8th December 2020

Lockdown 2 is over and it was time to leave the nest and hit the stage again.  The first icy night of the season and the car windscreen needed scraping before we set sail for Chiddingly. 
It seemed strange and slightly eerie driving past an unlit (with the exception of one of the windows upstairs) Six Bells - it reminded me of a Stephen King film set.  I wonder what happens in that lit room?  Is it a private club like in prohibition times - who is Chiddingly’s answer to Al Capone and is it all jazz, girls, cigarette smoke and bourbon?

Anyway, heaters on in the village hall, Simon’s amp set up with line-in for guitar and a single mic and we were ready to boogie, well, ready to folky and bluesy.  I was meant to have written a Blog for our final outing (27/10/20) before Lockdown 2 and didn’t do it!  My punishment from our esteemed leader was to go on last and write a blog about the return of the open mic brigade.

Normally, I would list each performer and their songs and try and say something clever, or entertaining about them.  The blog is not a critique and I would hate that job. What can I say, we had 12 performers, (including some duo action) and they all did a couple of songs, some country, some blues, some jazz, some pop, some covers (quite a few covers) and some original stuff.  An enjoyable potpourri of acoustic based music.  Along with the older folks, we had a couple of youngsters. The gender demographic was about 50/50.  We had 4 beards and 2 slightly unshaven chins.

Simon – Keith – Heather – Jason & Lisa – Manus – Colin – Chris S – Emma – Helen – Steph – Helga – Chris M

Heather has posted a set of photos on the club Facebook page and a video of Chris Shepherd doing an excellent performance of ‘Wagon Wheels’.

Thank you to all the performers - we’ll be back on 22/12/20 for our Christmas Special.  Let us know if you want to be there, as we are limited to 16 people and we do obey all the rules.

My choice of videos: The two songs I performed and a cover of my second song by Danny McEvoy.  My version of ‘Cry’ was filmed at The Six Bells this time last year - little did we know what was coming down the line, but hopefully we will get a return to the old normality before we’re too old to remember it. x

Chris  - C J Martin

15th September 2020

Remember the days when the reception from Radio Luxembourg was a variable feast, dependent on air currents across the channel? So it was last evening at the 6 Bells Folk and Blues open mic. I had settled down in isolationist mode, idly toying with my iPhone, when lo and behold a Vodafone 3G signal briefly flickered into life, allowing me access to my emails - there was Simon requesting I might write the evening’s blog - and we were already two acts in.

It had been decided that the participants would be subject to the rule of six, one party in the marquee, the others arranged in sporadic fashion around the garden. We were all compliant, sanitised and ready to go.

A few players omitted to introduce their songs, something that I am also too often guilty. I admit laziness prevented me from trawling around for information, so relied instead on lyrical fragments and some mean detective work to establish their provenance. A few will go unacknowledged - apologies for that.

The marquee party had kicked off first, led by the indomitable Simon. I think enough people have expressed their thanks for his continued determination in keeping these evenings going. No finger could possibly be pointed at us for any violation of the rule - unlike the young overcrowded and socially cohesive table left of stage - the message not to kill your granny is obviously not getting through.

Simon began with ‘I’d rather be Lonely’ by Louden Wainwright IV. ‘Bernard the Fireman’ was next (I missed the back story to this SW original) and finally the Leiber and Stoller number ‘DW Washburn’ that was covered by The Monkeys. Two points to make, if you don’t know that Leiber and Stoller were two of the most important songwriters of the early days of rock and roll, you should look up their back catalogue and prepare to be awed by the breadth of content. The second is that Simon’s overall vocal and guitar sound was the best of the evening - knowing your own equipment has to be key.

Helga was next with the marvellous ‘Matty Groves’ - a traditional folk song made famous by Fairport Convention, who had set the tune to an otherwise unrelated Appalachian song called “Shady Grove’. She followed this with Ralph McTell’s crowd pleasing Streets of London - strangely, a song I have never considered worthy as his lasting legacy. In my view, he was a much better guitarist and songwriter than this song reflects. Helga finished with a lovely flute piece by Handel, all without need of microphonic assistance. That girl hasn’t half got a pair of lungs on her.

Jason and Lisa are the Sonny and Cher, no let’s say the Ashley Hutchings and Shirley Collins of the open mic circuit, since folk rock was definitely in the air this evening - more of which later. They started off with a number I believe was entitled ‘Acoustic Faffle’ - or maybe I’ve got that wrong and it was Ry Cooder's ‘Across the Borderline’ that caused a momentary hiccup - Jason at it again. Not withstanding, they followed with two self composed numbers entitled ‘Go gentle into that dark night’ and ‘Perfume Garden’. I hope I’m right on those titles. Both were penned during the lockdown period (nothing better to do with your time, eh?) and both were beautifully executed.

