Sale Folk Club

Newsletter No 49 - 29 September 2009

The evening started quietly with brief fist fight for the last seat and ended with a dozen musicians accompanying Cry Bastion singing Whole Lotta Shaking Going On with Ed & Sue doing the shaking. A tremendously eclectic mix was superbly presented by Mick Hare and John Condy who are Pepper Street and they kicked off with The Philadelphia Lawyer followed by banjo man John Brown and then Ed with McAlpine's Fusiliers. Receiving a warm reception, which means Derrick left out the insults till next week, Don & Heather, having been starved of good chorus singing then sang their own I Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way accompanied by the full Sale Folk Club Choir. Wonderful! Then first debutants, Cry Bastion, presumably after the game, then cranked up the old piano, pedal steel guitar and spanish guitar with a lovely version of the country song How's The World Treating You? followed by their own Living For The Road writted by Dave about his dad. To set a different tone, Colin Rudd gave us one of his favourite songs about The Little Tin Soldier by Donovan only for Derrick to pour his heart out about his hold on Les Barker material being usurped by Dave Sidebotham's Cosmo before he blasted us with Runner Up - The Wonder Horse! Rather appropriately Carl threw in Jez Lowe's Old Bones before Ged let it all hang out with Take A Whiff On Me. Ruth, Kath & Stan then sang the beautiful Annalee followed by Robin's Mister Dreamseller, Adam's driving Prodigal Son and Brian's great rendition of I'll Be On My Way Again by The Saw Doctors. Stella said My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose providing the perfect platfom for debutant number two, Peter King from Urmston. He delighted us all with his own When The Trains Go By accompanied by his own excellent guitar playing. No wonder he wanted to know where to get Smiley Face Guitar. Finally the first half was nicely rounded off by the visit of Bandersnatch with the best version of Lancashire Lads we have heard, Sometimes by Allan Taylor and There Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down, a sentiment we all agreed with.

The raffle gave everyone time to chat and prepare for the now customary late finish before we started round again starting again with Pepper Street's excellent Boat's To Build. Then the first of the ever so slightly late comers to take the floor was Eric who blew our socks off with Carruthers. Zoe was requested to sing the delightful Let's Talk followed by Ann who did a great version of Rosemary Lane before Isobel, as usual, amazed us on the recorder with Hark The Wedding. Dave Pugh was his usual excellent self with Sally Wheatley and Richard completed the circle with Baby Lie Easy. Second timers then came thick and fast with a lovely Georgia from banjo John, Ed pleaded with Albert, For God's Sake Turn Around, and Don & Heather razzed it up with The Speed Of Lonliness by John Prine. Bandersnatch came up with a great second set of The Broken Years, AJC, and Dougie McClean's I Feel So Near. Derrick said Life On The Road was tough but Colin said you can Work It Out. Carl was All At Sea and Robin, with Don & Heather, was up The Erie Canal but Ruth, Kath & Stan said it will be alright if you get down to Horncastle Fair. Adam was Howlin' For My Baby while Ged was havin no such problems with This Regular Girl Of Mine. Brian was all nostalgic about One Day At Whitsun, the summer before the war and Stella sang The Rose before Peter King had us singing to Willy Nelson's Always On My Mind. Eric again cranked us up with The Ancient Mariner, how does he have time to work for a living, and Zoe tickled us with This Is The Day That The Lord Has Made or how the Rev got his comeuppance. Isobel again chipped in with Off She Goes before Cry Bastion wound things up with Jambolaya, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and the all singing all dancing Whole Lotta Shaking Going On. This is where it's at folks!!!


Newsletter No 48 - 22 September 2009

A really busy night with the late Dave Pugh, late arriving, that is, was number 26 on Carl's list but all were of a stunningly high standard and after only umpteen months of experimentation, we seem to have found the right settings for the aircon: 24 degrees and big fan.

