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Robb Johnson

Robb Johnson

Robb Hands

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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.

Robb JohnsonHe 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 will be releasing 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 looking for solo gigs to celebrate the release of this album in the latter half of 2025 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

Dates 2025

See Robb's own website for a full gig-list including those with the Irregulars.

Fri 6 Sep
London, Aces & Eights, Tufnell Park
with the Acoustic Irregulars

Sun 14 Sep
Live to Your Living Room
with Leon Rosselson

Wed 24 Sept
Ropetackle, Shoreham on Sea

Sat 27 Sep
Middlesborough, Toft House
with Acoustic Irregulars

3 - 5 Oct
Hartlepool Festival

Mon 6 Oct
Leith
with Maggie Holland

Tue 7 Oct
McNeils, Glasgow

with Maggie Holland

Fri 17 Oct
South Street, Reading

Fri 27 Oct
Farnham Maltings

Th 6 Nov
Margate - Rosslyn Court,. Cliftonville

Mon 17 Nov
London, Cellar Club

Sat 6 Dec
Lewes (With Roger Watson)

12 Dec
Murder at the Grange at The Arc Winchester

19 Dec
Murder at the Grange at St Edith's Folk, Sevenoaks

Sat 20 Dec
Murder at the Grange at the West End Centre, Aldershot

Sun 21 Dec
Brighton

2026

Sun 25 Jan
London, Green Note (Afternoon)

Green Note, 106 Parkway, London NW1 7AN

Wed 25 Feb
Dorking Folk Club

Dorking Golf Club, Deepdene Avenue, Dorking, RH5 4BX