North Riding Bring North East Americana to Pilgrim
North East Americana band North Riding headline Pilgrim Newcastle on 6 November with support from Sam Shields.
North Riding at Pilgrim Newcastle brings a home-region Americana bill to the venue on Friday 6 November 2026, with support from Sam Shields and doors at 7.30pm. The pairing puts two North East songwriters into a room that has increasingly made roots, soul and emerging regional music part of its live programme.
North Riding at Pilgrim Newcastle has a strong regional thread
North Riding are a North East England based Americana and folk project featuring singer-songwriter Hayley McKay and multi-instrumentalist and producer David Neil Crabtree. Their music carries what they describe as Tees Valley soul, while the songs have also been shaped by time spent touring and travelling in the United States.
That mix gives the Pilgrim show more character than a straightforward country or folk booking. The project takes familiar Americana ingredients and filters them through musicians whose home base is in the North East. The result connects transatlantic influences with a regional identity rather than simply copying an American template.
The band have already attracted wider attention. BBC Radio 2 support from Bob Harris has helped put North Riding in front of listeners beyond the region, while their catalogue includes Frio River, Hopetown and Awendaw Green. Those releases show a project built around original writing rather than a covers-led live set.
Sam Shields adds another local link to the night. Pairing the two acts makes the bill feel more like a snapshot of North East roots songwriting than a touring headline show with an unrelated opener. That is particularly useful for listeners who want to see how Americana is being interpreted by artists from this part of the country.
Pilgrim should suit the material too. The smaller Newcastle room keeps acoustic detail, vocal phrasing and guitar work close to the audience, which matters for songs where storytelling carries as much weight as volume.
North Riding at Pilgrim Newcastle takes place on Friday 6 November 2026. Doors open at 7.30pm and tickets are £8. The event is listed as 14+, with under-18s required to be accompanied by an adult.
Check Pilgrim and the artists’ channels before travelling in case timings or event details change.
