Best of the Rest of the UK Gigs
Mon 2nd Frankie Gavin & Brian McGrath
http://home.att.net/~FrankieGavin/
Nettlebed Folk Club, Oxfordshire
01628 636620
UK dates for one of the Ireland's most highly regarded fiddle players and founding member of De Dannan along with Brian McGrath, on banjo, piano and keys. Originally from Corrandulla in the plains of North East Galway, Frankie formed the renowned Irish group in 1973, at age of seventeen. Over the years their often-changing membership has spun off solo careers for singers Dolores Keane, Mary Black, Maura O' Connell, and Eleanor Shanley and has included such luminaries as Andy Irvine and Johnny Moynihan. Frankie's virtuosic and fiery fiddle playing has been the backbone of De Dannan's fifteen albums to date, their most recent being the double CD 'How the West Was Won'. He has also recorded six solo albums as well as guesting on many albums including The Rolling Stones on 'Voodoo Lounge', and with renowned banjo virtuoso Earl Scruggs on "The Crossings" for the TV Series "Bringing it all back home". (see this analysis of his fiddle playing style).
Tue 3rd Croft No Five
http://www.croftnofive.com
East Kilbride
Arts Centre, Scotland 01355 261000
Formed in August 1998 during the Lorient Celtic Festival in France when four members of the five piece Highland contemporary Celtic band 'Drizabone' met Shetland drummer Paul Jennings from acclaimed North-East Scottish band, 'Cannach'. With a driving melody section consisting fiddle, whistle and accordion, a high-octane rhythm section featuring guitar, bass & drums and the use of effects and samples, their combination of traditional and original melodies with dance & funk grooves creates a high-energy mix ideal for the dance floor. Their debut CD 'Attention All Personnel' (Foot Stompin' Records) has just been released.
Wed 4th Amazing Blondel
http://www.gaudela.net/blondel/
The Jazz & Blues Cafe,
Week Street, Maidstone, Kent
A dream-like, swirling sound that brings together classical, Gregorian, baroque, folk and many other influences. Reviewing their 1997 reunion album, 'Restoration' (HTD Records) Joe Conway wrote, "In the heady days of the early 70s, the Blondel musicians underwent a sea-change from rock backgrounds and became an immensely popular acoustic folk band, which nevertheless shared gigs with rock legends like Cat Stevens, Free, Traffic, Procol Harum and other Island Records bands. After three years of continuous touring in England, Europe and America, however, the musicians began to suffer from the relentless pressures of life on the road and despite various re-groupings and re-namings, they finally fell victim to their own success and disappeared from the scene. A year or two ago, after pursuing quite separate careers in music and out of it, John David Gladwin, Terence Alan Wincott and Edward Baird got together again for an exploratory meeting, and 'Restoration' - together with a string of live appearances - is the result."
Wed 4th Steve Ashley
http://www.steveashley.co.uk
Llantrissant Folk Club, Glamorgan, Wales 01443 226892
Long regarded as one of Britain's finest folk singer-songwriters. According to Colin Irwin in Folk Roots, reviewing his new album 'Everyday Lives' (Topic Records), "If British singer songwriterdom is to enjoy a renaissance - and it's high time it did - then it's right and proper Steve Ashley should be at the forefront.... Following last year's 'The Test Of Time' compilation and the ehanced reissue of his landmark '73 album 'Stroll On', this is his first fresh studio album for over 20 years... a warm reassuring voice and diffidently persuasive songs are Ashley's trademarks that are still instantly recognisable."
Thur 5th Barachois
http://www.barachois.com
The Merlin Theatre, Frome,
Somerset Tel 01373 465949
This family band come from the tiny French-speaking minority in Canada's smallest province, Prince Edward Island, seemingly overlain with Quebecois influences, so that we get much foot-tapping and touches of "turlute" in the singing. Their exciting playing rips along at a fair pace led by fiddle & mouth organ & their excellent arrangements make frequent changes to the colour of the lead voices or instruments.
