Simon's Substitution Folk Night

Personally I am quite partial to a good shag and so with this in mind check out the first of my YouTube videos (here), of course I don’t have the energy to participate in that sort of activity these days. No, I find playing at the Folk Club far more relaxing and so it was this Tuesday.

I started the evening off with a Lucinda Williams song, Sweet Old World (this was a song that featured of my YouTube selection last time). This was followed by a little Dylan and Knopfler and the evening was launched. We had ten players by 8:30 so I decided that we would go for three songs each and this is what we did – it filled up the evening nicely.


Chris Martin followed me in the second slot, always difficult as the audience has yet to warm up. His songs were Life Ain’t Easy, Life’s a Race and Your Gone, all self penned. I have to list all of Chris’s songs or I get pestered by emails until I do (he will probably pester me anyway until I put links to them now).


Manus then played us two instrumentals and a complicated cover of the old Irish ballad Blackwaterside. The Irish Ballad was also a feature of Ella’s set, so it was. I particularly liked As I Roved Out. The use of the bouzouki fits in very well with these tunes and is a favourite of Irish band.


James Morris is an old friend of the Six Bells Folk & Blues Club, he has hosted many of our sessions in the past so it was a treat to see him back. James is a singer songwriter and he gave us three of his songs Give Me all your Love (I’ll give you all of mine), Mandolin Strings and Sleep in the Morning.


Terry Lees is another old friend and it is always a pleasure to listen to him. Even Terry could not resist an Irish tune with Planxty Irvine, I asked for a request, it was a long time since I had heard Terry play Joshua Gone Jamaica, in my view Terry’s version of this song is about the best you will hear. Fortunately he could remember the words. Bravo!


Another very talented singer songwriter is Keith Willson his songs are witty and well crafted. I particularly liked The Acorn a deep and allegorical song that you need to think about. His other more light hearted offerings were Lives you could have tried and Jesus Just Grew Up.


Keith and Terry teamed up with Penny and they gave us a jazzy, up tempo set that included Stormy Monday, Walking Blues and Bring it on Home to Me. Great toe tapping stuff.


Calling any impresario’s out there – Sylvie has written a musical and needs some cash to launch it into production. She got short shrift from Andrew Lloyd Webber but as this work involved ten years work she is determined to see it performed. If any of you reading this blog have an empty West End Theatre here is your chance. Sylvie’s song was The Tunes That Set Us Dancing, also self penned.


Clive Woodman then brought the evening to a close with Something for You, Truly Wonderful and Fields of Gold.


In my opinion this was a nice evening, we had a quiet listening audience and some truly wonderful (to borrow Clive’s song title) performances. Next time we are aiming for a film song night and to inspire you see the second of my YouTube videos starring Claire and her Dad – Sweet!

Simon

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