Saturday, December 05, 2009

Andy Roberts sings Close Your Eyes by James Taylor

Andy Roberts sings Close Your Eyes by James Taylor at Havering Folk Club. Video by Linda for Andy Roberts Music channel on youTube.

Friday, December 04, 2009

Winter in Andalucia

Here's another version of my Spanish Christmas song called "Winter in Andalucia" which comes out at seven minutes long this time. It is a bit sad because we won;t be going this year, but at least that means we'll be able to a Christmas dinner at home for a change.

Back at Havering Folk Club

Having two weeks off sick I was back at Havering Folk Club on Wednesday 2nd December and I've booked my Christmas dinner too. From the newsletters, I know its been busy of late but this week seemed about normal and I enjoyed listening to some of the regulars again.

For my own spot, I played Winter in Andalucia and then a short James Taylor song called "You can close your Eyes"

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Last Chance Saloon

So this is the recording of the longer twitcam experiment session last night, with a whole bunch of songs going on inside there. It's called "last Chance Saloon" because that's what I wrote when trying out the system.



Songs are:

1) I don't love you know more - Loudon Wainwright
2) Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
3) Knocking on heaven's Door - Bob Dylan
4) Redemption Song - Bob Marley
5) Now that I'm living here - Andy Roberts
6)
7)
8)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Twitcam Norwegian Wood

We tried out a new webcasting service tonight during the weekly music show. So here's a sample, in fact the first song recorded with twitcam. It's Norwegian Wood

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Don't you grieve - Andy Roberts song by Roy Harper

Don't you grieve by Roy Harper song. Andy Roberts music guitar and vocals, here during one of the regular Tuesday evening live streaming sessions or webcasts.Baby dont you grieve after me, as on Roy Harper's LP Flat Baroque and Beserk.

A staple in the Andy Roberts repertoire for 35 years

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Havering Folk Club Halloween Night

Havering Folk Club likes to celebrate Halloween Night on the nearest Wednesday so this year it was on October 28th 2009. Some people dress up, most probably, but Linda and I were neither prepared nor really in the mood for costumes so we came as ourselves :-)



Last year's Halloween Night event was choreographed by the Hillbilly Express and this year was similar but even more chaotic, with Simon and Pep dual MCing.

Music and Poetry....


Having already rehearsed The Rowan Tree at the beginning of the month without video capture I was prepared to have another go especially for Halloween night and this was after my version of Loudon Wainwright's Be Careful There's a Baby in The House.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Be careful there's a baby in the house

Lyrics to Be careful there's a baby in the house by Loudon Wainwright


Be careful there's a baby in the house,
And a baby will not be fooled
It will think and do what it wants to
until you get it schooled.

Be careful there's a baby in the house,
And a baby will play it for real
if your I love you is an IOU don't expect to get a good deal

look out momma, look out dad
your bundle of joy will not be had
if the blanket is blue if the blanket is pink
you'd best watch what you do you'd best watch what you think

Be careful there's a baby in the house,
And a baby can spot your schtick
all the coochy coochy coo is a lot of poo poo when you spread it on that thick

Be careful there's a baby in the house,
And a baby is better than smart
it can waddle through all the stuff you do never mind your big head start

Girl from the north country Trad/Dylan/Roy Harper

If you're traveling in the north country far,
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline,
Please remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.

If you go when the snowflakes storm,
When the rivers freeze and summer ends,
Please see for me she has a coat so warm,
To keep her from the howling winds.

Please see for me that her hair's hanging long,
That it rolls and flows all down her breast.
Please see for me that her hair's hanging long,
That's the way I remember her the best.

I'm wonderin' if she remembers me at all.
Many times I've often laid,
In the darkness of my night,
In the brightness of my day.

So if you're traveling in the north country far,
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline,
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Thankyou Mister Hubble - Loudon Wainwright

Thankyou Mister Hubble by Loudon Wainwright

unrecorded

Am................................Dm..............Dm7
Thankyou Mister Hubble, for your telescope
E............................................................Am.....................
We learned there's more than double now , the amount of rope
Am...................................................F....................................
We have with which to hang ourselves, things are so much worse
E..........................................................Am..........................E
There's so much more that's out there,I'm talking universes.

Thankyou Mister Hubble, for your telescope
Why go to the trouble now to push the envelope?
We're just so insignificant what the hells the point?
We're not handfuls but specks of dust in this gigantic joint

C..............................G.................C...................G......
We used to thing that jupiter and mars were pretty large
E............................Am...................E...........................Am......
and though our little world was small somehow we were in charge

The milky way so miniscule despite what we pretend
It's hardly worth looking at through your giant lenses

Thankyou Mister Hubble, for your telescope
I hate to burst the bubble but god there's not much hope
or faith that such a thing exists what is religion worth?
What in god's name would waste six days to make this puny earth?

Monday, October 19, 2009

If by Roy Harper

Lyrics to IF by Roy Harper from the Once Album

Could be this weeks Roy Harper song for the Tuesday Night Andy Roberts Webcast

If it was right to be believing,
And write his name in blood
And then I met him when I died,
Well I'd have it out with god
But if it means
Degrading scenes
And sanctioning crusade
I'd know we couldn't stand man to man
Without feeling afraid, feeling afraid.


If it was wrong for not believing,
In fairytale facade
And then I met him when I died,
Well I'd apologise to dog
But if it meant
I went down on my knees
Well where's the spirit gone
Where's the love you're all talking of
When you can't stand man to man?
Man to man
When you can't stand man to man.

I find it hard to believe,
In these 'gospels' that I've heard
The forked tongue of the bible belt,
The ayatollah's word
I don't believe most anything
Spoken by anyone
As hell's fanatic paranoids
Fire heaven's loaded gun

If it was right to be believing,
Then it must be in this
That difference is beautiful,
And living it is bliss,
There are no teams
There is no side
That life on earth is done
By living the love you're only talking of
By standing man to man
Man to man

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

When The Waters Rise - Blog Action Day

October 15th is Blog Action Day so I performed my song "When The Waters Rise - blog action day" last night at Havering Folk Club




When the waters rise

When the waters rise, when the waters rise,

It's started to rain, could go on forever
The puddles grow then join together | As the waters rise

With energy a change of current
The trickle soon becomes a torrent And the waters rise

We'll have to move abandon camp,
where once was desert now is damp And the waters rise

The balance kept by plants and sea
has pushed beyond the boundary
Now the gas surrounds us like a cloak
a million years gone up in smoke

The climate's changed, the world's in motion,
Then the ice caps melt and join the ocean And the waters rise

In the short term we can head for the hills,
In the longer run we'll all grow gills and the waters rise

The weather warnings made no mark,
Now there's no time left to build the Ark As the waters rise..


