Westside Cowboy

Westside Cowboy are a four-piece from Manchester made up of Reuben Haycocks (vocals/guitar), James Bradbury (vocals/guitar), Aoife Anson O’Connell (vocals/bass) and Paddy Murphy (drums). Three of them met while studying at the Royal Northern College of Music in 2021, while Bradbury worked at the legendary music shop Johnny Roadhouse on Oxford Road. One day he asked the others if they wanted to start a band called Westside Cowboy — the name was already decided before anyone had said yes. That was in 2023. Two years later they won Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent Competition, signed with Island Records, released their debut EP This Better Be Something Great and toured with Black Country, New Road. In January 2026 the follow-up So Much Country ’Till We Get There arrived.

They call their sound “Britainicana” — American country, folk and roots rock filtered through British indie and punk, with an energy that owes as much to The La’s and Violent Femmes as to Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Cash. All four sing, the harmonies are a central part of the identity, and the songs are short, direct and free of unnecessary layers. They play as if they have just plugged their amps into a garage rehearsal room, but with a melodic precision that makes everything stick immediately. Before Westside Cowboy, several of the members played in experimental and post-rock projects, but eventually decided to do the simplest thing: write a song you can actually sing along to.

Live, Westside Cowboy are already a name people talk about. Their shows have sold out, and the performance at Glastonbury in the summer of 2025 confirmed the reputation that had been building for months. They have also launched “No Band Is An Island”, a series of charity concerts in Manchester to support the local scene. This is a band that insists community is not a by-product of the music, but the whole point.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​