The Cedar Presents
An Evening with Joshua Burnside
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Doors 7PM | Show 7:30PM
Seated | All Ages
This show is part of The Cedar's Global Roots Series, made possible in part by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Marbrook Foundation, the Rosemary and David Good Foundation, and the hundreds of donors whose generosity helps sustain our programs each year.
listen
about this show
Joshua Burnside is a Northern Irish folk singer-songwriter based in Belfast. His music incorporates elements of Irish and Scottish folk music, Americana, sound collage and electronica. RIYL: Nick Drake, Tom Waits, Elliott Smith
joshua burnside
Joshua Burnside is an experimental folk songwriter, singer and producer. He takes influence from alternative electronica and Irish folk, chopping and blending them with a mixture of found sounds, world music and unorthodox production methods.
His fourth album, It’s Not Going To be Okay, is an unflinching portryal of a man on the tightwire between grief and acceptance. Written in the aftermath of the tragic passing of Joshua’s close friend Dean Jendoubi, the album navigates the twisting, jagged road of Joshua’s recovery, told through a meoidum of stripped back finger picking, raw and brutal lyricism and his signature expiremtnal production.
Following an award-winning debut album and an acclaimed follow-up released during the height of the global pandemic, his music lives against the grain, in both style and spirit. Raised in the north of Ireland between the lush drumlins and hills of Strangford Lough, and the narrow entries and alleyways of East Belfast, Joshua’s music has defined and defied the post-conflict society of his home.
His third album takes in the economics of existence, family, trauma and renewal, while set against a backdrop of tense electronica and lush Irish folk and traditional songwriting, Joshua has entrenched himself within the fabric of the modern folk canon, alongside the likes of Bon Iver, Lankum and Richard Dawson.
While his award-winning first album Ephrata took in lush landscapes, technological horrors, night terrors and wistful Columbian vistas (set against a bed of Irish folk, cumbia rhythms, and electronica), his critically acclaimed second Into The Depths Of Hell, took a far darker approach. Melding swirls of clanging metallic found sounds, alt-rock, and Irish songwriting traditions were supported by UK and US national radio and international tastemakers NPR, Guitar Magazine, CLASH, The Guardian, The Times and more.