Kentucky raw, progressive scots folk and an old time experience

These six new names on the Tønder Festival roster widen the diversity while maintaining the top level quality. You can anticipate intense, moving concerts deeply rooted in traditional folk, blues, country, americana, gospel and music from Zimbabwe. Treats in store include a total experience in the focal point between old-time music and performance art.

Kentucky's progressive free-thinker, S.G. Goodman, won over Tønder audiences last year and returns now with her raw guitar riffs, sensitive lyrics and punk attitude.
Also from USA, Avi Kaplan's deep, expressive bass voice  will remind many of his time in  Pentatonix. But Kaplan is also building himself a solo career as one of the most promising new voices in modern folk and country music. He is bringing his band to Tønder, too.
A real Tønder veteran, the Dutch singer, songwriter and guitarist Hans Theessink, is back, this time with the Hans Theessink Band, playing sparkling sessions of blues, rhythm & blues, folk, roots rock, gospel and powerful voices, percussion and choreography from Zimbabwe.
From Sweden we have Nanna Carling and her swing band. This is classical era swing jazz, redolent of Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday and original compositions that waft us back to the days of the speakeasy, dance halls and smokey jazz bars.

Prize-winning Scottish band Talisk bring their unique blend of traditional Scots folk music, contemporary eksperimentation and phenomenal musical virtuosity.

An immersive experience of old-time-music and itinerant 1920s vaudeville  

This year's Tønder Festival offers something unusual: a trip through songs, narrative, harmonies, violins, banjos, sousaphone and theatre, recreating the historical, travelling Southern States carnival.

This is all unleashed when the Canadian songwriter Li’l Andy teams up with one of today's finest old-time bands, Sheesham & Lotus ‘n Son, to present a work of music, history, fiction, biography and performance art.

Li’l Andy has been called "Montreal's best country songwriter" and his music for "roots-based americana, like it should be." In the past decade he has put out five albums and toured all over Canada. His 2022 project, The Complete Recordings of Hezekiah Procter (1925-1930) consists of an album, a band and a novel. The 29 songs on the album were written by Li’l Andy, in the guise of the fictive old-time musician and legend of the 1920s, Hezekiah Procter. He is also the main character in Li’l Andy's debut novel, which you can read in connection with the music, or separately.

Once the album songs were written, Li’l Andy recorded them with Sheesham & Lotus ‘n Son and the old-time band The Ever Lovin’ Jug Band.

"After I had written the songs, I became Hezekiah, as I sang and played. And each musician became a character in Hezekiah's life's story. The recording session were theatre as much as music," says Li’l Andy, who recorded the music analogue and with 1920s technology.

THE MUSICIANS:

S.G. Goodman (USA)
If it all began with the hymns sung in her childhood Baptist church and a Southern State upbringing in the little town of Hickman, Kentucky, then singer, songwriter, guitarist and free-thinker S.G. Goodman has since taken some bold, lengthy strides.

36 year-old S.G. Goodman has confronted many conventional attitudes on traditional music and its role in the southern countryside. Being a queer artist playing country, roots rock and americana is still no easy matter. But “music has historically been a determining force for political and social change,” as S.G. Goodman said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, who called her an "untamed rock’n’roll truth-teller."

S.G. Goodman's solo career took off with the release of her debut album Old Time Feeling (2020), produced by Jim James of the band My Morning Jacket. On the next, Teeth Marks (2022) S.G. Goodman is inspired by indierock and punk, using simple country rock techniques, like low-tuned guitars, and an serious, underlying tone of indignation. The combination of raw guitar riffs and sensitive storytelling has connoisseurs comparing her with Lucinda Williams and Patti Smith.

Her only Danish festival and concert in 2025.

www.sggoodman.net/home

Avi Kaplan (USA)
The American singer-songwriter Avi Kaplan was part of the vocal group Pentatonix from 2011until 2017; his deep, expressive bass voice was elemental in the group's success. But Avi Kaplan had already developed a strong musical fundament from his time in vavrious choirs and as a soloist. Leaving Pentatonix in 2017 to pursue a solo career, Avi Kaplan found his way back to folk music. This was the music he felt closest to, playing under the gigantic sequoia trees of his childhood and youth in California.
Today he lives in a wooded Nashville suburb, writing his songs on the verandah, just him and the guitar. The fruits are a deep-seated blend of folk, country and soul, coloured by his characteristic voice and his heartfelt lyrics of love, loss and personal growth.
As a soloist, Avi Kaplan has gathered loyal fans, making him one of hte most promising new voices in modern folk and country music. His first solo album Floating on a Dream (2022) was produced by Shooter Jennings, son of outlaw country icon Waylon. This sensitive and atmospheric album, balancing perfectly between respect for USA’s deep musical heritage and modern songwriting.

Avi Kaplan is performing at Tønder Festival with his band, and this is their only Danish festival and concert in 2025.

www.avikaplanofficial.com

Hans Theessink Band (NL, ZW, A)

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Hans Theessink is one of the musicians who has featured at Tønder Festival since the early days in the 1970s and has played at the festival many times in many different constellations. Over a career ranging over five decades, 30 albums and several awards, Hans Theessink has established himself as a mester of the acoustic blues guitar and slide guitar. His characteristic deep voice and talent for combining blues, folk and americana appeals to both traditional blues fans and a broader audience.

