Nunc at The Twisted Barrel

    Some of you will probably think this is really silly, but since the day it opened (when I was first there!), this is a venue I have been desperate to play.So last night I achieved a personal ambition there with Nunc. For so many reasons,I was chuffed to bits. Shall I list them?

John ,Flossy , Geoff and a butterfly.

1. Family History

     Fargo Village  and The Twisted Barrel Brewery Tap are situated slap bang in the area where I grew up. I went to Primary School at the bottom of the street. ( It's a Nightclub now!) I was a choirboy at All Saints Church,which was diagonally opposite the Fargo Car park. (Demolished now-my Mum and dad got married there, too).  This is my turf, so( as when I have played at The Humber Hotel)-I felt I was back home last night.

    For eleven years I lived a few streets away, in Northfield Road. My Grandad drank and played darts in the nearby Hare and Hounds and the Golden Cup. I bought by first vinyl (" It Doesn't Matter Any More" by Buddy Holly), in a music shop a few units down the road. I had schoolmates who lived next to the Scala Cinema, in the Cobblers by the church and in the Bakery opposite. I took my first girlfriends to The Paris Cinema (now,as the rejuvenated  Empire also a music venue).

     Unlike some Coventrians, I applaud the rise and rise of Coventry University and the trade its students have brought to this area. When I left it, it was very run down. Last night the area was still vibrant at 11pm. The shops and cafes were all still open, and there was Live Music on in several establishments. It was, as you young folks would say "kickin' "

2. Other venues

      With Black Parrot Seaside, Mac Awe on Tour and Nunc I have played many venues in this area. Drapers and The Tump, recently. Earlier doors, The Pitts Head (opposite) The Gosford Park Hotel, The Dive Bar (now The Ivy House,The Lanch itself, and The Golden Cross. Twisted Barrel was definitely on my bucket list. 

Look at those gorgeous mash tubs

3. The Brewery

     I am a CAMRA member and a beer fanatic. I have had the honour of having had  two Breweries  naming a beer after  bands I've been in. ( Church End's  "Black Parrot Seaside Bitter" and Sperrins "Mac Awe." This year, Church End had a beer on at a local CAMRA Festival dedicated to one of my songs-"Folkin' Liberty."

     I'm not being disloyal when I say that Twisted Barrel have raised the brewing bar to another level in the Midlands area. Their Brewery Tap at Fargo is an honest attempt to bring to the city a new Craft Beer experience which is on a par with any Brewdog Bar (and I've visited many),and mirrors Brewery Taps like those at Euston,Waterloo and Manchester Piccadilly. On a smaller scale, perhaps,and with a bit of work required on having a few more toilet facilities at peak hours maybe. Although the Gents at The Euston Tap is actually smaller than the one at TB.  The staff are friendly, knowledgeable and they work extremely hard.

4. The Beer

     All this would be lovely just as it stands-but the beers:Sine Qua Non for example or In Amber Clad-are exceptional,and the utter icing on the cake. Don't take my word for it. Get some. Drink some. Enjoy. 

5. The Organiser

         I haven't known Glyn Finch long, but I like him. He has a good voice, he plays some mean guitar and he covers some very bold material for a young man. I've persuaded him out to Nuneaton Folk Club next month, and I hope our audiences take to him. Last night he did "She Moved Through The Fair " and " Need Your Love So Bad" great credit. Not compulsively faithful to the original versions he  covers,he puts his own arrangements in.

6. NUNC

      Last night, (as at Draper's), the Nunc Format was myself, John Kearney and Flossie McDougal. The set list was : 
COLD HAILY WINDY NIGHT:
WHEN I GET TO THE BORDER

BRING IT ON HOME TO ME

EVERYDAY/RAVE ON (segue)

AFTER THE GOLDRUSH

DOWN WHERE THE DRUNKARDS ROLL

PERFECT

DONT WORRY/THE WILD ROVER

 We love playing together in this format, and we get better each time we gig. I think we're going back some time so we must have done o.k. 

JUNC?

7. The other guests

It's a pub/bar. The Barrel gets busy and it gets noisy. All the other performers more than held their own. Some of this was due to their voice projection, and some was due to Glyn's blissfully simple P.A. Besides Glyn, I was particularly impressed with Izzy.

Izzy

Although very young, she showed little trace of nerves in her set,which included some originals and a couple of very nice cover arrangements. Ian Bourne was also entertaining. His song about Zombies was pure Black Parrot Seaside material, and his banter was top notch.        

