Podcast Episode 31 Re-recorded

Here’s another version of podcast episode 31 re-recorded on Wednesday morning with most of of the same songs roughly, as the one which went out live on Tuesday evening. So if you were there, online watching the show and chatting with Linda in one of the realtime boxes then you should notice this isn’t exactly the same performance. The instrumental guitar pieces for example, as improvisations will be will be very different. I’m sure one or two sings are missing too, and one or two added. That’s all part of the process. And the new strings will be over twelve hours old now as well, instead of being only 12 minutes since restringing. I had even thought of doing the restring live on the podcast itself, as a piece of performance a-r-t but Linda said it wouldn’t make a very good audio podcast and I came around to that point of view eventually.

Here’s the web player, download link, tracklist and show notes for Podcast Episode 31:

 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 31 [00:29:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Subscribe to the podcast RSS feed using the url:

http://andyroberts.me/?feed=podcast

Subscribe in iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/andy-roberts/id378470885

You can also download the MP3 from this link

31 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 31.mp3

Podcast Episode 31 Show Notes

Show notes and information for Andy Roberts Acoustic Guitar Podcast Episode 31:

Episode 31 broadcast on February 1st, published on February 2nd 2011.

1) Mozambique

Words and Music by Bob Dylan

2) Shifting Sands

Words and Music by Andy Roberts

2) Reason To Believe

Words and Music by Tim Hardin

2)Last Subway Home

Words and Music by Andy Roberts

2)The Wreckers Prayer

Words and Music by Andy Roberts

2)Nobody Knows You ( When you’re down and out)

Words and Music by Jimmy Cox

via andyroberts.me

Yellow Boat, Yellow Taxi

Another week at Havering Folk Club, my last before the refurbishment at The Golden Lion. Will it be the same when we come back in February?

I played Yellow Boat (My own song) and Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi







After the break there was time for one more and I sang Loudon Wainwright's "I Am The Way"

John Lennon Day at Havering Folk Club

John Lennon Day at Havering Folk Club




Loudon Wainwright’s “Not John” followed by “Working Class Hero” written by John Lennon performed at Havering Folk Club on December 8th 2010 by Andy Roberts.

Later there was time for one more and I played "Bird On A Wire" by Leonard Cohen.

Crownstreet at HFC & How Does it Feel

I didn't make it to Havering Folk Club last night, we sneezed a lot and didn't feel up to it, but the week before ( Wednesday 3rd November) was a good one with Crown Street as the guests. I'd link to their own site if I could find it. Have you ever heard a folk saxaphone section? Lots of other instrumentalists as well, and a fine old Martin guitar.

I wanted to play my newly learned version of Roy Harper's "How Does it Feel" so my guitar was open tuned down to C, and it's a long enough song anyway to just do the one.



* Found Crownstreet now.

Acoustic Guitar Podcasts: Episode #19

Episode #19 in Andy Roberts series of acoustic guitar podcasts was recorded on Tuesday 9th November 2011 and published today on the 10th.

Inspired by friends’ lists of 15 songwriters tagged and copied in Facebook, I played songs by Neil Diamond, Steve Tilston, Andy Roberts, Loudon Wainwright and a bonus track Roy Harper song at the start of which there’s an unfortunate inbound telephone ringtone but I didn’t let that faze me at all, oh no. If you do happen to be listening on an iphone or in a house then the effect could be unpredictable.

Here’s the stuff:

 Standard Podcast [00:30:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes

Download MP3 to save – 29.2 Mb in size, playtime 30 minutes 20 seconds :-

19 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 19.mp3

Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 19 Show Notes

1. “I’m a Believer” – by Neil Diamond
2. “One Man Band” – Music and lyrics by Steve Tilston
3. “The Rowan Tree” – Music and lyrics by Andy Roberts

“Samson and the Warden” – Music and lyrics by Loudon Wainwright

“Migration” – Music and lyrics by Andy Roberts

“I’ll See You Again” – Music and lyrics by Roy Harper

acoustic guitar podcasts

via andyroberts.me

How Does It Feel? Podcasting

I announced a new series of podcasts back in the summer and I've published 18 episodes so far.  The original idea was just to provide another distribution method for the live house concert that I broadcast weekly for the past year or so. So it's just me and my guitar, not much chat or conversation, and I try to feature my own compositions as a matter of course, with the covers creeping in as and when I feel like it.

But this week I actually went and learned a Roy Harper song that is new to my repertoire - the classic  "How does it Feel?"  And then I went and performed it live at the Havering Folk Club at somebody else's guest night, with some good reactions, but not necessarily from the usual suspects.

So I thought I'd do a post here on Stormcock.net, an exercise in listing each of the individual podcasts where I've included a Roy Harper cover.

The Andy Roberts Podcast is hosted at http://andyroberts.me and can also be accessed from iTtunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/andy-roberts/id378470885

 

So starting with the last first,

Episode 18   Track 4 - How Does it  Feel?  download

Episode 15   Track 1 - Don't You Grieve  download

Episode 12  Track 1 - IF  &  Track 4 - The Same Old Rock download

Episode 3  Track 7 - When An Old Cricketer download

Episode 1 Track 3 - I'll See You Again download

 

 

 

via stormcock.net

Podcast #13 : 3 Andy Roberts Songs

Episode #13 brings three Andy Roberts compositions, two of which are longer than average songs. The first is the almost completed song which has undergone some serious birthing difficulties, but I hope you will think it’s been worth it eventually…  “Change Is” began life as two separate songs appearing ten weeks ago in Podcast #3 provisionally entitled “Trevellas” and “Summerhouse”. So that’s just one track now, coming in at still only about seven minutes long, which is a lot shorter than fourteen verses of The Lincolnshire Poacher. A fair comparison, I’m sure you would agree.