A relative newcomer, Chris was up next wielding an acoustic flat top bearing the signatures of several obvious guitar heroes, Tommy Emmanuel for one. Good choice I’d say. Another hero must be John Mayer, since he’d chosen to sing two of his songs, ‘In the Blood’ and ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’. I’d always had my reservations about John Mayer, knowing him more for his high profile girlfriends than his guitar playing. However if you’ve ever seen him live, you’ll appreciate just how great a guitarist he is. Chris also offered us a song by Chris Stapleton, a title I didn’t catch but containing this inimitable line ‘…rock me mamma like a wagon wheel, hey mamma rock me…’. It’s not for me to comment, but dare I say it, for a newcomer Chris certainly has it.

Clive hides his light under a bushel. He graciously elected to sing only two numbers so as to compensate for the time wasting antics of his peers between sets. He started with the Proclaimers ‘I’m Gonna be (500 miles)’ and finished too soon with Steeleye Span’s ‘Hard Times of Old England. No, you definitely should have held out for more, Clive.

It was now time for The B Team to enter the fray. I must mention Lance’s sterling work in setting up microphone stands, plugging in cables and sanitising all within range. He started off with a song about man’s best friend - this time a Jack Russell that got in on the act at a recent open mic event. This was followed by the obligatory protest song condemning tax avoidance, ‘Follow The Money’. He finished with ‘This is War’, a song reflecting the present refugee crisis. I was half expecting an appearance by Gary Lineker on guest vocal, but instead the nearby church chimed the quarter hour in perfect harmonic unison. Celestial intervention or what? Just the usual clever and original work we’ve come to expect from Lance.

Chris Martin presented us with a meze of strumming techniques, purportedly as a result of Heather forcing him to go all Monty Don in the garden, ruining his nails in the process. Songs about The Man, Tomorrow’s Man and Standing Room Only morphed into a frenzied display of staccato strummage that had us all holding our collective breath. Women! They have a lot to answer for.

Heather calmed the proceedings down with another Ralph McTell composition, a song all about saying goodbye…. You'd better get Chris back in the house soonish I’d suggest. She followed with another protest song 'a cappella' style, followed by a haunting rendition of ‘Those Were The Days’. This Russian romance song was made commercially famous by the Mary Hopkins’ version, produced by Paul McCartney. Some lovely guitar work, Heather.

John Budden came on with the Rodgers and Hart classic ‘Blue Moon’ arranged for guitar and vocal - a nice and original take. ‘Leave Me’ was next, a JB original of which I'm particularly fond - unlike his next choice which I hate, as well he knows; Soft Cell’s ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’. Ah well, each to his own.

I followed John, ploughing through Neil Young’s ‘Harvest Moon’, Pentangle’s ‘Circle The Moon’ and Sandy Denny’s ‘Fotheringay’.

Manus brought the evening to a close with his own take on Bill Wither’s ‘Lovely Day’, Antonio Carlos Jobim’s ‘Wave’ and finally some free form Bossa nova accompanied by Helga on floaty flute - a case of leaving the best till last and with impeccable timing, the curtain came down on the dot of ten twenty-nine.

My three video suggestions have to include John Mayer’s ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ live at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, Chicago; a modern rendition of Steeleye Span’s Hard Times of Old England and The BioEXFEL Trio playing Jobim’s Girl from Ipanema.

Where did all the time go?

Mark

Tuesday September 1st

Many people say that September is the start of Autumn.     -- Not me.   I say that it is still summer, and autumn doesn't begin till October.   Especially here in the lovely county of East Sussex.       In fact, my own theory is that  October and November are Autumn, December and January are winter, February and March are Spring, which then gives us SIX months of Summer, from the start of April, through to the end of September.    It's true!

So, at the moment the weather has been good enough for us to be able to have our music nights outdoors in The Six Bells garden.   It's was great to be able to reconvene after the Lockdown, on July 21st, the first time since March 3rd, and lovely to meet up with each other  again ( with distance).     The evenings have been run without the usual host, but we have still had a volunteer Blog writer.    My turn tonight.       I apologize in advance for any mistakes or omissions with song details etc.      I think we all know how tricky it is to get everything right.

Very punctually, Simon Watt took his seat, and in his friendly way, gave us 'You got a friend in me', a Randy Newman composition, followed by 'The Brexit song', a Simon Watt composition.      Manhattan  Transfer's 'Operator' was next on the line, and then we heard Simon's take on 'Bring it on Home'.
         
