Across the Pond # 9 - June 2000
Sat 10th London Fleadh
http://www.meanfiddler.com
(Finsbury Park, London N4)
Pronounced, I am assured by my jmdl.com friend Philip in Ireland,
as 'Flaar', this annual celebration of Irish and related music
was started in 1990 by Vince Power, the owner of London's Mean
Fiddler, Jazz Cafe, and several other top venues. Since then annual
'Fleadhs have flowered all over the US as well, including New
York, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston, with Van Morrison regularly
topping the bill. This year's London Fleadh is once again a great
mix of top pop, rock, jazz and folk acts with an Irish/celtic
flavour, including:
The Corrs
http://www.thecorrs.org/
The Undertones
http://theundertones.net/
Prefab Sprout
http://www.prefabsprout.com/
Bill Bragg
http://www.billybragg.co.uk/
Suzanne Vega
http://www.vega.net/
Richard Thompson
http://www.amug.org/~deeg1225/
Kirsty MacColl
http://www.freeworld.demon.co.uk/
Lonnie Donnegan
http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/glossary/skiffle.html
Nitin Sawhney
http://www.nitinsawhney.com/
Cathal Coughlan
http://www.cathalcoughlan.com
Bert Jansch
http://www.execpc.com/~henkle/fbindex/j/jansch_bert.html
Lunasa
http://www.house-of-music.com/susan/lunasa/index.html
Celtus
http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/IrishMusic/BckIssue/9708Aug/Celtus.htm
Picture House
http://www.picturehouseband.com/index.html
Sat 10th Peter Tork
http://www.petertork.com/
with James Lee Stanley
http://www.jamesleestanley.com/
& Chris Conway
http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~chrisconway/
(Borderline)
"Best friends", James Lee Stanley met soon-to-be
'Monkee', Peter Tork, at a club in Virginia Beach in 1963. He
invited Peter to be the "first big act" in his newly
opened club in Norfolk, VA, The Folk Ghetto, in 1964, where Peter
performed as a folk artist. A 30+ year friendship was forged and
they still occasionally tour doing a "duet" act. Their
studio album, "Two Man Band" (Beachwood)
is a re-enactment of their live shows. Finding a FAQ site on Peter
Tork and The
Monkees, I noticed that "folks in the Village had often
been confused by the similarity in looks between Peter and Stephen
Stills? The story goes that Stills answered the now-famous Variety
advertisement for "...Ben Franks' types..." that was
the casting call for The Monkees television show. During the course
of the audition, Stills was told that they were looking for someone
like him, but with 'better teeth and hair.' Stills left the audition,
and told his look-alike buddy Peter to go ahead and give it a
try. Peter did, and the rest is
TV and pop history. James Lee Stanley's own latest album
is 'Freelance Human Being - Selections for Solo Voice and Guitar'
(Beachwood).
Chris Conway, who has worked with Jethro Tull and Fairport
Convention, is a multi-instrumental wizard who, whilst originally
hailing from Michigan USA, has built his career in the UK , becoming
one of the most fascinating singer-songwriters on the scene. His
style is unique - blending a U.S. West Coast sound with Celtic
Roots and hints of world music and jazz - delivered with a powerful,
soulful voice.
Mon 12th Altan
http://www.altan.ie/
(Queen Elizabeth Hall)
Last date in their current European tour before heading off on the North American leg which culminates in a performance at LA's Holywood Bowl on July 30th. Altan (the name was taken from a deep and mysterious lake behind Errigal Mountain in Donegal) were started by Belfast flute-player Frankie Kennedy, and Gweedore singer and fiddler, Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, in the mid-eighties, "forged in the bustle and crack of a thousand late- night sessions and festivals throughout Ireland. Despite Frankie Kennedy's untimely death in the early nineties, his inspiration remains as the band's worldwide reputation has grown into what The Boston Globe call "the hottest group in the Celtic realm these days". Their latest album, 'Another Sky' (Virgin) includes guest appearances by Bonnie Raitt , Jerry Douglas and Donal Lunny.
Tue 13th John Martyn
http://surf.to/john.martyn
(Shepherds Bush Empire)
"No longer the drunken reveller, John Martyn is writing songs that equal the finest from his heyday," says Mark Edwards in his recent Sunday Times article. ".....For close to a quarter of a century Martyn had been as well known for his serious drinking as for his innovative melding of folk, blues, jazz, dub and a subtle, very English funk - a sound that reached its widest audience when Eric Clapton covered Martyn's gorgeous ballad, 'May You Never'." On his new album 'Glasgow Walker' (Independiente) released in May, "Martyn makes room for two cover versions, 'You Don't Know What Love Is' and Julie London's 'Cry Me a River'; but he's writing now as well as he did in his 1970s heyday when albums like 'Stormbringer', 'Bless the Weather' and 'Solid Air' established his reputation as one of the most distinctive talents to emerge from the late-1960s electric-folk scene."
Wed 14th Eric Bibb
http://www.ericbibb.com/
(Queen Elizabeth Hall)
Since his first prominent performance at the London Blues
Festival in May 1996, he has quickly become a leading light
in the current revival of acoustic blues music. Winner of the
Best Newcomer title in the British Blues Awards, Bibb has
been appropriately described as "discreetly awesome"
and
"a total original. His latest album 'Home To Me (Manhaton),
recorded in Norfolk, England, includes a homage to folk
singer Odetta on the powerful 'No More Cane on the
Brazos' and an intriguingly different take on the Sam Cooke
standard, 'Bring It On Home To Me'.
