TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

I saw Soft Machine in Lichfield this year (Or maybe last year, I can't remember.) and they were amazing. The last time I saw them was when they had a pointless 'legacy' attached to the name and did a gig in Coventry Cathedral ruins for the jazz festival. Hugh Hopper and John Marshall were still in the lineup.

Last night, I enjoyed a very nostalgic evening with the Allman Betts Band at ACL Live. This is Devon Allman and Duane Betts, who look, play, and sing very much like their fathers. They have organized an annual celebration of the Allman Brothers Band, bringing along a parade of supporting artists (this time including the legendary Jimmy Hall, Amanda Shires, and Austin's own Eric Johnson).

I closed my eyes and imagined I was at a genuine Allman Brothers show. It was a wonderful experience, and although "tribute" bands are not my thing, this one has an incredible pedigree and chops to back it up.

When it comes to The ELO we really love 10cclo who we saw recently.  A great night with a fairly even split between to two bands.  Well recommended.

Henry Parker & Katie Spencer in Hull Saturday 20th Dec
Very good night , Henry did a cover of an old song that Shirley Collins's  first husband wrote , whilst Katie did a brand new song , both were really, really good
Henry is such a talented acoustic guitar player , even "Leeds Polka" went down OK , in deepest Hull , brave song choice

Bootleg Blondie in Hull last night , played for over 2 hours , many songs I didn't know or remember , great fun and so much more than a tribute

The Unthanks (Big Band) at the Bridgewater Hall last night with the Royal Northern Sinfonia.  28 people on stage...so God knows how they make much cash at under £40 a pop, but good on them.

Just absolutely gorgeous as you'd imagine.  There was quite a lot of emotion around (my Sue's Pa died a couple of weeks ago) so tissues were required at times.  Just very occasionally the subtlety of the band got lost but overall I'd say it was a resounding success.

My favourite live band of the moment by a country mile (although if pushed, I'd probably choose to see the 4/5 piece in a small venue like the Trades Club....

Twas an amazing evening.  As you say it was definitely a crying night, I've never seen anyone so nervous walking onto a stage as Rachel was.  A few really deep breaths, but she soon relaxed into it.

I was in the 2nd row of the Circle and even from there you could tell Rachel was nervous from the way she was talking.  There were a few brief moments when it felt like Becky's band, I thought.  She seems calmness personified.  It all turned out well in the end.  I loved it.  Good to see Chris and his crazy beard back with them - I miss it when he's not present.

Dominie Hooper at More Music in Morecambe last night. I'd seen her a couple of years ago supporting This Is The Kit and enjoyed her set, especially her cello playing. She released her debut album last year and that was what she played last night - the album from start to finish and no encore.

So quite a short concert but she pretty much filled the venue and tickets were only a tenner. More Music do a lot in the local community and one of their singing groups of youngsters joined Dominie and her band on stage for a couple of numbers which worked well.

They're off up to Glasgow today and are playing Manchester next week.  

The latest incarnation of Ten Years After at the very wonderful Barnoldswick Music and Arts Centre yesterday. Ideal Cropredy band.

Down to just Ric now, I think?  I saw the original lineup at the Reading Festival in 1983, and I thought they were, lets just say, 'unexciting'.  I think there's an album of it somewhere....  Lovely venue!

West Coast Folk Festival last weekend in Blackpool.

Very Good - Blackbeard's Tea Party

Good - Nick Harper, Seth Lakeman, TRADarr (who were short staffed), Baskary, Louise & Chris Rogan and Hazjak(?).

Could Do Better - Honey & The Bear (dull to my ears although they seemed very nice people), Jon Boden (he's never been my thing) and Webb Sisters (who I didn't get last time and my opinion wasn't any different this time).

Well run festival without any drama - roll on to the fourth.

Sorry to hear it - we saw The Webb Sisters with Leonard Cohen (twice) and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. All three times, they were very welcome presences on stage. LC gave them mid-concert minisets each time, which were bewitching and well-received. I wish they'd come to the States again in some form or fashion.

Glad you enjoyed Hazjak. Used to catch them regularly when I live in West Yorkshire. Always a lot of fun. You've reminded me that I still haven't bought their second album.

The fellow from the duo, Steve Chapman-Smith, was, I believe, the original bassist for Red Lorry Yellow Lorry though he'd left by the time they released their first album.

Thanks John, The Webb Sisters can certainly sing and are pleasant and unoffensive but that maybe is the point?