I expect Chris Martin eats his Five a Day, but tonight he sang 'Unwanted Fruit', and then told us that he was not going to sing 'Summertime', ( would he ever)?  The song 'Ghosts'  came before 'Insomniac's Dream', followed by 'Sanity'.   I think if I'd eaten unwanted fruit in the summertime, and seen ghosts, I wouldn't sleep, and I would question my sanity.      These were Chris's own songs.  ( Except 'Summertime').

Now that Heather Curry and Chris are in a' Bubble', Heather took to the floor sharing Chris's microphone pop cover, and set sail with 'The Owl and the Pussycat'.      
 The Seekers sang 'The Carnival is Over' in 1965, and  Heather sang it tonight.    This year, the Sussex Carnivals are Over before they even start.      She gave us 'Let it grow', before doing her own song, 'Weald and Sea', a song about Sussex, with a Scottish flavour.

Next in line was  Manus McDaid, holding the 'Key to the Highway', and then his Jazz version of ' Little Sister', a number done many years ago by someone called Elvis Presley.   'Pole in the Ground', one of Manus's own compositions, was followed by
'Alright Now' by the band 'Free'.

Lance  Maleski played us four of his own songs.  First, he dived into 'The Old River',  a nostalgic story, then we were told to 'Pick up your own Dog Shit' ( I haven't got a dog).
We heard about 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' , and then 'Black Lives Matter'.

Just like Deana Carter, Ella Moonbridge was asking 'Did I shave my legs for this?'   Ella went on to give us Mary Gauthier's 'Mercy Now', and Iris Diment's 'God may forgive You'.    The song 'Truth', came as Ella's fourth one.  Written by Patti Griffin,this was also done  by the band formerly known as The Dixie Chicks, but who now have to be known as The Chicks.     That's the truth.

I put myself next on the list, and began with Bob Dylan's 'Love Minus Zero', then a song that I have liked hearing  on the radio this year, 'Someone out there Loves You', by Rae Morris.    Trini Lopez died in August, so I did a tribute to him with 'If I had a Hammer', written by Pete Seeger.   Trini Lopez was well known for a number of songs in the 1960s, and he also designed guitars for Gibson.     I finished with the Canned Heat song 'Let's work Together', written by a man with a marvelous first name: Wilbert Harrison.

Derek Walmsley came in at number nine, with the  refreshing 'Two Pina Coladas',before 'The Master's Call' by Marty Robbins.   'This Little Bird', by John D Loudermilk, was done by Marianne Faithfull, and tonight we heard Derek's version.   Then we were invited to 'Save the Last dance for me'.

 Helga Dittmar began with 'Take Heart', sung in German with an English translation included.  Keith Willson joined her with guitar accompaniment for her next offerings,and they were both joined by the star attraction of the evening  -- HULOT --  the singing DOG!       Someone sitting in the 'audience' had this little dog with him.   Whenever there was a high note, the dog joined in with an even higher note!      If the birds had still been singing, we could have had -- Woofers and Tweeters!

Helga over-ran her time, so  Keith Willson who was going to play us out, was only able to fit in one number.     Sorry Keith!      We must put a time limit on players to keep them from straying.         We must let Keith go on earlier next time.

                                                         ---- Next time ---   

Will we be outside again?     The pub has a plan for another marquee  in the garden which could be heated, so hopefully we can still carry on outside whatever the weather.       September is still Summer!
 Thanks to everyone involved tonight.

 Clive Woodman

Tuesday 18th August
 
Simon opened the evening, this being the third one, promptly and traditionally with some mild C & W: 'The Calm Before The Storm' and kept it that way with 'Ride Me High', his very own 'Black Hole In My Garden' and E C woz here in spirit invoked with 'Wonderful Tonight'.
 
Personally, I thought I'd scream if I ever heard that one at an open mic session ever again but he pulled it off; bums-on-seats and nodding heads across the generations dug the familiarity like an anthem.
 
Lance picked up on that with his 'Eat Your Vegetables', 'Sleep and Dream Away' as we all looked wonderful … prior to the obligatory 'Sadie The Flatulent Horse', which was delivered in good humour. Indeed, Mr Maleski concluded his four-in-a-row with another nicely shrewd observation: 'Gardeners World' – We have apparently become a nation of gardeners since locking the country down beyond the wicker fence [near Kent].
 
Dusk and Keith, both conducive to a Bluesy, festival atmosphere generally conspired to give the feeling of an event with down-lights adding focus to his seasoned rendition of The-Blues-With-Feeling, his very original 'Too Sad To Sing The Blues' thus setting the tone for the lyrical 'Baby Steps' and 'Make The Slow One Last', you know, that thing that sometimes happens at other peoples' weddings. Anyway, the local church bells chimed in [perfectly] for Keith's last one: 'Brighton Rock'.
 
