Barbara was raised in a musical family in North Wiltshire and found folk music through teachers at school in Calne and the Ballad and Blues Club in Swindon, before moving to Bristol and encountering the Bristol Troubadour and the Folk Tradition club.  She trained as a teacher at Bath, specialising in music and drama.

Tom's family were also singers and musicians, on both sides through several generations. Born of a Scottish father and a London mother, and raised in Sussex, he escaped school and went to work on the land in Cornwall where he encountered the extant Cornish song and music tradition through people such as Charlie Bate, Mervyn Vincent and Bob Cann together with innumerable other singers who met regularly in pubs or at home and sang for the joy of it. 

Tom and Barbara discovered each other as kindred spirits over the course of Mayday in Padstow in 1969 and married in 1970. They have been singing and organising together ever since. Although their speciality is songs of the West Country, their repertoire draws from a huge range of traditional and modern songs. Barbara rapidly gave up playing guitar once she had Tom's instrumental ability on guitar, mandola, concertina and melodeon to accompany her. However, they moved to London to get work. Pressures of work, raising  daughters and Tom enrolling as an Arts Management student at City University all but halted their performance work for several years - but in 1998, after 15 years in London, they escaped from the South-East and settled again back home in North Devon. Tom now has a PhD to his name, to add to his MA, and they are now working full-time at singing (and in Tom's case calling), with gigs all over the UK.  And they're loving every minute of it!

Hold on to your seats - Damien and Mike, nominated for the Best Duo in Radio 2's Folk Awards, are coming your way! These are two of the finest exponents of traditional song in the United Kingdom; yet it is hard to believe that these relatively young men have a combined 40-plus years experience of performing at folk venues.

Raised in Norfolk and heavily influenced by such earlier Norfolk singers as Walter Pardon and Peter Bellamy, Damien is a stylish and distinctive singer, either unaccompanied or using guitar or concertina. Though he has lived for a long time in West Yorkshire, he retains a strong East Anglian identity. Mike Wilson is the youngest member of the Wilson Family, the powerful Teesside singing siblings who have raised the rafters at many a festival or folk club event. His musical heritage is emphatically that of the North East, rural and industrial folk song both traditional and modern. Damien and Mike have a rich shared repertoire of traditional songs, plus the work of folk writers such as Peter Bellamy, Ewan MacColl and Mike Waterson. Damien and Mike have released a 2009 CD, called Under The Influence, which Radio 2 BBC presenter Mike Harding said "is chock full of nothing but great songs brilliantly sung”. The American folk magazine Dirty Linen enthused: "Damien Barber’s sound, style and presence combines the best of Peter Bellamy and Nic Jones.” 

This Damien Barber and Mike Wilson event is brought to you by The Night Out Scheme.

Born in Suffolk and now living in the West Country, Issy and David promise you an enticing melange of sparkling melodeon, guitar and 'cello, plus some beautiful songs. Issy, who was influenced by the great melodeon player and cartoonist Tony Hall, has a natural gift for composing but, having come to traditional music relatively late in life, initially started making up tunes “so that no-one could tell me I was doing it wrong!”  Today, her reputation as a gifted composer is well established - songs with lovely melodies, captivating stories and a distinctly traditional influence are her trademark.

The couple, with Kate on 'cello, have quickly established a solid reputation, and here are just some of the glowing reviews: 

“Truly astonishing musicians - quite brilliant - you’ll rarely see better” (Tom and Barbara Brown)... “A must for folk lovers” (Vin Garbutt)... “A very talented trio - fine songs, great harmonies and excellent accompaniments” (Pete Coe)... “Make sure you see them - you won’t be disappointed” (EDS Magazine)... "A top-class melodeon player with a rare lyrical touch and a fine sense of harmony. Issy is also an excellent composer of sophisticated instrumental pieces"  (Brian Peters).

Vin Garbutt (England)

He's finally here! Teesside-born master songwriter Vin is just celebrating 42 years of delivering brilliant, mesmerising shows, performing all over the globe, just a solo master guitarist and whistler with a startlingly unique voice and a belt of jaw-dropping songs. But, typically true to himself, Vin doesn't like 'Star' status. All this has happened without the hype from big record companies, and without the usual publicity from the mass media. He has played in countries that the biggest stars will never see. This phenomenon has occurred solely by word of mouth, spread by people who have come across him, and felt the need to share this unique experience on the Folk grapevine. A Vin show is always a sell-out.

It is no surprise to find that Vin has ruffled a few ethical and political feathers by his comprehensive range of subjects and points of view. His fellow professional musicians were filled with admiration at his gutsy stances. Loudon Wainwright III admiringly said: "He really sticks his neck out and occasionally gets it kicked in, but this doesn't stop him - I'm a big fan of his!"

Fiddle and English concertina go together to create some thrilling music from Shetland and Scotland!

Claire White is a Shetlander, born and bred. She learned the fiddle with Dr Tom Anderson from the age of seven and played as a member of Shetland's Young Heritage in Europe, New Zealand, the USA and Canada. She is now based in Aberdeen and plays regularly in popular ceilidh bands Danse McCabre and Jing Bang. In her day job, she brings all sorts of stories to the airwaves as a BBC Producer.

