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Tudor Folk Club
Chesham, Bucks, England
Archive January to June 2002
I'd been hearing Nancy and James from time to time on Mike Harding's programme and been impressed. And their version of Anderson's Coast has to be the definitive one. So when they played Oxford Folk Club in the summer last year, I took myself along to check 'em out. Now, I don't know if you're familiar with Oxford's one-way system. 'Cos I'm not. Anyway, I arrived later than intended, and Nancy and James were already started in a very hot upstairs room with windows that were painted shut. It took me about two bars to think "YES!", and the rest of the night in that very packed and sweaty small upstairs room to be more and more impressed. The best act I'd seen all year? Quite definitely! The most entertaining since La Bottine Souriante? (an unfair comparison, 'cos there's loads of them) Oh, yes.
Virtuosos, great songs and arrangements, good fun, and lovely people. A stonking start to our 2002 season.
Buz Collins reviews their album "Steely Water" in Buzz!, issue 61 (Spring, 2000):
"Nancy Kerr has the voice of an angel, and track three, Anderson's Coast, is worth the price of the album alone. Nancy's fiddle playing shows both classical and gypsy influences, and the instrumental tracks are played with passion and skill. James Fagan plays a guitar/bouzouki and also has a fine voice. Together they play a variety of self-penned and traditional songs and tunes with great style and flair. It's folky without being finger-in-eared and has a modem slant without being folk-pop. In places beautifully stark, in others superbly rich. Highly recommended - go and buy it right now."
...and here's a copy of the review of the gig sent to the local paper:
A packed house at Tudor Folk Club on Monday night were given a fantastic night's entertainment by two of the best of the current crop of young folkies at the peak of their form.
Northumbrian Nancy Kerr and James Fagan from Sydney, Australia (but of Birmingham and Tasmanian parentage) were the club's first guests for 2002 - and the certainly kicked off the new term with gusto and flair.
Nancy has an angelic voice, but turns on the power when required, and plays fiddle and viola with a deft and accurate touch. James also has a beautiful voice, and plays a guitar-bodied bouzouki. But it's the instinctive interplay between the two which was so breathtaking, and their telepathic harmonies, allied to their appreciation and understanding of their broad range of material which shone through their engaging performance.
Their sets included a humorous jig depicting a cow which develops a limp - which could be heard in the syncopated melody; a tongue-twister sung in broad Geordie dialect about Elsie Marley - whose scurrilous behaviour includes not getting up until 9 o'clock in the morning; a song commissioned by BBC Radio 4 about life on the canals (Nancy and James live on a narrow boat). There were also songs from Australia which belie the Ozzie stereotype by being sensitive and thoughtful: including one about convicts escaping from Van Diemen's Land only to be shipwrecked on an inhospitable stretch of coast ("Anderson's Coast") and a look at some of the more murky aspects of their history in a song of The Outback ("The Drover's Song")
Their finale - a blistering "Dance to Your Daddy" - had me nervously checking for fire extinguishers: I could swear there were sparks flying from Nancy's fiddle!
The audience demanded an encore, and were treated to a sensitive "New Year's Eve" (close enough!) which spoke of hopes of peace for the new year.
Their tunes and songs were interspersed with anecdotes about the songs and their experiences, including James' recent first-ever snowman - which the local Geordie kids dubbed 'anorexic'; and many references to the bush fires currently raging in Australia - James' family home was within sight of the flames.
Support was provided by some of the best of our local performers - Malcolm Hobbs, Life & Times, and Dave Webber & Annie Fentiman - and the evening was MC'd by Hamish Currie (who also provides this review).
28th January 2002 - Dave Gibb
Review - Strathclyde Suite, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall:
"Certainly Dave Gibb's cup seemed close to running over, after he opened for Beth Neilson Chapman at the Fruitmarket last week and was faced here with an attentive and responsive audience ideally matched to his incisive songwriting and animated performance style.