Chris J. Martin confirmed 'I Like To Be Sad' with his typical sense of irony but upped the urgency with a lilting Calypso [ironically slow-paced] in, 'Running Out Of Time' but seemed to have left the handbrake on for 'Little Red Car'. He reckoned this to be an oversight but it worked out okay. Lancias tend to do that imho. C. J concluded with a celebratory Rock n Roll take of 'Toast For One [till Friday]' – Something to look forward to, then.
 
For Heather, too!
 
'Paddy McGinty's Goat' got going in colourful Melanie mode – rather than the more middle-of-the-road Val Doonican whose music-for-mass-consumption used to be on telly a lot on those dreary, black-and-white, Saturday nghts as “entertainment” in the 60s when familiarity bred contempt for so many on such a regular basis prior to Pirate Radio Stations with their anti-establishment stance that us teenagers related to oh so passionately –  This more feminine take on McGoat was better, as was 'Timothy' and 'Ruby Tuesday' from the same era. Heather kept the festival feeling going by concluding her set by covering 'You Got A Friend' which is always nice to hear.

 
Then it was me. Keith had inspired me to sing a Blues form that isn't actually a Blues in the Black American sense with his more universal 'Too Sad …' earlier. So I went for the more pop-cultural 'You Got Me Singing The Blues' – Neither of us have had the cultural experience that generated the real thing but many have adapted the rawness of the form into something original on its own terms. I took my version from a Bert Jansch recording of it, and he sailed very close to the Blues indeed. I added a Pat Metheny Jazz-Blues instrumental in lieu of a long guitar solo so that I could hide behind it as I took a long guitar solo – twice!
 
Energised by that, I played one of mine called 'On The Books' followed by 'Hallelujah, I love Her So' just to have a bit of fun with it – Derek picked up on that one by banging his box. I finished with 'Songbird' because I've been absolutely knocked out with the Eva Cassiday cover of it [written by Christine McVie] for so long. I have a 'My Girl' groove going on it these days, though, on my own terms of course. I mean, why else?
Derek, post-crescendo, moved forward with his back to the wall by taking a seat with a mic c/w pop-shield and a guitar this time. He performed, starting with 'When My Little Girl Is Smiling' followed by a short version of 'Buena Sierra' and Lindisfarne's 'Meet Me On The Corner' and concluded the show with 'It's Now Or Never' in Mr Whippie mode ala one-more-cornetto, or oranges-for-Ornetto, or … dunno really, people sang along diffidently. Suitably entertained for free but not quite full up.
 
Hold on, though – then the lady with a blue guitar and a Joni Mitchell, open-tuning attitude, made a late appearance. Yes, it was Ella adapting to the guitar-oriented sound system by strumming out an acoustic Rock n Roll groove in support of 'Big Yellow Taxi' followed by 'Chelsea Morning' and then calling it a day on number three with the aid of a capo on for 'Both Sides Now', which made it nice and jangly [like Woodstock in the garden of England].
 
Middle England,
 
Manus.

4th August 2020

This was the second of our outdoor open mic nights because of Covid-19.   People arrived with their pop shields and hand sanitizer and sat down for a full and varied evening of live music.  Hurray!  There’s not much of it about at the moment.  We’d all got a bit cold a fortnight before, so this time people were better prepared with woolly socks and warm overcoats.

Simon welcomed everyone and opened up with ’Six Blade Knife’ by the wonderful Dire Straits accompanied by Derek on Cajon.   He followed this with  ‘Ripple’ from The Grateful Dead much to the delight of our resident Deadhead.  I do love Simon’s version of this and the first time I heard it was the first time I realised I might be able to appreciate The Grateful Dead!  I think his third song was Bobby Bradock’s ‘Hard Times’ which is rather appropriate for current days.

Chris plugged himself in and performed  three of his own songs: ‘Ghosts’, ‘Insomniac’s Dream’, and one of my favourites, ‘Cry’. Simon’s amp balanced on a red beer crate worked beautifully to pick up the purity of Chris’s delivery.  All of his songs can be found on YouTube and Spotify, and are recorded on physical albums.

Manus was up next with his socks on, playing a beautiful version of Hoagy Charmichael’s song ‘The Nearness of you’, made famous by Ella Fitzgerald and echoed by Norah Jones.  He followed this with an instrumental jazz version of a Cleo Lane song ‘Wave’, which you canfind on his latest double album, Yin and Yang’. His fingers were flying!

Jason followed and performed a lovely gentle version of ‘At the Dimming of the Day’, written by Richard Thompson and originally sung with his then wife, Linda.

