2024

 One of the most instantly recognisable voices in the folk world (and a bloomin' good guitarist too), Bob Fox gave us our first concert of 2024. In his 50th year as a performer, Bob was in great form and took us on a musical journey through some of the highlights of his career. With every song there was a fascinating story, of course.

There were traditional folk songs (Bob's preference at the start of his singing career) such as 'The Galway Shawl' and 'Dance to Your Daddy', but Bob's strength is that he can put his own stamp on the songs of great songwriters, using his rich voice and inventive guitar playing to make them his own. We were treated to songs by, among others, Chris Leslie (My Love is in America); Jez Lowe (Greek Lightning); Benny Graham (Have a Game for the Crack); Andy M Stewart (The Rambling Rover); and Ewan MacColl (Champion at Keeping Them Rolling, and a song from the 1958 Radio Ballads 'Ballad of John Axon). 

Absolute highlights were John Tams' 'Snow Falls (The Year Turns Round Again) from Bob's time as 'Songman' in the National Theatre's War Horse production; and two songs by the Tyneside songwriter Joe Wilson: 'The Bonny Gateshead Lass' and the absolutely gorgeous 'Sally Wheatley'.

During the soundcheck, Bob had said that he has a habit of 'going on a bit' and running late. Well, we had the best part of two hours of  great singing, playing and storytelling - and nobody in the capacity audience was complaining! It's a great skill to be able to keep an audience enthralled for that long with just voice and guitar, and Bob Fox has that skill in spades. We had a great night!

As usual, each half was got underway with a song from our regular singaround performers, and this time we heard from Chris Morris and Norman Randall - many thanks guys, and well done.

Journalist, former editor of Time Out magazine, founder and editor of TradFolk.co and contributor to The Guardian Jon Wilks is a superb fingerpicking guitarist and singer of English folk songs (especially songs from the Midlands - he was born in Solihull). Jon has lived in a number of countries, particularly as a child, but finally returned to England in 2011, after which his interest in English folk music began to take root. You can read more of Jon's fascinating story at https://jonwilks.online/about

Known for his guitar technique and style, the majority of Jon's songs were, inevitably, accompanied by exquisite playing in a variety of styles. As a journalist (and a generally interesting person) we were also treated to some fascinating stories and history about the songs he sang.

For example, we learned the writer of the opening song (The Sandgate Dandling) was Robert Nunn, a slater by trade. He fell from a roof and was blinded, and began making a living playing fiddle in pubs and for miners' meetings. The tune he used was the Tyneside favourite 'Dollia' and Cilla Black based her 'Liverpool Lullaby' on the song. All interesting stuff!

The traditional 'Lofty Tall Ships' was, we learned, the song that inspired Martin Carthy to take up folk singing! Jon gave us his version, along with another Carthy inspiration: 'Napoleon's Farewell to Paris'. 

While much of the music was inspired by Jon's love of English Folk Song, we heard music from a variety of sources in a range of styles, including a clever bit of blues - Shake it and Break it but don't let it fall, written by Charley Patton; and a humorous old Black Country pub song - 'The Tramp's Philosophy' - collected by Phil Drabble (of 'One man and his dog' fame!).

Jon has made a specialist subject of songs and singers from the Birmingham area, so we heard a broadside ballad about 'wife selling' (apparently it was a 'thing' in 18th Century cities) and a lament about the changing face of Birmingham written almost 200 years ago (in 1828) by James Dobbs - 'I Can't Find Brummagem'.

Bringing us into more recent times, Jon sang a beautiful version of Robin Williamson's 'October Song' (Incredible String Band) which Jon had learned after researching the history of the London venue and melting pot of folk and blues music in the 1960s, Les Cousins (for which Jon received a mention in the sleeve notes for the recently released CD box-set of music from the Les Cousins era).

Then it was right up to date with the tune 'Gallons of Brandy' (by Jackie Oates and Jon Spiers), and Jon's own song 'Greek Street' - my favourite song on Jon's recent and excellent CD 'Before I knew what had begun, I had already lost'.

An entertaining and informative night of superb music.

A big thank you to our two friends who started each half with a song: Paul Carbuncle and Martin Smalley.