Frances Wilkins first took up the English concertina in sessions in Shetland, and toured extensively across the British Isles and in Norway, Denmark, and Holland with traditional band Solan, before moving to London to study music at the School of Oriental and African Studies. She has performed a wide variety of musical styles with bands, including Aberdeen roots-infused group The Pictones - however, she is most content when playing Shetland music. Frances regularly teaches concertina and mixed instrument classes at home and abroad, and her work as an ethnomusicologist had been very useful when sourcing new material for the Blyde Lasses to perform in their sets.

The Club first encountered this refreshingly different, reassuringly traditional, three-piece band with a big personality and a big sound when they organised the successful Saturday afternoon gig at the recent Tredegar House Folk Festival in the City of Newport. Playing their own particular brand of folk music, melodeon player Edwin Bessant, fiddler Tom Kitching and singer and second fiddler Lucy Wright  were brought together by a series of chance meetings at sessions around the North West of England, bonding over red hair and a shared love of traditional music, they have been shaking up assorted kitchens, public houses and folk venues ever since.

Their influences individually are many and varied, but they share a deep respect for the tradition and take as their inspiration some of the most influential bands from the 60s/70s revival. Edwin is a multi-instrumentalist who is known as an inventive box-player and as a drummer with ceilidh band Jabadaw; Lucy is an internationally-renowned jews harp player and a traditional singer who is influenced other singers from the Irish tradition, particularly Maggie Boyle; and Young Folk Award finalist Tom, described in The Living Tradition magazine as "one of the best young fiddlers in England", has appeared at Llantrisant Folk Club with singer-songwriter and guitarist Gren Bartley. 

Named for the Rudyard Kipling poem, set to music by the great Peter Bellamy, their aim is to present gimmick-free folk of the finest kind. 

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Born in Spain, raised in Chicago and holding dual Irish-American citizenship, Sarah was taught piano and guitar by her folksinging mother. From the age of 12 she was embarking on US and Canadian tours with the Chicago Childrens' Choir, and at the age of 18 she went to France to study philosophy at the University of Strasbourg. 

Sarah moved to Ireland in 1994, and three years later she released her debut album, When Two Lovers Meet. The Rough Guide To Irish Music wrote: "Sarah's voice is both as warm as a turf fire and as rich as matured cognac... An astonishing debut by a unique talent." When Two Lovers Meet was re-released in Ireland and the UK in 2007, a year which saw Sarah move to Cornwall. She released her second album, I Won't Go Home 'Til Morning, which like its predecessor was recorded in Trevor Hutchinson's Dublin studio and produced by Gerry O'Beirne. 

Renowned for her warm, engaging stage presence, Sarah is a versatile and beguiling performer, delivering a delicious mix of her own elegantly crafted originals to Irish and Appalachian folksongs, Elizabethan ballads and 1930s jazz numbers. She's the author of The Irish DADGAD Guitar Book, described by The Irish Times as "a godsend to aspiring guitarists", and has presented workshops on DADGAD tuning to festivals and venues everywhere.

Al Parrish’s huge, charismatic stage presence, his boundless energy, and a deep rich chocolate-brown voice brought fans to Tanglefoot shows across Canada, around the US and throughout Wales and the UK, from the evening he first played with the band in January of 1994 through to Tanglefoot's final shows in December 2009.

In 2010, Al began his solo career. Using the songwriting and story-telling magic he honed during 17 years of international touring and the creation of six CDs, he has developed a charming and riveting show which includes new, original material, some carefully chosen covers and a few Tanglefoot favourites. All these songs are accompanied on acoustic guitar, his trademark double bass, or simply sung a cappella.

On January 15, 2011 at a sold-out show at the Registry Theatre, Paul Mills, legendary producer of Stan Rogers’ albums, recorded the whole evening for Al’s first solo CD, Propensity for Joy.

What to expect from an evening with Al: bags of stage presence for starters, a few tall stories, fabulous singing, good humour, some Tanglefoot songs (of course) but also a wide repertoire of traditional and contemporary songs from MacCrimmon's Lament (in Gaelic) to When the Bass Players Took Over the World... This night will be magic!

Wynford Jones, Geri Thomas and Laurence Eddy recreate the eighties album which told the story of Chartism and the inevitable slaughter at the Westgate Hotel, Newport, when the Chartists' march was halted by the British soldiers' bullets. The new CD, called Rise Again, is a reworking of the Chartists' favourite songs, most of them written by Wynford.

Hilary Spencer, Chris Harvey and Alison Younger are now working without Les Barker - but Les's weird and zany humour and his hilarious poems are right there in spirit! MrsAckroyd took the decision to carry on without their guiding star, mentor and favourite lunatic, as he was cutting back on his live work following heart surgery. But the band will astound and amaze you with a plethora of rare delights!  

Chris, Alison and Hilary are a remarkable trio of musicians that will delight and entertain you. Despite the absence of Les, his strange imagination still soars to musical heights through the stunning voices of Ms Younger and Ms Spencer and the keyboard wizardry of Mr Harvey. Alison, Hilary and Chris musically recreate the weird and wonderful world of the internationally acclaimed poet, philosopher, photographer and fruitcake and continue to perform the marvellous nonsense that is MrsAckroyd. Funny, witty, thoughtful, emotional - but always brilliant!

This MrsAckroyd event is brought to you by The Night Out Scheme.

DON’T FORGET:

All other Wednesdays are Song And Music Nights, starting at 8.30pm. 

For past guests, click here