The Tump, based in the Humber Hotel in Coventry is in recovery and many local musicians will applaud that. Lovingly cared for by Karen orgill, it has been Tumping along there ever since it left its previous base at Coombe Club on the outskirts of Coventry. Prior to that it was based in Brinklow, where the Mound (or Tum) of the Norman castle is visible from all over the village. Hence the name.
For 2020 Karen is holding weekly sessions combining local guests with a plethora of local floor singers. This formula is bringing a few extra numbers in. She'd asked me to host an evening some time ago,with Nunc fitting in a couple of sets around the other performers. So we obliged last night. The full Nunc line-up this time with myself,Paul Moore,Jon Harrington,John Kearney and Flossy McDougall.
It was at times like herding cats. The singers arrived thick and fast,(mostly thick) and rarely stayed in one place longer than a few minutes. Karen soon had a sheaf or crumpled notebook pages in front of her as she wrote and re-wrote a running order. The whole session was delightfully relaxed with the added bonus that it was so eclectic we really did get a little bit of everything.
Bette Smith started proceedings, accompanied by Mick. Bette's redoubtable signature tune about being relocated from low-rise to high rise accommodation was the highlight. Complete with hand gestures and with a very catchy chorus. Everyone knew "Room Up In The Sky," and all of us joined in. I know the hook lines off by heart. Indeed I was singing it even before she'd started.
Jane Moss followed. Lovely voice with a tiny Ukele: a bit of a pocket dynamo like herself. One of the Coventry Singer-Songwriters, well known to NFC audiences and Anker Folk listeners, Jane did two songs,one of which apparently was a little bit cheeky.
Ralph Overton followed. We had a bit of Country there from him with a proper good drawlin' vocal style. I'd seen Ralph at Bedduff a weeks back and he made an impression then. When BPS ran a Folk Club in Brinklow,Ralph's brother Bernard used to be a regular visitor. He would nip across the road and do a floor spot for us. Usually with a clutch of hand made woodwind instruments in his hand. Talented family.
Rita Vincent,in remarkably good nick for someone a couple of years older than Campbell McKee, was up next. Once again Mick Smith was providing her with guitar accompaniment. She did a lovely version of "Somewhere over the Rainbow, " which is where Campbell is going on his next holiday,having explored the rest of the planet already. Speaking of which,Rita's departure meant that it was turn for The McMaestro himself to step purposefully up and whisper a couple of songs. Demonstrating a very interesting guitar style,Campbell took us through a truly memorable version of a Bob Dylan song. He stopped periodically along the way pretending to highlight fine imagery or to discuss a choice lyric. We humoured him,although we all knew it was really just to turn a page over,or to try to get his breath back. Classic stuff,Campbell. It will genuinely haunt me for years.
It was a bit of an anticlimax for Nunc to have to follow that,but we did,and we launched into several new songs. "Dark End Of The Street" went fairly well as did "My Old Friend The Blues." Two popular songs which got everyone singing-verses as well as choruses in some cases. Jon Harrington was hurled into the spotlight to frame his own composition "If There's Any Justice." This is quite jolly for our usual set list with a relatively low body count for us. We did "Bring It On Home," "Angel from Montgomery," "Landslide" and a spot of Irish Reggae before finishing the first half with "Knocking On Heaven's Door." We usually get our audiences to sing a verse of each of those last two unaccompanied. On this occasion The Tump Choir did not disappoint.
The interval passed swiftly,mostly due to the fact that everyone but me had forgotten to bring any Raffle Prizes. Never mind. We had decided corporately to donate our appearance money back to the club so that should tide them over and help pay Wes Finch's bus fare next week.
We started the second half by giving Mick Smith his own spot. Seemed a bit odd seeing him up there alone without a lady by his side,but he gave us two rousing examples of top class Americana. Nigel Ward followed, throwing my pre-prepared introduction into disarray by playing his guitar rather than appearing with his beloved fiddle. I had just assumed it was permanently attached to his chin but no,Nigel can function and breathe fully without it.
Music Chaser Robbo aka Rob Oakey was next, quipping arguing and heckling well before he burst into song and then proving that a good Octagenarian can keep up with the kids by rocking Da House with something we could all have danced to if we were not all so arthritic. Floor singers were coming as fast as Usain Bolt on a pedal trike now. The clock ticked remorselessly onward as John Ossie Osbourne gave us two raunchy numbers with some very punchy guitar work,looking like an ersatz Doc Holiday in his black hat and with a tin star pinned to his jacket.
At some stage I had to let the cat out second half. Not an allegory-just a troubled tabby with its paws crossed. Not herding it-it went more willingly than some of the floor singers. Anyway, Paul Monks then got out his instrument and decided we should all have Sax together. For a few moments the room was like a New Orleans basement as he blew some steamy jazz horn and most people's minds with a couple of moody instrumentals.
John Wainwright was next. Karen had pencilled him into the running order cryptically as Wally One Chord, but that was far from the truth. He started each song by strumming one chord it's true,but as his songs got under way,the picking accelerated and was certainly far from mundane. I loved his books on Fell Walking too.
The next singer was Chris Sidwell. We had discovered during the course of the evening that we knew each other from a different space time continuum. Chris is a leading light in Crokodile Tears and a Band called The Trees. I have at least two of his albums and we both know David Goody. Small world,eh? He did one of his own and then got everyone singing with "The First Cut is The Deepest."
Just time left for Nunc finally to squeeze a few more tunes in. Flossy's Magnum Opus "Guilty," a Neil Young segue, something from that there Kacey Chambers and for a big finish,"Copperhead Road." We've never finished a set with this number before. I have to say it was glorious. Loud,boisterous and enthusiastically sung by band and audience alike. John Kearney's shrieks and whoops (some of them choreographed),even aroused Campbell from his slumbers. A good night. A great night. Some epic performances all round.
Seriously-it's Wes Finch next week. No floor spots but still not to be missed. Give it a shot. Photos by Campbell and Jon.