Lisa joined Jason and they sang one song written by them both, ‘Simple Smiling Faces’, and then one of Lisa’s own compositions, ‘Just for a while’.  These two must put in a lot of practice!  Their harmonies and rapport are such a pleasure.  Nothing is left to chance and the results are beautiful.

Lisa stayed on to perform another of her songs ‘Jeannie has a Fancy Man’ accompanied by Helga on the flute.  I have heard this before and I’d love to hear it again.  To me it is both wistful and gently teasing.

Helga swapped instruments and played her iconic version of ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ on the guitar.  Keith joined her on accompanying guitar for their version of Leonard Cohen’s song, ‘Suzanne’, with some lovely harmonies between the two guitars.

Keith then had his spot and played three of his own compositions, ‘Dusty’, and ‘Ode to a f---kin’ typewriter’, dry and jazzy, then ‘The Worst Thing’, a touching song in a more folky style with a lovely bass line, followed by ‘Swan Song’. Keith also records his music and it is well worth a listen if you get the chance…..or you could ask him about railways if you have some time to spare.

John and Mark settled in together and started with a song called ‘Riverside’ with Derek on Cajon again and Mark accompanying John’s rhythm guitar.  They carried on with ‘Night Blindness written in 1998 by David Grey.  Their third song was one I knew better, ‘Losing my religion’ by REM with John playing the mandolin and Mark the rhythm guitar. And a very good job they did too.

Clive came up and plugged in his own amp to give us ‘Sunshine on Leith’ with Capo lV, written by the Proclaimers and described as a ‘love song to Scotland’.  As a child, one of the tongue twisters I never mastered was ‘The Leith Police dismisseth us’.  Try it!  Clive was the only person to sing a tribute to Peter Greene with ‘Man of the World’.  A lovely version of a lovely song.  He finished with the more upbeat  ‘Summertime Blues’.

I was up next.  It helped that I hadn’t got a frog in my throat like the previous open mic, so I managed to get through some of my favourites, because we never know how long we’re going to be able to perform with Covid, and the eventual move into Autumn.  ‘Fields of Athenry was followed by Joni Mitchell’s ‘Little Green’, and Melanie’s ‘Brand New Key’.  I do like a vocal challenge.

Derek finished off the evening for us.  He left his Cajon and picked his guitar up to give us ‘City of New Orleans’ written by Steve Goodman and made famous by Arlo Guthrie. ‘The Wanted Man’, made famous by Dylan and Johnny Cash, with promises of blood and guts, but no sex, and finished the evening ended with Tom Paxton’s ‘My Pony Knows The Way’.  All three of these songs were unknown to me, so writing the blog is a good way to learn new things.  Thank you Derek.

The usual big thanks to Simon and the Committee for keeping things going, and the wonderful staff at The Six Bells for supporting us.

Please have a look on the Six Bells Folk ‘n’ Blues Club Facebook page for photos of the night and all of our performers.

Heather

21st July 2020

This was our fist Folk Club evening since March in the strangest year since the Six Bells Folk & Blues Club came into being. Thanks to Paul, Jacquie and Richard for making this possible. It was really nice to back and playing music with our friends once more. The fine evening helped although it did get a little chilly later.

Instead of the music, safety was our main concern. Looking at all the COVID-19 legislation it is impossible to decide if running a folk club outdoors is legal, so we proceeded with caution and did what due diligence we could.

Because the performances were open air and the pub had reserved some tables for us, we were able to socially distance. The sound system we used was a Fishman Loudbox acoustic amplifier with some extra inputs that Clive brought along. We were all very happy with the results and there was very little in the way of germ spreading knob twiddling to do.

Performers can be a little intimate with microphones so to reduce any risks from this everyone was given their own pop shield to put on when they started and remove again when the performance was over. This worked pretty well and meant that people could still get up close and personal with the mic. We also had hand sanitizer for use by people, when needed.

The night did not have a single host; instead, each player introduced the next at the end of each performance. This worked quite well and we will keep this going while the emergency continues.

I started the evening and played to the many diners in the pub garden, my performance was followed by the inimitable Chris Martin who played three songs from his COVID songbook. LOVE IS – “Sharing the same pop shield”. So Heather followed Chris and entertained the audience with songs that everybody knew while saving us a whole £ in equipment costs.

Heather duly introduced Derek who kept things light and again played some standards hoping for some audience participation. We only made a feeble attempt at this – sorry Derek. I think it is hard to get that intimate joiny-in feel in the great outdoors (while social distancing). Derek also brought a Cajon Box Drum which he played skilfully to accompany others.

