Beans on Toast has one of those unmistakable voices — warm, husky, and weathered by two decades of storytelling that can fill even the smallest room with truth. Pair that with his candid stage presence and you get gigs where people don’t just listen; they feel. Audiences sway, sing, dance, laugh, and sometimes cry, carried along by songs that are as emotionally open as they are sharply observative.

That’s exactly what Totnes can expect when he brings his intimate winter tour to the Barrel House Ballroom on 10 December, performing a repertoire of esteemed classics alongside new tracks from his latest album, which drops on 1 December.

This year’s run leads into the release of Kill Them With Kindness, his seventeenth studio album, and one he describes as a “juxtaposition” of the political and the personal. Written over the past year, the record moves between the chaos of global politics and the everyday joys of family life, late nights in grassroots venues, and even the adventures of his new cat. “It’s just what I’m thinking about,” he says. “Your mind goes from wars and world events to whatever’s happening right in front of you. The balance in my life becomes the balance in the album.”

The first single, The Glastonbury Oak, perfectly captures that balance of sincerity, whimsy and community. The song tells the true story of a small tree he acquired at Glastonbury Festival, later planted at a pub on the edge of the Peak District. It’s a celebration of ritual and connection — the kind that echoes in places like Totnes, where creativity and community shape the town’s cultural heartbeat.

Across the album, his songwriting remains unmistakably candid. Fans who once approached him to talk about the hedonistic chaos of early tracks now share birth stories in response to Magic, or confide in him about grief after hearing Send Me a Bird. Those conversations, he says, are the grounding force of his work. “That’s what really makes me happy as a songwriter — that connection, when people feel comfortable enough to talk about what the songs mean to them.”

Family life has become a deeper part of that evolution too. His seven-year-old daughter, Ren, now features in the creative process with surprising confidence. “She’s very opinionated,” he laughs. “She tells me which bits to change.” Recently she even contributed a new word: after a discussion about books, she declared that “non-fiction” should be renamed “fact-tion” — because it’s about facts, not the absence of fiction. Beans on Toast has promised to champion the term on stage, and fully intends to keep spreading it.

After these intimate December shows, he’ll return in March 2026 with a full-band national tour. “Every November and December I do this kind of beat-market tour — visiting towns that usually get missed,” he says. “Then once the album’s out, we do the Manchesters, the Londons, all the places you’d expect.”

For spectators at the Barrel House, the cosy venue offers something special: the chance to hear the raw, unvarnished versions of the songs, delivered up close and with the warmth, humour and honesty that have made him one of the most beloved voices in British folk music for almost two decades.