OFFGRID is a night of visceral and intimate musical experience. No whirrs or hums, zero power, just pure acoustic music and candlelight. This instalment of our OFFGRID series features performances from The Brothers Gillespie & Jez Lowe.

Northumbrian duo The Brothers Gillespie make music that is animated by lyrical songwriting, fine fingerstyle guitar playing, multi-instrumental musicianship and ‘the glorious tones of their blood harmony’ (Sam Lee).

‘weaving an especially compelling magic’, - Folk Radio UK

Brothers James and Sam Gillespie found their sound growing up in the fells and valleys of Northumberland, their songs often describing relationships with wild places and the experience of finding oneself in a world alive with soul. The music comes to them most strongly when walking in the borderlands with their packs and instruments which remains a regular practice for them. This spirit is channeled into their live performances which have a rare and intimate energy, both ethereal and earthy, romantic and radical.

Over the past four decades, Jez Lowe has been one of the UK’s busiest singer-songwriters, playing for audiences the world over & his pace and enthusiasm for writing, performing and touring shows no sign of waning.

Jez Lowe’s self-penned songs are among the most widely sung wherever folk and acoustic music is performed around the world. Over the last couple of decades, the likes of Fairport Convention, The Dubliners, The Unthanks, Wizz Jones, The McCalmans, Mary Black, The Duhks, Bob Fox, The Young Uns, Enda Kenny, Cherish The Ladies, Tom McConville, The Clancys and scores more, have queued up to adopt his songs for their own repertoires.

‘Jez Lowe is one of our finest songwriters.’ BBC Radio 2

“No-one else writes or sounds like Jez Lowe” Mike Harding, BBC Radio