Folk school (From The Northern Echo)

Folk school

3:18pm Friday 20th January 2012 in Folk By Jez Lowe, Folk Music Columnist

I’M sure most people can’t fail to have noticed the hype surrounding the release of the new Stephen Spielberg movie War Horse in recent weeks.

It’s based, of course, on the successful West End theatre production, in which local lad Bob Fox has recently been given a musical role, performing songs written by John Tams.

I gather that most, if not all, of these songs have been expurgated from the film version of the story. News reached me this week that a special War Horse Folk Music School is currently being advertised by the National Theatre in London, to be held in mid-March, and applications are being invited for those wanting to take part. Details can be found at warhorselondon.com for anyone interested.

Nearer home, highlights around the region’s folk venues this week include a choice tonight between Dick Gaughan at Gateshead’s Sage and Bram Taylor and Roly Hindmarch at Darlington Arts Centre, with Just Us in support. Folk with a country flavour is on offer from Tom Russell at Gateshead Old Town Hall tomorrow, and from The Southern Tenant Folk Union at Washington’s Davy Lamp, on Saturday. There’s a Burns Night at Guisborough Rugby Club on Sunday.

Tom McConville and David Newey are at Cramlington’s Hind on Tuesday and Vin Garbutt is at Knight’s Club in Middlesborough on Wenesday. Finally, let’s look back to 1965, when the King’s Head in Easington Village boasted a thriving weekly folk club, and managed to book American singer-songwriter Paul Simon (for the princely fee of £12) who was touring the UK at the time.

For those of us who missed him then, we can catch a whole evening of his songs and music on BBC 4 TV this Friday night, and while The King’s Head continued as a folk club for many years afterwards, the pub finally said “Hello darkness my old friend” over a decade ago.