Tue 10th Dave Swarbrick & Alastair Hulett
http://www.folkicons.co.uk/swarb.htm
http://www.folkicons.co.uk/alistair.htm
Hoy At Anchor Folk Club,
Leigh-on-Sea 01268 792160
Described by Dirty Linen as "an inspired pairing indeed." Dave Swarbrick, arguably the greatest fiddle player on the International folk music scene and one of its best-loved characters, first came to prominence with the Ian Campbell Folk Group in the early sixties - before joining Fairport Convention from 1969-85, working with Martin Carthy before and since, both as a duo and in "supergroup" Band Of Hope with Roy Bailey etc. Alastair Hulett is one of Scotland's finest singer / songwriters and interpreters of traditional song. They first joined forces in 1996 when they were both living in Australia's Blue Mountains, releasing their debut album, "Saturday Johnny and Jimmy The Rat" (Red Rattler). With their subsequent return to the UK they recorded "The Cold Grey Light of Dawn" on the Musikfolk label in 1998, described as "a classic folk-protest album, without the clichés that can entail" (See this review on the Greenman Review site). Since then they've toured the UK as a duo on a number of occasions. (See July dates and details of Alastair's new solo album - 'In Sleepy Scotland')
Tue 10th Eddie Walker
http://www.folkmusic.net/eddiewalker/
Dartford
Folk Club, Kent 01322 222 553
Singer songwriter and great finger-style guitarist from the North East of England playing a mix of old country blues, rags, hillbilly and original songs and instrumentals. After several solo albums, (his third, 1985's 'Picking My Way' being dedicated to his all-time guitar picking hero, Steve Goodman), in the late eightees Eddie teamed up with renowned Welsh guitar player John James, in ' Carolina Shout!', making two albums before returning to his solo career in 1995. His latest album 'Mind To Ramble' (Ragged Records) is "dedicated to the memory of Mississippi John Hurt 1892-1966" and includes his tribute to Doc Watson and The Carter Family, 'Deepgap, Frontporch' and should, according to Living Tradition Magazine "sell by the barrow-load after each and every one of his gigs."
Tue 10th Mick Tems Benefit with Ryburn 3 Step
http://www.ryburn3step.org.uk with
special guests
Graham & Eileen Pratt
http://www.folkmusic.net/grahamandeileenpratt/
Brian Peters
http://www.harbourtownrecords.com/peters.html
Tania Opland & Mike Freeman
http://members.aol.com/opland/
Joe Stead
http://www.joestead.com/
Derek Gifford
http://www.freefolk.com/giffordarticle1.htm
Nick Dow
http://www..fyldefolk.freeserve.co.uk/fyldefolk/n.html
Royal Hotel, Rishworth, Ripponden, West Yorkshire.
Benifit concert by friends of Mick Tems, of top Welsh band Calennig, who recently suffered a stroke and is currently recovering in hospital. Organised by Ryburn 3 Step, an independent folk development project located in the Ryburn Valley in West Yorkshire, the special guests include Graham & Eileen Pratt, of whom Mick wrote, in Welsh folk magazine Taplas, "Graham's sensitive guitar provides a perfect backdrop for Eileen, a thrilling voice that could melt hearts at a hundred paces." Melodeon (button accordion), anglo concertina player and guitarist Brian Peters has been described as "one of British folk music's finest ambassadors." According to Rock 'n' Reel Magazine , "No singer outside Nic Jones and Martin Carthy has embraced the tradition and used its wellsprings in as vivid and ingenious a way." Multi-instrumentalists Tania Opland, originally from Alaska and Englishman Mike Freeman have been on the road together as a duo since 1995, playing a variety of instruments including hammered dulcimer, violin, cittern, Native American flute, guitar, percussion... with songs in many languages and rhythmic roots from Siberia to Morocco. Traditional folk music singer/songwriter and banjo player Joe Stead has been a professional performer since 1966. Derek Gifford is a fine traditional singer who specialises in sea shanties, and Nic Dow is a traditional singer, folklorist and host of BBC Radio Lancashire's folk show.