"Singing in a warm, soulful voice, ably self-accompanied on guitar, he won himself plenty more new friends with a set that mixed mellow, folky ballads with hard-edged country-blues numbers and a sprinkling of comic material." - The Scotsman
His "Feeling Good ... Looking Better" album's reviewed by Pete Harris in Folk on Tap (Autumn issue, 2001):
"Dave Gibb is from Larkhall in Lanarkshire: another of Scotland's prodigious output of folk artists. This album is his second and is just Dave on vocals and guitar. However his picking style provides all the accompaniment needed and I was never conscious of any of the songs needing any beefing up. This album is very much about the songs, which are all written by Dave. He is a great guitarist with a very distinctive style which compliments the very high quality of the songs. They tell stories in a very direct way - you can understand what they are about - and they are sung clearly and cleanly. The subjects are as diverse as pirates, reincarnation, laziness and the horrors of Stalingrad. Some of them show a fine sense of humour There's a lot in this album to listen to and it's well worth the effort."
...and here's a copy of the review of the gig sent to the local paper:
Quite a Lark at Tudor Folk Club
Dave Gibb, from Larkhall near Glasgow, sings like a lark. On a stormy night, a disappointingly small crowd enjoyed an evening of witty and incisive songs and stories from this new name on the UK folk scene. Having built up a following closer to home, Dave is spreading his wings, and building his reputation as far south as Chesham's White Hill Centre.
The audience were in good voice during the opening spots from Bob Templeman, who MC'd, and Hamish Currie, and were ready to join in on Dave's opening number - Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice - a "finger loosener". And Dave's fingers certainly flew over the fretboard with incredible fluidity.
The bulk of the evening presented Dave's own songs, with subjects as diverse as pirates, drawing a parallel with the Grey Suits of the City; standing stones, "I hope they really are landing platforms for aliens"; hanging, "with a nice wee chorus of 'down, down...' "; and Mellow Song, written for his wife who doesn't share the family's taste for heavy metal. He finished with a whimsical song about getting old - "I found a grey hair the other week. I don't know whose - it was in a kebab".
Rounding out the bill were club members Kaye Tilley, Minn Dawson and Clive Carey, who sang one of Kaye's own songs - the historically accurate and ridiculously catchy Bucks Lace about the old Amersham lace-makers. (Incidentally, there's a lace-making club in the White Hill Centre on Monday nights, too.)
Dave's encore was a parody of folk clubs everywhere, which had the pay-off line "but the music still flows". Which it does: every Monday at Tudor Folk Club.
...are Dave Rickard - keyboards, guitar, vocals - and Rob Mitchell - whistles, flutes, recorders, clarinet, sax, vocals.
Formed in 1980, they were residents at Dartford Folk Club for many years, and were regular performers at clubs and festivals in Kent and along the south coast in the '80s. After a 9 year sabbatical, this lively duo went back on the road in 1998 with even more experience behind them. Dave had taken a jazz diploma, played in several bands and continued to gig with Opus 2 with wife Anne who is a member of the renowned harmony trio "Dangerous Curves". Rob developed his talent as writer and arranger of music for dramatic productions which have been performed at such prestigious venues as Minack!
Rob and Dave have always revelled in their eclectic mix of music encompassing traditional and original music and they link their material with witty and informative banter. They are currently featuring material from their latest CD "Spirits of the Past" which was inspired by some of Dave's more positive , experiences as a participant in the BBC's 'Surviving the Iron Age'. The title track and some tunes were written by Dave, and there are some delightful Celtic tunes and songs from the wider Celtic tradition, specifically from Brittany, Wales and Isle of Man, plus some old favourites.
