The Drunken Poet

Traditional Irish Music Session
2026-08-07 18:00 - 23:30 (Australia/Melbourne)
Every Friday Night at The Poet!

Ash King
2026-08-07 20:30 - 23:30
Ash King is a blues & roots singer-songwriter from Healesville in Victoria.
With his deep powerful voice and funky guitar work, he balances soulful feel and raw energy. Think John Butler meets Johnny Cash at a BBQ and you’re not far off. As a solo acoustic artist and frontman of blues-rock band Smoke Stack Rhino, Ash has taken his high-energy live show around Australia, often having too much fun dancing across the stage with his guitar that he forgets to sing the next verse.
Over the past year Ash has been recording his debut album. His songs have been described as uplifting, honest, thoughtful and fun. ‘I like the saying that “you don’t write the song, the song writes you”’. Ash is an original storyteller, an electrifying performer, and a fresh voice in Australian blues & roots.

Billy Cart Crash
2026-08-08 21:00 - 23:30
Billy Cart Crash are a spirited three-piece band from Melbourne’s northern suburbs, now coming to the big smoke at The Drunken Poet!
They blend rockabilly, jump blues, swing, and swamp into a sound that’s uniquely their own.
With a hard-hitting slap double bass and high-octane guitar solos, their original music invites listeners to dance, unwind, or rock out. Their songs pay homage to traditional rockabilly themes of “fast cars, girls n bars”, using these concepts as playful metaphors for the modern world.
At The Drunken Poet in June, Billy Cart Crash will mix rockabilly roots and greaser flair with a contemporary feel and sound for a two set show!

Nick Charles
2026-08-09 16:00 - 23:00
Nick Charles is known internationally as “Australia’s virtuoso of acoustic roots and blues”. His 35+ year career has seen him accumulate every conceivable accolade including Port Fairy Artist of the Year and The AGE Blues album of the year.
He’s toured with artists including John Hammond, Guy Clarke, Ralph McTell, Robyn Ford and BB King touring the US 13 times in recent years and releasing over 20 albums worldwide.
This is dazzling fingerpicking roots magic and a lifetime’s stories and songs from the world’s musical highways. In the words of Bruce Elder from the Sydney Morning Herald “he plays guitar like an angel!”

Brittle Sun & Peter O'Shea play the songs of Velvet Underground
2026-08-11 20:00 - 23:30
Brittle Sun & Peter O’Shea play the songs of Velvet Underground
