Folk 21

11:26am Thursday 16th May 2013

I WAS at last weekend’s Folk 21 conference in Wolverhampton, when club organisers and concert promoters from across the West Midlands gathered to forge contacts. Five lucky folk acts were given the chance to showcase before this esteemed audience. The West Midlands folk scene has many parallels to our own in the North-East, with many longestablished folk clubs, and everyone seemed very happy for the chance to compare notes, share gossip and generally hang out. Folk 21 operates nationally, and is hoped will be making forays into our area at some point. More information is available on their website at folktwentyone.wordpress.com.

Folk radio

4:56pm Friday 10th May 2013

THERE seems to be a swarm of folk radio currently hitting the local airwaves, mostly on small community radio stations, but also available via the internet.

Three men of folk

2:52pm Thursday 2nd May 2013

I TRY not to over-use the term “legend”

Plenty to choose from

10:35am Thursday 25th April 2013

AS ever, there’s plenty to choose from for folk fans at local venues this week. Tonight we can pick between Scots songstress Isla St Clair, at South Shields Customs House, and The Fureys with Davey Arthur, at The Empire in Consett.

Top names in the area

11:08am Thursday 18th April 2013

SOME of the UK’s current top names are in the area in the week ahead, along with all the regular first class local performers doing their thing around the region’s folk clubs.

Farewell to Graeme Miles

12:17pm Friday 12th April 2013

THE folk scene bade a fond farewell to Teesside songwriter Graeme Miles earlier this week. He’d been a towering figure on the local scene since the early 1960s, and nationally too, his songs had made their mark with singers and audiences around the country, and indeed beyond.

Fest of fiddles

3:28pm Thursday 4th April 2013

DURHAM’S Gala Theatre steps up to the mark next Tuesday night with a truly remarkable concert as part of the Feast of Fiddles tour. This star-studded gathering of instrumentalists get together every few years or so, and present a memorable evening of astounding instrumental dexterity and entertainment that has truly become a highlight of the folk calendar. From the ranks of some of the leading folk bands of their day, the likes of Chris Leslie, Brian McNeil, Peter Knight, Phil Beer and local lad Tom Leary are backed by an equally illustrious rhythm section to hit the folk-rock pedal hard from start to finish.

Worth venturing out

11:34am Thursday 28th March 2013

LET’S not talk about snow and cold weather, let’s look ahead to a week of fine folk music that it will be worth venturing out to hear. Tonight is a busy one, for a start. Darlington’s own folk boy-band Loose Connection are at The Old Well Inn in Barnard Castle, while up at Gateshead’s Sage there’s a special concert called Morris Offspring, featuring top trio Faustus, and an alternative take on the Morris Dance world. Faustus is something of a folk supergroup, with Paul Sartin and Benji Kirkpatrick from Bellowhead joined by Saul Rose. I heard them rehearsing their new album when I was at Cecil Sharp House, in London, earlier this year, and it’s a very impressive sound they make, I have to say. The Cutty Wren folk club are temporarily relocated to Redcar Borough Park Bowling Club for the next few weeks, with Jim and Lynette Eldon as the main attraction this week. On Saturday, former Lindisfarne songwriter and bassman Rod Clements makes a welcome return to Washington’s Davy Lamp, playing songs from his soon-to-be-released retrospective solo album.

Spring Thing

12:00pm Thursday 21st March 2013

DARLINGTON’S annual Spring Thing folkgathering happens this weekend at The Dolphin Centre, with a preliminary concert at The Copper Beech tonight with Steve Hicks and Lynn Goulburn. Then there’s a variety of concerts over the next few days, featuring the likes of Richard Digance, Willow Creek, Bert Draycott, Bram Taylor, Tony Martin and Dan Hands, Pete Abbot, Marie Little, Barrie and Ingrid Temple, Bernard Wrigley, Loose Connections and Flossie Malavialle.

Local acts

2:00pm Thursday 14th March 2013

THERE is a wide variery of live music in the week ahead, featuring the best in local acts as well as some national names.

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