The Folk Directory Story

The Folk Directory first went online in June 2005 with just over 160 entries.

The first years of the Folk Directory saw it grow to over 400 event listings across most counties, receive over 1000 unique site visits per month and be awarded Arts Council funding.

Disaster struck in 2010 when two unfortunate events occurred. These were due to a change of email address that resulted in my not being informed of the impending expiry of the Folk Directory’s web domain and hosting. Firstly, the domain was squatted by a person with no use for it, and I had to pay to buy it back. Secondly, the web hosting expired, and the external hard drive containing the Folk Directory backup died, taking with it the entirety of the website.

At this time I was overseas and when I came home I had a degree to finish. As such, the Folk Directory sadly slipped down in the priority list. It has taken some time to rebuild the website and bring its design up to modern standards, but I hope this is the beginning of another successful chapter for the Folk Directory, as it now relaunches with just under 400 event listings.

I am thrilled to see sites like Bright Young Folk and Folk Radio UK that have popped up in recent years: more and more people are getting into this wonderful music and I hope that the Folk Directory will once again become the most comprehensive and up-to-date listing of folk music events in the UK.

Enjoy, and please do not hesitate to get in touch with your thoughts, feedback and comments.

Glen Wright, December 2011

In 2026 the Folk Directory returns on folkdirectory.co.uk with the preserved UK listings corpus and a map of venues.

Acknowledgments

The Folk Directory wholeheartedly supports Folk Against Fascism	Thanks to the Arts Council for their initial support with the first version of the Folk Directory