We saw Nick  Harper locally on Sunday and it was really quite surreal. My bestie is unable to go to many gigs as his wife is confined to bed/wheelchair with Parkinsons and he is full time carer .We went for a stroll with them last week and stopped at a cafe and noticed on our phone that Nick was playing at a craft ale bar within walking distance of home. As my friend was a big fan of Roy , he showed interest . Mrs Reg pipes up Nick will bring me to sit for your wife and give you a lift (they are 30 minutes away ie 2 hours driving all told). I was happy to oblige as he needed a break. However it was sold out(only 80 capacity) but he managed to get 2 returns at £13 (instead of £20 ). It was billed as Doors 7 PM , start 8 PM with 2 x 45 minutes sets, playing music from the recent album featuring songs by all the folkies who had visited Roy's flat in the sixties . We arrived at 7.15 to be told by the doorlady that he had been playing for a while already, he had done a soundcheck and just kept going doing stuff not related to the main sets and chatting. He was wearing a flat cap, scarf and coat and sat on a low settee with a table from Roy's old flat complete with lava lamp and "herb box" (which we were invited to touch in reverence). At 7.45 he asked for a Tequila as he got nervous before gigs. He was formally announced at 8PM and played for about two and a half hours!! The main set was all songs by the old folkies , some of whom were on the album ( and pictured on the backdrop) Davy Graham , Bert and John, Jackson c Frank , Roy, Sandy Denny and some not Paul Simon, Bolan, Bowie, John Martyn etc. Anji was featured of course, (recorded by at least 3 of the forementioned) and he claimed that the original recording was financed by Bob Monkhouse. The last song before the encores was WKWTTG. The anecdotes were highly interesting and amusing. One of the most rewarding 13 quids I've ever spent.

I was recently bought the CD of Nick's 58 Fordwych Rd show. It's really very good indeed.

Jules

The only time I have ever heard Nick Harper was when he played Cropredy (2004, I think), and all I can recall is that I absolutely hated it!

I thought he was awful at Cropredy, the Zappa song didnt help, but I have enjoyed him every time since.

Agreed, "Titties and Beer" was not a Cropredy song, really.

This sounds like a truly special evening, such a bit of luck getting those tickets and precious time with your friend!

Glad to hear it wasn't just me, but maybe I will give him another chance if he comes near some time. Not that I think I have had to go far out of my way to ignore him in the past 20 years...

My daughter and her friend saw Nick Harper quite a few years ago. They both loved him. They told me how he broke a guitar string and carried on playing while changing the string, which sounded remarkable. Anyway, a year or so later, I got the chance to see him. He broke a string and carried on playing while he changed it. I thought, 'hang on!' Anyway, it seems that was his party piece. Other than that, I enjoyed the gig, but I've never felt compelled to see him again, or buy any of his CDs.

It is indeed his party piece. He did it the only time I saw him play too. But hell, it's a great party piece.

Jules

I thought he was amazing at Cropredy 2004 (my first one!) but there you go...!

I really enjoyed him too (although was very familiar with him by then so knew I would).  Horses for courses and all that...

It was also my first Cropredy and we enjoyed him, but we were a bit giddy with it all!!  ::)

I’ve seen him twice since and enjoyed him but I doubt I’ll go to see him again.

First gig of the year last Saturday was the incredible Barsteward Sons of Val Doonican. More Val offspring have been discovered and they are now a 5-piece.

What an evening! No wonder they are selling out  :D energy, superb musician-&-wordship, hilarious. What a night!

A belated Xmas present from MrsB was a trip over to Gateshead to see the Transatlantic Sessions at the Glasshouse, formerly the Sage.

The house band included McGoldrick, McCusker and Doyle plus the ever present Aly Bain, Donald Shaw and James Mackintosh with Jerry Douglas doing the between-songs patter and adding his fine dobro playing. The younger generation was represented by bluegrass duo Tatiana Hargreaves & Allison de Groot. Their album Hurricane Clarice is well worth a listen if banjo and fiddle music is your bag.

Of the guest singers Karine Polwart was the best of the bunch and there was a lovely tribute to Danny Thompson written (I think) by Michael McGoldrick and featured new double bass player Daniel Kimbro. Whether it was by accident or design that they got another bass player called Danny I don't know, but Mr Kimbro is certainly a worthy replacement and has a nice sense of humour as we discovered when he got to sing a song with a borrowed guitar.

Fun weekend just gone with Skyclad (the inventors of folk-metal and surely a Saturday teatime shoe-in for Cropredy), a Queen tribute (very cheap tickets) and blues legend John Verity (who I have genuinely been trying to see for over 30 years and never managed it).  Forgotten just how good Skyclad are.

Cohen B-K was on fine form last night in Launceston.  A good start to the year's concert going.

Sunday night I saw Warren Haynes at the Paramount Theater. He played solo, without a band, for two hours. He mixed Allman Brothers and Gov't Mule tunes with solo compositions and a smattering of well-chosen covers, including a magnificent rendition of "He Ain't Give You None" (sounding very much like Van Morrison). Because of the format, we didn't get a lot of guitar solos. This was clearly his intention, though maybe a few shredders in the audience would have been disappointed. Some of the shows from this tour are streaming on nugs.net, so I recommend a listen.