...and here's a copy of the review of the gig sent to the local paper:
The Iron Age comes to Tudor Folk Club
Dave Rickard - star of BBC's 'Surviving the Iron Age' - and Rob Mitchell, presented an evening of rich musical variety playing between them various combinations of whistles, recorders, clarinet, sax, guitar and keyboards. Their tunes and songs covered jazz, blues, new-age and folk, culminating in a bizarre "Klingons on the Starboard Bow" tribute to Star Trek. Other stops on their dizzying journey included Brittany, New Orleans and Ireland, with some step dancing tunes. Apparently, when step dancing was in its early days, they used to take the door off its hinges and dance on that, because earth floors didn't sound right! And Lord Franklin's ill-fated expedition to discover the North West Passage where "only the eskimo in his skin canoe" could get through. Lord Franklin and his crew perished, but it was lead poisoning from early tinned foods which got them in the end.
One song, "Spirits of the Past", written by Dave around his seven-week experience in the iron-age round house, celebrated their harmony with nature; whilst some stirring boogie-woogie stride piano on a Mose Allison blues number "Stop the World, I Want to get off", showed they could rock a bit, too.
Chairman Mike Stephenson MC'd and got proceedings off to a suitable start with one of his own songs, and Andy Hodge, the previous Chairman and faithful servant of the club, sang two modern folk classics, "It's the Working Life" and "If I Were a Carpenter", which encouraged the audience to stretch their vocal chords. Hamish Currie contributed a rocking version of a traditional ballad, "Lovely Joan", and another traditional song with a fiendishly mathematical chorus. Bob Templeman - a simply wonderful guitarist - rounded off the local singers for the evening.
A very satisfyingly varied and enjoyable - sublime and ridiculous in parts - evening.
Since their first appearance in 1993, Coope Boyes and Simpson's powerful and distinctive unaccompanied singing and songwriting have taken English roots into radical new directions. Described as "quite simply the best purveyors of acappella song on these Islands", the trio's first record, Funny Old World, was the rock magazine Q's Roots Album of the Year
...and here's a copy of the review of the gig sent to the local paper:
Stellar a cappella
A large and enthusiastic crowd were given a top-class evening's musical entertainment by Coope, Boyes and Simpson at Tudor Folk Club on Monday 27th February. Individually, Barry Coope (the tenor voice), Jim Boyes (bass) and Lester Simpson (baritone) have extraordinarily rich voices, and together they produce an almost orchestral sound with a wide variety of harmonies. They all have a strong pedigree on the English folk circuit, and have been honing their a cappella act for some ten years.
Although their material comes from the folk tradition, much of it is written by the band members themselves, and their song-writing skills are right up there with the best… 'Polly on the Shore' concerns a girl "who'll be looking for another sailor gullible as you" when you're "safely out of view" who works her way up to a position of some wealth through her, er, relationships. 'Bringing in the Sheaves' is about reaping what you sow - both literally and figuratively. Their theme song about raising the rafters is appropriately called 'What We Sing is What We Are'.
They also included traditional songs collected by Percy Grainger and Cecil Sharpe - one of which they claimed to have taken from the original wax cylinder recording, and they gave a hilariously convincingly scratchy and nasal wax cylinder rendition.
Local singers Kaye Tilley, Min Dawson, Clive Carey, Annette Burrows & Mike Berriman and Hamish Currie provided support; but the audience were left bubbling with the sheer quality provided by three excellent individual entertainers whose sum is even greater than their parts.