Clive brought us some extra gear which meant that we were able to mic-up a couple of guitars that suffered unexpected battery failure over the four months of the lockdown. This was one of the less predictable hazards of the virus.

It was nice to see Helga who had been totally isolated in Ringmer having lost her internet connection and it was also great for her to get out. Once again she added flute to the mix, which is always welcome.

Keith followed with a selection of fine songs from the Etchingham songbook. Keith has been organising our Skype sessions every Tuesday evening for those of us who just want to chat – a virtual trip to the pub, when a real one was not possible.

Lisa & Jason teamed up and in my view gave us some of the best sounds the evening had to offer; some beautiful close harmony and great guitar playing. A really special set.

Manus closed the evening for us with his skilful Jazz vibe; another nice set to finish the evening on.

As usual I have selected three of the Youtube videos that have caught my eye recently. If you don’t watch anything else make sure you take a look at the extraordinary version of  After You’ve Gone starring Sierra Hull on Mandolin.

Stay safe everyone

Simon

Remember the days when the reception from Radio Luxembourg was a variable feast, dependent on air currents across the channel? So it was last evening at the 6 Bells Folk and Blues open mic. I had settled down in isolationist mode, idly toying with my iPhone, when lo and behold a Vodafone 3G signal briefly flickered into life, allowing me access to my emails - there was Simon requesting I might write the evening’s blog - and we were already two acts in.


It had been decided that the participants would be subject to the rule of six, one party in the marquee, the others arranged in sporadic fashion around the garden. We were all compliant, sanitised and ready to go.


A few players omitted to introduce their songs, something that I am also too often guilty. I admit laziness prevented me from trawling around for information, so relied instead on lyrical fragments and some mean detective work to establish their provenance. A few will go unacknowledged - apologies for that.


The marquee party had kicked off first, led by the indomitable Simon. I think enough people have expressed their thanks for his continued determination in keeping these evenings going. No finger could possibly be pointed at us for any violation of the rule - unlike the young overcrowded and socially cohesive table left of stage - the message not to kill your granny is obviously not getting through.


Simon began with ‘I’d rather be Lonely’ by Louden Wainwright IV. ‘Bernard the Fireman’ was next (I missed the back story to this SW original) and finally the Leiber and Stoller number ‘DW Washburn’ that was covered by The Monkeys. Two points to make, if you don’t know that Leiber and Stoller were two of the most important songwriters of the early days of rock and roll, you should look up their back catalogue and prepare to be awed by the breadth of content. The second is that Simon’s overall vocal and guitar sound was the best of the evening - knowing your own equipment has to be key.


Helga was next with the marvellous ‘Matty Groves’ - a traditional folk song made famous by Fairport Convention, who had set the tune to an otherwise unrelated Appalachian song called “Shady Grove’. She followed this with Ralph McTell’s crowd pleasing Streets of London - strangely, a song I have never considered worthy as his lasting legacy. In my view, he was a much better guitarist and songwriter than this song reflects. Helga finished with a lovely flute piece by Handel, all without need of microphonic assistance. That girl hasn’t half got a pair of lungs on her.


Jason and Lisa are the Sonny and Cher, no let’s say the Ashley Hutchings and Shirley Collins of the open mic circuit, since folk rock was definitely in the air this evening - more of which later. They started off with a number I believe was entitled ‘Acoustic Faffle’ - or maybe I’ve got that wrong and it was Ry Cooder's ‘Across the Borderline’ that caused a momentary hiccup - Jason at it again. Not withstanding, they followed with two self composed numbers entitled ‘Go gentle into that dark night’ and ‘Perfume Garden’. I hope I’m right on those titles. Both were penned during the lockdown period (nothing better to do with your time, eh?) and both were beautifully executed.


A relative newcomer, Chris was up next wielding an acoustic flat top bearing the signatures of several obvious guitar heroes, Tommy Emmanuel for one. Good choice I’d say. Another hero must be John Mayer, since he’d chosen to sing two of his songs, ‘In the Blood’ and ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’. I’d always had my reservations about John Mayer, knowing him more for his high profile girlfriends than his guitar playing. However if you’ve ever seen him live, you’ll appreciate just how great a guitarist he is. Chris also offered us a song by Chris Stapleton, a title I didn’t catch but containing this inimitable line ‘…rock me mamma like a wagon wheel, hey mamma rock me…’. It’s not for me to comment, but dare I say it, for a newcomer Chris certainly has it.


Clive hides his light under a bushel. He graciously elected to sing only two numbers so as to compensate for the time wasting antics of his peers between sets. He started with the Proclaimers ‘I’m Gonna be (500 miles)’ and finished too soon with Steeleye Span’s ‘Hard Times of Old England. No, you definitely should have held out for more, Clive.