Ian Bourne. He wants to eat your brain.

More than Content with The Wilsons

      Did you see what I did there? A clever reversal of one of the Bard's famous quotations. Actually there was no Winter of Discontent at Nuneaton Folk Club last night. There was no discontent at all. Far from it. The return visit of  Winter Wilson to The Crown as the featured July 2016 guests was a treat all round.

        Last July, 2015-one year ago, we set up NFC for Sean Cannon with the outside temperature still hovering at  around 34c by 8pm. The interior was like a sauna. Last night twelve months on, and with a rotten,soggy English Summer in full drizzle, the temperature was just slightly above ambient outside. Inside the warmth was as much about Julian's new bank of lights and the hot air rising up from the room below, as Wales simultaneously took on Portugal.  

      So much has happened since last month's NFC session.Not one but two exits from Europe and with Wales having selfishly eclipsed England's meek surrender against Iceland, the kick off for their first ever Euro 2016 Semi-Final was thoughtlessly scheduled by EUFA to coincide with the opening floor spot last night. This undoubtedly affected our attendance a little and lent a noticeably more fluid rotation between the performance area upstairs and the Big Screen in the bar downstairs.

      Those who still came enjoyed another good night, with more debuts, many welcome returns from old friends, and a distinct "family" atmosphere with at least four acts comprised of relatives. Plus the sheer delight of two eclectic and electric sets from the multi-talented Winter Wilson.

       Our featured guests demonstrated why they are kept so busy with tours, festivals and club appearances. Kip and Dave are vocalists of extraordinary depth and clarity. Their vocal range is admirable and their breathing control remarkable. They write and record much of their own material and their instrumentation (which includes guitar,accordion,flute and banjo) is  flawless.  They are also two of the nicest people you could meet on the Folk Circuit, with no front, no side, no affectation-just an evident pride in their work. They travelled all the way from Lincolnshire (and back again afterwards) and worked extremely hard to entertain us. They kept up a banter and patter throughout and never complained once. 

Winter Wilson

         Of the other acts, NUNC who are rapidly becoming JUNC as, (hurrah!) the wonderful John Kearney continues to rehearse and perform with us, started with a couple of very enjoyable versions of " Bring It On Home" and " Down Where The Drunkards Roll."  Enjoyable for us anyway-but  as the audience started singing along too we must have got something right. 

NUNC. John's halo has slipped. 

      Rob Oakey had guested briefly with Andy Jones and his Cherooty board (at least I think that's what Andy had called it!) earlier this year. Last night he made his guitar debut and plucked us out a couple of tasty blues numbers including San Francisco Bay.  We will draw a veil over his unfortunate version of Postman Pat, as children may be reading. 

Rob Oakey

      Also making their NFC debut were Blues Division, with Arnold Chave on guitar and Sophia Barrington on lead vocals. Arnold assured us that he had his Mojo working, which was good news all round. 

Blues Division

     With Mick Harris also in the room, we had three members of Black Parrot Seaside together in a music venue for the first time in 21 months. Four, if you count Susie Sanders, who has guested occasionally with BPS. Sue, happily now  returning to full health after a long illness, soon took to the stage and wowed everyone with her versatility. A sensitively played slow number was followed by a deftly fiddled set of jigs and reels.

Sue Sanders

       Our previous Sound Man Tom Veasey was back from the USA, and by special request,  he was joined by his mum, dad and sister for a couple of tunes. The " Von Veasey Family"  version of "Drowsy Maggie" fair rattled along. Tom,Simon and Sally-Ann Veasey had been on the NFC stage before,but Emily too was making a debut.

Cripes! it's the Von Veaseys!

Ditto Brendan Kearney, who I think,in joining his dad for a few songs was also making his debut there. The boys did a cheeky version of Brillig's slightly naughty Pirate Song "Fair Warning."

John and Brendan Kearney-you have been warned.

       Like The Veaseys, the Kearneys and Sue Sanders, John Neal is Nuneaton based. He is a regular about town and hosts Monday night sessions at The Fox in Attleborough. John gave us a couple of songs including a sensitive version of John Martin's "May You Never" which was well received by the audience.

John Neal

Rounding off a jolly good first half, Chris Tobin, one half of next months featured guest billing, got the audience singing as he always does. Chris was a little off colour, but you wouldn't have known, as he got the roof lifting (again!) with Billy Fury's "Half Way to Paradise."