Dutch-born Hans Theessink has lived in Vienna in Austria since the 1980s, but in the1970s, he lived in Denmark and has a solid Danish following to this day. This year he returns with the Hans Theessink Band. Their intense, sparkling sessions offer an irresistible mix of blues, rhythm & blues, folk, roots rock and even some gospel. Hans Theessink gets solid backing from keyboard virtuoso Roland Guggenbichler on organ, piano and accordion, while three Zimbabwian singers and musicians, Vusa Ndlovu, Blessings Nkomo and Ramadu Moyo, add their powerful voices, percussion, choreography and African soul to complete the picture.

Their only Danish festival and concert in 2025.

www.theessink.com/en/projekte/hans-theessink-band-en

Nanna Carling Swingband (SE)

As soon as the first notes ring out from Swedish Nanna Carling and her band, we are off on a time trip to the world of the speakeasy, the dance halls and smokey jazz bars.

Nanna Carling Swingband play traditional jazz with effervescence, energy, up-tempo and a dash of Paris. A delicate cocktail of timeless classics, hidden pearls and original compositions, Nanna Carling whisks us back to the golden days of jazz, when legends such as Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday set the pace. Plus, this band add their own modern twist, which gives the music a fresh creativity.

From Basin Street Blues to Dream a Little Dream of Me, Carling and her band deliver the  classics we all know and love with an energy and a charisma that make it hard to sit still. The band pull forgotten jazz gems out of the hat, and play their own numbers, proving that jazz is a living art form.

2025 will be another busy year for Nanna Carling, releasing her second full-length album Melodies For Two, a romantic story comprising exclusively her own compositions, which, borne by the swing band, we will also hear at Tønder.

www.nannacarling.com

Talisk (SCO)

When the young Scottish band Talisk guested Tønder Festival in 2016, they aroused great enthusiasm in the audience. The previous year, winning the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award launched their career. Now they have been breaking stereotypes for almost a decade, and playing to full houses on five continents.

Talisk, who are Mohsen Amini (concertina), Benedict Morris (violin) and Charlie Galloway (guitar), are known for their dynamic and innovative approach to Scottish music. They add to traditional Scots folk music a modern interpretation inspired by their unique instrumentation and rhythms. Technically, their musicianship is jaw-dropping, and their energy level and enthusiasm can get any audience going. In 2022, Talisk played BBC One's Hogmanay (New Year) TV show for over a million viewers, the only folk band amidst pop headliners. That earned them a massive mainstream audience who faithfully turn up for Talisk's growing live concerts.
Talisk topped the bill at the Barrowland Ballroom festival in Glasgow i 2024 and at the legendary Celtic Connections. Their succes has not hindered their inventiveness, pushing the boundaries for how much three musicians can create on stage. Their only Danish festival and concert in 2025.

www.taliskmusic.com

The Complete Recordings of Hezekiah Procter (CAN)
Li’l Andy has been called "Montreal's best country songwriter" and his music "roots-based americana, as it should be." In the past decade, he has released five albums and toured all over Canada. Now he is bringing a special show to Tønder Festival, performed with one of the best old-time bands of today, Sheesham & Lotus ‘n Son.

Li’l Andy's work The Complete Recordings of Hezekiah Procter (1925-1930) from 2022 includes an album, a band and a novel. The 29 songs on the album were written by Li’l Andy, disguised as the fictive old-time musician and forgotten 1920s legend Hezekiah Procter. Hezekiah is also the leading character in Li’l Andy's debut novel, which you can read in conjunction with the music, or separately.

So the whole shebang is music, history, fiction, biography and recorded performance art. Once the songs for the album were written, Li’l Andy recorded them with Sheesham &

Lotus ‘n Son and the old-time band The Ever Lovin’ Jug Band. They took on their fictive roles during the recording sessions, as they do on stage. You have a treat in store: song, stories, harmonies, violins, banjos, sousaphone and theatre, reviving a southern travelling carnival of bygone days.

Their only Danish festival and concert in 2025.

www.lilandy.net/about-hezekiah-procter

Tønder Festival 2025 – so far:

Take Me To The River (USA), Joe Henry (USA), Sons Of The East (AUS), Natalie McMaster & Donnell Leahy (CAN), Elephant Sessions (SCO), Oysterband (ENG), Rikke Thomsen (DK), John Smith (UK), Jeffrey Foucault, USA), Tina Dickow og Helgi Jonsson (DK, IS), Melissa Carper (USA), Fantastic Negrito (USA), Adeem The Artist (USA), The Lonesome Ace Stringband (CAN), The Langan Band (SCO), Quote the Raven (CAN), Michael Falch & Zonen (DK), Jake Vaadeland & The Sturgeon River Boys (CAN), Flook (IRL, ENG, UK), The Hello Darlins (CAN), Trousdale (USA), Allan Olsen & Norlan (DK), Kellie Loder (CAN), Matt Andersen (CAN), Stundom (DK), The Complete Recordings of Hezekiah Procter (CAN), Talisk (SCO), Nanna Carling Swingband (SE), Hans Theessink Band (NL, ZW, A), Avi Kaplan (USA), S.G. Goodman (USA).