Sale Folk Club

Newsletter No 53 - 27 October 2009

Not an empty seat or a dry eye in the house for the 1st Anniversary stewarded in brilliant style by Ed & Sue. Kicked off at a lively pace by Don & Heather with The Smuggler's Song, the standard was quickly raised by Isobel's Waterlo Dance and John Condy's Masters Of War leading to David Sidebotham with his own You're A Boring B***** Brenda - A Northern Bye Bye Blues. Good job she wasn't in! Connie and Banjo John then slipped in with Red River Valley and as promised Jim unsheathed his licorice stick and played Stranger on The Shore. Robin was a Country Boy again and Stan sitting between Kath & Ruth was the Brown Eyed Boy before we all got another surprise when Michael walked in with his lovely wife Claire to sing his favourite Christmas In The Trenches by John McCutcheon. Brian then did a great job on The Hiring Fair by Ralph McTell before we welcomed back Albert with his own Song Of Mary, Mark said I Will Go to Oswaldtwistle but Heather from Saddleworth yearned for her Geordie and Jan sang Ar Lan y Mor a lovely Welsh song to the tune of Down By The Riverside. Adam gave us all a Spoonful of various things, Colin Rudd treated us to the true version of D' Ye ken John Peel, Stella sang about The Darkling Thrush, Richard Knott was Pacing The Cage by Bruce Cockburn before Claire rose to sing The King Of Rome, lucky man Michael! Climaxing towards the interval Eric treated us to another tour-de-force with his translation of Jacques Brel's Grand'mère, Johnny said Keep On The Sunny Side, The Bailey Sisters, Karen & Shelley, sang their own delightful Navigator, Bob told the true story of The D-Day Dodgers, Ged sang Frankie and Johnny before Rob had us all laughing with Courting Too Slow, the story of his life.

A buffet at the interval was accompanied by a great raffle with Stella winning the 1st Anniversary Gold Watch and set us up for a storming second half and by this time Dave Pugh had been furbished with a guitar, tuned it to DADGAD and knocked our socks off with Slip Jigs and Reels by Steve Tilston, watch out for him here in June 2010. Derrick then lightened it up with some funny children's stories before Albert sang his own House of Empty Dreams, Stellas's Ladies Are Dancing came next followed by the first outing of Linda Thompson's No Telling What a Love Song Can Do by Ruth, Kath & Stan. The 30 foot Trailer by Jan & Mark preceded Richard Knott's, on the scale of 1 to 10 you're Zero, and then Isobel's South Winds and Fanny Power and David Sidebotham's Blues to Retaliation somehow escaped the censor or were after the watershed. Banjo John next sang medley of old songs ending with California Here I Come, we hope not we want him here. Claire & Michael united well for Christmas in New York, Ged cheered us up with The Minstrel Show then Heather gave us her own great version of Dougie McClean's Caledonia. Jim came back for a brief run at When A Child is Born setting Eric up for The Club Singer's Lament bemoaning his lack of talent, oh yes?? The Bailey Sisters then sang and played on recorders their own Amarylis presenting Richard Sails, who only arrived at 11.00 from acting in a play, with a follow that moment to which he responded brilliantly with Jones' Ale. Dave Pugh's arm was again twisted in standard tuning for We Must Journey On and John Condy returned for the Antipodean Anderson's Coast leaving Don & Heather to send us home singing with Child of Merseyside (Up Sale!!), slowing for The Borrowed Guitar before hitting the street running with Gypsy Woman ringing in everyone's ears. Mega!!


Newsletter No 52 - 20 October 2009

Another comfortable full house saw 22 performers take the floor under the expert stewardship of Carl & Eric who started off with a new one for them, Jake Thackray's Lah Di Dah. Missippi Banjo John then introduced us to Connie who sang Coal Miner's Daughter before telling us all she wanted was a Big Butter and Egg Man. The mind boggles! Also early in the frame was Dave with his own Guitar Man, Ed with his Facebook song Chumbawumba, Rob wth South Australia and Robin with Leaving Of Liverpool, since he had just seen her on the Mersey in the afternoon, complete with new guitar and band in the form of Don & Heather. Isobel was in fine lyrical form with the ethereal Canal in October as was Jan with Who Knows Where The Time Goes. Dylan got a fair working over with John Condy starting off with Blind Willie McTell followed by John Stewart with Love Minus Zero and Seven Curses. Fortunately the eclecticism returned with Ged's version of Nancy Griffith's Trapeze, fortunately she didn't fall in this song, Joni's Urge For Going by John Muskett, Mark's Carrickfergus on the whistle and Don & Heather's own Ordesa Canyon. Derrick had us laughing at Albert and The Naturist by Les Barker before Arthur on his debut jazzed us all up with Murphy's Bar. Then the unaccompanieds took over with Richard Sails regaling us with The Battle Of Sowerby Bridge, Geoff Bibby singing the beautiful No One Sings The Blues Like Bonaparte, Ann singing Love Lar I and Bob reminding us how wonderful women can be with The Devil and The Farmer's Wife.