Chris Tobin

       We had by now whipped the audience into a frenzy with all this talent, and Winter Wilson continued the quality with an inspiring set to conclude the first half. One brief wee/beer/raffle break later and the fun began again. The audience were really up for it by now as NUNC roped them in for noisy versions of their Buddy Holly segue and Flossy's peerless delivery of "Perfect."

     It damn near was Perfect,  as Winter Wilson then kept the momentum going. A second, longer set to top the evening, with Blues, worksongs,Traditional  and  contemporary numbers all delivered with pace and panache. They took us down mines, up mountains,onto quaysides and onto battlefields.  No wonder they sold so many copies of their latest album "Ashes and Dust" afterwards!   

Kip & Dave-first half

One of the nicest aspects of NFC is to see that part of our audience is always made up of visiting musicians. Not necessarily expecting to play, but just turning up for the Craic and to have a look at who is on. Last night for example, it was good to see Dave and Julia Taylor, Andy Jones and Paul Moore there. Not performing-just chillin' and lending support to local "live" Folk Music.  
       Finally a word of thanks for Matt Mallen Allen. It was Tom Veasey who recommended Matt to us as his replacement Sound guy. Tom's welcome advice was our gain. Between us, Matt and I have spent a few bob lately building up a bank of our own NFC equipment: D.I. and mike leads,a P.A., new desk and quite a few gizmos and gadgets. This has various benefits. One of which is that we no longer have to drag Julian out whilst he is eating his tea to ask if we can borrow this or that.   Matt was like a man with two hats last night,and the sound was definitely up a notch. (Or two). Not only that-he sings.He's back out front next month, doing a floor spot!     

Mac Awe On Tour

       This Blog is actually named after a near organic institution-not such a band as an event. A floating personnel occasionally step up and provide entertainment for the sort of gig previously occupied by the erstwhile (and long defunct) Black Parrot Seaside. (See the link there?). Belatedly,and by popular request,here's a brief review of our adventures last Friday night when we did two forty five minute sets at the invitation of ray Buckler, a gentleman who has lent a lot of support to several of North Warwickshire's  Folk venues. 

      Festivals (and particularly Beer Festivals) are one particular (and very enjoyable) example of occasions likely to tempt The Mac Awe on stage. Nuneaton and Bedworth CAMRA's annual “Thirst and Last " Festival for instance. The event is held each June in The Co-Op Hall in Nuneaton and it really is a lovely venue. A HUGE concert room with a HUGE stage (and apron), it is a pleasure to play.

        Last year The Mac Awe started recruiting for this event well in advance and rehearsed a set list that had worked for us all separately elsewhere. As the June 2015 event approached, one or two musicians began to drop out, whittle away, provide a doctor's note etc. By the Friday night, this richly talented and diverse ensemble had whittled down to the Kearney Boys, Malc Gurnham on base, and me. With Gill Gilsenan operating the P.A. Could History repeat itself this year? Read on: a definite pattern is emerging.

    The 2016 event was scheduled for Friday 17^th June. No Malc or Gill this time-they were busy at Alcester Folk Festival. There was an early plan to draft in a recovering Sue Sanders on fiddle, but that proved impossible. But we recruited David Parr on guitar and Jon Harrington on harps, adding them to John And Brendan Kearney. Flossy McDougal was to join me on vocals. Unlike last year, we never did all get together for a run through, but a few of us had a really good rehearsal the week before, and the Kearney Boys did a weeny rehearsal of their own. This turned out to be extraordinarily useful,as they often sounded like they actually knew what they were doing. What we did do in rehearsals was a right mash-up, with some good chemistry going on in the Parr-Kearney guitar department, and some mind-blowing arrangements including a Robert Johnson-Beatles Segue and a seamless medley of Stones and Beatles stuff.

      Matt Mallen Allen, the (very!) sound man from Nuneaton Folk Club was drafted in to run the desk this year so there was a very strong NFC flavour about proceedings. We began to set up for the gig late afternoon, and hit the first major snag. Poor David texted us to say the Paramedics had carted him away to A & E with a heart problem. Such is the effect an impending Mac Awe on stage can have. But there is more.

     Jon had let it be known that there was likely to be a delay in him arriving from work, and with true Rock and Roll panache, Flossy was travelling in by train. Our sound check therefore was a little thin on the ground and we delayed the start as long as we dared before starting minus David and without Jon. The line-up then was John Kearney (guitar), his son Brendan on electric bass,and Flossy sharing vocals with me. Although it has to be said that both John and Bren had amassed a fine collection of percussion items and Flossy had a tambourine. The first half went well. (We enjoyed it, anyway!). The set list was:

How Long Blues :Cold Haily Windy Night Vigilante Man :Shame Shame Shame: Black Velvet Band: Standing Round Crying: Down Our Street (The Di Di song) : Love In Vain: Over the Hills and Far Away: Downtown.

