I really enjoyed our first visit to the newly relocated "Tump Folk Club " last night, and a very nostalgic one it was,for me personally. The club is now based more centrally than it was when in Brinklow Road. It is now at The Humber pub, in Humber Road Coventry. A familiar part of the world for me, as I grew up "over the railway" in Northfield Road, and I went to All Saints Primary School just a few minutes walk away. My dad and my Uncle Bill and many neighbours once worked in the massive car plant which used to be just down the road from The Humber. Indeed "Wag of Shop 14," one of our most requested songs, is largely based about reminiscences about that series of factories.
I also had my last pint as a single man in The Humber. In 1971, I was based at Gosford Green, working for Coventry Parks Department. My mates decided they would send me on my way to the wedding in London by finishing early and getting me sloshed at lunchtime. They then dropped me off home in the back of a three wheel Lister Truck which created traffic chaos as it chugged all the way down Binley Road. With me and a 56lb bag of grass seed in the back.
A further point of interest is that the band have played several venues in this area before. The Pitts Head in Gosford Street, the Gosford Park Hotel at the top of Northfield Road,and The Biggin Hall Hotel, on Binley Road. For example.
We joined an interesting collection of singers and musicians and took a diverse trip round the world with them. We listened to songs made famous by James Taylor, Woody Guthrie,Dobie Gray, Crowded House and Billie Holiday. Nearer to home, with a mix of traditional and self-penned material, we were entertained by visiting Dalgetty, Dublin and Scapa Flow and we went busking in London's West End.
As BPS remain in a "fluid" state in personnel terms, once again it was just Arnold and I who took to the floor. This fragmented Parrot seems to be the current genre. It has its benefits in that we get to play more Blues and we don't have to tote so many instruments around. On the down side,we lose a depth of tone with reduced instrumentation, and some of our regular repertoire cannot successfully be reproduced without drastic re-arrangement. However, for the third time in a fortnight, other musicians occasionally joined in. Notably Rob Oakey adding some mean blues harp on "If I Had Possession." And we were delighted to find that here as elsewhere, audiences enjoy singing the chorus to some of our own songs.
Besides "Possession" We also did "The Odeon" "Courting is a Pleasure" " Albert Balls" "Vigilante Man" and "Over The Hills and Far Away." Only one of those six songs was on our last CD. Proving that we are no one trick pony, and that we do keep updating material!
We were made to feel very welcome, as we always are at clubs hosted by Rob and Karen. Arnold won a bottle of red wine in the raffle and had folk queuing to admire the dobro. The Humber has had a decent makeover, has a big car park and the staff seem very friendly. We'll be back!