Sneaking in just in time for the sandwiches provided by Sue to celebrate her birthday came Colin Rudd but we saved him for later well after a great raffle and the whole of the second half which cracked on with Carl taking centre stage for Eric Bogle's If Wishes Were Fishes. Banjo John came back alone for the oldest song of the night My Old Kentucky Home form 1850 but Dave said enough of that with his own So You Want To Be A Cowboy for which the ink is hardly dry. Robin again banded up to give us all a good sing with Belfast Mill and not to be outdone Ged gave us Peg An' All in the same vein. John Condy had us chuckling with The Urban Spaceman as did Ed with His Worship and The Pig's It's Going To Be One Of Those Days but guffaws greeted Derrick's Waste Not Want Not. Next up Jan & Mark did a great rendition of The Blue Cockade with Jan in particularly fine voice tonight. Richard then gave us The Brisk Young Cowboy, Geoff did Unicorns by Bill Caddick, another great song, Ann told us about Being A Wedded Wife, Rob bemoaned them Knockin' 'em Down The Old Pubs and Bob told us it sometimes doesn't pay to pick on the smallest person with Little Boy Billy. John Muskett invite us to join him on Ralph McTell's Taken The Last Train and Gone before then telling us the chords. Wise heads amongst new in advance not to take any notice because Ralph's tunes are always more tricky than they at first seem. Eric delighted us with his new tweaked translation of Jacques Brel's Dying Man, Isobel with another even more lyrical Mrs Jameson's Favourite before Don & Heather gave everyone a good sing with Gypsy Woman. Leading to the big climax Arthur started the ball rolling with his own brilliant Fences followed by the beautiful You Are Still On My Mind. I said he was being saved and so were we when at last Colin Rudd finished off the night with a new song, name to be provided soon, Teach Your Children Well and finally I Know I'm Not In Love. Shame was the cry, but we didn't really care because he was brilliant!


Newsletter No 51 - 13 October 2009

Another lock in with two dozen performers all getting at least two turns and of such good quality. Roseville Fair by Don & Heather summed up the mood and John Condy emphasised that Times They are A Changin'. They have already changed someone cried. Missippi Banjo John was the Wild Rover before Colin Rudd lifted us to the sky with Harry Chapin's Better Place To Be and everyone agreed. Frank was inspired to sing a lovely quiet version of is dad's favourite song If I Was A Carpenter, he was a Four Tops fan, and Kath & Stan were 900 Miles from their second home, Sale Folk Club if their first. Karen, however, said I Live Not Where I Love, and she loves it at the club, whereas Ged gave Seven Curses that he couldn't move in here all the time. Mark then jumped up with his own powerful Song For Biddy as we welcomed back The Idle Young with Richard, Debs and Inger who sang their own Many Splendoured Thing. Eric, this time with Look Long And Hard, an interesting Jacques Brel song translated into a poem, then led into Dave Phillips' own When Jesus Walks On The Water before David explained the mysteries of Golf or was it his mind with all its double meanings.We believed Ed when he said wasn't All Used Up and Derrick showed his bravery with a great story about Blondes. Isobel then delighted us with Stomach Steinwayman, otherwise known as Oh Flippin' Heck, but it couldn't stop Banjo John from Makin' Whoopee before Colin warned Breaking My Heart Was The Last Thing She Would Do! And you would think that Madison, the man that won the car, would be happy but not a bit of it sang Carl. Ann agreed that life has its twists and turns with Abroad As I Was Walking and even John Musket's Hobo's Lullaby was more cheerful before Bob lifted us with Among The Leaves So Green-o, a song from his schooldays. Green Grow The Rushes-o nextweek!

