The Reluctant Blogger and 24th Feb Folk Club Night

Oh lawks, why am I blogging on a folk night instead of just being there and letting it all happen? Am I being dragged into this new culture of putting it all out there. The idea of course is that the odd other person might read it and think of calling in to one of our nights (Grapes, Newcastleton, 4th Tuesday). Who is it for? Singers and musicians don’t have time to read blogs. They are too busy with families and lives and don’t want yet another thing to ‘follow’ or ‘like’.

It’s partly nostalgia for the Newcastleton Festival of old; 84-98 in my case but for Charlie the fabulous fiddler who came to the club last night, it was ’74-’83 so we cover some ground between us. Having returned to it in 2013, I can report that, it is still great festival and practically the only one that doesn’t book artists apart from a band for the dance, is founded on competitions to give a platform to people who sing and play as part of their lives – some of whom have grown up singing and playing – and is a ‘Traditional Music Festival.’ I would love to listen again to more of those fantastic Scottish ballad singers I used to hear upstairs in the Unionist Club between 11pm and 5am in the morning. And to welcome back more traditional musicians.

So the idea is that perhaps the Folk Club and the site might remind more people about the festival and maybe they might traipse up or down here now and then or call in at the club as they are passing through and then they’ll remember that the festival is still that elusive place where strains of song steal into the dark – if we provide the spaces and hang onto them. In the end, though, people have to make it for themselves.

There are other things I loathe about the whole website thing; the public versus relatively private nature of it. On the other hand it can put people in touch. And Kevin our ethnomusicologist friend and bellows piper extraordinaire says what people are singing and playing should be documented. So I’m noting down what people play and sing to report below. Perhaps we’ll do some recording sometime.

But the photographs. We’re not going to be taking photographs all the time for the website, maybe just the odd one now and then. It’s going to put people off. The last thing people want when they’re mid-flow are flashes going off. And people might want to be in the corner and not in public when they go out. And I want to relax and listen. So we’ll leave the camera at home for a few months. And thanks to all the people who didn’t mind being snapped to start things off.

So there are mixed feelings about this whole blogging bit. But I suppose if anyone actually does read this I am saying, okay Newcastleton might be slightly off the beaten track but we have had some really good evenings – which is easy for us to say when we only have to walk round the corner – and we do appreciate you coming when you can and bringing your fabulous tunes and music. And to people who have never been before we’ll make you welcome and it would be great to have more Scottish singers and players and for it to be a mixture of songs and tunes and not too formally run. And there should be time for chat.

So anyway… last night 24th February

Apologies if I miss something out. I tend to get involved at times and forget about the noting down. I have grouped it more or less into tunes and songs for ease, but we go round with break-outs for tunes.

Charlie has been playing fiddle again over the last year-and-a-half after a long break and is coming out with all sorts of tunes he has had up his sleeve and that have lain dormant for so long as well as new ones. He started with ‘Ashokan Farewell’ and later in the evening, ‘Old Joe Clark’ and ‘St Ann’s Reel’ and later still, a strathspey, ‘Gloomy Winter’s Night’ and also ‘High Road to Linton’ and then, ‘New York Girls’ accompanied by fiddle and guitars.

David on small pipes was joined by Bruce on guitar and Charlie on fiddle for Noble Squire Dacre, Go to Berwick Johnny, and Lads of Alnwick. He also played ‘Little Wee Winking Thing’ and, on Anglo-French pipes, Muzurka de Servant.’ Bruce, great exponent of many genres played variously ‘Grousin’ Old man and Grumblin’ Old Woman,’ ‘Jaqueline Waltz,’ ‘Harry Lime’s Theme’ and ‘The Women of Ireland.’

David started off the singing with ‘Tarry Wool,’ and later sang ‘The Labouring Man’ accompanying himself on pipes, then ‘The Cock Fight’ and ‘I Went to Market…’ Phil stayed tenaciously with the mining disaster and other mining songs: Donibristle Mining Disaster, Jowl Jowl and Listen, Rap Her to Bank, Jez Lowe’s ‘Black Diamonds’ and ‘Miner’s Alphabet’. Angus contributed a Phil Ochs song, ‘When I’m Gone,’ Dick McCormack’s ‘Waltzing Around in the Nude,’ Chris de Burgh, ‘Broken Wings’ and ‘Five Ways to Kill a Man’ by Edwin Brock, adapted by Ian MacKintosh. Charlie and Eliza simultaneously did two different versions of ‘Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son’ to off-kilter effect (as opposed to actually having arranged the two) and Charlie accompanied himself on mandolin with ‘John o’ Dreams’ while Eliza also did ‘The Lowlands of Holland’ and ‘The Herring.’

Peter on teaching practice at the local school left his prep. for a while and joined us with a fantastic tongue-twisting song (and when singing this is some feat) and I realise I didn’t write down its title. Good luck at the next stage, Peter!

We finished up with all the instrumentalists led by Angus on guitar and Charlie on fiddle playing Winster Gallop, Jimmy Allen, Salmon Tails, Egan’s Polka and John Ryan’s and a couple of other tunes. It was another great night for us and we hope those who tramped the fells to get here enjoyed it too.


Eliza, February 2015