Tudor Folk Club
Chesham, Bucks, England

Archive January to June 2000

17 January 2000: Jez Lowe. (his official site). (Also his fan club site is linked here)  

Jez Lowe is everything you wish a solo performer could be. He’s laughter, tears, melody, anger... He is justly regarded as one of the leading singer-songwriters in the land, embellishing his thoughtful and powerful songs with wonderful vocals and nifty work on guitar, cittern, dulcimer and harmonica.

Jez has spent the last twenty years taking his songs of his native North-East to audiences around the world. His songs such as Back in Durham Gaol, The Bergen, Black Diamond and These Coal Town Days have generated scores of cover-versions, and are now classics of their kind and have been covered by the likes of Fairport Convention, The Dubliners and The Tannahill Weavers.

31 January 2000: Emily Slade. We're very pleased to welcome Emily, who is one to watch out for in the future. Emily's songs are captivatingly fresh and original in style, but despite her skills as a writer, Emily has not turned her back on her musical roots. Emily's repertoire is vast and flexible, ranging from traditional and contemporary folk music to her own songs and popular contemporary music.

Emily's musical arrangements are a fusion of numerous musical styles, showing traces of traditional folk with a rock and blues. She is a seasoned performer. Remember where you saw her first!

14 February 2000: Debbie Chalmers & Alan Hewson of Tam Lin.

Debbie - Fiddle, Viola, Mandolin, harmony vocals - is attending the Royal Academy of Music in London, and Alan - Vocals, Bodhran, Snare Drum, Washboard - is from Tyneside, where the traditional music of the area had a great influence on him.

28 February 2000: "Hand on Heart are stylists in the Celtic tradition. Their music is a blend of traditional, contemporary and original tunes. They are Nina Szifris on vocals, guitar and bodhran and Mike Scott on vocals and mandocello." ...so says their official publicity material.

13 March 2000: George Wilson.  An excellent entertainer who can enthrall his audience with his stories, jokes and songs. Since leaving the Royal Navy in 1990, George has steadily built up a solid reputation as both a performer and 'behind the scenes' worker for the folk movement. George has played guitar in in most types of combos including heavy metal, hard rock and even glam rock, but as age crept up on him he realised that these are younger men's pursuits and has returned to his first love, acoustic music. Having built up a following as an entertainer with a ready sense of humour, George has become something of a 'tour de force' a round the clubs and is much in demand as a performer and compere around the south if England. George always gives 200%.

27 March 2000: Margaret Lawrie and Michael Burnham are 'Aranmore'.

Michael Burnham is a violinist with an ability to combine a classical
technique with a love for traditional music. He is equally at ease playing a
solo Carolan tune or a Mozart Symphony as a member of the New English
Orchestra.

Mike began playing professionally in 1970 and has worked across the folk and classical boundaries.

Margaret, or Meg as she prefers to be called, is an All-England and Ireland champion ballad singer, and has the benefit of a formal musical education at the Birmingham Conservatoire and later becoming an associate of the Royal College of Music, gaining a Masters Degree. Meg also plays violin, viola, guitar and piano.

10 April 2000: Jeremy Taylor. Here's an extract of a review, "Live at the Parkgate Hotel - Wirral, 18th June 1998" by David Jones from the Autumn 1998 edition of Folk North West:

08 May 2000: Steve Ashley and Al Fenn.

"One of the finest singer-songwriters in Britain - if not the entire English-speaking world" - Melody Maker.

12 June 2000: annA rydeR...  Watch out! This is easily the best, most entertaining web site I've seen for any of our guests. Be prepared to load 'em all up quickly (and they are quick) and read them off-line.

"Confident and varied singer-songwriter.....deserving a wide audience." - MOJO, March 1999

With fresh and original songs, unusual instrumentation and out-of-the-ordinary themes, annA is up there with the best of young British songwriters.

Playing guitars, piano, accordion and other instruments, annA gigs nationally at clubs, universities etc and she has performed at various festivals including The Phoenix, Cropredy, Guildford and Sidmouth and so on.

Multi-instrumentalist Anna attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before studying music at York University. It was here that she demonstrated a prodigious talent on guitar, piano, accordion and, in particular, French Horn.