It was now time for The B Team to enter the fray. I must mention Lance’s sterling work in setting up microphone stands, plugging in cables and sanitising all within range. He stated off with a song about man’s best friend - this time a Jack Russell that got in on the act at a recent open mic event. This was followed by the obligatory protest song condemning tax avoidance, ‘Follow The Money’. He finished with ‘This is War’, a song reflecting the present refugee crisis. I was half expecting an appearance by Gary Lineker on guest vocal, but instead the nearby church chimed the quarter hour in perfect harmonic unison. Celestial intervention or what? Just the usual clever and original work we’ve come to expect from Lance.


Chris Martin presented us with a meze of strumming techniques, purportedly as a result of Heather forcing him to go all Monty Don in the garden, ruining his nails in the process. Songs about The Man, Tomorrow’s Man and Standing Room Only morphed into a frenzied display of staccato strummage that had us all holding our collective breath. Women! They have a lot to answer for.


Heather calmed the proceedings down with another Ralph McTell composition, a song all about saying goodbye…. You'd better get Chris back in the house soonish I’d suggest. She followed with another protest song 'a cappella' style, followed by a haunting rendition of ‘Those Were The Days’. This Russian romance song was made commercially famous by the Mary Hopkins’ version, produced by Paul McCartney. Some lovely guitar work, Heather.


John Budden came on with the Rodgers and Hart classic ‘Blue Moon’ arranged for guitar and vocal - a nice and original take. ‘Leave Me’ was next, a JB original of which I'm particularly fond - unlike his next choice which I hate, as well he knows; Soft Cell’s ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’. Ah well, each to his own.


I followed John, ploughing through Neil Young’s ‘Harvest Moon’, Pentangle’s ‘Circle The Moon’ and Sandy Denny’s ‘Fotheringay’.


Manus brought the evening to a close with his own take on Bill Wither’s ‘Lovely Day’, Antonio Carlos Jobim’s ‘Wave’ and finally some free form Bossa nova accompanied by Helga on floaty flute - a case of leaving the best till last and with impeccable timing, the curtain came down on the dot of ten twenty-nine.


My three video suggestions have to include John Mayer’s ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ live at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, Chicago; a modern rendition of Steeleye Span’s Hard Times of Old England and The BioEXFEL Trio playing Jobim’s Girl from Ipanema.


Where did all the time go?


Mark

Having been volunteered to host this Duet’s Evening, I had emailed and had a note put on our Facebook page about the ‘Two Song Rule’. Sounds a bit ominous doesn’t it? Well, I was very pleased that I gave this some forethought rather than there being even more chaos at the start of the evening. I was unavoidably later arriving than planned due to work commitments and went straight into writing the play list. I already knew that some of our regular players would not be there due to illness or other committments, but we were not short of performers.

Christy-Lee was there with Dr. Robert (what a treat). Jim was there with Ray, and from more distant times, Turner and Wesson, (Ron knew the evening from the earliest Chris Mansell days and has visited at infrequent intervals.) Simple arithmetic therefore suggested twelve songs already. That two song rule was really about letting everyone get up and sing, getting a nice turnover of performers, and avoiding ‘four-song mini sets’ with soloists squeezed in between. Each person could claim two song spots but not in immediate succession where there was a duo. It did create a degree of extra stage-management and faffing with mics, leads, music stands, tuning and all of that, but nobody seemed to mind. It was certainly worth it for the music that came out of it.

Manus and I had been rehearsing by exchanging emails. Given a very disorganised start, it went remarkably well. We hadn’t done sound checks or anything. I was on piano and even playing that tonight, was complicated by the electric sockets (for the music light) not working. We played Joni Mitchell’s ‘For Free’ from her album Ladies of the Canyon. I played piano and sang while Manus embellished the piece with some jazz guitar. We got to the end in sych, and played out on a lovely long outro. Our second piece was ‘The Nearness of You’. Again I played piano with more jazz guitar embellishment from Manus. He sang a second ‘bridge’ to the end weaving his own interpretative path through the timing. Again I felt the ending worked well. It was a very interesting start to the evening.

Chris followed playing two solos. The first song written about his mother dying with Alzheimers was sung in tribute to her brother, Chris’s uncle, who also died with Alzheimers very recently. There is a funeral to attend on the Wirral shortly. His second song was a new one: ‘Tell me’…’the fraudulent fugitive on the run…tell me what it’s all about’.

