The Wild Hare Club returns to the cosy surroundings of De Koffie Pot on Saturday, December 1 for a special pre-Christmas show that will thrill Herefordshire’s many folk music lovers. This must-see double-bill brings together two very different but complementary folk artists whose music shares a deep sense of history

Gracing the Wild Hare Club stage for the first time as a solo performer is Ray Cooper who is well known for his long stint as bass and cello player with the internationally renowned Oysterband. Now resident in Sweden, this intimate show is part of Ray’s UK tour to promote his third solo album, Between The Golden Age and the Promised Land, on which he plays all the instruments - piano, guitar, cello, mandolin, harmonium, bass and percussion. Like its predecessors, Tales of Love War and Death by Hanging and Palace of Tears, the album is full of stories and takes the listener on a journey from the English countryside, to Flanders, Venice, Beirut, and even to the moon in the song Ocean of Storms.

Opening the show is Jennifer Reid, the pre-eminent broadside ballad singer of the Manchester region. A specialist in Lancashire dialect and humour, Jennifer has acquired a deep knowledge of the songs and ballads born out of the 19th century industrial revolution which she delivers with great energy and a fiery wit. Jennifer goes from nursery rhymes to cotton weaving songs via bawdy Mancunian street ballads and hilarious Lancashire dialect sketches. “What better way to end the Wild Hare Club year,” says Richard Page, the Wild Hare Club’s enthusiastic organiser, “from the gypsy jazz brilliance of the Paulus Schaffer Trio through to the sword-swallowing antics of Canadian circus band Blackberry Wood, it’s been a vintage year, so a big thank you to everybody involved and everyone who came to the shows."

To book, and to add yourself to the mailing list, visit wildhareclub.com