Carl Kicked off the evening at 8.00pm sharp with Blowing In The Wind and Dave Phillips sang Gypsy Woman followed by Andy and Stanesby Girl. Johnny Stewart on his second appearance, sang Hard Rain's Gonna Fall before Dave Sidebotham gave us Les Barker's Cosmo The Fairly Accurate Knife Thrower. John Brown chipped in with I Can't Give You Anything But Love and set up Pepper Street for Black Muddy River which certainly didn't resemble Ruth, Kath & Stan's Banks Of The Ohio. Eric himself then swore It Could Happen, Richard Sails was The Saint and Ian Marsden asked Isn't It Grand? It certainly is at Sale Folk Club! Eddie then did Will The Turtle, another Les Barker, followed by Mike Lydiat making his debut with fiendishly a difficult guitar tune Miss McDermot by O'Carolan. Nothing to do with Neil Sedaka! Alan Brassington at last came out of the closet clutching a guitar, on which he made a brave stab at a classical Spanish tune whose name no one could remember, including him. He'll be a superstar in no time. Well done Alan. Mark Rendered John Connoly's Fiddler's Green and Jan sang beautifully about The Raven And The Hare. Bringing us up to date Adam performed Blur's Tender Is The Night and Ged said Ive Got Stripes. Another welcome regular was Isobel with Henry's Cat and The Rabbit Man followed by Mike Bracken with The Pool Song about balls on a table, not water in a hole. Zoe on her last visit last visit before her US tour, but she will be back in November sang The American Wake, about Irish emigrants having their wake before they went across the water. Colin Rudd stayed just long enough to lead a tribute to Mary Travers from Peter, Paul and Mary, who has just has died, Leaving on a Jet Plane. Stella sang The Sea and Brian did Killing Me Softly before Dave Pugh sang old favourite Sammy's Bar.

After a very quick raffle Dave Phillips did That'll do Babe, from the sheep-pig film - an Aaaahh song, Andy did Stanesby Girl, Dave Sidebotham gave us King Harold Was A Ventriloquist followed by Pepper Street with Moon over Bridge St, with John appearing under the name of Cosmo the fairly accurate mandolin player. Kath & Stan went 900 Miles, without Ruth, Eric went all Burberry and Prada, Richard Sails did The Bellringing, Eddie the Sh** Song, Mike Lydiat reuned with The Entertainer, S Joplin, much to Dave Pugh's annoyance as he was going to do it. It happens. Mark & Jan finished off with Farewell To The 30 ft Trailer and Adam took us home on The Midnight Special. Ged was out with his Careless Love again and Isobel came up with a waltz whose name escapes everyone. Sorry Isobel! Mike then did his mother's favourite vaudeville medley, Peggy O'Neil and Wild Irish Rose. Zoe finished off her stint with Elegy and The Earth and The Sky. Have a great tour Zoe. Stella closed with Showered in Glory and Brian with Battle of Hastings by Derek Gifford.

Top of the bill were country-folkish trio Desert Wind with mandolin/guitar, guitar and gently amplified bass. They finished the first round with Crosby, Stills & Nash's Wasted on the Way and Snowball by Country Gazette. They came to a climax at twenty to midnight with Neil Young's The Promise of a Man, Loudon Wainwright's Swimming Song and The Beauty Way by Eliza Gilkisson going down very well and being begged to come back soon.