Thur 15th Continental Drift
http://members.aol.com/stevensmel/music/cont.html
(Islington
Folk Club)
A six piece band playing British and European traditional
dance music. Three of the members played with the band
'Rosbif' which specialised in French and Breton music.
Hurdy Gurdy player Cliff Stapleton, once of Blowzabella,
brings some superb self penned dance tunes to the bands
repertoire. Fiddle player Rex Dumbrell has introduced the
band to some Swedish dance tunes, whilst accordionist
Keith Macdonald has a taste for Italian music as well as
English country dance.
Sun 18th Colin Reid
http://users.d-n-a.net/dnetXBgE/colinspage/main2.htm
(Cecil Sharp House)
see full UK tour dates below
Young acoustic guitarist who hails from Belfast, of whom
Bert Jansch has said "Colin reminds me of myself and
John Renbourn fused together." On his website I found,
"There aren't many world class practitioners of steel
strung instrumental music kicking around that haven't
been doing so, however consummately, for the last thirty
odd years. Certainly not in Britain and most definitely
not in Northern Ireland. It is also a matter of some irony
today that the delightful tradition of 'British Fingerstyle'
guitar playing seems to be healthier in America than any
place within the British Isles. Welcome Colin Reid!" His
eponymous debut album is available from Artistic
Upstarts
in Northern Ireland
Mon 19th "Nick Drake Birthday Tribute 2000"
Bob Paterson Presents
http://www.ursasoft.com/bob/indextwo.htm
(12 Bar Club)
Bob's previous Nick Drake Tribute evenings have featured
some of the very best young songwriters and guitarists
around, and, from personal experience of the first, lines down
the alley and off down the Charing Cross Road. The latest, the
fourth, includes Mal Darwen (from Praying
for the Rain),
Caroline Kendall, Scott MacDonald, Tim Bowness/
Samuel Smile, Nick Martin + Chris Healy.
See this good website on Nick
Drake including bio, lyrics/
guitar tabs and interviews with members of his family, friend
John Martyn and producer, Joe Boyd.
Thur 22nd Hank Williams III
http://www.rockabilly.net/hank3/index.shtml
(Borderline)
Call it hard-twang, punkabilly, cowpunk, alternacountry,
slacker swing or honky punk. Like his famous forebears,
Hank Williams III is a rebel to the country establishment,
though you wouldn't necessarily know it from his Curb
Records debut, "Risin' Outlaw," which takes the music
two generations back to the raw, urgent roots of its
melancholy, sad-eyed troubadour, who died at the age
of 29 in the back seat of a car. Current fans range from
tatooed, pierced teens and twentysomethings, more prone
to body-surfing than line-dancing, to blue-haired ladies
and 60-something gents eager to hear the lad with the
eerie resemblance to Hank Williams sing his grandfather's
songs, like "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "I'm So Lonesome
I Could Cry."
Thur 22nd Chris Wood
http://www.cutting-tweed.demon.co.uk/wac.htm
(Islington
Folk Club)
A solo outing for this outstanding fiddler, guitarist and singer,
best known, these days, for his big-time collaborations with
the likes of Andy Cutting, Ian Carr & Karen Tweed in
'The Two Duos Quartet'
Sun 25th Martin Simpson
http://www.martinsimpson.com
(Cecil Sharp House)
Following his all instrumental CD, 'Cool & Unusual', which
featured the likes of David Lindley and Kelly Joe Phelps,
Martin has recently released the first CD on his own
newly-formed record label, High Bohemia Records.
'Bootleg USA', is a collection of live cuts gleaned from
a handful of recent concerts in the US, notably including
versions of Dylan's 'Boots of Spanish Leather' and Richard
Thompson's 'Strange Affair'. On his website, Martin offers
personal acoustic guitar lessons
by post and a guitar
salon
to help you find the instrument of your dreams. I've had my
eye on the beautiful all Koa Bourgeoise Blues guitar , now
Sold! [but not to me, sad to say!]
Mon 26th Richard Thompson
http://www.amug.org/~deeg1225/
(Fairfield Halls, Croydon)
see full UK tour dates below
The London date on this month's solo UK tour before heading
off to the States with the band in August.[see 'American
Connection' interview above]. His latest album, 'Mock Tudor'
(Capitol), his first full band album in three years, "takes
its
inspiration from the experience of growing up in the suburbs
of North London" and includes the wonderful 'The Sights and
Sounds of London Town' written, he says, in the "fine tradition
of upbeat tunes about mining disasters."
Mon 26th Bob Fox
http://www.bobfoxmusic.com/
(Croydon Folksong Club)
Still renowned for his duo work with Tom McConville
and later with ex Hedgehog Pie man Stu Luckley in the
late 70s, Bob has recently been appearing solo as a
'special guest' on the Fairport Convention tour, prompting
Colin Irwin to write in Folk
Roots magazine that "Fox
always was one of the scene's superior singers and his
voice is as confident and ebullient as it ever was." His
new album, 'Dreams Never Leave You' (WRCD035),
with back-up from the likes of Ric Sanders, Dave Pegg
and Gerry Conway, is due this month.
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Contact Paul Castle: pdcmusic@freeuk.com
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