With very little shuffling about this time, Simon took the stage. The Rocket, a song sung by Mary Gauthier, is one of those poignant songs about the tragedy of war and loss. I supported Simon with some extra vocals and low-key tambourine. In a complete and utter change of style, he continued with his new song, Corona Virus Blues which is a variation of his earlier piece ‘I’ve got the Ebola Blues’. He summoned Heather and myself to join him and put a word sheet in our hands. Ours were the red words. Simon writes some very wry songs. It was hilarious and moved the evening forward from the serious or sombre tone of the previous three songs.
 
Jim and Ray were a new duo. Jim, playing guitar, has joined us before, but tonight he brought Ray and his bass. Their first song was a different ‘take’ on ‘Route 66’ and the second was ‘The Highway goes on Forever’. Their new partnership looks to be working very well. 

Another two-man guitar duo, Ron and Nigel, shuffled the equipment around and adjusted the sound. Ron has visited the club over the years and remembers the early days when Chris Mansell first established the Six Bell Folk and Blues club. I do not appear to have the titles of the songs they performed but these included lyrics about not getting on the liquor again, getting out the dancing shoes and forgetting about the whiskey. There was some very stylish and accomplished ‘foot-tapping’ guitar work going on. Ron is starting a new acoustic evening in Eastbourne on Thursday 12 March (6.30 – 9.30) going by the name of ‘Alice’s Attic’ at the Underground Theatre, Croft House, Cornfield Lane BN21 4NE in Eastbourne for those looking to find new venues.

Heather sang us a poem about friendship. She had put the children’s poem about Pooh and Piglet to music earlier in the day and accompanied herself on guitar. (She loves children’s poems). She followed this joined by CJ (Chris) Martin with ‘I want to make it with you’, that well-known song by Bread. CJ was on guitar and this time Heather added some flute. Heather plays a variety of instruments. It would appear that she is  a versatile musician.   

We were fortunate to have Christy-Lee and Bob (Dr Robert) joining us this evening to perform their own material. First up was a song called ‘I’m on Fire’, a simmering song about fire and passion: ’You fill me with such emotion… when you’re around me the temperature starts to rise …’ The words then appeared to call for help to put the fire out but it didn’t sound like she really wanted that to happen, to be honest. The second song doesn’t yet have a name but was a lively blues. Christy-Lee has such an expressive voice and Dr Robert’s guitar work creates an approximately perfect foil for the voice and the song. 

Clive was next on and sang us two songs accompanying himself on guitar. The first was ‘Fiddlers Green Song’ recorded in 1968 by Tim Hart and Maddy Prior on the album Folk Songs of Olde England Vol 2. It is a sailor’s vision of the afterlife where the girls are all pretty and the beer is free, among other things. He then invited us to join in with him on ‘Moonshadow’, the well-known song by Cat Stevens. Choruses of ‘Moonshadow’ resonated around the room.

To accommodate every performer’s two songs, we started to go around a second time. I played a version of ‘Fly me to the Moon’ again on piano with Manus adding jazz guitar. He then performed ‘Georgia’ solo with a creative vocal and some great jazz accompaniment on guitar.

Chris and Heather sang Chris’s ‘Little Red Car’ together: ‘You, me, the need for speed…’ and we were looking towards the end of the evening by this point.

Ray and Jim sang Ry Cooder’s ‘Why don’t you try me?’ They were taking it in turns with the lead vocals and backing each other. Jim took the lead in this one. They completed their performance with another good singalong song: ‘Hi, Ho, Silver Lining’. A Jeff Beck song from far away 1967. Of course everyone joined in. 

Turner and Wesson (Ron and Nigel in another disguise) were in the desert watching the stars with ‘Peaceful, Easy Feeling’ originally sung by the Eagles, much more recently in 1972. Their final song was Huddie Ledbetter’s ‘Goodnight Irene’. There was more singing in the audience.

Dr Robert and Christy-Lee brought the evening to a close. Christy-Lee was apparently singing ‘Billie Holiday’ then ‘Love Song’, a bluesy offering, through a wine fog and clutched her songbook to be sure the words were not far away. Dr Roberts guitar and foot-tapping brought the perfect accompaniment to Christy-Lee’s beautiful voice.
Aaaah, what a way to end the evening.

I felt really privileged to have been asked to step in to run this evening. With the jumbled start, the extra stage-management, tuning, adjusting of sound etc the outcome was a wonderfully rich and rewarding evening of music in many different styles, old songs, new songs, covers and self-penned, thank you all.

With thanks obviously also to the dedicated F&B ‘committee’ team present (Simon, Clive and Chris) for making the evening run so well in spite of the pervasive edge of chaos, setting up, sound management and cable handling/detangling then getting it all back into the cupboard at the end. I salute you. 

I can start breathing again now. That was a bit intense! Hoping to see you all again soon, Ella