Jon finally arrived but as we returned to the stage to start the second half, Flossy turned green and appeared to be in serious discomfort. No-one ( I do mean no-one) had been looking forward to this gig more than she, but virtually doubled up as she was, she just had to leave. A recurrence of a previous problem. Flossy had left the building, in some distress. Then the Cavalry arrived in the form of a beaming Flossy announcing that her illness had (literally!) passed. Boy did we have some fun then!

        The Second half set list was:

If I had Possesssion: You Can't Do That: Jolly Boys: When I get to the Border: It's a Sin : I saw Her Standing There: Its all Over Now :Bring It On Home : Rave On: Everyday: Folking Liberty :Help Me Make it Through The Day: Down Where The Drunkards Roll : Don't Worry/Wild Rover : Perfect :We Shall Overcome.

     We had been billed (in National press!) beforehand as a Folk/Blues outfit and as you can see, there was a generous and eclectic mix of material. Highlights for me were Brendan's perfect Glockenspiel solo on Buddy Holly's “Every Day,” John's remarkable blend of “ The Wild Rover” and Bob Marley's “ Don't Worry,” and a Festival Beer named after one of my own songs-Church End's Folkin' Liberty. Jon's harp work and percussion add-ons really lifted the sound so that “Bring It On Home” and other Bluesy numbers were...well..bluesy.

      The audience were understandably concentrating very hard on their drinking-tasting,assessing,ticking, marking, etc and it proved quite a challenge to get them going. But finally, there was some dancing-and some good chorus singing. As an encore we sang ”We Shall Overcome,” a late choice, delivered movingly by JK and dedicated to events in Batley the day before.       

Crowning Glory

         Another  momentous Wednesday night. After spending a sad afternoon at a friend's funeral, it was good to be upliftedand cheered up  in the evening by another big audience at Nuneaton and some fine individual performances at The Crown. My old bass playing friend from Black Parrot Seaside Rock days Martin Smalldon surprised me by turning up in a BPS tour jacket! I  hadn't  seen him for over thirty years!  Known then as Mandrago Proudfire, and with Vance drumming, they provided a powerful platform for our six piece in many midlands venues including an early Godiva Festival outdoors in The Memorial Park!   

       When we arrived, the place was a little disorganised. Jules and Sam had rushed out to greet their newly arrived grandson (Congratulations Kadee!). The room upstairs thus had a Marie Celeste look about it and it took us a while to locate all the chairs and tables! Blessed with not one but TWO young and enthusiastic Sound Engineers, we continued experimenting with using NFC equipment only, with the eventual target of not having to drag Jules away from his tea every time we need to set the stage up!

    Despite a lot of sound checks to get through, we started on time. After Nunc had opened with " Down Where The Drunkards Roll" and " T'was on an April Morning,"  Matt Mallen Allen made his debut. Operating from behind the mike (as opposed to behind the mixing desk, we had cruelly fazed him by opening with his second intended number. He did an excellent version of Fairport's "Walk Awhile" and then hurriedly shunted an alternative forward from his own set list.    

     Two more Nuneaton virgins made their debut next-Campbell and Jan Perry. Welcome aboard!  In rapid succession we then had excellent spots from Brian Phillips, Malc Gurnham (solo!) KC Jones and Dragonhead-who I have to say got the joint literally rocking.

     Daisybell (great name) then calmed things down a bit with a set of great quality to finish an epic first half.. Mellow, well-crafted harmonies and thoughtful, beautifully constructed songs.  Well done, ladies!

      Second half, running very late,we had to deprive Crown Regulars of a special treat pre-planned for them. Dragonhead and Nunc had intended to combine on a second half starter featuring a Buddy Holly medley. Oh well. Another time, hopefully. We had a monster raffle to draw, thanks to generous donations, and it was imperative to give people a generous helping of John Kearney. The man in the floral shirt did not disappoint as he drew a tremendous evening to a close. Simply the best I have ever heard or seen him. Brian Phillips and John are fortunate enough to be able to be fine musicians but are also both excellent stand-up comics. (God help us all if they ever get together!).  