11th March 2002 - Lynne Herraud & Keith Kendrick
Old and new songs and ballads of England and the wider British Isles
David Kidman writes of STARS IN MY CROWN in issue 122 (Dec 2001 to Feb 2002) of Folk Roundabout (and also in June 2001's fROOTS):
"Independently, Keith and Lynne both have a long and enviable pedigree of singing English traditional songs. Derbyshire native Keith initially came to prominence with The Druids in the late 60s, then explored different areas of the repertoire with various permutations of Coope, Boyes and Simpson and subsequently the latter-day Muckram Wakes, also as founder member of dance band Rams Bottom and maritime duo The Anchormen with Ian Smith; Keith has more recently concentrated on solo work. For her own part, 'Hertfordshire Nightingale' Lynne (once one third of both Tom, Dick and Harry and Brandis), though less well-known nationwide, is an excellent strong singer both of solo material (particularly ballads) and harmonies. This album is Keith and Lynne's first joint venture, and is a logical culmination of a relationship horn out of healthy mutual admiration which began at the Broadstairs Festival in 1998. Here they enthusiastically demonstrate a striking shared affinity with their chosen repertoire, wherein the arrangements are made with sincere empathy for, and appreciation of, each other's talents. Nowhere is this more evident than on The Leaves Of Life - of which Lal Waterson's rendition is described by Keith in his note as 'one of the songs and performances that made me realise what the tradition was all about' - as well as the touching One Starry Night (indeed, 'the most traditional sounding contemporary song ever'), the uniquely dark Brad Holland setting of Charles Causley's Herod and the Easter carol Love Is Come Again. Although there's some fine instrumental assistance from Keith Holloway and Paul Sartin (a.k.a. Belshazzar's Feast and harmony vocals by Jim and Beverley James, it's the winning, distinctive and perfectly complementary combination of Keith and Lynne that's rightly to the forefront throughout this lovely and varied release."
...and Chris Mills said of it in May-August 2001's Shire Folk:
"Both these artists have already made a substantial contribution to the folk scene, but this is their first CD together. I hope it won't be their last, because this is a strikingly well presented set of songs, mostly unaccompanied, but sometimes augmented by Keith's concertinas and other contributions from Wild Goose regulars. There is a natural lightness to the singing and the voices blend easily together. I'm sure a lot of work went into this but its no effort to listen to, and the emotion behind the lyric comes across well. The voices sound nicely unaffected. The title track and the love song 'A Passionate Shepherd to his Love', are my favourites. One of the best singing collaborations I've been pleased to review."
...and here's a copy of the review of the gig sent to the local paper:
Gentle English Charm
A privileged public shared an intimate and convivial evening at Tudor Folk Club in the company of Lynne Herraud and Keith Kendrick, two fine singers of English traditional songs. With no amplification, their songs, harmonies and warm personalities were more than enough to fill the room and engage their audience.
MC for the night Bob Templeman got proceedings off to a suitable start with the traditional "Geordie", Doc. Watson's "Sitting on Top of the World" - which allowed the audience to stretch their vocal chords on the choruses - and Brits-award-winning Dido's "My Love Has Gone". Local singer Hamish Currie followed with "Anderson's Coast" - a song about convicts who escaped from Van Diemen's Land - and "The Beaches of St. Valery" - which entranced the audience with its poignant tale from World War II. Mike Stephenson completed the floor spots with his own song of mismatched love and a version of "Put on your High-Heeled Sneakers" in the style of U2. Mind-boggling!
But the evening belonged to "Hertfordshire Nightingale" Lynne and Derbyshire-born Keith. Lynne's purity of voice and three-octave range allied with Keith's rich tenor and occasional anglo-concertina suited their choice of English traditional material perfectly: songs such as "A Poor and Honest Soldier", "A Bird in a Cage" and "Lord Gregory". They mixed things up with some music hall, including "The Miller and the Lass" which had some thinly-veiled innuendo about the miller grinding her corn - she'd never had her corn ground so well (?) and a pastiche of a maiden's lost love William: '" 'tis seven long years since I last saw my Willie", but which turned out to be Keith lamenting having partaken of too much in the way of beer and chips...
A magical evening of gentle English charm and natural bonhomie.
...an absurdly accomplished singer/songwriter and guitarist who, for years without number, has drawn from the tradition and replenished it with five-star classics like "Slip Jigs and Reels" and "Here's to Tom Paine".
The seemingly ubiquitous David Kidman, in January/February 2002's fROOTS says of his latest album, "Live Hemistry":
"Steve is increasingly (and not before time) being recognised as one of this country's finest guitarist-singer-songwriters, and his profile has surely been enhanced by his well-received stint as this year's support artist for Fairport Convention on their annual tour. This new CD celebrates Steve's achievements as a live performer of uniformly high quality and reliability with a collection of live recordings, just over half of which were recorded at various venues on the aforementioned Fairport tour, the remainder in Melbourne, Australia in 1997.