Here's another version of the same song recorded at the previous Tuesday Evening 7.00pm Live Webcast

Andy Roberts Music on Sound Awesome!

Another place for Andy Roberts Music on t'internet : Andy Roberts Music Sound Awesome!

I don't know if it's worth it but it doesn't take long to join one of these sites, create a profile and upload a track - in this case The Wreckers Prayer.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Drinking Song by Loudon Wainwright

Drunk men stagger, drunk men fall,
Drunk men swear and that's not all,
Quite often they will urinate outdoors.
Like widowed women, drunk men weep,
Like children curled up, drunk men sleep,
Like a dog, a drunk will crawl around on all fours.

Be he broke bum or rich rake, his dinner be it bread or cake
His beverage be the worse of whiskey, finest wine.
Puke it stinks and so it seems that drunkards go to great extremes
But there has yet to be a perfectly straight line

Drunks talk strong when drunks are weak,
It's easy for a drunk to speak -- straight from the heart
Yeah, drunks will fight they're not afraid
To kiss the mistress, make the maid
It's a manly art.

Oh but the drink a toll will take, blood vessels in the nose will break
Bags beneath the eyes another sign

Drunks get ugly, so it seems that drunkards go to great extremes
But there has yet to be a perfectly straight line.

Drunks are friendly when they're drunk and
Drunks are hostile when they're drunk
Which drunk it is, it all depends upon.
When drunks aren't drunk, they thirst for drink,
Elephants are grey not pink
When the drink evaporates the man is gone, gone , gone, gone

Back to the yachts and the subway cars
The hip-flasks and fruit jars
Flat on the face and flat on the behind

Oh, drunks get drunk and so it seems that drunkards go to great extremes
There has yet to be a perfectly straight line.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

One More Cup Of Coffee

One More Cup Of Coffee by Bob Dylan

Your breath is sweet
Your eyes are like two jewels in the sky.
Your back is straight, your hair is smooth
On the pillow where you lie.
But I don't sense affection
No gratitude or love
Your loyalty is not to me
But to the stars above.

One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.

Your daddy he's an outlaw
And a wanderer by trade
He'll teach you how to pick and choose
And how to throw the blade.
He oversees his kingdom
So no stranger does intrude
His voice it trembles as he calls out
For another plate of food.

One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.

Your sister sees the future
Like your mama and yourself.
You've never learned to read or write
There's no books upon your shelf.
And your pleasure knows no limits
Your voice is like a meadowlark
But your heart is like an ocean
Mysterious and dark.

One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

The Rowan Tree Folk Song

The Rowan Tree


Last Week at Havering Folk Club I tried out a new song called "The Rowan Tree" which is a song about four witchee witches I wrote when I was in Scotland recently. There really is a rowan tree in my front garden which I planted myself some years ago and it is a matter of folklore that the Rowan tree is supposed to help keep witches away. It's a suitable topic for the Halloween night session coming up later in October but I thought I'd give it an airing first, and the feedback was very encouraging. You can never tell with a new song if the initial enthusiasm is going to die away to nothing or if it's going to become a lasting part of the repertoire. There wasn't a video from the Havering Folk Club performance but we do have a recording from the previous Tuesday night session which was a lively one too. Here's The Rowan Tree video:



The lyrics to the Rowan Tree have been posted both on the Andy Roberts blog and on the youTube video so there's no need to reproduce them here.



Deep River Blues



Earlier at the session I played my version of "Deep River Blues" and then afterwards, John from Foxen showed me the proper chords :-)

I play it in C for some reason:



Next week it's the turn of Smolowik to have his members featured evening at Havering Folk club so I'm looking forward to that.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Havering Folk Club 17th September

Was last Wednesday the 17th? I think it was, anyway we went along to Havering Folk Club as usual and I took along my 12 string guitar that I've been playing quite a bit recently. It was an ordinary singers night so I played two songs in the first half - Puddles and Back in The Field. Then in the second half there was time for one more so I fulfilled a lifetime ambition by playing a Captain Beefheart song in a folk club - Grow Fins.









Ok, so the Wednesday must have been the 23rd of September but I'm not going to change the title now after Ive already published it .... doh.

Saturday was the 26th which meant that Havering Folk Club had the first "Club In The Pub" night with guests "Triangle" and support from "Kiss The Mistress", a great night out.

Deep River Blues

I use to play Deep River Blues once in a while but never got around to learning all the proper words so here they are. This is the Doc Watson version rather than the Wizz Jones version which is where I first heard the song.


Let it rain, let it pour,
Let it rain a whole lot more,
'Cause I got them deep river blues.
Let the rain drive right on,
Let the waves sweep along,
'Cause I got them deep river blues.

My old gal's a good old pal,
And she looks like a water fowl,
When I get them deep river blues.
Ain't no one to cry for me,
And the fish all go out on a spree
When I get them deep river blues.

Give me back my old boat,
I'm gonna sail if she'll float,
'Cause I got them deep river blues,
I'm goin' back to Muscle Shoals,
Times are better there I'm told,
Cause I got them deep river blues.

Let it rain, let it pour,
Let it rain a whole lot more,
'Cause I got them deep river blues,
Let the rain drive right on,
Let the waves sweep along,
'Cause I got them deep river blues.

If my boat sinks with me.
I'll go down, don't you see,
'Cause I got them deep river blues,
Now I'm gonna say goodbye,
And if I sink, just let me die,
'Cause I got them deep river blues.

