Not one, but five! Folk Club organisers were amongst the audience crammed into the Bedworth Rugby Club venue for a night of collaborations and collectors' items on Wednesday night. Maria Barham was the featured act, generously offering her many talents free of charge in order to help raise funds for Bedworth Folk Festival. Preceded by so many floor spots, you have to wonder really, with an 8.30pm start ,quite how they shoe-horned them all in.
Amongst the Collectors' Items were a rare appearance from Alan Stocks and the versatile Dave Webb collaring not only a solo spot, but managing to join in also with Malc Gurnham and Gill and then later, with Malc and Maria, also. It was to be a night of mixed emotions, with many of us still coming to terms with the untimely death of Bedworth regular Marie Phillips. We marked that beforehand with a minute of sustained applause, and Malc did a lovely solo rendition of "Caledonia "-one of Marie's favourite songs. A Kate Wolf song from Malc joined by Gill followed: " Across The Great Divide" followed. We were all feeling rather reflective, so it needed Phil Benson, Webby, Rob Oakey and the incomparable Joe Roberts to lift our spirits. Joe was granted two numbers (another collectors' item) , and he obliged with " Jimmy Brown The News Boy " and a brief but moving poem in tribute to Marie.
Joe was so nervous, that he almost ran out of breath: we were all willing him to finish before he collapsed! Rob gave us an irreverent version of the Postman Pat theme, Sue Sanders played a couple of sensible tunes on the fiddle, and John Kearney entertained as he always does, including his wonderful Jolly Boys song which he insists was inspired by my angry Facebook holiday posts. BPS were having a good night actually, what with "Jolly Boys" dedicated to moi, and a debut number from David Parr ( a.k.a Mr. Moonlight), which he blamed on us. He'd sung " I could not take my Hands off her" to us at rehearsals last week, and we felt it was naughty but in the right area. So he played it, inspiring much laughter and some heckling from Gilly. -I know. Doesn't sound like her, does it? Des Patalong did a rare solo spot, and was also in a wistful mood, doing those very sad unaccompanied ballads he performs so well.
Then it was us. Malc easily won the award for most collaborations of the evening however, as besides accompanying Dave and Maria and singing with Gill, he played bass during our slot. Which began with Rod Felton's lovely song "Curly." Roddie had also left us this year and with some of the audience clearly moved, it was time to step on to " If I were a Goat." Which got everyone smiling again. Another variation on format for us, too, as, with Mick unavailable, the BPS line-up was Malc, Dave Parr, Arnie and yours truly. We finished the first half with another popular one from our set list, "All Over Now."
The second half was given over to the tireless Maria Barham, who was once again on top form. Despite busting a string and nearly cheese-wiring Joe with it, "Silver Dagger" and her own composition "The Song That Got Away" were beautifully and movingly done. "Californian Dreaming," was a show stopper with some lovingly crafted audience harmonies wafting round the room. Also included were: "Need Your Love So Bad" (Hah!) " The Blacksmith " "Perfect" and " I drove all Night. " She's so damn versatile that woman and with a vocal range the envy of many. An excellent evening, thought I say it myself. Where can we see them all next? 