"Much of the material here (Slip Jigs And Reels, Let Your Banjo Ring, Here's To Tom Paine, Roving On A Winter's Night) has been an integral part of Steve's live repertoire for some time, both solo and in the fondly remembered duo with Maggie Boyle, while Salty Dog is familiar from Steve's spell with Waz! and Here Comes The Night is now introduced rather effectively (if ostensibly just to enable people to find their seats!) by part of a Satie Gymnopodie (no.1). The main interest of this release for Tilston aficionados will be the (hitherto unrecorded) recent compositions (Anthony Believes, Old Cairo and The Night Owl), which show that Steve's still writing songs of a very high standard indeed. A few snippets of stage banter here and there, together with a fun finale (it's Now Or Never, on which Steve's joined by Fairport) neatly round out this portrait of a consistent, accomplished and likeable performer who is constantly developing his craft, yet never loses touch with his audience."
...and here's a copy of Bob Templeman's review of the gig sent to the local paper:
Steve Tilson has been an important part of the fabric of the folk scene since 1971. His material has been covered by the likes of Fairport Convention and Delores Keene and many of his songs have entered the collective repertoire of the Tudor Folk Club.
Steve started the evening with "Song For Freedom", with a powerful vocal delivery, full audience involvement, and a unique, rhythmical banjo style accompaniment. His first set moved through self penned musical and lyrical illustrations of life on the road to a stunningly simple and haunting version of "The Constant Love" and a brilliant instrumental called the "Tetse Fly Shuffle", which fused complex African rhythms with a uniquely British style of playing.
Steve is a highly acclaimed guitarist, his playing ranges from a strong rhythmical powerhouse accompaniment, to delicate and complexly structured instrumentals and intelligent accompaniments that intertwine with and give strength to the lyrical content of his self penned and traditional songs. His singing and guitar playing are clever, but never flash, his talents being used to convey message and meaning rather than showmanship. His presentation is relaxed, warm and involves the audience and he successfully walks the fine line between explaining his songs in enough detail to add meaning and lecturing.
Then second set powered away "Then You Remember", one of the strongest songs in a strong routine, with a fervent vocal performance and a stunning bass riff. As the evening developed, he moved around self-penned and traditional material with an effortless grace and the full support and participation of an appreciative audience. As the set drew to a close we were treated to a new, haunting and as yet, untitled instrumental, a stunning interpretation of "Roving on a Winters Night", "Face of a Friend," an evocative love song and finally "Slip Jigs and Reels ", a powerhouse of a song about migration to America and life in the wild west. As an encore the evening ended on a supprising, but excellent rendition of "It's Now Or Never".
All in all an excellent evening, enjoyed by a good crowd, who went away feeling involved, mentally and musically stimulated and happy.
Hey! Not bad, eh? We've got Show of Hands. Imagine that! One week, they're filling out the RAH, the next it's The White Hill Centre...
This will be in an intimate 'in the round' concert format. Steve and Phil will perform 'On The Level' without a stage and with only minimal sound reinforcement of instruments and voices. They'll be explaining the origins of their songs and how (and why) they've arrived at the arrangements. They'll also describe the various instruments that they use and the
techniques for playing them. They'll also answer questions on just about any (relevant) subject on any of the above. Oh, yes, and they'll be singing a few songs, too!
Nick Beale in January/February 2002's fROOTS says of their latest album, "Cold Frontier":
"You can rely on SoH for sheer professional polish, melody and Steve Knightley's unerring instinct with a plaintive vocal. Apart from love found or slipping away, a repeated theme here is to lament that the last quarter century of economic policy is catching up with the rural/small town England they clearly hold in great affection and 'Cold Heart Of England' is reprised after its appearance on Knightley's recent solo album.