 On a night when the Euros game might have kept quite a few at home (or downstairs in the pub, where alternating cheers and jeers were coming from) we had another full house upstairs in the Poppy Folk Club where we were superbly entertained by our June concert guests, Gnoss.

The young four-piece band have been making it big-time recently, with nominations at the Scots Trad Music Awards and sellout concerts at Celtic Connections festival (no wonder we sold out too!). Their music is a beautifully assembled and layered combination of instruments played by musicians of great quality, almost entirely of their own composition, and gives a real feeling for the Highlands and Islands of their native Scotland.

Aidan Moodie (acoustic guitar and vocals) and Graham Rorie (fiddle and electric tenor guitar) were born in the Orkney Islands and there is a distinct flavour of Orcadian music permeating through Gnoss's tunes. Graham told the story of his and Aidan's first trip off the islands to visit the 'deep dark south' (Kendal!) by train: "We'd never seen a train; trains were mythical things - buses on rails". (They failed to get off the train, not knowing you had to operate the doors yourself!).

Connor Sinclair (whistle, flute and synth - and award winning bagpipe player!) from Crieff wrote the brisk-paced whistle tune we heard early in the show which he had called ... 'Good Crieff!'. Connor composed several of the bands' tunes and his playing was a big part of the band's sound.

The whole show was full of warmth and humour. Craig Baxter (bodhran and other percussion) gave us an anecdote-filled demonstration of some of the sounds that could be produced from his Stomp Box - "It's a box, and you stomp on it!" - but also demonstrated, throughout the concert, his terrific skill on the bodhran.

There were several references to the tunes they had written as gifts ("it's cheap") for family and friends' birthdays. Graham told how he was now a proud uncle and had decided "the best gift a new baby girl could ever want was a B flat Strathspey". And so, the lovely tune 'Audrey's' was born.

The set was a really nicely balanced mix of tunes and songs. The tunes - some fast and driven, some beautiful and lilting, showed off the musicians' excellent skills. The songs, led by Aidan with the others providing harmonies, were skilfully written. Some had a serious tale to tell - the song 'God's Land' was about the prison ship 'The Crown of London' which sank off Orkney after the captain had locked the hold - he would be paid if prisoners died, but not if they escaped! Other songs spoke of the landscape and of love ('Honey Dew' was written to tell of romance in the morning dew ... before Aidan realised that Honey Dew was a type of melon!)

Gnoss were, to be honest, bloomin' lovely. The audience were clearly delighted. If you missed the concert and get the chance to see Gnoss, you really shouldn't miss them!

Thanks to Juliet Woodin and Rick Dizon for the pre-concert tunes, and Dave Walters and David Martin for their songs to start each half of the night.

Thanks also to Poppy Friend Dave Downs for the PA, and Gnoss' very talented Sound Engineer, Scott Turnbull.

Every now and again we put on an evening we call a 'Poppy Extra' - just a slight change to the usual. Sometimes it's because a performer we really want to bring to you can't fit into our normal concert pattern, so we squeeze them in where we can. In the case of our double-header concert with PLUMHALL and the PHIL LANGRAN BAND it was because we were asked to host and promote the bands at the club but leave it to them to run the evening, provide the PA and sound engineer. In the end, of course, we just go into Poppy Crew mode and muck in with it all, run the raffle, M/C the evening, etc., particularly when the concert is for good friends of the club.

And so, with the room buzzing, Juliet introduced the first act - the lovely duo Michelle Plum and Nick Hall, aka PLUMHALL. With driving guitar rhythms and excellent vocal harmonies, Plumhall have had a deservedly busy time recently, releasing a new album 'One Star Awake' (a copy of which they kindly donated to the raffle), performing with Phil Beer and Al Stewart, and supporting Fairport Convention on tour.

Tonight they played songs from all of their three albums, including the title song from  'One Star Awake' with its romping singalong chorus (with, on the album, Ric Sanders on fiddle). From their first album, Thundercloud, the more country-sounding title track; then two gorgeous songs from their second album 'The Ghost Of Noise': 'A Darkness That Won't Leave The House' (search for the video of this on YouTube - made to raise awareness of mental health issues); and 'Closing Down' - more gentle, and beautifully sung by Michelle.

