Welcome to the last Dreamers Newsletter of 2022 and a very Happy Christmas and New Year to all.
Last week’s Club night was a great success. A fair number of regulars defied the icy weather, warnings of worse to come (and knowledge of the Four Lanes micro-climate) to get together for a small (but perfectly formed) evening. And well done to Jonathan for getting the web-site up and running again, not a fun job but really useful with the programme of guests already arranged for 2023. This coming Sunday is, of course, our Christmas meal – 5.30ish so that knives and forks can be raised at 6.00 giving plenty of time for a fantastic show afterwards.
The previous night, Saturday 17th December, is the last Cornwall Zoom Folk Club of 2022. It’s a week earlier than usual to avoid Christmas Eve and there are, no doubt, lots of other things going on, but we hope (and expect) to see plenty of excellent performers and audience as always. Our Australian friends (who are on the Club guest list for 2023) are going to try to get up in time. In reverse, it was a bit of a novel (but very enjoyable) experience to go to Bruce Watson’s launch concert on Tuesday morning – breakfast time here but evening at the Victorian Folk Music Club in Melbourne.
Online, tomorrow, Friday 16th December (7.45) sees a hybrid gig with Jackie Oates & John Spiers + Cooper and Toller. This is from Downend Folk & Roots who are having their Christmas gig at Christ Church, Downend near Bristol. Tickets fromJackie Oates & John Spiers | Live to Your Living Room. Jackie and Jon bring their shared love of English traditional folk tunes and songs with their fine voices and expertly played acoustic instruments. The concerts will include music from the duo’s first album, Needle Pin, Needle Pin, released in early 2020 and featuring songs from the Oxfordshire area – many of which were originally sung by lace-making factory girls to keep time whilst crafting lace and to add enjoyment to their work. Support comes from Vicky Cooper and Richard Toller, a traditional folk duo based in the Bristol area. They sing solo and in close harmony, sometimes unaccompanied and sometimes accompanied on a range of instruments including fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo. Their repertoire, ranging from murder ballads to bawdy drinking songs, may be hundreds of years old but their approach is energetic, sophisticated and timeless.
Another online treat next Wednesday 21st December at 8.00 when Live to Your Living Room welcomes Karine Polwart back for an intimate online solo gig this Midwinter. She’ll share not only her tender songs of land and flight, curiosity and care, but a sheaf of fireside folk tales too. Karine is a multi-award winning Scottish songwriter and musician, as well as a theatre-maker, storyteller, spoken-word performer and children’s author. Tickets from Karine Polwart | Online Gig | Live to Your Living Room
And a couple of dates for the New Year:-
· On Saturday 7th January (7.30), there’s a New Year Wassail with Jim Causley (A guest at Dreamers on 22nd January). Again, this is a hybrid gig with Folk Arts Oxford coming from the Quaker Meeting House in Oxford, as well as being livestreamed. Tickets from Jim Causley’s New Year Wassail | Live to Your Living Room The tradition of wassailing the songs (and the cider!) are part of the identity of Jim’s native county of Devon, where wassailing has marked the New Year for centuries. Jim’s seasonal concerts have become an annual tradition of their own.
· On Saturday 28th January (7.30), Devoran Acoustic Sessions at the Village Hall host the Bully Wee Band on their Farewell Tour. Reformed in 2004, The Bully Wee Band are Ian Cutler (fiddle, keyboard and vocals), Fergus Feely (mandocello and vocals), Colin Reece (guitar and vocals) and Jim Yardley (mandolin, whistles and vocals). Among Britain’s foremost exponents of acoustic folk/rock music. Tickets from Performances – Bully Wee Band : ‘The Farewell Tour’ – Cornish Riviera Box Office (patronbase.com)
That’s all for this year, once again, best wishes for Christmas and for 2023
Nigel.