"Cover versions this time round are Stan Rogers' 'Northwest Passage', Cyril Tawney's 'Sally Free And Easy' (in, as they acknowledge, a very Davey Grahamesque version) and the traditional Streets Of Forbes. Their own 'Yeovil Town' is upbeat - at ten years' cool remove from the events described - about an unnerving post-gig encounter with drunk in local chippie that tempted Phil Beer to perpetrate vehicular homicide.
"The effervescent 'Things I Learnt This Year', lets some of the duo's characteristic studio discipline slip and proves a refreshing detour into spontaneity. This suits the song's spirit and guaranteed singalong chorus down to the ground and suggests they ought to risk this approach more often on record."
and Bob Templeman's review of the gig sent to the local paper:
On The Level, Show Of Hands.
On the 8 April Tudor Folk Club had the pleasure of introducing "Show of Hands" at a sell out concert at the White Hill Centre.
For the uninitiated, Show of Hands are Steve Knightly and Phil Beer. Over the past ten years they have toured the UK and overseas, to high acclaim and have staged their own sell out concerts (as seen on TV) at the Albert Hall. Both have been regular performers and more or less full time professionals since their teens. Both originate from Devon, with influences being firmly routed in the best of the British and American, traditional and contemporary music. Their list of credits and achievements would fill a whole page.
The current 26 date "ON THE LEVEL" tour aims to put Steve and Phil on the same level as their audience, returning to smaller venues, without a stage and using only simple PA to help reinforce the sound.
The first set focused on their background musical influences. Highlights included a fresh, moving and technically brilliant version of Bob Dylan's North Country Fair and moved to one of Steve's own songs, Hook of Love. Developing the theme of their influences, they explained the roots of their music and demonstrated the techniques and approach used in their own highly individualistic approach to music making. They went on to perform a stunning reworking of "The Blue Cockade" (with strong Indian undercurrents) and finished on Ralph McTell's "The Setting" , intertwined with "Mary from Dungloe".
Phil is one of the most accomplished multi instrumentalists in the UK. His talent on guitar, violin, mandolin and cello mandolin is truly prodigious. His styles range from sensitive and gentle fingerstyle, to hard hitting flat-picking to stupendous fiddle and mandolin tunes. More importantly he is a perceptive and innovative musician who puts the needs of the song and the singer first. He is also an excellent vocalist, possessed with a haunting quality and an instinct for phrasing. Steve Knightly is simply one of the best songwriters and singers around. He soars; he roars and takes the lyric and the tune to new places. His voice is clear, strong and true, his interpretation flawless and his style is clearly of his own making. He is also an excellent musician playing guitar, cello mandolin and the quattro (a South American ukulele on steroids and Tequila). Steve and Phil have honesty and openness of delivery that is all too rare in this pre packaged and over-marketed world.
The second set opened with a bang with "Cut Throats, Crooks and Conmen", a dig at the establishment closely followed by "That Night In Yeovil Town", a humorous but dark recollection of a night out that went disastrously wrong. Via The Galway Farmer, songs took on a World feel, with "The Train", written in India and Santiago, where Latin America meets English Roots and finished with "Cousin Jack", Steve's now classic song about leaving of Cornwall in search of work and a future. As an encore they stepped out from the PA and sang Steve's own black, moving and mysterious interpretation of "Wydecome Fair".
his was a truly memorable and enjoyable night appreciated by the sell out crowd who roared for more. We hope that "Show of Hands" will return to Chesham in the near future.
22nd April 2002 - Tom Leary & Kevin Dempsey
Fiddle-and-guitar duos are two-a-penny on the folk circuit but the uniquely complementary and versatile pairing of Tom Leary and Kevin Dempsey breaks the mould and offers something extra. This duo is a cut above the rest with a uniquely exciting and energetic style.
Born and raised in County Durham, Tom Leary took an early interest in music. By the time he moved south in the early 1970s he had established a reputation as a multi-instrumentalist. Although highly accomplished on guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, bass guitar and the flute, Tom is best known as a fiddle player. He is also a prolific composer.
