Jon Wilks is a singer, songwriter and acclaimed fingerpicking guitarist whose work is rooted in English folk traditions, memory, and place. Described by The Quietus as being “one of the driving forces of the London folk scene,” he began by exploring traditional songs from Birmingham and the wider Midlands, releasing two regionally focused albums: Midlife (2018) and Up the Cut (2021). His fourth solo album, Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost (2023), was named Folk Album of the Month in The Guardian, and Needless Alley (2025) marked a shift toward original, autobiographical songwriting. “If you’re looking for a thread,” he says, “maybe it’s the way we carry the past with us, whether we mean to or not. For me, the album is a patchwork of memories — what you’d find if you rummaged around in my head for an afternoon.”
In early 2026, Wilks released BONES, a companion release gathering together outtakes, demos and live recordings from the surrounding years. Stripped back, fingerpicked and left largely as they were found, BONES documents the spaces between albums — collaborations, alternate versions and performances that refused to disappear. As Wilks puts it: excavated bones, left intact.
A former journalist for Time Out, The Guardian and Dazed & Confused, Wilks brings a sharp storytelling sensibility to his songwriting and stagecraft. He founded and was the original editor of Tradfolk.co, and has been featured regularly on BBC Radio 2’s Folk Show. He performs both solo and with his occasional band, The Grizzly Folk. In 2025, he co-curated The Life and Songs of Martin Carthy, a major tribute concert at EartH, London.
As a collaborator, Jon has shared stages with Graham Coxon, Billy Bragg, Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Bridget St John, Jackie Oates, Jim Moray, Katherine Priddy, Angeline Morrison, Ellie Gowers, Broadside Hacks, Lisa Knapp, Nick Hart, Mikey Kenney, Sam Grassie, and many more of the UK folk scene’s leading lights.
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