       John has the enviable gift of being able to swap from outrageous, witty comic songs to haunting lullabies and ballads. He held the audience entranced with "Tiny Lights" and a lullaby, then got them roaring along with "DownTown," his Irish Reggae, and the anthemic "Jolly Boys."

      Another massive audience (thank you Nuneaton), and another super night. (Thank you Performers). How do we top that? Next month is only WINTER WILSON! 

Sunday Shenanigans

      Sunday provided a busy double-header, with an afternoon feature spot at Drapers in Coventry,and an evening session with The Sly Old Dogs in their new home out at the quaintly named Willey.

        Drapers is a bar I've liked for a while. As "Brown's," like many other customers  I boycotted it  because of a discriminatory dress code and an unpleasant atmosphere. Under new management, the food is good and the beer selection is  eclectic. The interior design is fantastic. Its central position is without rival: within view of  the Old Cathedral quarter and handily placed for Coventry University and surrounded by Council Offices. It has always been busy when I've dropped in for a meal or a pint. Probably few youngsters in there realise that among previous uses it served (immediately post-war), an annexe for the Herbert Art Gallery, and it has also functioned previously as an underground public convenience!

       The divine Kristy Gallagher, a tireless champion of good acoustic music in the city, has been organising Sunday sessions in there for a while now. They have proved to be very popular, with a mixture of Open Mic slots and longer feature sessions. Our original invitation was for Nunc to play unaccompanied there, but as there is nowadays quite a bit of co-operative work between John Kearney and myself, we dragged the Cork Nightingale himself along too,so I suppose for that afternoon, we were Junc.

Nunc plying their art at Drapers  in a beautiful bar setting.

          Amongst the floor spots preceding us were Kristy in person, Wilson Wright and Glyn Finch. Kristy was as professional as ever. Hilz and John also  just seem to get better and better. I take some credit for persuading them to appear more often together as a duo. Individually they are both solid performers. But together, they definitely have an extra something.
       Glyn Finch I had not seen before and I very much liked what he did. " She moved through the Fair," is not an easy song to do but he did it great credit. The three of us in Nunc were impressed. Strong, confident vocals and very tasty, bluesy guitar work. Hopefully we'll lure him out to The Crown soon  I think our audiences would get him.    Spiros preceded us. He had a  percussive guitar style and a very powerful voice with a broad range. He employed it to great effect in a series of strident and powerful songs.
        Nunc/Junc finished the session with a 25 minute slot. Usually performing a capella, it was a challenge to adapt part of our current set  to musical accompaniment,especially having only rehearsed together once. But we warmed up with "Cold Haily Windy Night," and then followed it with "When I get to the Border."  By the time we did "Bring It On Home," people passing the open windows outside were stopping and peering inside, Hopefully for a good reason. Our Buddy Holly medley went down well, and a few people started singing along with us. More of the general public stopped to listen and a few came in! We added another Richard Thompson song "Down Where The Drunkards Roll " and then Flossy finished with her party piece with Eddie reader's "Perfect."  A great afternoon and very enjoyable. Thank you, Kristy. 
   A highly recommended venue for audiences and performers alike. It was only afterwards I discovered that they had my beloved Beavertown on tap there, but at 7.2% it is probably for the best that I left it alone. Especially as being the incredible Rock and Rollers we are, Mr. Kearney and I were soon back off on the road again. With his son Brendan and the redoubtable Sue Sanders, we went out to The Wood Farm Brewery Tap for an evening session with the Sly Old Dogs there.
      The usual night of three halves followed, with a depleted Dogs leading and a plethora of floor singers following the pack. ( See what I did there?). We were spared Tool's awful joke telling, as he is currently regaling the unlucky residents of Kefalonia with them. Paul Kelly was missing, too. This did not detract from the usual spirited assortment of rousing traditional songs, with choruses righteously and loudly echoed by another large audience.
       Among the guest performers were Maria Barham, Cheryl Ning, Campbell and Jan Perry and Allan Birkett. Plus two lads whose names I did not quite catch,but both of whom did songs with an Irish or traditional theme-very impressively. Sue Sanders fiddled along right merrily with a lot of the general stuff and also did a couple of excellent solos herself. And the talented Kearneys interchanged guitars and ukes with a dazzling display of family dexterity. Me? I did "Drunkards" again (seemed right in a Brewery?) and then,my vanity  flattered by requests, I rolled out Di Di De Mascio and his Red and Yellow Vans. I was tired by this time, and forgot the words-leaving the Postman and the Pools man out of  the second verse, but nobody seemed to mind! 

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).