Tom is not only respected for his live and recorded work in his own right but is also an admired and sought-after session player. He has worked with members of Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull, Humble Pie and ELO. He is a member of Feast of Fiddles, a founder of Little Johnny England and works regularly with Clem Clempson and the Hooky Ceilidh Band.
It's a two-way process however - the guests on Tom's own album, Calm Waters, include Ric Sanders, Dave Mattacks, Clem Clempson, Kevin Dempsey, Phil Beer, Chris Leslie, Fred Baker, Michael Gregory, Vo Fletcher, Rachel Fletcher, Mike Burnham, John Watson, and David Balen. The album received enthusiastic reviews. Writing in Q magazine, Rob Beattie said: "Long-admired on the live and session circuits, this is actually Leary's first album. He's evidently been hoarding the tunes and there are half a dozen here that can hold their heads up in the highest company. It's essentially folk but with convincing excursions outside the conventional form ... full of freshness and invention."
Coventry-based, Kevin Dempsey is one of the UK's most respected acoustic guitarists. After spells with Dando Shaft, Percy Sledge, The Marvelettes, jazz-funk ensemble Pzazz and folk outfit Whippersnapper, Kevin now performs mainly in the duo format.
Kevin is a fast and fluent finger-picking guitarist - but then so are many other musicians on the circuit. What sets Kevin apart is the sheer pace and attack which he can bring to his playing. No wonder his style has been described as 'folk-funk'. Yet he can also play as gently and lyrically as the best of 'em. As Fairport Convention guitarist Simon Nicol puts it: "Whenever I have the pleasure of seeing Kevin Dempsey pick up his guitar, I know I'm about to be reminded why I first picked up a guitar myself - Kevin creates a musical spell which I can only dream of."
In performance with Tom Leary, Kevin not only plays guitar but takes the vocal lead. Whether singing a traditional lament or a more upbeat number, his wonderfully entrancing voice delights audiences.
13th May 2002 - Patty Vetta & Alan Franks
- a long overdue a return to the club.
Alan Franks was born and brought up in London, and first started writing songs when he heard the popular music of the Fifties. At school, he sang with the Westminster Abbey Choir, and at University he appeared regularly in musical reviews, both at Oxford and at the Edinburgh Festival. He learnt to play the guitar by slowing down the rims of records by Leadbelly, Jack Elliott and Pete Seeger. 'I also quite like Leonard Cohen' he says 'but I had to speed up his records to get the same effect'. He has written a highly acclaimed novel, 'Boychester's Bugle', and a number of plays, the last of which, 'The Mother Tongue', starred Prunell Scales at Greenwich and Guildford. He writes for The Times on a wide range of subjects, and has interviewed countless celebrities from David Bowie to Barbara Cartland.
Patty Vetta was born in Berkshire. She sang the Magnificat, solo, at 5 years old so it was inevitable that she would sing in her later life. She worked in pubs and folk clubs until she moved to London and joined the Settlers, virtually covering the world on tours and cruise liners. TV shows with the Settlers and backing stars like Don Everly, Johnny Tillotson, Joe Brown and many others polished the voice to suit any style. She has been a long time member of the Wes McGhee band and toured with Johnny Cash. This, she says, was an experience not to be missed.
Teaming up with Alan Franks and his brilliant songs brings out all this experience in a great live performance and spine tingling recordings.
"Franks'songs are lovely, true, complex, addictive things and I wish I could think and write and play like him and sing like Vetta can sing. This is the proper stuff, this is the real boogy, I promise."
- Jake Thackray
"Proper songs, properly performed."
- Ralph McTell
"Journalist and playwright Franks is a highly literate lyricist and witty tale-teller. Singer Vetta takes Franks' nostalgic English folk songs, touches of blues, spirituals and jazz, and wistfully caresses them into music-hall life. A stimulating and quaint journey."
- Daily Mail
"I've got the CD in my car - the ultimate accolade for anything in my collection. Clearly division one."