Let it rain, let it pour,
Let it rain a whole lot more,
'Cause I got them deep river blues,
Let the rain drive right on,
Let the waves sweep along,
'Cause I got them deep river blues

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Talk Like A Pirate Day

As its Talk Like A Pirate Day today, September the 19th I thought I'd post my version of Captain Coulston an old pirate song, that I played last week at Havering Folk Club as well as the previous week at Crail Folk Club.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Crail Folk Club

Singaround at Crail Folk Club



I've been away for two weeks in Scotland, more precisely the East Neuk of Fife, so that meant I missed two sessions at Havering but managed to make a visit to Crail Folk Club on the second Thursday.
Crail Folk Club meets at the Golf Hotel in Crail, Fife on the second and fourth Thursday in the month unless it's the mid summer season when they move to Crail town hall. I think there's also a session at the pub in Largo Ward on the other Thursdays but that may not be published. Ayway, Crail turned out to be another very friendly club with a large pool of talented regular singers out of whom different combinations are likely to turn up on any one given week. The specific venue is in one end of the restaurant section of the Golf Hotel, just opposite the small bar area. With the doors closed and about two dozen people present it soon became rather warm but we'd got kind of used to that. The format was that of a singaround, which is new to me but not uncommon. Seated around the room facing inwards, an imaginary baton is skillfully passed around clockwise by the MC, so everybody gets the chance to either sing or pass, as many times as it takes. In this case, four times by closing time. Many people sang acapella and there were also about seven guitars, and later one violin. Not a ukulele in sight.

There was a mixture of Scottish folk songs, old music hall songs, Irish and American songs and one or two I wouldn't presume to describe acurately.

Not having a guitar with me, I was dependent on somebody volunteering to lend me one which they did and I'm very grateful to John for letting me play his fine instrument. To start with, I really ydidn't know what to expect so I sang one song unaccompanied - "Going Up Camborne Hill Coming Down"

Then one of my own - "The Wreckers Prayer"

Followed by "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out"

and "Captain Coulston"

We enjoyed our evening at Crail folk club with new friends and felt like a home from home so if we end up in Fife again next year, which would be lovely, I'm sure we'll return to see what's going on in Crail or Largo.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

San Francisco - Andy Roberts song by Maxime le Forestier

San Francisco by Maxime le Forestier has been a favourite for me to play for a long time now, I learned this song when I was staying with a friend in Poitiers, France in 1974. I used to play it in the Paris metro whenever somebody complained about me singing in English. Uploaded to Andyrobertsmusic account on youTube from the live session on Tuesday evenings at 7.00pm on uStream.tv

http://www.youtube.com/user/andyrobertsmusic

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/andy-roberts-music

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Singalong Night at Havering Folk Club

We had a good singalong session last night at Havering Folk Club with a good attendance, in fact Linda and I had to shuffle round a bit to find two seats together.

I took along my 12 string guitar of unknown origin in the big black bag but didn't get a chance to make sure it was in tune and warm it up until the interval. Being a bit later than usual to arrive, I was orginally put on the performers list at number 12 and ended up being the last act at the end of the second half. I played Norwegian Wood with the guitar and then put it down and sang unaccompanied to get the audience joining in with an a capella version of the old Cornish song, Going up Camborne Hill Coming Down

not much like this version below, but I like the steam engines

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Live Broadcasts Every Tuesday Night 7.00pm

Andy Roberts Live Broadcasts

I don't seem to have mentioned this here before but I've started doing live broadcasts every Tuesday evening at 7.00pm UK time. That's GMT + 1 at the moment, because of British Summer time, daylight saving.

The broadcasts usually last about half an hour or less but could be longer if I'm in the mood. That's about 5 songs. I've written more about it on my other blog here:

ustream.tv tuesday nights andy roberts music 7-00pm


and the actual link to watch the broadcasts and take part is here:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/andy-roberts-music

So it's been three weeks now and I'm enjoying it already. I've let a few friends know about it and put out a little bit of publicity, but I'm really expecting the audience to grow very slowly week by week, and that's why I've set the time and day to be as regular as clockwork - every week on Tuesday at 7.00pm. Starting from nothing we've had a maximum number of live viewers at five, eight, and now twelve last night so it's a very small elite group attending this nascent online folk club. One even logged in and joined the chat last night which is a first apart from Linda who does her best to keep anybody company who might wander in. It's nice when somebody logs in and has a name and leaves comments instead of just being a number of invisible 'Guests'.

The nice thing about ustream as well, is that apart from the live viewers, you can also make recordings which are then kept on the site for posterity and can also be uploaded to youTube. So I'm building up a collection of very rough and ready videos with no editing, so sound production just raw footage from the webcam shows. What this lacks in quality is made up for by building a comprehensive collection of my repertoire, if I keep it up adding up to five new videos every week. Some will be duplicates of the same song of course, and I'll have to decide what to do about that.

I think I should probably simply list the songs played here each week, and link to the YouTube or Ustream video, and if I want to embed one or two because I have something to say about them, then I'll do that in a separate post named after the particular song.

So this week, last night August 18th, I played:

San Francisco - Maxime le Forestier
The Wreckers Prayer - Andy Roberts
Mazet - Andy Roberts
Don't You Grieve - Roy Harper
Captain Coulston - Traditional, Steeleye Span

The week before, August 11th it was

Motel Blues - Loudon Wainwright
Narrowboats - Andy Roberts
Blue - Andy Roberts
Highway Blues - Roy Harper ( Havering Folk Club version )
Winter in Andalucia - Andy Roberts

And the first week August 4th I sang

The Wreckers' Prayer - Andy Roberts
Hold On Below - Andy Roberts
Angi Variation - Bert Jansch
Grow Fins - Captain Beefheart

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Havering Folk Club 12th August

This Wednesday at Havering Folk Club we had to leave early because Linda was feeling quite unwell but the first half was very good. We're getting more visitors or new members from Romford Folk club on Tuesday nights now. These are people well known to some of the the Havering regulars but not to myself because I've never been to Romford Folk Club.

Anyway, the interesting thing about the songs I played this week was the reaction from a handful of my friends in the audience. My stuff usually goes down well but when four seperate people make a point of telling me they particularly enjoyed it this week then it makes me think about what differences there might have been in my performance this time to tip the balance. Maybe I played more like I do when I'm at home, a bit more relaxed improvisation or else they just like a bit of guitar playing instead of just songs. It was a quietly attentive audience, more so than some weeks so that may have had something to do with it, or just wondering why I got up to go home during the interval!

Luckily Linda managed to record the two songs on video before taking ill so I'll post them in under here.

Long Andy Roberts version of Colours by Donovan





Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out





Thursday, August 13, 2009

Wednesday 5th August Havering Folk Club

Wednesday 5th August was the turn of Bert Dady and Keith Petty to have a members featured evening and very entertaining it was too, with some favourite old folk songs well performed.