For the second half of their set they brought onto the stage Mark Walker (from Phil Langran's band) to play electric bass, bringing an extra dimension to the songs. The set concluded with two songs: 'Cruel Adventures' and 'Union Dale', both driven by a lively, compulsive, foot tapping rhythm - excellent!

On, then, with THE PHIL LANGRAN BAND. Phil and the members of his excellent band are great supporters of the club. Phil's songwriting is exquisite. Now, I know this is cheating a bit, but I'm not a poetic writer and, after trying to find a new way to describe the band and its musicians, I haven't been able to better the glowing praise I heaped upon them when they played for us in 2022, so here it is, and it all still stands:

"Phil Langran's Band features four excellent musicians in their own right: Steve Benford (acoustic guitar and banjo), Alistair Bloomfield (fiddle), Mark Walker (bass) and Frank McCarthy (electric guitar) – all feature strongly in their showpieces and all provide vocal harmonies – but their big role in the band is to highlight and double-underline Phil Langran’s gorgeous songs. Phil’s songwriting has been praised in higher places than this. I’ll just say that for me the emotion and subtlety of the songs, delivered with a steady rhythm and Phil’s slightly fragile (Lou Reed-like?) voice, really picks you up and carries you along. Phil has a lovely, easy manner and a very dry sense of humour, making the song introductions almost as special as the music itself. It is evident that his band has a great respect for him and his songs."

For 2024, we were treated to an almost totally different set of songs from last time, such is the prolific nature of Phil's songwriting. We remembered the Canadian songwriter and conscientious objector Jesse Winchester in 'Jesse's Gone', then were transported to a smokey jazz club for 'Love This Road'. A new song, 'Moonrise' was inspired by a recent visit to Canada - Phil blamed that trip for the new beard he is sporting: "They give you the beard and the checked lumber jacket in customs before they let you in". A song written and inspired by the Covid lockdown, 'Repair the Heart', previously recorded by Phil with Boo Hewerdine, was flippin' lovely and my song of the night.

For the song 'Snow Angels', sung with Michelle and Nick's harmonies, the audience joined in beautifully in the refrain - it all sounded superb. Finally, we got two songs for an encore: The Diamond Wheel (recorded as a quiet, reflective song on Phil's 'SkyWriting' album) was performed as a lively number with Steve on banjo and Frank on electric guitar taking leads; then Plumhall were invited back to join the band on a lovely 'Injury Time'.

And so ended a wonderful evening of top quality music.

This was a record breaking concert for the Poppy Folk Club. We had been persuaded to put tickets on sale a full six months before the concert date. We were reluctant at first - it gets complicated when you're selling tickets for several concerts at the same time - but we gave way to pressure. We need not have worried. Three days later we had sold out! 

Another concern was that, with tickets selling nationally, our regular local folks might miss out. But on the night there were lots of regular, familiar faces in the audience to enjoy what was an awesome concert.

Born in the Orkney Islands but now based in Glasgow, Kris is a multi-award winning musician, blending traditional songs with his own songs influenced by traditional and contemporary styles. He has performed and recorded alongside a host of the biggest names in music including Phil Cunningham, Karine Polwart, Mark Knopfler, and Jack Bruce. His guitar playing is incredible, yet seemingly calm and easy. Teamed with his relaxed vocal style the effect is somehow laid-back yet exciting and, often, astounding.

Kris has recently released a 36 track 'Best of' album, and what a collection it is. Much of the evening's concert (of an uninterrupted hour and a half!) was drawn from this catalogue, with just a few 'new songs' added almost apologetically ("You have to sing new songs or they never become old songs!"). 

Most of Kris' best loved songs were there, including 'Catterline' (an appreciation of the artist Joan Eardley); 'If Wishes Were Horses' (then Beggars Would Ride); 'The Call and the Answer'; and, with the audience singing strongly, a rousing 'Farewell to Fuineray'.

We had a further special treat for this concert too. Kris is touring at the moment with a fine young singer/songwriter also based in Glasgow, Heather Cartwright, and to start the evening Heather gave us 35 minutes of her clear vocals and clever guitar work. 

To close the show, Kris called upon Heather to join him to perform his song about the scuttling of the German fleet at the end of WW1: 'Scapa Flow 1919' , before giving us an encore of 'The Isle of France'. 

All in all, this was a night to remember!

Review coming soon...