Hi and apologies for being a day late with the Newsletter this week, too much to fit in yesterday.
A great night at the Club last Sunday with some lovely guests in Tim Brine and Sue Franklin who certainly got everyone joining in in traditional Dreamers style and entertained us with a great choice of songs – not to mention instruments! The evening seemed to fly by. Good to see plenty of regulars and repeat visitors too. A few Singers Nights coming up now with our next guests, Ned Clamp and Patti Smith, on Sunday 30th October. They’ll be followed a couple of weeks later by Mark Dowding who we got to know through the Dreamers Zoom sessions during the pandemic.
The Dreamers Zoom, of course, morphed into the Cornish Zoom Folk Club meeting monthly on the 4th Saturday of each month (which is not necessarily the last Saturday – it always catches someone out!). So the next session will be a week tomorrow on 24th September when we hope to be joined by lots of our usual supporters and, as always, by some new faces.
The St Ives September Arts Festival is now in full swing and we are looking forward to seeing and hearing Alastair tonight. According to the web-site (All music events – St Ives September Festival 2022) there are still tickets available for plenty of events through the next week – look out for some changes to the programme following the Queen’s death but most seem to be going ahead.
As summer moves into autumn, more online events are once again taking place.
The Shetland Songwriting Festival starts today and runs over this weekend. More information from https://www.shetlandsongwritingfestival.com/ If you don’t want the full songwriting workshops, there’s a concert this evening (Friday 16th September) so you can just sit back and listen.
This Sunday (so clashing with Dreamers) Live to Your Living Room has an evening with Chris Wood – widely admired – Tom Robinson and Chris Difford are fans while Stick In The Wheel and The Unthanks look to him as an influence. Winner of 6 BBC Folk Awards, he’s played with The Royal Shakespeare Company and was a key member of The Imagined Village along with Billy Bragg and Martin Carthy.
Next Wednesday, 21st September, Live to Your Living Room features Methera, a string quartet with roots firmly planted in English traditional music. New to me but said to be a scintillating live act, blazing a trail through the uncharted territory that lies between folk and chamber music.
Plenty more coming up on that site – Events | Live Music Online Gig | Live to your Living Room
And finally another new episode on Folk on Foot. This sounds rather different – on a hot August day, scores of walkers in weird, wacky and wonderful costuimes inspired by old English traditions, accompanied by morris dancers and musicians, set off to stage a peaceful and joyous mass trespass at the Englefield Estate near Reading owned by Lord Benyon the Government Minister for rural affairs. More information at Folk On Foot where you can still watch loads of previous episodes.
No more now, all the best
Nigel