What a Sound Night

          A lot of water had flown under many bridges since Sly Old Dogs last brought the house down at Nuneaton Folk Club. They are a big act in every way,but they certainly get The Craic going,of which more later.

       Last night was always going to be difficult for me. One year ago to the night  I stood on the landing at the top of those stairs and took the most harrowing 'phone call of my life. I won't go into detail, but I had to leave and hand the compering on to someone else and rush to Coventry University Hospital. The outcome involved bereavement,heartbreak, funerals and a lot of family sorrow over the following  weeks.

         So it was comforting to enjoy such a grand night yesterday and to have the joy of a big audience, royally entertained, to take my mind off stuff. Despite a number of regular faces missing,  a whole lot of new ones filled the gaps,including quite a few newcomers. Nuneaton Folk Club is a roaring success:part of a framework of local clubs working in partnership, which provide Coventry and Warwickshire with extraordinarily good "live" music every week.It's enough to uplift anybody! 

      I usually start a Blog account by going through the performers, but I must pay tribute first today to the Sound Guys,Liam Johnson and Matt Mallen Allen. It's no secret that I haven't got a clue when it comes to Sound Engineers. I can change a plug and flick a switch-the rest of the trailing spaghetti and complicated Starship Enterprise desks remain a mystery to me. Having lost the excellent Tom Veasey behind the desk, he very kindly unearthed Matt Mallen Allen for me, before leaving for The Caribbean. Matt has been a jewel since he took over, and was mortified when he  realised that a pre-arranged holiday meant that he wouldn't be there last night to mix for The SODs. To say he literally went the extra mile thereafter to ensure all went well is no exageration. Once Matt realised he would be in "SkeggyVegas,"  in true Tom fashion, he unearthed another diamond to stand in for him last night: step forward Liam Johnson and take a bow.

Matt on deck and  engrossed in his work last night

             SOD's by their own admission,are not an easy act to stage. On home turf at Wood Farm Brewery,all acoustic, and bolstered by add-ons into a veritable Folk Orchestra,they are magnificent. Trying to capture that essence on a small stage, frying under lights,being a multi-instrumentalist,six-piece band, miked up and through a P.A. things become a whole lot more complicated. However, Liam was unflappable. He handled them and all the preceding acts diplomatically and expertly, using an amazing combination of equipment including the old Black Parrot Seaside P.A. Afterwards he confided that he had never been in a Folk Club before and had never mixed "Live " acts anywhere previously. Well he'll go far then, is all I'll say.

           Nunc kicked us off with John Kearney joining us on a Buddy Holly Segue, and then Flossy and I aired " 'Twas On an April Morning."  

Junc doing Buddy Holly

Max Wright had snuck onto stage at other NFC nights as part of other enterprises,but at last we got him up solo and he delivered "Putting On The Agony"  in style and "Will The Circle Be Unbroken."  Two chorus songs the audience responded to enthusiastically. 

Max is just Wright

       Andy Jones followed,and managed to squash in Trad Arr and Medieval  Latin Plainsong into his floor spot. Jolly David Parr was in serious mood and gave us three fairly serious songs from his notorious "Songs of Sex and Death " Album.

     Those gorgeous glamourpusses Daisybell, in revised format, previewed next month's set by giving us lovely harmonies and a trio of songs which went down very well.

Daisybell are in The Pink

Maria Barham, a longstanding friend to NFC modestly did a couple of songs, and then invited up Nunc's Flossy  to duet with her on an outstanding version of "Perfect."  John Kearney followed,still so fresh from being in The Windy City you could still smell the wind on him. (And thanks for The Buddy Guy T-shirt, Buddy!). Nunc concluded the half with "Cold Haily Windy Night" and "When I Get to The Border," -the choruses of both songs echoed heartily by an audience who had clearly enjoyed the first half.

Sly Old Dogs go barking mad at The Crown

       Raffle and announcements of forthcoming attractions at Atherstone and Beduff completed, it was time for The Main Event. Those who had not seen or heard SODs before were just blown away.The audience singing was both astonishing and memorable. They romped through their usual repertoire, with the  highlights being Paul's unique Irish dancing and some extended instrumental breaks showing just how together this band can be. 

         What is nice about NFC is the number of ordinary people who come up afterwards and say in person," I've not been to a Folk Club for years but we loved that." We appear to be restoring faith in the genre in so many circles, and I always tell them that they can see this standard every Wednesday somewhere local in Coventry and Warwickshire-and on Sundays too! 

Part of last night's audience enjoying The Craic

                  Finally-lovely to have Sue Sanders back with us. Sue has fiddled with Black Parrot Seaside (sounds rude) and Sods,and has done solo spots at The Crown and all the other local venues. She's had one hell of a battle,and let's hope she'll be back up on that stage soon. 

BBC Folk Awards Part Two

          So in the interests of my Art and because I did not have much to do on a Bank Holiday Monday,  I have just sat through the televised highlights of the BBC Folk Awards. After my vicious and bile-filled rant of last week on the matter, it seemed the decent thing to do. Has it softened my rancour or given me second thoughts? Er...no. 

       I came away with several overall impressions. One is, that without a Grand Piano, a Brass Section and a full drum kit, it seems that you are pretty well destined to fail on the Folk Circuit nowadays. Which is bad news for Mac Awe On Tour as we possess none of these objects. Although Brendan Kearney has been known to slap a mean Beatbox occasionally. It is also bad news for Nuneaton Folk Club as we will never be able to lug  a piano, a harp or even a small drum kit up those stairs.

          I also clearly need to spend some time posing in front of a mirror and capering like a demented Goblin on Helium as I promulgate my art. Because just singing, however expressively, however much in tune one may be, is no longer good enough.  I will let my accompanists and fellow musicians know that they must skip about a lot more on stage and pulled pained expressions when scraping a bow or pumping the pipes. If they wish to be taken seriously.

        The Hall of Fame tribute to Sandy Denny was I thought, tastefully done. I loved her work, especially in Fairport and Fotheringay, but (and this will surprise a few of you) I had no problem with Rufus Wainwright's interesting variation on "Who Knows Where The Time Goes." This got a right hammering afterwards on Social media, but I thought it was a fair effort. There was no doubting his sincerity-I've heard far worse versions. Rufus has a decent voice and can hold a note-but I can see how it might have upset a few purists. (GOOD!).  If I had to choose a cover version I'd rank Kate Rusby's second and Eva Cassidy's Third. Son of Loudon? Top Ten. 

         Seth Lakeman solo has rarely done much for me but I thought his duet with Kathryn Roberts was a highlight. No hiding behind a gigantic "orchestra"-just a good percussive guitarist providing the setting for a good strong singer. Low on the pretentiousness and thoroughly enjoyable! I quite liked the opening act too-Lynched, from Dublin delivering a robust rendition of "Sergeant William Bailey."  A bit stagey and a little overlong-but nobly sung and bravely played. 

           Mark Knopfler's piece I think we'll move swiftly on, from ditto the weird acceptance speech of Rhiannon Giddens who spent most of her time delivering it with her neck craned over at a bizarre angle, whilst her nonplussed child stared obediently out into an auditorium of loveliness. ( Perhaps the autocue had slipped?)  Hardeep Rab Kohli, Martin Freeman and Michael Morpurgo all went up a little in my estimation as they announced (less than convincingly ) the winners for several other categories.

          From what I've heard (and reviewed) Show of Hands latest Album was streets ahead of the others in 2015 but the judges, panel, electorate whatever, obviously thought otherwise. The Unthanks won Best Album . They are a proper Marmite band and although I personally love a scrape of yeasty molasses on my toast, the girls and their elaborate productions are just not to my taste. They closed the proceedings with a performance which owed more to Modern Jazz than Folk. With stage personnel running well into double figures, their wispy, breathless vocals were largely eclipsed and partly inaudible. Something about swallows and loving their love because he loved them. Which is  nice. I once gave away an Unthanks album I'd won as a raffle prize. I think I did the right thing. 

      Joan Armatrading's Lifetime Achievement Award was deserved and she growled out a typical version of one of her signature hits whilst bashing a very prettily inlaid guitar effectively. Norman Waterson won in the same category. Again-deserved, but another massive entourage took to the stage to honour her. 

         Mark Radcliffe as a presenter? Well we're back in Marmite Territory again there. Next year the organisers could do worse than get Morpurgo and Freeman back. But in God's name please please DO NOT invite Ade Edmonson to compere. ( I bet he's already offered).