I played "Sitting on the Bank"

Friday, July 31, 2009

Bert Jansch on Radio 4

I missed Bert Jansch this afternoon on the excellent series about guitar players presented by Joan Armatrading on Radio 4 but thanks to iPlayer "Listen Again" I can can catch up online so here is the url for you too:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lrms9/Joan_Armatradings_Favourite_Guitarists_Bert_Jansch/


Should be available for about a week I think.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lrms9

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Three Videos from Havering Folk Club

Linda kindly caught each of my three contributions to Havering Folk Club last night on the little canon camera and I decided to upload them to the Andy Roberts Music youTube account from which I can embed them here.

1) You can count on Me



You Can Count On Me sung by Andy Roberts at Havering Folk Club

This is a song I know from Wizz Jones, written by Mose Allison




2) When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease



When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease sung by Andy Roberts at Havering Folk Club Song written by Roy Harper



3) Sitting On Top Of The World



Sitting on Top of the World by Andy Roberts at Havering Folk Club


Meet On The Ledge

Meet On The Ledge

We used to say that come the day
We'd all be making songs
Or finding better words
These ideas never lasted long

The way is up along the road
The air is growing thin
Too many friends who tried
Blown off this mountain with the wind

Meet on the ledge, we're gonna meet on the ledge
When my time is up I'm gonna see all my friends
Meet on the ledge, we're gonna meet on the ledge
If you really mean it, it all comes round again

Yet now I see I'm all alone
But that's the only way to be
You'll have your chance again
Then you can do the work for me

[Richard Thompson]

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Busy again at Havering Folk Club

After a quieter period recently, Havering Folk Club was back to its usual lively self again last night with the return of some regulars who hadn't been seen for a while for one reason or another. Steve O'Kane and Fiona paid a visit for example, and will be doing a members guest spot in February next year.

I played Mondura Dam, not for the first time but it's a song I've found myself returning to in recent days. Jojo aked me where Mondura Dam is - it's actually Monduran Dam in Queensland Australia.







Then I did Whatever Happened to Us by Loudon Wainwright. I've been meaning to sing that one for some time but this is the first time I got around to it.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Andy Roberts 'Fan' Page on Facebook

This is a little widgety type thing which links to my 'Fan' page on Facebook. People who like using facebook can subscribe by becoming a fan of the page, and then I can put news and videos in there and people can leave messages for me or each other on my Wall.

Andy Roberts on Facebook

All Along The Watchtower

All Along The Watchtower

At Ustream.tv



This is one of the experimental prototypes for the Andy Roberts Music Tuesday Night Shows which are intended to become a regular feature. For some reason it wouldn't upload directly from ustream.tv to youTube

A little bit of distortion can be OK but clearly the line-in audio needs to be turned down a bit.

Monday, July 20, 2009

You can count on me to do my part

Song by Mose Allison covered by Wizz Jones


Let's talk it over, let's get it straight
Don't let the situation escalate
You know there's always problems when a man is wrapped up in his art
But don't you worry baby you can count on me to do my part
You keep on working, I'm looking round
Don't let you girlfriends put me down
You know it's tough these days for a proud man to make a start
But don't you worry baby you can count on me to do my part
You wash the dishes, I've gotta run
You know that night life ain't such fun
Now don't wait up for me cause I know you need your rest, sweetheart
But don't you worry baby you can count on me to do my part

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Century

I had decided to play for the very first time in public, my old song "Century" at Havering Folk Club this week and I'm glad I did. The video didn't come out, so I'll have to do it again sometime, but that's OK. Afterwards, since it was the day after Bastille Day I had to do a French song, one of Maxime le Forestier but not San Francisco this time, the other one I know - Ca sert a quoi.

There was time for one more in the second half so continuing a theme about boats I played Yellow Boat

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Time For The Music - Shifting Sands

These are the two songs with which I started off the April 1st session at Havering Folk Club.

"Time for The Music: is one of the songs written on that trip to Spain in 2003 but never vefore performed and "Shifting Sands" has been done a few times now.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Swine Flu Intervenes

I'd been looking forward to hearing Vicky Swan & Jonny Dyer at Havering Folk Club on Wednesday but I couldn't go because I was in the middle of a nasty bout of Swine Flu. I don't intend to go on about the illness here, because this is a music blog, so if you are interested you can go over to my main blog and read

Now I've got Swine Flu - really

As I write on Friday, I'm starting to feel better and hope to make a full recovery in time for next week's Havering session.

Friday, July 03, 2009

Beatles Songs at Havering Folk Club

I don't know why but I felt it was time to do a couple of Beatles songs this week. Linda likes "Here Comes The Sun" and Len had asked me to do my version some time so I was prepared to do that George Harrison song, with the capo on the 7th fret and everything. Wondering which I'd do next Terry asked for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" so I had a go at that. I didn't quite remember all the words or all the chords, but enjoyed busking it. That's what singing live is all about sometimes.

Before I forget, Helen did a song about the millenium and that reminded me that I wrote a song once about the upcoming change of century so I decided to dig that one out for next week, probably. It's called Century.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Old Paint at Havering Folk Club and Cajun Music Cajun Food

Well I missed a week last week due to illness and I had a busy day on Wednesday in central London for the afternoon but it was good to be back at Havering Folk Club for the evening entertainment. Quite a fun night as it turned out with Bert compering in a hilarious style.

I suddenly decided to play an old country cowboy song, Old Paint which I learned originally from the second Loudon Wainright LP. It's a traditional song

I ride an old paint, I lead an old Dan
I'm going to Montana for to throw the hoolian
They feed in the coulees, they water in the draw
Their tails are all matted, and their backs are all raw
Ride around little dogies, ride around slow
For the Firey and Snuffy are a rarin' to go

Old Bill Jones had a daughter and a son
One went to college and the other went wrong
His wife she died in a pool-room fight
And still he keeps singing from morning 'til night
Ride around little dogies, ride around slow
For the Firey and Snuffy are a rarin' to go

When I die take my saddle from the wall
Lead me down to my pony, take him out of his stall
Put my bones on his back, point our faces to the west
And we'll ride the prairie, that we love the best
Ride around little dogies, ride around slow
For the Firey and Snuffy are a rarin' to go

Then one of my own songs, a request as I had the 12string guitar with me:

Cajun music, Cajun food

This is a man who knows his onions

Allons Danser

( I added a verse in cajun french that day )

This is the video from the April 1st gig.

