Fairport last night at The Acapela, Pentyrch (the first of two nights at this venue). It was a great evening, with the boys being on top form had a chorus of 'Happy Birthday First things first, it was Simon's birthday and he was treated to a chorus of 'Happy Birthday to You' from the audience. The evening was mostly what you would expect, but there were one or two surprises.   I haven't heard these songs in a while.

My favourite moments were Chris singing the lovely 'My Love is in America', which is one of my favourites of his songs, and Simon's rendition of 'Fotheringay'.

All in all, an enjoyable night that shows there's life in the old dogs yet.

Shelagh McDonald's tribute to Keith Christmas (via Ian A Anderson - and the Royal Mail)

Shelagh McDonald isn't online but very much wanted to share a tribute to Keith Christmas who left us last week. So she typed it out and asked me if I could post it. It finally turned up today, three days from Lanark by Royal Mail first class! [Keith & Shelagh's 1970 debut albums, produced by the late Sandy Robertson, were very much intertwined]

===

Yesterday was a sad day for music, but an infinitely sadder one for me. The news of Keith's passing, though not entirely unexpected, nevertheless stretches one's credulity to the limit. How could a man with so much soul, vitality and inexhaustible creativity be taken from us – it seemed impossible.
For anyone fortunate enough to have come within Keith's orbit would not have failed to recognised his lust for life which could fill an entire auditorium, let alone an intimate folk venue. There was so much more to him than mere musical craftsmanship. There are superb guitarists aplenty, but none in my experience who could ignite their live acoustic performances with so much
fire and drama. Or, as I call it “The Keith Christmas Experience”, which rewrote the performance script for folk venues up and down the country.
The last time I saw Keith he had, months previously, undergone major heart surgery. I remember moaning to him about feeling my age, to which his immediate response was, “It's all in your head Shelagh, we're surrounded by energy and it's there for the taking if you've a mind for it”. That was way back in 2013.
I'll miss his irrepressible optimism, his wisdom, his ability to listen and advise without passing judgement, his immense generosity of spirit. I will miss my truest friend, Keith Christmas.
So, let's honour Keith's life's work. Let's listen with new hearts and new ears to his legacy bestowed on us. Let's savour his startlingly insightful lyrics, his virtuoso finger picking, hear him sending up or shaking his fist to the heavens when something triggers his ire, and finally drink in his beautiful love songs, the mature, creative fruitage of a consummate artist.
Meanwhile I send my deepest sympathies to his lovely wife Sian and family.
Shelagh McDonald 10/10/26

1970 pic by Keith Morris, © The Keith Morris Archive

I picked up the Rick Wakeman 5 Classic albums set at the market yesterday, for not very much (together with a Jon Lord solo album). I only had the 6 Wives of Henry VIII before, and had heard Journey to the Centre of the Earth when he played it at Cropredy a couple of years ago, but was otherwise buying fairly blind.  I listened to Journey... first. That was OK.

Then The Myths & Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Oh. My. Word! Was it really as bad as it seemed on first listen? Logic says I should listen again to find out. Emotion says I shouldn't ever let anything like that near my ears again!  I mean, there are a few good tunes in there, amongst the dross, but the rest seemed like a bunch of ideas thrown together with no quality control applied.  What do others think? Should I try again, or just let it lie...?

This morning I have moved on to No Earthly Connection to see if that is any better.

No Scattering The Roots show tonight due to live coverage of Pompey v Sheffield United at Fratton Park, but rest assured, Scattering The Roots will be back at 9pm, Wednesday 21st October...

In the meantime, you can get your fix of folk, roots, blues, etc...plenty of etc... on Mixcloud, where you can find all editions of Scattering The Roots online for your listening pleasure.

Listen via the link here :

www.mixcloud.com/danogus1

My gut tells me that this isn't going to get funded.  I wonder if they have a Plan B?

The Kickstarter has been about 1/3 funded so far, with three more weeks to run, but seems to have stalled rather.  So if you were thinking of going in for this, but haven't got around to it yet, I'd encourage you to get onto the site and do what has to be done!

Seth Lakeman last night at the Exeter Phoenix.  First half was the whole of the Freedom Fields album, in celebration of it's 20th anniversary.  Then in the second half we got a run through of highlights from the rest of his career, from his first album right up to the most recent one, and he and the band (Benji Kirkpatrick, Alex Hart, Ben Nicholls and Cormac Byrne) really let rip.  They even got the usually pretty staid crowd up and dancing on a Monday night!  Definitely worth catching them if you can on this tour - they are on fire!

This Saturday evening, I'm taking my granddaughter to see "beabadoobee" at the Germania Amphitheater.

This is a British-Filipino singer songwriter whose genre is labeled "bedroom pop." Apparently, this refers to young folks who record and release their songs on Youtube. Laufey got her start this way, as well, I am told.

After serving as an opening act for little-known performers such as Taylor Swift, beebadoobee is undertaking her first headline tour of the U.S. I've listened to some of the songs, and they're quite pleasant. I'm hoping for a good evening, but I doubt she will top Bruno Mars.

Should be brilliant if it reflects his progress over the years.

Aziz Ibrahim and full band at the local 80 seat craft ale bar on Thursday. Only seen him several times acoustic before and on Ian Brown's whistle stop tour.