A brilliant raffle followed with people fighting to avoid the Tape Cassette prizes before Richard came in with his Pit Boots and The Idle Young said it's not like that with two love songs Metaphor and Beautifullest Girl telling how complex it is. Ged then hit us with an early parting glass in Dylan's Restless Farewell and Bob did the same with Greenland Whalers. Isobel found the secret to success with a beautiful Scottish Air, i.e., do the slow one first. Carl's Mothers, Daughters, Wives by Judy Small lamented not so much the lot of women but the stupidity of men before Frank's beautiful I Will Wait For You and Should I Fall Behind, Wait For Me. There's Only One Thing I Long For sang Mark in a kind of blues and John lifted the beat with I'll Tell My Ma. Karen returned with her own absolutely delightful Telling The Birds, a future request we can see. Kath & Stan Rung, Rung The Banjo, Ed was Teaching His Worms How To Swim and Derrick Hasn't Had Flu All Winter. Then moving to a climax we had another hot off the press from Dave about the Cowboy Clobber shop in Heywood, the tongue twisting Barley Mow from Richard, good job he's a thesp, chorusing with Ann's Ramona, humour and drama with Eric's Me, Me, Me, Mr Bojangles from Colin, Marks's For No Man and John Condy's Wild Mountain Thyme before Don & Heather got a text request from Jim's wife to dedicate John Prine's The Sound Of Loneliness to him. What a way to end!


Newsletter No 50 - 6 October 2009

With more than 50 people seatd and tuned up by 8.00pm the evening started with the clear message from Don & Heather to Let Your Banjo Ring and ring it certainly did with more ariving to squeeze into position. Pepper Street gave us the modern history of America in Post-World War ll Blues before Richard Sails took us even further back with Old Bown's Daughter, she was a girl, with everyone clearing their throats before sitting in stunned appreciation of the superb Becca Williams, a real bundle of dynamite! To keep up the standard and eclecticism, Isobel delighted us with Halligan's Ball and Road to Lisdoonvarna which was very lyrical but really tricky. The creativity in the club was well exemplified by Dave Williams with a one day old song, I Need To Get Away, but definitely not from the next newcomer Karen who sang a nice version of The Blacksmith. Derrick gave us some examples of people who are the The Weakest Link, Goodbye, and Andy, apart from photographing some of the performers (presumably for Crimewatch) pleaded O Lord Won't You Buy Me A Mercedes Benz before Kath & Stan took us all to a Sleepy Desert and Ged transported us to East Virginia. Then Carl again reminded us of the talent in the place with his own Magical Sky, David summed up in verse his love for his home town of Larne and Paul sang I'm Waiting For Ya'. Tonight Ed was also in serious mood with Paul Brady's Between The Earth And The Sky as was Colin Rudd with The Norah Jones Blues bemoaning the stifling of artistic talent, none of that here. Dave Cartwright and Howard Woolley of Cry Bastion, who live by their music, next did a great rendition of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face followed by California Dreaming to take us up to the interval during which, on the eve of Heather Kenyon's 60th we sang happy birthday, toasted her health, ate the buffet she so kindly provided and had a great raffle before returning to the fray.

In a new band where Anything Goes, Robin, Don & Heather started the second half with The Bonnie Lass Of Fyvie then yielding to Missippi Banjo John's Sweet Georgia Brown and Peter King's lovely new song Where The Dreams Come From. A nervous and very quiet Tony Georgiou then made his debut with a very subtle Somewhere Over The Rainbow which everyone hummed and only lacked the lighters in the air treatment. We would have burnt the place down, not good!! Frank took One Step Up And Two Steps Back before Bob forsook all this modern stuff to blast us with Windy Old Weather, very topical! Now fully banded up with Chris Hillman on pedal steel guitar, Cry Bastion Took A Load Off Me before the even bigger band of Ruth, Kath, Stan and Dave Phillips said Follow Me Home. Richard then reached new heights with that great chorus song Dido Bendigo before Karen returned with Kate Rusby's Sailor Boy. Derrick told us what it is like living with a nearly 60 year old woman, Ged was one of the Desperadoes Waitin' For Train before Becca blew us all away with her own Devil On My Shoulder. Come back soon. A new combination of Andy and Isobel got us all going with The Fox prefacing Pepper Street's return with John Condy's own Stony River Blues. Carl Waltzed With Mathilda, Paul did another of his own, Frank went to The Cliffs Of Doneen but didn't jump, Peter transported us with Starry, Starry Night with it still bucketing down?!? and Cry Bastion lifted us back up with Pennies From Heaven before The Mingalay Boat Song from Robin, Don & Heather saw us all heading homeward.