Monday, June 15, 2009

SearchWiki Andy Roberts Music

SearchWiki results are from one point of view but still bear a relationship to the relative relevence of different searches or usefulness to the logged in account. Ignore the first position for example, that's just a new facebook name which has been added in at the top, but the rest of the results show recent stuff in just about the right order of importance perhaps. Probably only in the slightest bit of interest if your name is Andy Roberts, and for quite a few of us, it is.


SearchWiki notes—shared by Andy Roberts
Selected results for Andy Roberts Music from Andy Roberts:
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Havering Folk Club - April 1st 2009 - Andy Roberts | The Stormcock ...
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Thursday, June 11, 2009

Requests at Havering Folk Club

It's always nice to get requests because (A) it suggests that somebody likes my songs and (B) it saves me having to decide what to play. The only problem is I've got two request from one person and the songs really deserve to be played on two different guitars, which is more than I can be bothered to carry for a normal singers night at Havering Folk Club. So I'm in the position of having one saved up for later, which is fine.
Last night then, we had a large number of floor singers - 19 I think, including some new people like Fanny Feeney

I played my own song "Blue" as a request and then a Bob Dylan classic, Just like a Woman. I'm sure I got the lines to verses one and two mixed up but only John would notice that :-)

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Andy Smythe Trio at Havering Folk Club

Last night was the guest spot of The Andy Smythe Trio at Havering Folk Club.

Andy Smythe sang mostly his own songs and some from The Waterboys, Woodie Guthrie and Leonard Cohen while strumming accoustic guitar or playing electric piano. The rest of the trio consisted of an electric bass player and another who played electric fiddle, slide guitar, electric guitar and something I'd not seen before which looks and plays like an electric viola but somehow sounds much deeper, more in the range of a cello. The songs seemed to be mostly about America.

I played a couple of songs with my cello guitar, the first being a new style for me at Havering Folk Club - a song from musical theatre.

From Evita, On this Night of a Thousand Stars.

And Roy Harper's Don't you grieve.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Linda Hartley MC at Havering Folk Club

Last night it was Linda Hartley's turn to be MC at Havering Folk Club and I can tell you she was just a little bit nervous about it for a few hours beforehand but did a cracking job on the night itself. It was good to see some new faces this week, which made up for one or two regulars not being present - I don't know if they succombed to the dreaded lurgy that goes around (not really swine flu) or are Manchester United supporters lol.

I took my 12 string guitar along and played two songs in the first half:

Michael Chapman's Postcards from Scarborough - of which the video from the last time I played that song is available on the Havering Folk Club Andy Roberts website




And secondly, a repeat of my new song Yellow Boat which was videod last week by Linda herself.




In the second half there was time for another song so I played an old favourite - The Wreckers Prayer



There were floor spots from Pep & Terry, plus a solo from Terry, Foxen, JoJo, Andy Roberts, Margaret Brown, Rockin' Bob, Carol Baxter, Helen Islip, Norman Faulkner, Nikki & Lyn, Guv'nor Simon, Nick Lester (an Havering Folk Club virgin), and the first ever duet from Simon and Peter.

Another great night out at Havering Folk.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Back at Havering Folk Club

Back at Havering Folk Club this Wednesday after one week's absence away in Cornwall with no guitar. It was Smolowik's turn to do the MCing and I got to play two songs:

Sitting on the bank - An old song about procrastination

and the new one, Yellow Boat.

yellow boat on Twitpic

Both are now available on the Andy Roberts Music youtube site

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Nancy Kerr and James Fagan at Havering Folk Club

May 6th was the awaited guest night for Nancy Kerr and James Fagan at Havering Folk Club. Recently returned from Australia, the pair were on great form. Nancy Kerr plays violin, viola and I think it was an autoharp, while James Fagan plays an instrument with the body of a guitar but four pairs of strings. And both sing at the same time in perfect harmony.

Nancy Kerr and James Fagan's mySpace

I had the honour of starting off the evening again this week and played my own song Shifting Sands and then played a Tim Hardin song called "Reason To Believe" which a lot of people seemed to recognise, probably it was once the A side to Rod Stewart and the Faces' Maggie May.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

On this night of a thousand stars

On this night of a thousand stars



Song from Evita

by Andrew Loyd Webber

On this night of a thousand stars
Let me take you to heaven's door
Where the music of love's guitars
Plays for evermore

In the glow of those twinkling lights
We shall love through eternity
On this night in a million nights
Fly away with me

I never dreamed that a kiss
could be as sweet as this
But now I know that it can
I used to wander alone
without a love of my own
I was a desperate man
But all my grief
disappeared and all the
sorrow I'd feared
Wasn't there anymore
On that magical day when
you first came my way
Mi amor

On this night
On this night
On this night of a thousand stars
Let me take you to heaven's door
Where the music of love's guitars
Plays for evermore

Friday, May 01, 2009

Gernika Live at Havering Folk Club

Gernika - Andy Roberts song performed live at Havering Folk Club



Gernika is the the second video extract from April 1st Andy Roberts night at Havering Folk Club.



For more about the backgroud to the song and subjext see Gernika at Andy Roberts Music blog

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Around the World with Havering Folk Club

Last night at Havering Folk Club we were treated to songs and tunes from many different countries, which is not unusual by any means. In the past we've had songs from Russia, New Zealand, Argentina and Scandinavia to name but a few places I can recall.

So having finished the evening the week before, I got to kick off proceedings this week and decided to play one intrumental - Andy Roberts Narrow Boats followed by a song in French by Maxime le Forestier from the 1970s which I've played once before:

San Francisco



The theme of foreign language and world tunes continued with Peter Waters singing some opera songs in Italian, some Spanish guitar tunes from Smolowik gigs and reels from the Orkneys and something from Sweden.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

St Georges Day at Havering Folk Club

St Georges Day



St George is the patron saint of England who probably only ever existed in legend but since the pub chain owners decided to try and extend the increased sales seen during St Patrick's Day to other similarly themed events St George and his flag have seen quite a bit more attention in recent years.

Havering Folk Club



Havering Folk Club likes to celebrate these sort of regional calendar events too, hence mentions of St Pirans day last month although I don't recall making much fuss of St David but then what can you do.

So the Golden Lion pub in Romford where Havering Folk Club meets every Wednesday at eight had an enormous number of England flags up yesterday even though St Georges Day is actually today and the new landlord is Irish.

