Lady Maisery – 3 voices – 3 instruments – top quality folk music.

Venue:

Pound Arts Centre, Corsham, Wiltshire

Date: 02/10/2026

Finishing work for the week, and with prime position tickets acquired some while ahead, I was really looking forward to last night’s gig from Lady Maisery.

We are very familiar with Lady Maisery’s work, both as a trio (Hannah James, Hazel Askew and Rowan Rheingans) and when they join with Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith for their seasonal presentations on a winter or summer theme. We’ve heard them play at a number of venues over the years, and this was the first time we’d caught them at this place.

The venue is a lovely, community-run arts centre. Capacity is about 150, so the space is intimate and perfect for acoustic performance. The sound is well judged, the seating is nicely ramped, and visibility is fine from all seats. Nearly every time we go to a gig there, there is also a modest exhibition of some sort in the gallery space. Currently it’s called ‘Touch’ and is from the members of the Cotswold Sculptors Association. On for another week at the time of writing, a ramble past the excellent exhibits put us quickly into a nice contemplative mood for the evening’s music.

We heard many of the songs from their last trio release – ‘Tender’ – which was released in 2022, a few from earlier titles, and extremely well chosen covers (especially one from Conor Oberst in his Bright Eyes manifestation and another from Lal Waterson) along with some new material that is yet to be recorded. Lady Maisery have the extraordinary ability to make very powerful music with three acoustic instruments and three beautifully harmonised voices; the songs really deliver a punch, with atmospheric electric guitar occasionally adding more than a hint of the elusive beast, prog folk.

They told us that this was only the second night of a shortish UK tour, which will be followed by another ‘Awake Arise!’ tour with Jimmy and Sid to take them up to Christmas. In the new year they are off to the studio to record the next album, some of which will be honed during this UK outing.

Starting at 7:30 sharp, with a decent half-time interval, we were back out in the evening air at about 9:45 just after the band told us they were ‘Scuttling off to their Premier Inn to watch the second half of The Traitors”. Down to earth, these three talented women.

I’ll put some of their material in the comments, and I don’t think I’ll have to try too hard to persuade the folkies amongst us to consider grabbing tickets for one of the remaining gigs in this short tour.

https://www.ladymaisery.com/tour-dates

The audience:

Core Afterword demographic with an enthusiastic scattering of young tatterdemalions at the back.

It made me think..

I hope the lucky burghers of Corsham realise how fortunate they are to have this place on their doorstep. We have to drive to get there, while they can easily nip into the venue from the Pub (pint) or the Co-op (sarnie) in under 60 seconds.

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