May 2001

by Paul Castle

Contents

UK News
. BBC launch new folk website
. Bob Blackman writes about The Copper Family in Sing Out
. Bob Dylan UK Convention 200
. The Carthy Chronicles
London Gigs
Best of the Rest of the UK Gigs
UK Festivals

Continuing the mini-explosion of interest in 'all things folk' on this side of the
pond, BBC Radio 2, "the most listened to radio station in the UK", is to
launch what they describe as "Britain's first major folk music website" this
month. The site is to be launched on May 23, with a webcast of the Mike
Harding Show from the Merchant Adventurers Hall, York (a 14th Century
timber-framed medieval guild hall), featuring Kate Rusby, Maddy Prior
and Shawn Colvin. The new site also plans to bring exclusive coverage of
Martin Carthy's 60th birthday concert from the Apollo Theatre, Oxford,
with special guests Fairport Convention (past and present), Waterson :
Carthy, Maddy Prior and others) and also plans to have a strong presence
at this year's Cambridge and Sidmouth festivals, the London Fleadh and
next January's 'Celtic Connections' festival in Glasgow.

In addition, the BBC site will feature a groundbreaking "Virtual Session",
featuring music specially recorded for Radio 2 Online by the cream of
Britain's folk musicians. Users will be able to learn the tunes that form the
core of the session scene in pubs and clubs around the UK through a
unique interactive experience. According to BBC Radio 2 Controller,
James Moir, "This reinforces the importance of folk and acoustic music
to Radio 2's audience. Radio 2 is proud to be seen as the home of folk,
roots and acoustic music."

The website will also include an A-Z of performers, recommended
listening and pointers to further information, chat areas for fans, features
about artists and the all-time top 50 folk albums as voted by listeners of
the Mike Harding Show. A recent BBC poll to find the 'Folk Voice of
the Century' resulted in the following Top 10 -
1.   Sandy Denny
2.   June Tabor
3.   Martin Carthy
4.   Kate Rusby
5.   Joan Baez
6.   Nic Jones
7.   Dick Gaughan
8.   Maddy Prior
9.   Ewan MacColl
10. Christy Moore

The direct URL to the BBC site will be:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/folk

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pond subscriber and folk DJ, Bob Blackman, host of The Folk Tradition
on WKAR, MI, has written an article about the UK's legendary traditional
folk singers, The Copper Family for the Summer edition of Sing Out!,
published this month, which is described by Jon Dudley, 86 year old Bob
Copper's son-in-law , as "an extremely thorough job, a model piece of
journalism indeed." I asked Bob Blackman for some background about his
Sing Out! magazine article. He writes:

"I've been a big fan of the Copper Family's music since buying the "Bob
and Ron Copper" LP in the Seventies, and hearing their songs sung by the
likes of Peter Bellamy and John Roberts & Tony Barrand. I was delighted
to finally hear them in person when they traveled to Memphis for a Folk
Alliance conference in 1998, and was even more thrilled when they did an
entire concert at my local folk venue, the Ten Pound Fiddle in East Lansing,
Michigan, the night before they went to the 2000 Folk Alliance Conference
in Cleveland. It has been a real honor to write what I hope will be the
definitive article about the Coppers for Sing Out! magazine, and a huge
pleasure to immerse myself in their music and in Bob Copper's writings.
Lovely songs, wonderful harmonies, and incredibly nice people!"

[Sing Out! is available on newsstands or by membership/ subscription]

At the BBC Radio2 Annual Folk Awards in February, Bob Copper
received the 'Good Tradition' award, a lifetime achievement award,
presented by Billy Bragg, with the citation read by Shirley Collins

Bob Copper with Billy Bragg at the BBC Awards Ceremony, Feb 2001
photo © 2001 Jon Dudley

The Copper Family will be appearing at the Weald and Downland Open
Air Museum, Singleton, West Sussex on Friday 11th May.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note* On behalf of The Copper Family, Jon Dudley has asked me to
pass on "our sincere indebtedness to Garry Gillard who runs our website
from Australia...he really does a great job."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bob Dylan UK Convention 2001

Dylan, who'll be making a brief visit across the pond in July to play in Liverpool and at Stirling Castle in Scotland, also celebrates his 60th birthday this month on 24th. 'My Back Pages' (in conjunction with Isis Magazine and their 'Wicked Messenger' newsletter) will be staging the Bob Dylan UK Convention 2001, 'Forever Young', from Fri 25th to Sun 27th at the Sachas Hotel in the centre of Manchester, England.

The main guest speaker on Saturday 26th is César Diaz who spent from 1988 to July 1993 with Dylan as guitarist and as Bob's personal guitar/amp tech. After leaving the band, César had an open invitation to play whenever he wished and often did so on his birthday, his last appearance being December 1995 at the Electric Factory.

Author Andy Muir will also be talking about and signing copies of his new book 'Razors Edge: Bob Dylan and The Never Ending Tour' (Helter Skelter ISBN: 1900924137), which will be launched at the Convention.

Music on the Friday night will be from Dave Gardner & The Hellfire Preachers, featuring renowned UK songwriter Michael Chapman on guitar, Anne Topping on violin and with Rob Marsden (who has played with members of Fairport Convention and Capercaillie) on drums. Saturday night sees a Bob Dylan Masquerade Ball with an imitators contest, plus cover bands With Bob on our Side and Bullfrog Jones. Full details from 'My Back Pages', P.O. Box 30, Lancaster LA1 2GH,England e-mail: mbp@tinyworld.co.uk

[For Dylan essentials/links etc., see Hugh Blumenfeld's Folk Music 101 Bob Dylan page]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'The Carthy Chronicles'

English folk legend Martin Carty also turns 60 this month, and UK label
Free Reed Records has just released a massive 4 CD box set , described
by Mojo Magazine as "A triumph in the art of the box set, and a joy - even
a revelation - to listen to....Carthy is a Giant in British Music of the Rock
era". The box includes a 100-page paperback book, a poster, and a Pete
Frame family tree, along with the four CDs. Early purchasers also have the
chance to send off for a free CD-Rom with further material. See this
complete tracklisting and this in-depth article by UK roots music journalist,
Colin Irwin.

Full details from Free Reed Records & Music -
The Cedars, Belper, Derbyshire DE56 1DD, United Kingdom
Tel 01773 824157 Fax: 01773 825573 Cellnet: 07802 708389
Email: Website and Online Mail Order: or from Amazon.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please check out the UK Gigs and Festival previews below - North
American visitors on tour this month include Roger McGuinn, Bela
Fleck & The Flecktones, John Hammond, Dana Robinson, Bob
Brozman, Sarah Harmer, Rodney Crowell, Geoff Muldaur, Steve
Forbert, Stacey Earle, Eric Bibb, and Tanglefoot, amongst others.

Wherever you're bound this month have a great time.

Paul pdcmusic@freeuk.com

PS. If you would like to receive 'Across the Pond' as a
monthly plain text e-mail newsletter, please let me know.

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