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Robb Johnson says he’s just a bloke with a guitar. He is. But he’s one who has chronicled our times: painting the less-than-sunny political landscape in the moonlight of the personal. Just like a folk singer should. "Britain's finest songwriter since Richard Thompson"- Venue / "Love songs as touching as the political material is sharp." - Red Pepper / "An English original" - Robin Denselow, The Guardian / "The real deal when it comes to songwriting" - Mike Harding / “One of this country’s most important songwriters (no argument!)” -(fRoots) / "One of the best" - Maverick "There is no songwriter to compare with Robb Johnson operating in the UK" - R2
Robb Johnson - The Future Starts Here from Tony Judge on Vimeo. Robb Johnson is widely recognised as one of the UK’s finest songwriters. “one of our best singer-songwriters ever” (Mike Harding). He gigs in the UK, Belgium, Germany & the USA, & his songs have been covered by many singers, from folk legend Roy Bailey to acclaimed cabaret diva Barb Jungr, & he enjoys a similarly diverse spectrum of critical acclaim – “a modern-day Dostoyevsky” said the USA’s Dirty Linen, Mojo made the double CD Gentle Men Folk Album Of The Month & Tony Benn said Johnson’s “Winter Turns To Spring” was his favourite song. He has played pubs, clubs, pavements, pickets & benefits, arts centres & festivals, local radio, BBC Radio 3 & 4, Belgian Radio 1, Nicaraguan TV & Channel 4, the Albert Hole in Bristol &, the Albert Hall in London. In February 2006 Robb appeared at the Barbican as part of the prestigious BBC “Folk Britannia” series, where “for the encore, Robb Johnson leads all the artists (and the audience) in the World War I song ‘Hanging On The Old Barbed Wire’ in a concert that was screened on BBC4. Robb has been the featured guest on Andy Kershaw’s Radio 3 programme. In autumn 2025 Robb released an album of new songs, recorded at Room 13 in Gent. Optimist Hotel consists of 9 songs (the CD has a bonus 10th song) that tell a variety of stories and a cast of characters that include a Big Issue vendor, the legendary guitarist Wizz Jones, and a woman who feeds the king of the foxes. They don’t all end happily, but the songs share a celebration of hopefulness in dark times. Robb will be doing solo gigs to celebrate the release of this album through 2026. Gentle Men and Ordinary Giants - details of Robb's 2 song suites about the First and the Second World war respectively, based on the experiences of his grandfather and his father
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See Robb's own website for a full gig-list including those with the Irregulars. 2026 Sun 25 Jan Fri 20th Feb Sub 22 Fev Wed 25 Feb Sun 27th Sept Sat 12th Dec
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