Wed 11th Diz Disley & Johnny Silvo
http://www.centrohd.com/biogra/d2/diz_disley_b.htm
Pizza Express, Earl Street, Maidstone,
Kent
Two great guitarists, great entertainers, great characters. Diz was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada but grew up in Wales and the north of England, where he learned to play banjo, switching to guitar at the age of 14 when he heard jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Along with Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick he recorded one of the classic albums of the folk revival years - "Rags, Reels and Airs" - and went on to play with many of the greats in the world of folk and jazz, most notably teaming up in the 70s with jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli (who had played with Django in the thirties in the legendary Quintet of the Hot Club France). Johnny Silvo, with his skiffle-influenced songs and his infectious humour, has been popular on the UK folk scene for over thirty years, first coming to prominence in 1967 when he teamed up with Sandy Denny to record 'Sandy and Johnny'.
Wed 11th Michael Marra
http://www.stoneyport.demon.co.uk/bio/marrabio.html
Edinburgh Folk Club
0131-346 8237
Described by Mojo Magazine as "one of Scotland's best-kept secrets" and by The List as "Indisputedly the finest song writer in Scotland. His musical vision is extremely wide, melding 50's pop, church music, Dr. John and a Randy Newmanesque eye for beauty in the commonplace." According to Scotland on Sunday, "Marra's music is soaked in the Scottish experience, strained through a gauze of ragtime blues-piano and shot with filaments of traditional folk and American voices ... a ghost-white Marra sits at piano and microphone, delivering caustic visions of the Scottish past and wickedly funny and sometimes achingly poignant, parables of the present in vocals from a Woodbined voice. His latest album is 'Posted Sober' (Inner City Sound Recordings).
Thur 12th Bob Dylan
http://www.bobdylan.com
Summer Pops Festival, King's Dock, Liverpool
+ Sat 14th Stirling
Castle, Scotland
+ Sun 15th Nowlan Park,
Kilkenny, Ireland
Brief UK visit on the current European tour. Whilst the Liverpool and Stirling gigs are already sold out, keep a check on the Isis Magazine 'Current News' page. "Rumours that Bob has been recording during May in New York appear to be correct and an album of new material is expected before the end of the year." The Isis site also includes reviews of the latest crop of biographies published in the wake of Bob's 60th birthday, including "Razor's Edge - Bob Dylan & The Never Ending Tour" by Andrew Muir, "Down The Highway - The Life Of Bob Dylan" by Howard Sounes, "Bob Dylan - Behind The Shades: Take Two" by Clinton Heylin (all available from UK mail order company, 'My Back Pages - details by e-mail from mbp@tinyworld.co.uk or by post at P.O.Box 30, Lancaster LA1 2GH, England). See also Hugh Blumenfeld's review of David Hajdu's "Positively 4th Street - The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Farina and Richard Farina" at http://www.folkmusic.about.com
Fri 13th Rod Clements
http://www.adastra-music.co.uk/rodclements.html
Ram Club, Foley Arms, Hare Lane, Claygate,
Surrey 01372 467208
Best known as a founder member of the legendary Newcastle-upon-Tyne folk-rock band Lindisfarne and writer of their classic hit 'Meet me on the Corner', Rod has also played bass, fiddle and slide guitar with Ralph McTell (playing bass on his classic hit 'Streets of London'), Bert Jansch, Pentangle and Rab Noakes among others. On his recent debut solo album 'Stamping Ground' (Market Square Records) he "forges a rich, contemporary collection of songs of real depth and quality."
Thur 19th Fiddlers' Bid
http://www.fiddlersbid.co.uk/
Alnwick Playhouse,
Northumberland 01665 510785
This 7-peice Shetland band, formed in 1991, are leading exponents of the islands rich fiddle tradition. Fronted by four top young fiddlers and backed by a driving rhythm section, the band perform a dynamic selection of high energy reels, jigs and haunting airs. According to The Scotsman, "For exultant ensemble synergy and irresistibly infectious gusto, there's no beating Fiddlers' Bid....The Bid continue their progress as one of the most exhilarating acts on the scene." Their latest CD is 'Hamnataing' (Greentrax). See this Folk World article.
