In common with many other musicians, our springtime gigs (March, April and May of this year) have all been cancelled in accordance with the current “lockdown”. Hopefully we will be able to reschedule some or all of these gigs for later in the year. In fact, the Waveney Folk Club in Lowestoft has already given us a new date for our gig, the 13th November. Needless to say this also impacts upon our album launch but we will keep you posted as we are able to finalise details. In the meantime, and to keep our musical spirits up, we shall be taking part in a number of online folk events with Soundpost, Blackfen Folk Club and The Lockdown Sessions, so keep an eye out for these.
Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden on 7th February 2020
A late request from John and Lucy at Foyer Folk at Saffron Hall, saw us playing a support gig for Tom Moss and Archie Churchill-Miller. We played the same set as we did on the 5th February and it went down very well. Really nice venue to play and we hope to get a full gig there some time in the future. Tom and Archie played much of their current music which is certainly more conceptual/electronically enhanced than we’ve heard them play before- less obviously folky but some lovely sounds from the fiddle and melodeon.
United Reform Church, Bury St Edmunds on 5th February 2020
Lovely venue and great audience for this gig where we were support for Sam Kelly and Jamie Francis. Set worked really well and we introduced first public performance of Unfortunate Tailor, with Jenna on accordion, and teaching the audience to sing the “Sailor lad;Tailor lad” nursery rhyme at the end of the song. PS Sam and Jamie were excellent.
Launch of DC's "Songtales" album at Bury Folk Collective on 20th November 2019
It was a real pleasure to go to Bury Folk Collective at Oakes Barn to perform the second album launch for the good folk of Bury St.E. and my thanks to Richard, David and Linda for letting me take over the second half of the From the Tradition evening. Once again it was a great evening, with a lovely audience, including many of the friends from Bury Folk Collective. The first half of the evening was devoted to songs from the various members of the Collective, but after the break, it was my turn to sing all the songs from the album. I had such a good time, and again I didn’t really want to stop singing when I reached the end of the last song, but my time was up.
Launch of DC's "Songtales" album at Cambridge Folk Club on 8th November 2019
What a great night, with a wonderful audience including family and friends, for the launch of my solo album. I felt very honoured that so many people were there, and I really didn’t want the evening to finish. Cambridge Folk Club hosted the event (big thanks to Robin and Marion) but let me arrange the whole evening, so I took the opportunity to ask some good friends from the local folk scene if they would like to come and sing as well (and they all said yes please!). So first up for the evening was an eclectic set of traditional and self-penned songs from The Larks, followed by Kelly and Woolley and their self-penned songs, finishing with some stomping cajun tunes, and finally Dan Wilde with his self-penned songs and a great version of a song by the Daws. It was then my turn to perform the first half of the album- just me and my trusty Lowden F35. After the break, Hannah Sanders graced the stage with a couple of beautiful songs, including a very fine version of “River”, followed by Jenna, and two traditional songs from her own repertoire, including the splendid “Queen Eleanor’s Confession”. This heralded the last part of the evening, which was for me to sing the remaining songs from the album, but with the added bonus of Hannah and Jenna providing backing vocals. It was very hard to believe that at the end of singing “Lucy in the Sky” the launch of the album was finished, but not quite. For the encore everyone joined me on stage to sing “Pleasant and Delightful”. I had the best time!
The massed choir for the encore.
Royston Music Festival on 22nd September 2019
Very nice to be invited back to play this years music festival. Two sets played- first at the Old Bull Inn and the second at The Postie. On both occasions we had audiences who wanted to listen (bit of a contrast to last years experience). The day finished with a Gala Concert with ourselves, and as many of the festivals performers as were available, playing and singing-all in all, we had a very good day singing and playing.
Update on our recently recorded EP "Worry, Grief and Care" 17th September 2019
Copies of the EP were delivered today and will be coming out to gigs with us for sale at £5 each.
New Routes, The Junction on 14th September 2019
Fabulous space and sound for this short set gig at New Routes and it all went down very well with a very appreciative audience. Some very nice comments afterwards including the following recommendation “An exceptional duet. Throughly enjoyed their very moving music in an intimate setting at Cambridge Junction - New Routes” that was posted onto our Facebook page by Paul Smith. We hope to play a longer set there in the future.
Woodfest, Hatfield Forest on 6th September
This was a late addition to our gig schedule but it turned out to be one of our best. We were fortunate enough to be given a longer set time and, after an extremely kind and complimentary introduction from MC Chris Walls, proceeded to play one of our tightest and most balanced sets of the year. It was a bit chilly in the marquee that night (in contrast with the lovely warm day on the following Sunday) but the audience was quite the opposite. It was very evident that they enjoyed our music and we were stopped and thanked by a good number of them on the way out and afterwards whilst we were quietly eating (NB The Duck Truck served the best food!). The nicest compliment came from a guy who was standing next to us while we were listening to Adrian Nation- he told us “he had really enjoyed our set- it was a special moment”
Royston Folk Club "Shindig" on 25th August 2019
photo by Mike Wells
We were very pleased to be invited to play at Royston Folk Clubs very first “Shindig” event. An outdoor mini-fest for a very good cause held in glorious sunshine at Chris and Lesleys field and garden near Royston. The lineup for the two days featured many of the local musicians who we know very well. For the second time we incorporated Jennas keyboard into the set for our two self-penned songs, but next time we must remember to site the keyboard well away from any speakers as we had some feedback happening periodically. A good-sized and very warm audience, good sound and some very kind comments afterwards- always good to to know that people have enjoyed our music. Sadly we weren’t able to stay long after our set and listen to the other folk as we had to drive to Wales that night, but a very good event and hopefully we’ll be invited back in 2021.