Monday night we saw Emmylou Harris at the same venue. Although it was billed as an evening with EH, it was in reality a guitar circle with Emmylou, Verlon Thompson and Shawn Camp, performing the music of Guy Clark. I was unfamiliar with Verlon and Shawn, both of whom are skilled players and singers with long-standing connections to Guy. Their stories and choices of material were clearly honed over years of performance. Emmylou was kind of tacked on. She added high harmony to a number of songs, told stories of her own, and contributed verses to some tunes (aided by lyric sheets). Altogether, it was a loving and musically rewarding tribute to a mercurial songwriter.

Did he play any Grateful Dead?

Indeed he did! He opened with “Cassidy” by Bob Weir and closed with a GD song whose title I forget but is at setlist.fm

At a local craft ale bar (capacity 80) The Guilty Men, 5 piece, featuring Clive Gregson, Paul Burgess on drums, and two long time members of John Lees' Barclay James Harvest, didnt know the other guitarist, Neil Cossar , but he was very good. Fantastic gig, two and a half hours, great songs , only one of which wasnt recent and the musicianship goes without saying. 4 singers too. Catch them if you can . They are headlining a small local fund raising festival in August so I will be.

Thanks for the reminder Nick, I earmarked them in my diary as they’re in Colchester soon.

I was sorry to have missed them last year when they played locally, but I was away at the time.  Hopefully they might come back again.

Sound of the Sirens were very good last Friday - I hadn't seen them since Cropredy (8 years ago now, I think?), but they are just as good, if not better.

Blackbeard's Tea Party a week before were a little more disappointing, I felt.  The very poor turnout probably didn't help, but I felt it took a while for them to get into the groove - I was struggling to pull the tunes out of the noise and energy, but when they did break through, they were fine.

Wille and the Bandits at Acapela on Wednesday, first time since they played Cropredy 10 years ago. Definitely worth going to see, tons of energy and the new proggy keyboard player was right up my street  ;D

As Cornish lads fond of a bit of surfing, they're rightly concerned about sewage disposal into the sea and have written a song about it: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8b59G7Uoq-w&si=kH1SsbszFW6Ophnx

Bob Fox was in good form at Launceston Folk Club last night, despite fighting off a virus of some sort. Could hear it a little in his voice by the end of the show, but it was a good concert, with some fun stories between songs as well.

Saw them in Nottingham Sunday night with Pastie Boy and girl! I thought i might be disappointed as I'm not 100% sure of their new album. However they rocked it! Better than their gig last year for me! Yes totally different line up now from when they played Cropredy, apart of course from Will!

I’d love to see them back at Cropredy. Huge energy!

Fabulous singer and very good acoustic player. It's great he is still playing and singing and I always enjoy seeing him perform solo or in various combos.

Went to see Gong + Henge in Liverpool on Saturday. I didn't enjoy Henge so much, but I was definitely in the minority. Gong on the other hand were phenomenal. My mate has previously asked me to go see them a few times but I'm not much of a fan having only listened to Flying Teapot, and although I like it I've never felt the need to investigate further. He recently suggested some songs by the current incarnation plus Master Builder from You and I was converted. The new album (Bright Spirit) is very good, but admittedly I'm approaching with very few preconceptions so if you're a fan of a previous era of the band your viewpoint might be different.

Not exactly a gig

The stage version of I Daniel Blake,  at Northern Stage.

Different from the film but just as heartbreaking.

Saw this pairing recently in Bristol. Agree that Henge was the weaker of the two, but the young folks seemed to reall like them.

Next generation Gong were ok and very proficient, but for me, did not compare favourably with the 'classic' 70s incarnations in spirit.

Not seen Henge but my mates adore them.  "Ok and very proficient" is about as far as I'll go too, I'm afraid.  I like Kavus's other work, so it's not that.  Personally, it's just not Gong-like enough to be Gong.  For me....

Some weeks ago someone sent me a message on FB with a link to a Soft Machine gig in Coventry, at the Albany Club in Earlsdon, about a 10 minute walk from where I live. So I thought it would be rude not to go.

Venue was very busy, with not enough tables/chairs out, and after a bit of chaos the organiser admitted he'd never been so busy and this was the best turnout for the Jazz Club he'd ever seen.

They were excellent, playing a lot of new stuff and some classics, including Facelift, Joy of Toy, and Hazard Profile.

I've got Fairport in Leamington on Sunday, then it was supposed to be Yes at the end of the month, but it's been postponed.
Jethro Tull in May. I notice my local venue has Steeleye Span and a version of Lindisfarne later this year (Last time I saw them it was with the Strawbs supporting them at Birmingham Symphony Hall.

How much of it got played (i.e. just Part One, I'm guessing)?  Probably my favourite Soft Machine track from my favourite Soft Machine album (which normally makes other Canterbury fans guffaw....

There were some odd things going on with this topic, so I split the topic this morning and left this year's contributions.

Let me know of any issues from hereon.

First time seeing Martin Stephenson and the Daintees. Had only known him from the early albums and Best Of, so it was a bit of a surprise that he was so idiosyncratic- lots of non sequiturs and stream of consciousness. Could have played so many more songs than he did! Still, very much a one off and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Great guitarist too - Gary Dunn?