I've been enjoying playing my Chinese Lute or Ruan recently so I decided to take that instrument along for the second time. I'd been asked about it as well. I didn't really want to do an instrumental and I only know one or two songs but didn't let that deter me. Three chords is enough for thousands of folk songs!

Truro Agricultural Show



I've sung the Truro Agericultural song before, twice in fact but not on the Chinese lute so that's a late inclusion for St Piran's day on the day before St George's. I think I even managed to get all the right animals in the right order too.

When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease



When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease is a famous single by Roy Harper, the greatest Living Englishman. The Stormcock list decided that Roy Harper could wear that title , previously occupied by Vivian Stanshall before he died in a bizarre smoking in bed accident. Anyway I thought When an Old Cricketer sounded quite good with the underplayed gentle Ruan string melody in place of the usual twangy guitar sound.


Goodnight Irene



After the break there was just enough time for a few people to do a third song and my turn was squeezed in right at the end so I had little choice but to play Goodnight Irene Irene Goodnight - making the chords up as I went along but who cares at that time of night?

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Havering Folk Club Open Night

Another Open Night session last night at Havering Folk Club and I played quite late on in the proceedings but refrained from singing in French as I am want to do after a few pints.

Instead I previewed a rediscovered old song of mine for which the chords had been lost but now they are found. The song is called "Now that I'm Living Here" and here is the 1980 version on Last.fm:

Now That I'm Living Here - Andy Roberts or maybe it's just called Living Here

Then there was a repeat of Bob Dylan's 'Mozambique" from the Desire album. Here the video from the previous time I played that one.





Saturday, April 11, 2009

Rest Week

Well, after the build up to Andy Roberts night at Havering Folk Club and then the event itself last week, I felt it best to have a week off and be able to go along and enjoy a quiet evening without even thinking about what I might play. So that made a change. The idea of turning up without singing seemed to baffle some of the other regulars :-)

I was pleasantly surprised that the DVD of last week produced by Peter Walters was ready for my collection and I've watched most of it in order to see which songs might be good enough to extract and put up on youTube.


Thursday, April 02, 2009

Setlist 1st April Andy Roberts Night - Havering Folk Club

Here's the final setlist of songs that ended up included in the performance last night at Havering Folk Club:

Setlist Part One

All songs by Andy Roberts

1) Time for the music
2) Shifting Sands
3) Cormorants / London Bridge
4) The Wreckers Prayer
5) Sitting On Top Of The World
6) Onions
7) Blue
8) Gernika

Break.

Setlist Part Two

1) Memphis Tennessee - Chuck Berry
2) Down Drinking at the Bar - Loudon Wainwright
3) The Same Old Rock - Roy Harper
4) Mondura Dam - Andy Roberts
5) Wrecked Again - Michael Chapman
6) Captain Coulston - Trad arr Steeleye Span, Andy Roberts
7 Goodnight Irene - Trad, Leadbelly

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Grow Fins

Grow Fins

Now here ya come baby
With yer tail draggin' the gravy
Y' know yer P's 'n Q's
What ya don't know baby
Is you givin' me the blues
Ya got juice on your chin
Eggs on the drain-board
Pie on the wall
Dirt on the rug
I come home late
'N I stumbled 'n swore
Ya won't even give me a hug
Ya had my things all laid out by the door
I'm leavin'
I'm gonna take up with ah mermaid
'N leave you land lubbin' women alone
'N leave you land-lubbin' women alone
Ya said ya had it together once
Now yer head's around the bend
I'm tellin' ya woman
Ya better get it bach together again
I'm gonna grow fins
'N go back in the water again
If ya don't leave me alone
I'm gonna take up with ah mermaid
'N leave you land-lubbin' women alone
'N leave you land-lubbin' women alone
Now here ya come baby
With yer tail draggin' the gravy
Ya know yer P's 'n Q's
What ya don't know woman
Is yer givin' me the blues

Captain Beefheart = Don Van Vliet

Big Eyed Beans From Venus

Big Eyed Beans From Venus

Distant cousins, there's a limited supply.
And we're down to the dozens, and this is why:
Big Eyed Beans from Venus! Oh my, oh my.

Boys and girls,
Earth people around the circle,
Mixtures of man alive.
Big eyed beans from Venus,
Don't let anything get in between us.

Beam in on me baby,
and we'll beam together
I know we always been together,
but there's more.

Mister Zoot Horn Rollo, hit that long lunar note,
and let it float.

Men let your wallets flop out,
and women open your purses,
Cause a man or a woman without a big eyed bean from Venus
Is suffering with the worstest of curses
Yeah, you're suffering, with the worstest of curses.

Put 'em out in the sun, and when the night come
You don't have to go out and get 'em
They'll glow with you
They'll go with you
They'll show with you
Ain't no losers
Cause they're on the right track
Cause they're on the right track
You can be on the right track, woman,
Of course, of course

Ain't no SNAFU, no fol-de-rol

Check these out, Big eyed beans from Venus
Oh, let a few out, let 'em pass in between us

Distant cousins, there's a limited supply.
And we're down to the dozens, and this is why...

Don't let anything get in between us!
Big eyed beans from Venus
Big eyed beans from Venus.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

First Run Through

I decided to do a rough run through of my provisional set list yesterday and we certainly learned a lot from the process, so I'll try to capture some insights here.

Timing

The timings showed that it's just about possible to do the core songs if an allotted time of 35 minutes occurs. That's without much banter at all. So the standby songs are unlikely to make it in realistically.

Tuning

The schedule requires moving a capo on the 12string mid set, which can mean not being perfectly in tune for the same old rock, so I don't enjoy playing it so much. A rethink might help.

Songs

On that performance, Highway Blues and Truro Agericultural Show can be ditched. Ha, no need to carry the chinese lute for one song.

San Francisco could be added in

Need Work:

Time for the music, Onions, Gernika.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Quiet Wednesday at Havering Folk Club

It was a Qquiet Wednesday evening this week at Havering Folk Club. I think some of the regulars were absent through illness, or else there was a secret party going on somewhere else! So it was nice to be able to have some quite songs performed and time for most people to do a turn in the second set as well. Three banjos but no ukuleles, as it happens.

