IT’S music month in Otley as events are staged throughout July in the run up to the Otley Live festival.

The festival begins on Friday, July 30 and ends on Yorkshire Day, Sunday August 1.

The weekender includes gigs by national and local artists at some of the town’s most loved venues, including the Black Horse, Otta’s Leah, The Rookery, Upstairs at the Labour Rooms and the Otley Taphouse, as well as the Courthouse and Woolpack Studios that are both hosting evening events with bigger acts, as well as showcases for emerging talent and choirs during daytime sessions over the weekend.

For a full list of events, see https://www.visitotley.co.uk/otley-live/otley-live-weekend/.

The festival has been organised by the Otley Music Alliance a new collaboration between a select number of venues for now but with plans to expand. The OMA, now has it’s own microsite within the Visit Otley website so people can find out what’s happening in the town's music scene thanks a dedicated music events calendar.

The OMA microsite can be found at https://www.visitotley.co.uk/otley-live, with gig listings for the town’s venues at https://www.visitotley.co.uk/otley-live/live-gigs-in-otley/.

The listings also include venues that are not part of OMA, to ensure visitors and residents have the widest selection of live music options available to them.

Music events are also being staged outside of the three day festival. Open mic sessions have restarted at Otley’s Yorkshire pub with an Irish twist, the Manor House. These can be seen at 8.30pm every Friday night.

Weekend sessions are also going strong at the Otley Taphouse which has live music almost every Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the month.

This week contemporary jazz quintet Emma Johnson’s Gravy Boat will perform at Otley Courthouse at 8pm on Friday, July 9. The quintet is led by Leeds based saxophonist and composer Emma Johnson.

The Visit Otley events calendar says: "Gravy Boat is a band that aspires to write and perform melodic, accessible jazz that anyone can enjoy."

On Saturday, July 10 at 7.30pm Whiskey Pistol will perform at Otley Tap House.

Singer songwriter and guitarist Liam Jarvis will play a mix of music including his debut single See Saw at 5.30pm on Sunday, July 11 at Otley Tap House.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Rory Holl will perform at Otley Tap House at 5pm on July 18.

The Whistlestop Opera will stage two performances, at the Courthouse on July 24 at 11am and 2pm. Audiences will be invited to join a cast of three professional opera singers and an accordionist on an adventure, inspired by Mozart’s The Magic Flute.