Fri 20th Dick Gaughan & Brian McNeil
http://www.dickalba.demon.co.uk/main.htm
http://www.b-mcneill.demon.co.uk/Brian_McNeill_Biography.html
Open-Air Arena, mac,Cannon
Hill Park,Birmingham 0121 440 3838
According to Folk Tales Magazine USA, "This is what folk music is about at its best." A rare chance to hear two of Scotland's leading performers who both have made their mark in seminal bands; Dick in the seventies as an early member of 'The Boys of The Lough' and as a founder member of 'Five Hand Reel', Brian as founder member of the 'Battlefield Band' in 1969. Both were part of the ground breaking ensemble 'Clan Alba' in the nineties (whose eponymous double album has just been re-issued on CD - available from Musikfolk). Unequivocally of the political left, as performers and songwriters social awareness is always present in their stage performance. According to The Scotsman, Brian is "a songwriter who can pack a man's lifetime into a few bustling verses and an ear-tugging chorus and give you the feeling that he has said all that needs to be said..." whilst the Boston Globe calls Dick "one of Britain's most innovative and contemporary voices". Their albums, among them Brian's 'Back O' The North Wind' and 'No Gods' and Dick's 'Handful of Earth' and 'Redwood Cathedral', are acclaimed as landmarks of the Scottish revival.
Tue 24th Wiz Jones
http://www.rockinworld.com/wizz.htm
Dartford
Folk Club, Kent 01322 222 553
Inspired by American folk blues, Wizz began to play guitar seriously in the late 1950's. Having learned most of his blues licks from Long John Baldry and Davy Graham whilst playing in the coffee bars of London's Soho, Wizz followed the time-honoured trail - busking throughout Europe, before returning to London in 1963 to form a bluegrass duo with banjo-picker Pete Stanley. Versed in the arcana of American blues lore, possessing a right hand worthy of Big Bill Broonzy, Jones was a legendary figure even in the pre-dawn of Britain's folk explosion and continues to dazzle today with his hugely influential guitar style. His latest studio album 'Lucky The Man' (Scenescof) includes contributions from John Renbourn and Jacqui McShee, and includes his version of the late Jackson C Frank's classic song 'Blues Run The Game'. (available in the US on CD or limited edition vinyl from Rockin' World)
Thur 26th Eh, La-Bas!
http://hometown.aol.com/ehlabas1/
Joiners, Southampton 02380 225612
A traditional New Orleans Creole jazz band led by Moise and Alida Viator on guitar, fiddle, and vocals (sung in Louisiana French and Creole), whose album 'Mo Belle Creole' is, according to Offbeat Magazine, "arguably one of the best recordings to spring from the prairies of Southwest Louisiana this year."
Sat 28th Hassan Erraji & Arabesque
http://www.adastra-music.co.uk/hassan.html
Folk at Fram, Framlingham
Castle, Suffolk Tel: 01379 384505
Hassan Erraji offers a complete performance of Arabic music and song from North Africa. He is a stunning musician on the oud, Arabic harp, Ne, violin & a range of percussion, as well as being a seductive & dramatic singer. Arabesque plays the music of North Africa, Turkey & other sunny countries - a blend of musical styles with cross culture input, bringing a touch of Jazz to the traditional sounds of Morocco, often enhanced with the addition of an African dancer.
Mon 30th Chris Moreton & Terry Lees
http://www.nwbn.freeserve.co.uk/moreton1.htm
Dartford
Folk Club, Kent 01322 222 553
Two of the UK's top flatpick guitarists - Chris is five times Guitar Champion at the Edale Bluegrass Festival and winner of Guitar Magazine's Acoustic Guitarist of the Year in 1996, who described his performance as "jaw dropping and awesome" - see this interview in North West Bluegrass News Online. Terry was winner of the National Guitarist of the Year competition at NEC Birmingham in 2000. Together they play everything from Mozart to Bluegrass, Handel to Hillbilly and Celtic to Country.
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