- Sir Tim Rice
"There is a lively imagination at work here. Franks uses simple acoustic tools and Vetta's clear soprano to cover a wide stylistic waterfront that touches on folk, country, gospel and ragtime, and the chorus of the catchy 'G.I.s Lament' will stay in my head until the grave."
- mojo
Another welcome return. Eileen's pure voice and great songs are wonderfully offest by David's beautiful touch on National steel slide guitar.
In an age when "folk singers," male or female, tend to be more and more idiosyncratic, post-modern, and unpolished, Calgary's Eileen McGann is that rarest and most welcome of exceptions, a young singer with a keen sense of and pride in the traditional music of her Celtic and British ancestors, combined with the ability to write movingly about the beauties of life and nature around her, and blessed with a strong, crystal clear soprano voice that stops people in their tracks and commands attention.
Her recent e-newsletter (dated 10th April 2002) has some exciting news:
Lots of wonderful things have been happening recently - the biggest
being, as many of you may know, that my latest CD, "Beyond The Storm",
is nominated for a Juno Award! (For my overseas friends, the Junos are
Canada’s equivalent to the Grammys).
The nomination is for "Best Album: Roots & Traditional", and so we’re
on our way to St. John’s Newfoundland this weekend for the Juno
ceremonies. The Sunday Gala at the Junos will be broadcast across
Canada on Sunday evening on CTV; for the rest of the world, you can see
the results on the Juno web site.
We have also been invited to take part in the Newfoundlnd Music
Industry Festival called "JunoFest 2002: Music From The Edge" while we’re
there for the awards. We’ll be performing on Friday night at the venue
called "The Roots Room", along with a number of nominees from acoustic
music categories, and some Newfoundland musicians - should be great fun!
"Beyond The Storm" has been getting some great early reviews, (aside
from the Juno nomination, which I guess qualifies as a rave review!!)
including a fabulous one from Sing Out! magazine (posted on my web
site). Sing Out! is also going to print one of the songs from the new
CD, "Wisdom Guide Me", in their next issue, and will be including it on
their compilation CD for subscribers, so watch out for that this summer.
In other news, there’s a new button on my web site these days, labelled
"Paintings", which has a number of my finished works on display. Once
we’re back from the British tour, I’ll be rotating them regularly as I
get more paintings finished. Maybe there’ll be some of Newfoundland or Britain!
"Ten years on the road and still only in their mid-twenties, Orcadian twins Jennifer (fiddle) and Hazel (guitar, piano) have pulled out all the stops for their fifth album. Over those years they may not have changed what they do very much, but they really have got awfully good at doing it. Unfortunately it leaves one with little choice but to recycle old reviews. Their previous album Mither O'The Sea provoked the comment "Jennifer (the one on the left) has become an extremely self assured fiddler with a lovely touch on both fast and slow tunes, and who just gets better and better. Hazel (the one on the right) is increasingly inventive on both guitar and piano, and both are composing memorable tunes." No change there, and Hazel is still on the right. And "plenty of variation in style and tempo, and enthusiastic performances - many with a delightful swing... [all] makes for a smashing album. From traditional to Hot Club de Kirkwall, it's their best yet - and that's high praise indeed." No change there then, either, except that it just gets better.
"Their previous album made significant use of other musicians; Skyran goes back to basics, with minimal help from a few Orcadian friends, and let's face it, they don't exactly need much help. You just need to listen to the last two tracks to hear the full range and depth: the contrast between the swing-time Trowie Dart set and the whale-song fiddling on Orca is astonishing. The intuitive, almost mischievous rapport between them is positively uncanny and ought to be the subject of a scientific investigation into the existence of telepathy. Their first album on their own label, lovingly produced by themselves along with Adie Bolton, and it's just sheer magic."
- Bob Walton in August 2001's fROOTS of their latest album, "Skyran"
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14th January 2002 - Nancy Kerr and James Fagan
11th February 2002 - String Whistle
25th February 2002 - Coope, Boyes & Simpson
8th April 2002 - Show of Hands
27th May 2002 - Eileen McGann & David K
17th June 2002 - Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley