On Wednesday I honoured a longstanding invitation to go along and sing a couple of original songs at Atherstone Folk Club. The Guests were Alden Patterson and Dashwood. I'd heard lots about them but hadn't seen them,so here was a gilt edged opportunity to tick a few boxes all round.
Residents Finger In The Jar started,with four songs including Phil guesting on kazoo in one of them. Clearly,that wasn't going to pass without comment. They seem more accomplished each time I see them. Their arrangements seem more complex and unique. They clearly work hard on this. They started with McGuinness Flints "When I'm Dead and Gone," which in the context of my weekend might have been a trifle unfortunate,but I'm sure Arnold would have seen the joke in that.
Because over the weekend I'd heard of the death of Arnold,a longstanding member of my previous band,Black Parrot Seaside. In 2014 we'd gone our separate ways musically, but there is no doubt we'd worked collaboratively on some of the best of the BPS material. Currently I'm recording an album of my own previously unpublished songs with the help of Malc Gurnham. Several unrecorded BPS titles will be included. So it seemed an ideal opportunity to run three of the best known ones by the audience. 90% of whom had heard them before so I knew the singing would be o.k. if I got stuck!
Malc Gurnham had agreed to accompany me. He's played bass in BPS at times,and with Mac Awe On Tour too. ( I have the recordings to prove it). Never on lead acoustic though, he assured me. Anyway, we kicked off with "Di Di The Ice Cream Man " and after a few false starts we got it under way with the whole room joining in the choruses. "Albert Balls" followed,and again,the audience knew it, so joined in. And we finished with "Folking Liberty" which will be the title of the album when it's finished. Arnie himself had played that room a few times,in various formats,so it seemed apt we should acknowledge his legacy there.
Maybe Arnie and I had not been as close as we should have been over the last few years leading up to his death,but we'd been friends for over fifty years. I still developed a lump in my throat as I sang my way through three songs he had played a great part in firming up and arranging. It was the first singing in public I'd attempted since learning of his death. I think we did him proud. My heart was pounding as I sat down. And yes. There was a glimmer of a tear in my eye.
Malc's guitar needed recovery time after that so Dave and Julia Taylor were shunted up the running order.Dave has released more CD's than Johnny Cash over the years,and I've played extracts from many of them on "Anker Folk" shows. So why he chose to include his own parody of Bryan and Michael's songs just after I'd done mine,with all the wealth of other material at his disposal, only he can tell you. It was sandwiched in between two very tastefully arranged ballads,concluding with the lovely song Whippoorwill. Julia takes the lead on these ballads and Dave sings the harmonies. Very nicely done.
Malc had soothed his bruised fretboard by then and so he and Gill took over with the minimum of fuss and a lot of heckling,most of it from Gill. Their spot included the beautiful Kate Wolfe song "Green Eyes" and one from one of Malc's albums, "I wandered by a Brookside."
APD then followed to deliver the first of their two impeccable sets. APD are Christina Alden,Alex Patterson and Noel Dashwood. They live in Norwich. They abbreviate their band name to APD in their own sleeve notes so they wont mind me doing it. They have been together as a trio since late 2015. I was told they were good,but they were no such thing. They were VERY good. Noel sticks mainly with a Paul Beard resonator steel guitar which he plays lap style. Alex plays mainly an old French fiddle and Christina plays a Gibson acoustic. They all take turns in singing and their harmonies (and arrangements) are sublime. Occasionally they will step down from the mikes and sing a cappella,'front of house.' They have an easy,relaxed style with audiences, whom they like to regularly involve in chorus singing.
During the interval the all important raffle took place and then Maria Barham started the Second half. Her voice still holds all its resonance and her guitar playing is as good as ever. Those few members of the audience who had not seen her before were suitably impressed.
APD then returned to conclude the evening. Their material is drawn from around the world. They research and re-arrange American British and European songs. They play instrumentals. And they also write their own songs. All three are accomplished singers, which makes their complex harmonies particularly attractive. I heard elements of Fleet Foxes,Phillip Henry and others in their work,but they are unmistakeably a very original APD.
All of these wonderful photos are courtesy of John B.Smith.