I played two songs I haven't done at Havering before, Cat Steven's Wilid World and Steve Tilston's One Man Band. Then another version of the Truro Agericultural Show

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A Day in the Life

I read the news today oh, boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, i just had to laugh
I saw the photograph
He blew his mind out in a car
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure if he was from the house of lords

I saw a film today oh, boy
The english army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
But i just had to look
Having read the book
I love to turn you on.

Woke up, got out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, i noticed i was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
Somebody spoke and i went into a dream
Ah

I read the news today oh, boy
Four thousand holes in blackburn, lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the albert hall
I'd love to turn you on

Eleanor Rigby

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from ?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong ?

Father Mckenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near.
Look at him working. darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father Mckenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Irene Goodnight - Leadbelly




Irene good night Irene good night
Good night Irene Good night Irene
I'll see you in my dreams

Last Saturday night I got married
Me and my wife settled down
Now me and my wife have parted
I'm gonna take a little stroll downtown

Irene good night Irene good night
Good night Irene Good night Irene
I'll see you in my dreams

Some times I live in the country
Some times I live in town
Some times I take a great notion
To jump in the river and drown

Irene good night Irene good night
Good night Irene Good night Irene
I'll see you in my dreams

Quit your rambling quit your gambling
Stop staying out late at night
Stay home with your wife and family
And stay by the fireside of right

Irene good night Irene good night
Good night Irene Good night Irene
I'll see you in my dreams
Irene good night Irene good night
Good night Irene Good night Irene
I'll see you in my dreams

Friday, March 13, 2009

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Singers Nights at Havering Folk Club

Havering Folk Club Singers Nights

Singers Nights or Open Sessions Havering Folk Club are every Wednesday unless there is a Guest Artist ( 4 times a year ) or members special night such as Andy Roberts Night at Havering Folk Club

These Singers Nights at are getting better all the time with more new singers and performers, new faces in the audience and a general increase in both quality and variety. People who have been coming along for months, before my time even, are clearly taking the weekly opportunity seriously and upping the style, delivery and material. Folk from other clubs are starting to turn up, whether to advertise their own venue, plug a gig somewhere or pitch for a guest spot. It all makes for a highly entertaining night out on a Wednesday with a friendly buzz for very little outlay in terms of transport and admission.

Getting to The Golden Lion

Transport to the Golden Lion where Havering Folk Club takes place is good. I catch the train to Romford from Manor Park which costs £3.50 return and takes less than twenty minutes plus a four minute walk. It would be a little bit more from Liverpool Street Station I suppose. There are also plenty buses and a car park at the back of the pub in Angel Way, or you can park in the Market Square.

Andy Roberts Songs

Last night I played The Nutmeg Tree, which previously had an outing on July 24th when I played for the first time at Havering Folk Club and then Bob Marley's Redemption Song.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

The Wreckers Prayer at Andy Roberts Bandcamp

By uploading The Wreckers Prayer to Andy Roberts Bandcamp it enables high quality free downloads, better than the mp3 or video versions available elsewhere.

<a href="http://andyroberts.bandcamp.com/album/andy-roberts-sampler">The Wreckers Prayer by Andy Roberts</a>

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Pete Grassby night at Havering Folk Club

It was a Pete Grassby guest night at Havering Folk Club last night and we were treated to some delightful music and singing, including a few tunes on a large hammered dulcimer, melodeon and guitar. It was a quiet night, but pleasantly entertaining, with less floor spots than usual.

I played Winter in Andalucia and Blue

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

The Wreckers Prayer

The Wreckers Prayer is one of the songs I wrote during a road trip around the north of Spain after my travelling companion let me down. It harks back to an inscription vaguely remembered from a church wall on St Agnes, Isles of Scilly and the notorious Cornish Wreckers of old, but then also gells with the news stories from Branscombe beach in Devon. Anyway, I explained some that in the introduction which is captured on this video from Walthamstow Folk Club last Sunday.



So that's the live version but there's also a recorded track of The Wreckers Prayer with two voices and two guitars.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Steve Tilston at Walthamstow Folk Club

Last night was the long awaited Steve Tilston guest night at Walthamstow Folk Club, which is every Sunday at The Plough Inn, Walthamstow.

I've been a fan of Steve Tilston's songwriting ever since his second album "Collection" came out and I then went and got the first album as well, but that was decades ago and since then he's been through a few incarnations and is still going strong. Two great sets from him last night at Walthamstow Folk Club which I enjoyed immensely.

It was also my own first appearance, after having been once as a non performer two weeks ago to see Wizz Jones. I was on in the second half, just before Steve Tilston came back on and I played my own song The Wreckers' Prayer. Perhaps it was because I did an introduction or just the composition of teh audience but this was the first time I've done that song and they've 'got it'. Linda says some of them were Cornish, well I donlt know about that but she did manage to capture the performance on video so I think I'll post that as a seperate entry here.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Forest Roots


We went along to Forest Roots last night, since they've moved to a new venue which is convenient at the Forest Gate Hotel, Godwin Road, Forest Gate. Just around the block so to speak.

The guest artists were Adam Beattie and Oliver Talkes.

Forest Roots is an acoustic music club based in Forest Gate, East London self styled Country, Folk, Blues and Beyond.


Thursday, February 26, 2009

Chinese Lute at Havering Folk Club

I took my Chinese Lute or Ruan along to Havering Folk club this week for a change, as you may have guessed from yesterday's post about it. I had some trouble fitting it into the guitar bag, but managed to improvise with the zip.

I thought it as a particularly good night last night. There were some new performers to me, and I also noticed that several of the regulars had noticeably come on in and demonstrated considerable improvement. It must be the accumulated effect of weekly providing an attentive audience for each other. All levels are appreciated, but I think the overall level had gone up a notch or two. Well that's how it seemed to me anyway.

I played a tune that I always play on the chinese lute and now it has a name "Yangtse Gorges". There's a video of me playing it in the back garden a few years ago somewhere, I'll have to root around on various old computers.

Then I did Dead Skunk by Loudon Wainwright, an old singalong favourite recently mentioned by Karyn. Linda was sitting near the front so we have an instant video take:


Andy Roberts plays Dead Skunk at Havering Folk Club

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

ukulele


ukulele
Originally uploaded by Andyrob
Here's a scan of my Whirle ukulele I bought in a music shop in East Ham. I can't get it to play in tune so I don't use it and Linda says that's just as well!

Chinese Lute or Ruan

The Ruan is a moon shaped short necked lute, related to the Pipa.

