CLUB SPOTLIGHT

Ryburn Virtual Folk Club

"These are difficult times for musicians and performers who we would normally have booked for our annual programme of Folk Clubs, Dances, House Concerts and Workshops. Virtual Sessions, using Zoom, are one way in which Ryburn 3 Step thinks it can contribute to helping musicians and performers, at the same time providing music and song that friends and colleagues can enjoy from the comfort of their own homes."

SONG SPOT

One from Tom Richardson - John (Blind Jack) Metcalf , an amazing Knaresborough character. "He lived and worked in the Harrogate and Knaresborough district, where he surveyed, and had built, a large number of turnpike roads that are still in use today."

LAIKIN’ WI’ LYDIA

More non-PC scribblings from our ancestors - some of whom are still with us! "50 years ago (Autumn 1970)We heard how 29th May was once known as Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day and gleefully observed by schoolboys of the parish. One former schoolgirl recalled: “We dare not go to school without our oak leaves, for the boys used to hide and jump out on us shouting: ‘Show us your oak’".

MY LIFE as a KIPPER

Chapter 5 - Sid & Henry follow the A1 uppards.

"[A few lines from] Spencer The Wild Rover: This song was composéd for many’s a year, While travelling though England on whisky and beer. I had been so reducéd, with gold in great store, And I’ll never play Spencer the wild rover no more."

ONE OVER the EIGHT

Jon Palmer - Nine of the best from a life of music.

"This feature is so “folk”. It’s like a top 10, but actually it’s only a top nine, and the number nine doesn’t get mentioned anywhere! I love it! Anyway, I’ve kept it mostly folk (ish) and in no particular order". Image Caption: Smilin' Vinyl

ROSECASTLES . . . RECLINING

No 10 - Lynda & Alan span the bandwidth in search of ... bands.

"Another prolific song poster is our very own Duncan McFarlane, who as far as we can see has not missed a trick since The Onset - his Tune a Day posts have slipped effortlessly into triple figures. Sometimes sharing the screen and the music with fiddler Anne Brivonese, no song is too big or too small - trad, own, pop, folk, anything goes."

SINGING TOGETHER

From Valves to DAB, the songs are all the same.

"The BBC’s “Schools & Children’s Department” was seen as the prime fulfiller of all three aspects of the Corporation’s mission statement “to educate, to inform and to entertain” (I have always felt the order was significant!)."

WIDE WIRELESS WANDERINGS

Jim Shipley finding glories on the folkie t’interwebs.

JON PALMER

Join our first ever BACKyardCHAT with our Otley songmeister, Jon. " i’d never worked with a producer before, but i wanted to get this album right. You know how it is, you get one shot at recording songs and you don’t want to go back later, thinking: 'I wish I’d done that' or: 'We could have done this.' "

TAKE FIVE . . . LIVE

Jim Shipley remembers gigs past for present joys. On Bob Fox & Stu Luckley: "It may have been Friday 13th, but this was one of the gigs which really made me sit up and take notice. How on earth could just two people produce such a remarkable sound? "

PLUMHALL

In our second ever BACKyardCHAT Plumhall get a second bite of the Tykes’ cherry. Michelle: "To me that worked so well and, while I didn’t want to copy that in any way, some kind of musical fusion was part of the concept more or less from that start.” Nick: “The electronic instruments are consciously old school, Moogs and so on. Then there’s other strange things - a banjo sitar, a dobro and so on. "

COMING to TERMS

No.32 - Wŷrd innit? Turns out it’s not.

THE TWOfer-VIEW

The Wilderness Yet. Harmony and musicianship in abundance. "With all our gigs cancelled for the foreseeable future, we almost thought about delaying the album release, but in the end went ahead with a live-stream launch on 24th July. Luckily, some of the festivals which we were booked for this year have booked us in for next year, so you’ll be able to catch us next year at Sidmouth, Warwick & London Folk Festivals."

REVIEW SECTION

Book Dales tunes assembled by Bob Ellis - There was none of this lazy Dancing!

DD

That’s Digital Download for the tech challenged… and that’s most of us!

CDs

“And it’s vanity will get you in the end, I’ll be bound.” [with a nod to Cyril Tawney]

---

READ ALL ABOUT IT… in the magazine, get yours from the subscribe pages… over there >>>