year's Moseley Folk Festival as well as slots at Red Rooster and Ramblin' Roots Revue.

“Finds the bittersweet spot between ’70s roots music and the latter-day Americana of Uncle Tupelo, Silver Jews, Lucinda Williams and Jason Molina, coloured by lap steel, electric guitar and accordion” (UNCUT).

Reservoir is the debut album from Brown Horse, released on January 19th 2024. Although recorded over just four days in a quiet corner of Norfolk, the album is a collaborative effort years in the making.

Starting life in 2018 as a folk quartet, Emma Tovell, Nyle Holihan, Patrick Turner and Rowan Braham spent their early days playing old time standards, Michael Hurley covers and original songs in pubs across England. Coming back together in 2022 post-pandemic, the group moved towards a heavier, guitar-driven sound. Introducing Ben Auld to the band on drums, Brown Horse began to make a name for themselves in the resurgent scene of their adopted hometown, Norwich. With the addition of Phoebe Troup in the summer of 2023 completing the line-up, Brown Horse made the short drive north to Sickroom Studios, where they spent four days recording with Owen Turner.

"Unvarnished yet impeccably crafted, their music has a heartfelt magnetism that gives you plenty to be excited about" (Folk Radio).

Support comes from Ollie Cook, a DIY Alt-Rock/Folk Artist from Wolverhampton, currently based in Birmingham. Carefully crafting a DIY sound that encapsulates the 18 year-old’s personality through grim-witted lyrics laid upon Alt-Folk ditties. Self-releasing his record The Boy With Pearls For Eyes in August of 2022; met with warming support from Bandcamp, Ollie recruited friends Jaimie Jagger, Elliot Smith, Jack Brannon and Eddie Guthrie as machinery for live performance - playing a string of scattered shows around the West Midlands. Wearing their influences on a corduroy sleeve, Cook and the band are beginning to adopt a new sound, built on thick tweed and Birmingham angst.

“Killer tunes from teen indie rocker Ollie Cook, who has an ear for a smart riff and an eye for sharply imagistic observation.” (Bandcamp, New & Notable).

This is a standing event at The Hare & Hounds (High Street, Kings Heath)