The second song is a rare live rendition of “Gernika” which I’ve written about elsewhere, and is the title track to my album of songs all written during one week in Spain.

Then I attempt to lighten up with a little ditty from 2009, Yellow Boat.

Here’s the web player, download link, tracklist and show notes for Podcast Episode 13:

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Subscribe to the podcast RSS feed using the url:

http://andyroberts.me/?feed=podcast

Subscribe in iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/andy-roberts/id378470885

You can also download the MP3 audio file which is 20.9Mb in size and 22 minutes 15 seconds in duration from this link

13 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 13.mp3

Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 13 Show Notes

Show notes and information for Podcast Episode 13 broadcast on September 28th, published on September 30th 2010.

1) Change Is

Words and Music by Andy Roberts, from the album “The Last Nail”

2) Gernika

Words and Music by Andy Roberts, from the album “Gernika”

2) Yellow Boat

Words and Music by Andy Roberts, from the album “The Last Nail”

The Tree of Gernika in 2003

via andyroberts.me

Wednesday March 31st Havering Folk Club

Wednesday March 31st Havering Folk Club

Open Night, 2 Andy Roberts songs

The Rowan Tree



The Last Nail

The Last Nail

The Last Nail is the title of my latest new Andy Roberts song, it's a folk song ballad sea shanty whatever that laments the closing of a boatyard inspired by the story of St Monan's in Fife, Scotland where I spent some time recently.

Hers is the video of the first live performance of The Last Nail at Havering Folk Club on Wednesday March 17th, St Patrick's Day as it happens.



These are the Lyrics to The Last Nail:

Above the stone walled harbour, or down the winding hill
That's where they built the boatyard, and the structure stands there still.
Not much boat building happens now, just repairs and fitting out
but when the wind rattles the boatmasts, you can hear the old boatbulders shout:
Will you pass the last nail over and I'll knock it into place,
Then with four more coats of varnish, she'll be ready for the race.

Our grandfathers put up the boatyard, to build the fishing fleet,
more than fifty boats in the harbour, and shops all down the main street
then the steam age brought in the drifters,
boat builders became engineers
Now the wind blows straight through the boatyard,
there'll be no more boat building here
Will you pass the last nail over and I'll knock it into place,
Then with four more coats of varnish, she'll be ready for the race.

With a keen eye for staying in business, they switched over to build leisure craft
And the weekend yachtsmen snapped them up, no expense spared fore or aft
Then wooden hulls went out of fashion, the order book emptied last year
So the bankers foreclosed on the boatyard,
and there'll be no more boatbuilding here
Will you pass the last nail over and I'll knock it into place,
Then with four more coats of varnish, she'll be ready for the race.

Now the Vikings invented the clinker for both strength and shallow seas
and the herring boats followed the coastline, until the canning ships found the key
There's a regatta here every August, and the whole village turns out again
But the Sea Queen's no real competition, and it's guaranteed to rain
Will you pass the last nail over and I'll knock it into place,
Then with four more coats of varnish, she'll be ready for the race.

Above the stone walled harbour, or down the winding hill
that's where they built the boatyard, and the skeleton stands there still.
No more boat building happens now, not even fitting out
but when the wind rattles the boatmasts, you can still hear the old boys shout:
Will you pass the last nail over, we'll knock it into place,
Then with four more coats of varnish, she'll be ready for the race.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

"Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" is the title of the song by Loudon Wainwright which I sang at Havering Folk Club on Wednesday 20th as part of a new series featuring tributes to recently deceased musicians. Loudon Wainwright is still alive (at the time of writing), this was in memory of Kate McGarrigle



On the video clip, there's also the main part of another song, "Waiting" which is an old Andy Roberts song.

Pink Floyd - See Emily Play | Andy Roberts Guitar Music

First outing to Havering Folk Club this year, it's been a while due to various things.

Pink Floyd - See Emily Play | Andy Roberts Guitar Music

I decide to leave the video in one piece rather than edit out the two songs in this one, so you get See Emily Play first, followed by another version of "Yellow Boat".

Right at the end I got a chance to do one more which was "Mozambique"

Thankyou Mr Hubble - Loudon Wainwright - Andy Roberts

Thankyou Mr Hubble - Loudon Wainwright - Andy Roberts

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.

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.

One More Cup of Coffee ( Valley Below ) Bob Dylan cover by Andy Roberts

One More Cup of Coffee ( Valley Below ) Bob Dylan cover by Andy Roberts

Another of my favourite Bob Dylan Songs - One More Cup of Coffee from the Desire album, here performed at Havering Folk Club by Andy Roberts on the same night as When the waters rise, posted earlier

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.

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

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

The Mighty Quinn - Andy Roberts at Havering Folk Club

I should play like this more often

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.