Newsletter No 47 - 15 September 2009

Once again an enjoyable night was spent at the folk club, with seventeen sets of performers to entertain us all. We are not quite sure what some of them had been doing prior to attending the club but a large majority appeared extremely tired and weary. It was extraordinary! Ged was first to walk the boards as he needed to leave early, not because of tiredness, and the audience were hopeful that he might just be able to squeeze in a song before he left but unfortunately that was not the case. He was summoned away during the half-time break and consequently missed the raffle. However, he was cunning enough to leave behind his raffle tickets and lucky enough to win the first prize in his absence. So, he can collect the empty Bells Whisky bottle next week! Apparently, in similar circumstances on Monday last at another club, he won a bottle of wine but that unfortunately got broken and spilled before he could collect it! Anyway, before leaving, Ged entertained us with one of our favourites and old chestnuts, Working on the Railroad. Dave Phillips followed closely behind with an excellent Don Williams' number, Amanda. Ruth, Stan and Kath again joined forces and sang a splendid version of The Last Goodbye. Banjo John, alias Mississippi John, gave us his rendition of My Creole Belle, which is usually in four parts but John gave us his two-part version, some bits written by his own fair hand. Unfortunately, John was one of those suffering from over-tiredness and despite attempted persuasion to sing again, he left during the break to partake of an early night in bed. Carl, also very tired and trying not to yawn, sang a beautiful Scarborough Fayre and we hope the clapping from the appreciative audience kept him awake. Ed, prior to his performance, gave out crib sheets so that the audience could sing along with the difficult chorus to his song, Greasy Grit Gravy and Gizzard Greens. However, many were either dyslexic or had left their spectacles at home and showed great difficulty in getting their tongues around the words! Dick was next and sang a lovely unaccompanied Sally Free and Easy. Pepper Street sang Camelita, which I only know as being Latin for Priest's Assistant. Richard Knott sang a Bill Withers' number Lovely Day, which included the longest held note ever recorded in a chorus, 18 seconds. Colin held the note for 16 seconds but was inconveniently interrupted by Ed requesting him to sing the next song Guantanamo by Neil Hammond, about a particular corner of Cuba. Dave Bernisconi came to the front to sing and whistle a really lovely song The Wooden Whistle, and Isabel followed with the genuine article and played a popular request for her, Sally Gardens and Church Street. We were honoured at this point to welcome one of the major winners of the Conwy Folk Club Song-Writing Competition, Frank Hives, who treated us to another of his compositions, Bless The Day. A sure winner for next year's competition. The Idle Young were with us again and they were asked to sing two songs The Beautifullest Girl and also Steven Foster's, Hard Times, both excellent. Ann Cojeen came to the main side of the beam so that we shouldn't miss one word of Love is Pleasing. Paul Cowburn did really well in remembering the lengthy Dylan number The Ballad of Hollis Brown, accompanied by his excellent guitar playing. Richard Gray, another major winner at the Conwy Song-Writing Competition, sang and played harmonica and completed the first half of the evening with When You Put Things Off, which is about doing things at the right time. Otto won the second raffle prize of the Tanglefoot CD and was elated as he doesn't like whisky.

In the 2nd Half Richard Gray started with his song In the Morning, inspired by a recent camping experience. Ed completely lowered the tone of the evening by singing Big Cosgrove by His Worship and the Pig. No comment on that piece! Dave Bernisconi sang and played an excellent guitar for Stephanie. The Idle Young needed to rush away early before 10.30 pm so they sang their final piece, Kiss Me and Weep. Fortunately for us, Eric arrived late and we hoped that if he sang now, we would be able to ask for another number from him towards the end of the evening. He sang his very clever It Could Happen, which is nine-tenths written by himself and one-tenth stolen from Zoë! After Eric's Janet and John song, Dick was reminded of a funny one from Wiltshire called Nothing to Do, so he amused us all by singing that one. Isabel played on her descant recorder Boys of Bluehill, followed by The Manchester Hornpipe, with great enthusiasm. Dave Phillips wrote this when in Cuba without his guitar and was accompanied there by a genuine Cuban band. However, when he sang Relax in Cuba, whilst back in Sale, he was only accompanied by Mick on mandolin, Ed on tambourine and John Condy on guitar. Richard Knott came to the front to give a performance of a lifetime with the instrumental Larry the Logger which we thought was absolutely perfect and fault free no matter what he might think. Eat your heart out Segovia! Carl, now extremely tired by this time, gave us a wonderful Jez Lowe number about badger bating,The Big Fear, which caused a lot of discussion amongst the audience. Ruth declined from singing in the second half as she also was too tired, so Kath and Stan were back to their duo capacity and sang Down in North Carolina. Frank sang a superb If Wishes Were Fishes. Ann followed with a lovely version of Still I Love Him. Paul Cowburn sang a great Neil Young song, Cowgirl in the Sand. Eric sang an extremely fast and clever Babel. Colin was asked to sing two numbers towards the climax, Not a Chance Hitting on You. This he had written about one of the ladies from the club but no name mentioned to protect the innocent. He also sang a Dylan favourite, It Ain't Me Babe, which encouraged everyone to sing along. Finally John and Mick, Pepper Street, brought the evening to a successful close by singing Before the Deluge and The North West Passage, complete with a very enlightening introduction from Mick.