It was once called the qin pipa, dating from the Qin dynasty between 221-207 BC or the yueqin which means a moon shaped short necked lute. The name is a shortened form of Ruan Xian, a musician and one of the "seven Sages of Bamboo Grove" of the 3rd century from the Six Dynasties. Pictorial evidence, excavated from a tomb of his time in Nanjing, depicting Ruan Xian's performance of this instrument, confirms that its construction was roughly the same as that of today.

The ruan is a Chinese plucked string instrument. It is a lute with a fretted neck, a circular body, and four strings. Its strings were formerly made of silk but since the 20th century they have been made of steel (flatwound for the lower strings). The modern ruan has 24 frets with 12 semitones on each string, which has greatly expanded its range from a previous 13 frets. The frets are commonly made of ivory. Or in recent times, metal mounted on wood. The metal frets produce a brighter tone as compared to the ivory frets.

The ruan is now constructed as a family of soprano, alto, tenor and bass, a development intended to increases its range and effectiveness in the modern Chinese orchestra. The alto and the tenor are commonly used. A plectrum is needed in performance. Mellow in tone quality, it is often seen in ensembles or in accompaniments, and as a solo instrument in recent years.

Zhong ruan (alto) tuning: A-d-a-d1 or G-d-a-e1 Range: A-a2
Daruan (tenor) tuning: D-A-d-a or C-G-d-a Range: D-e1

So anyway, I have one of these instruments that I brought back from China.

I made a Flash widget thingy that has sound, you can listen to here:

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rob/video/china-lute.html

and even have a go at playing it for yourself.

More about the Ruan



The ruan is sometimes described as the Chinese "mandolin". It comes in several sizes, but only the zhongruan (alto) and daruan (tenor) are commonly used in orchestras.

The body of the ruan is made from 2 round pieces of soft wood of about 30 cm diameter for front and back, with a shallow rim of hardwood around them. The neck with a raised fretboard is joined to the body. Usually there are two soundholes (round or other shape) on the front.

The peghead is sickle shaped and ends in a curl to the front, with a special Chinese type of decoration, made of different woods. The frets are small strips of bamboo (or plastic), glued on the neck, in a normal western scale (12 frets to an octave).

The 4 long (grooved) friction pegs are with two on each side of the open pegbox. They have an invisible mechanisme inside the peghead, which turns the peg on the front of the closed peghead.
The 4 metal strings run over a loose bamboo bridge to a wooden stringholder at the bottom of the body. Tuning could be G d a e' (soprano) or C G d a (tenor).

The ruan is played with a plectrum. With sizes ranging from large, medium to small, the modern ruan is capable of producing a variety of tones that range from rich to delicate. It is often used in orchestral performances, as well as for accompaniment of folk operas.

The machine heads are inside the closed peghead, with large wooden or porcelain traditional looking pegs

Friday, February 20, 2009

Mazet - Havering Folk Club

This is the shoot from the hip video which Linda made at Havering Folk Club last week where I performed "Mazet".

Note the episode where the shoulder strap comes off my guitar and I have to hop about on one foot while dragging a chair closer with the other, so I can put one leg up to form a rest for the untethered guitar, without stopping playing :-)

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Birthday Party at Havering Folk Club

Surprise parties can have a habit of not going exactly to plan but Sarah's 18th at Havering Folk Club hit the spot.

Amidst the chocolate cake, popcorn and pringles there was some music making as well, with plenty of new faces in the audience which needed to extend sideways out the back. I don't know how many of then we'll see again though.

I took my chinese guitar for the first time, it's nice and light to carry being only half the depth of a full jumbo dreadnought acoustic, but the sound produced is correspondingly less voluminous, so no good for quiet finger picking unamplified at a crowded venue. Good enough to strum with a flat pick though, just about.

I played an old song of mine I've been revisiting recently, called Mazet with the last verse in French.

Also two Bob Dylan songs, One Too Many Mornings and I shall Be Released

Monday, February 16, 2009

Wizz Jones at Walthamstow Folk Club

It all happened very quickly yesterday, as I was listening to a Steve Tilston track, Linda Carter mentioned that he was playing Walthamstow Folk Club on the 1st March. Checking the forthcoming gigs I noticed that the legendary Wizz Jones was playing last night and resolved to get to that one if at all possible. It turned out to be not so difficult at all using the W19 bus route so this brings another folk club into range but what was it like?

Well it's a nice enough pub, Walthamstow Folk Club is at The Plough Inn, 173 Wood Street, Walthamstow, London E17 3NU where there are other genres of live music on different nights of the week and the Fullers beer was good. They used to have bottled Dunkertons cider as well but we didn't get around to checking that last night.

I had a feeling I'd bump into somebody I knew, but didn't guess that it would be our friends from Havering Folk Club, Foxen as from last Wednesdays Foxen Night, so that made us feel welcome straight away. The venue is on the ground floor, seperated from the main bar area and although smallish, uses a PA and microphone system with mixing desk. The audience sits in rows of chairs and behaves appropriately without much disturbance from either the bar extension or the rowdy saloon next door.

Wizz Jones himself of course is just a blues guitar playing legend, and played most of my old favourites including Deep River Blues, Nobody knows you when you're down and out and Anji as a tribute to Davy Graham.

Here's that video clip of Wizz Jones with the beatniks in Newquay in Cornwall from 1960

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Foxen Night at Havering Folk Club

Last Night was the turn of Havering Folk Club regulars Foxen also known as John and Margaret to take the stage for the members special night. This was the event postponed from last week because of a flooded cellar at the Golden Lion, Romford where Havering Folk Club meets every Wednesday at Eight.

The first thing to notice was the large array of assorted instruments they brought with them to accompany their polished duets. John's hand made six string guitar sounded particularly fine, and he also treated us to 12string guitar, mandolin, banjo and concertina while Margaret made beautiful sounds from a hammer dulcimer, bowed psaltery, autoharp and percussion. The choice of songs was spot on with many own compositions and one or two traditional tunes added into the mix.

I think there were also 16 floor spots altogether so in preparation for my own Andy Roberts Night on April 1st, I was taking notes of the evenings timing to give me a rough idea of what to expect. I think they ended up doing 35 minutes in the first half and ended up with a 40 minutes set after the break, which sounds like a long time but even after carefully planning and timing each song they still had to drop one or two from the setlist.

Floor singers obviously only had time for one song each so I played Waiting on the 12 string.

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