SUMMER/AUTUMN 2021
The NOTICES page
… has a smattering of festival news, but it
also has a Letter! and an Anecdote!
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The NEWS section
… is, as you would expect, mainly postponements and cancellations, though now
tinged with hope and plans for the future. Organisers never cease to amaze
with their optimistic outlook; defying the odds and denying the virus its
victory.
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COMMENT
Chris Manners finds Talent is Timeless in a song-writing competition.
"The posts mushroomed, [ … ]. So did the bickering. Like a coach-load of
Torquay-bound pensioners: mostly cheerful, but apt to grumble [ … ]. And a
load of comments that were the equivalent of 'can’t find my glasses,' and
'how do you work the remote control?' "
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TUNE SPOT
Alston Clog. Anahata brings to us a tune found in many places and known by
many other names.
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Köhlers' Violin Repository is the place to be.
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LAIKIN’ WI’ LYDIA
"In line with the government’s ‘Rule of six’ advice, this issue of
TykesStirrings is covering six months rather than the usual three.
Keen to comply, Lydia D’ustbyn dons her reading glasses, lays in a fresh
supply of Merlot and socially distances from sobriety."
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Chris Sugden's MY LIFE as a KIPPER reaches Chapter 8
"On Saturday July 26th, 1986, a number of folkies, from Whitby to Sidmouth
(say), had their lie-in interrupted by childish cries of 'Mum, Dad' (those
being gender-specific times) 'The Kipper Family are on the telly'. And so we
were. But we didn’t sing."
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Blue-sky pointing
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FORGOTTEN FAVOURITES
This issue's memory is the only LP from Bandoggs named … Bandoggs!
"Bandoggs were an authentic folk supergroup: Pete [Coe] and Chris [Coe], with
Nic Jones and Tony Rose. No coincidence that the three surviving members are
all EFDSS Gold Badge holders."
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THE TWOfer-VIEW X 4
So much time on our hands … NIGEL fills it
with Four 2-fers for your Summer & Autumn reading.
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Spirit of Love - C.O.B
"Clive Palmer was already a legend to us in the second generation of folkies.
His pure and unembellished approach gave him a saintly quality which was backed
up with an incredible strength of character."
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C.O.B back then
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The Seeds of Love - Serious Sam Barrett
"Sometimes driven by banjo, sometimes a cappella, these songs are performed in
a way which is both refreshingly contemporary and rooted in deep tradition."
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Serious Sam planting seeds
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Hurt in Your Heart - Katie Spencer
"As the sonic intricacies of the last track unfolded in an iridescent mist of
sound I found myself wishing it would never stop, and almost bereft when it did."
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Katie Spencer revisiting John Martyn.
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Banter3 - Banter
"Like their first two CDs, in terms of production, vocals, arrangements and
musicianship it is exemplary. A dozen songs and tunes, all traditional bar
John Reading’s Home Sweet Home "
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Banter, a right old knees-up.
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TAKE 5 … LIVE
Pete Coe - 50 years of out on the town.
Cheshire-Born Pete Coe selects his five favourite live gigs and reveals why
they were so special. A full-time musician for 50 years come this September,
he is often justifiably described as “A one-man folk industry”.
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We'll never forget the shirt
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ARTICLE
Well, I'll go to Our House (Well I Gu Ter Air Ais!)
Steve Moxon plays fast and loose with 'our' Yorkshire sayings: "Our nonsense
sayings that seem so right, yet sound as if they are of another language in
ham-fisted translation into English … indeed are so.
Anglicisation-cum-rationalisation. Folk etymology in action."
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INTERVIEW
Jim Eldon interviewed by Mossy Christian
"… We met again a few months later at Whitby Folk Week, and from that day to
this we have had a close and lasting friendship, sharing music and songs both
at each other’s houses and at various events."
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Jim Eldon - Still Sharp, Still Shooting
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ARTICLE
"The Wilson family (this time the four brothers: Tom, Chris, Steve and Mike)
belt out songs in unaccompanied harmony and add their own brand of boisterous
stage chatter to the mix. Once they get rolling on a song, it’s impossible not
to join in."
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Happiness is harmony in Goathland
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COMING to TERMS No.35
Innocent — Until proven harmless
"Just as an archaeologist can use certain “trenchmarks” to indicate and date
levels … so the use of certain words and their implicit meaning can be used to
date a piece of writing or a version of a song."
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BOOK REVIEWS
Songs from Robin Hood's Bay
A song collection, hand written in 1877, has finally been published - 144 years
after the event! Penned by 17 year old Margaret Moorsom.
Martin Carthy, in his foreword, calls the book “a truly tantalising find” and
compares it to “the mighty Sussex Copper Family songbook.”
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The view from Margaret's cottage has hardly changed in 144 years.
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'Yorkshired' is that even a thing?
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PlumHall's The Lyric Book: Words for the modern songster
"Although both Michelle and Nick have been involved in previous musical
collaborations and creations, this volume focuses entirely and completely on
the songs contained on their first two albums as Plumhall."
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CD REVIEWS Including HOME SPUN
(It's all about the North!)
“And it’s vanity will get you in the end, I’ll be bound.” [with a nod to Cyril
Tawney]
CD Roundup: Nigel and Chris root among a growing pile of shiny circular
things
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RHYMINGS ON THE BACKPAGE
Confinement ~ a Cento
Nigel says: "This sonnet is taken from letters and statements of Tudor
political prisoners." … "The eighth line comes from a poem by Elizabeth I
while she was imprisoned in The Tower by Mary."
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