Newsletter No 46 - 8 September 2009

It was another great night at the club with a couple of newcomers, Emma & Johnny, and although it had been raining that didn’t stop there being a decent turnout. Things were nice and symmetrical with everyone getting one song per half, the Runners and Riders being as follows.

John Condy bit the bullet and started with Diamantina Drover by John Williamson followed by Ed’s The Gambler by Kenny Rogers and Robin with Rose of Allendale. Emma then stepped up to the plate with her own Daylight described by Eric as plaintive, he’s spending too much time in court. Richard Sails then told us about what The Molecatcher’s wife was up to and Andy Darbyshire did Springsteen’s Born to Run. Andy’s friend Dave then performed the poem With Apologies to Darwin and Doggies Meeting about the obvious! Adam, now a regular, came up with Howlin’ Wolf’s Spoonful and then Ellie made a welcome return with The Whisper aka The Spirit of Ecstasy. John Brown brought along his wonderful 4 string banjo and had everyone singing along to When You’re Smiling before regular poet David treated us to Swans and Londonderry. Frank also paid homage to Springsteen with Beautiful Reward paving the way for Paul Cowburn, on his second appearance at the club, to sing his own Helsinki Nights before Carl gave us Eric Bogle’s Green Fields of France, having seen the man play his last gig in the NW at Fylde Folk Festival at the weekend. Colin Evans next played Rory Gallagher’s Hometown on his new £50 mandolin which was a rip roaring performance. Rob did his perennial crowd pleaser, Fred the Slug and then we were surprised to be treated to a performance by a new trio comprising Mark & Jan Taylor with none other than Lorraine!! They did Amazing Grace followed by Eric with Jacques Brel’s She & I which was very poignant. Sadly Johnny only stayed for the first half, having made quite a trek to come but he did a great rendition of Woody Guthrie’s Picture From Life’s Other Side. Ann then jumped up with He Was Under My Window before Isobel played Lark in the Clear Air to close the half brilliantly.

Again John Condy stepped up with the unaccompanied After the Goldrush by Neil Young. Ed then sang the Funeral Song by Keith Marsden before Robin’s Let It Be. Emma then sang another of her own, Demon which was raunchy in a Janis Joplin kind of way giving her great voice a good run out. Richard then entertained us with the tale of the German Musicianer and Andy sang Talk To Me, inspired by his frustration with texting. Adam then did Farmer John, a song by someone from the 50's covered by Neil Young leading again to Ellie who did The Town I Loved So Well, about Derry. John again brought the house down with Fat’s Waller’s Black & Blue, another great performance as we’ve come to expect from him. Frank then did a Nic Jones-esque 10,000 Miles and Paul gave us Twin Souls. Carl then did Jez’s Aloysius and Colin then played a Fleetwood Mac number, Jumping At Shadows. Jan, Mark and Lozzer then rattled us with Worried Man Blues which had a lot of people joining in on various instruments. Eric then brought the house down with Carruthers, his own song of Boys Own daring do, and Ann led us all in another traditional Gypsy Laddie-O before Isobel whistled us up with a medley of Scalla'wa Lasses and Halting March before Rob closed the evening with Come Write Ye Down, a good joiner inner.

We can’t finish without paying tribute to Jim who turned up late having been stuck on the M56 for several hours on his way home from Rhyl. Apparently a truck had shed its load of glue powder and it had then started raining!!


Newsletter No 45 - 1 September 2009

Well! In contrast to the previous Tuesday, it was certainly a rather depleted night and we then realised that most of our regulars had tripped off to the depths of Lancashire to support Zoë Mulford, who was appearing there in one of her gigs but we don't mind as long as she comes back to us. Despite the reduced numbers, we had a friendly and happy night, better described as "cosy", when there was a possibility for everyone to perform four times each.

Eric commenced the first round with Fishin' and Wishin' For A Big Fish Blues and was his usual animated and entertaining self, which was a relief, as the majority of songs in this round turned out to be of a miserable nature! Ed sang The Gresford Disaster, which included the accidental death of 262 miners and 3 men of the rescue brigade. Ruth, Stan and Kath, now making an excellent band, sang an excellent version of Brown-eyed Boy. Ged sang and played a wonderful rendition of The Seven Curses. Jonathan Beech, on a return visit to the Club and in his superb voice, sang and played guitar, giving us a Woody Guthrie number entitled I Ain't Got No Home. Rob had thankfully arrived by this time and he boosted the cast by singing The Scented Breeze, known forever as The Centipede Song, in which everyone was able to join with gusto.

John Condy completed the first round with a request from Otto for the 1969 Rolling Stones' version of Hank Williams' Honky Tonk Woman. John played his dustbin lid, er er National Steel Guitar, for this song to give it an authentic flavour. With all performers exhausted at this point, Eric checked that he had not inadvertently missed anyone from the order and we were stunned when Otto suddenly offered his hidden singing talent for the second round.

After the first round of misery, Ed tried to cheer the audience with his amusing Rickety Tickety Tin in which the maiden viciously murdered off all her family one by one! Otto was suitably composed by this time, so he took up Rob's favourite position at the door, so that no-one could escape to the loo, and he sang an unaccompanied version of Baby Blue, to which he had added his own last verse. Not only had he hidden, for a great length of time, his obvious ability to sing but also his song-writing talent. Well Done Otto! As Frank's guitar had to go in for repair, Jim kindly rushed home to bring his left-handed instrument for Frank to borrow. However, Frank arrived with another borrowed guitar and was able to sing and play a very moving and emotional Let it Be Me! Eric sang one of his Jacques Brel songs - Les Vieux (The Old Folks), just to make us all feel at home. Ruth Stan & Kath sang This Land is Your Land, which we hope all those who tripped off to Lancashire could hear loud and clear. Did Zoe bribe them I wonder?!? Jonathan sang another very polished piece called Pancho and Leftie followed by John who sang Galway Girl which we all sang lustily. What else do you do with a Galway Girl? Ann Cojeen arrived during the second round and almost immediately was brought into the fray with Hopping Down in Kent. At this point Ged wanted to play Ed's new 12-string guitar so he borrowed it to accompany his absolutely perfect Jesus on the Mainline. He certainly warmed up the guitar and made it sing! Rob sang Thousands or More and Frank sang Donovan's Catch the Wind.

The third round commenced before the break and Eric sang one of his own pieces It Could Happen, inspired by Zoë's Could there be a romance in a Janet and John situation? John sang The Star of the County Down and then we all stopped for a well-earned rest, fresh drinks and the raffle. The first winner took the CD prize and then, much to Ed's dismay, Frank won the bottle of whisky. John was also dismayed to win the glass vase of flowers as he didn't have a suitable recipient 'Janet' to give them to! He needs to try harder!

After the break, Ruth, Kath and Stan sang Follow Me Home, are you listening John? Otto, now in full swing, was eager to sing again and rushed to Rob's spot to deliver his own altered version of The Soup Song. We all quickly picked up on the chorus and joined in enthusiastically. As the songs were coming round too quickly for everyone, Ed took the opportunity of singing 42 verses of The Manche, followed by Ann singing a somewhat shorter Searching for Lambs. Frank sang the lovely Spancil Hill and Rob, who had lost his usual position by the door, stood displaced in the corner near the bar and recited Trevor Morton's poem All's Well, which deserved the tumultuous applause it received. Jonathan sang a Hank Williams number - Lonesome Whistle Blues, which turned out to be his final song as unfortunately it was his pumpkin time. Ged sang a Leon Rosselson number about the diggers called World Turned Upside Down.

Rob started the fourth round with a rousing South Australia. John sang a Jimmy Webb number The Highway Man and Otto, on a roll now and no stopping him, told us The Carnival Is Over. Not yet though as Ed sang The Bantam Cock and Ann did Honiton Lace. There was no doubt that the highlight of the night came here when, completely unrehearsed, Eric, accompanied by John on the guitar, blew us all away with the complete version of Don McLean's American Pie. Every single person in the room sang along with amazing zest - audience and singers alike, with no exception. It was brilliant. Ged did a wonderful and difficult job of following this with Barbara Ellen, Frank sang a gentle Little Pot Stove and Ruth sang on her own Donovan's 'Colours' and she did it beautifully. As we were progressing towards a climax, Kath and Stan were asked, for the first time, to bring the evening to a close with a great crescendo, which they did very well by singing Banjo Picking Girl - a good chorus song. A Craicing Night!!