October 25th 2016

Good to welcome for the First time Bill Thompson, a great local singer and stalwart of the Newcastleton Traditional Music Festival over many years. Also Jed and at least three main parts of an extended family, now including twenty children, for their annual half-term visit from north-eastern, southern and western England - covering all points of the compass in fact. We appreciated Jed's fine fiddling, grand harmonies from the singers and finger picking from Louis, not to mention good company. Irene and Rick from Lancashire and another also visited, having been here earlier in the year at the festival. Steve also came and listened for a while. Always good to have an audience.
Instruments were two fiddles (Jed and Charlie) and Charlie also brought his mandolin, concertina (Dave), two sets of pipes (David's 'Anglo-French' small pipes and French pipes in G), guitars (Dave, Angus, Phil and Louis).
Let's start with tunes. David opened the evening with two pipe tunes, 'Noble Squire Dacre' and 'Go to Berwick Jonny,' from Northumberland on smallpipes and later played 'Mundess' on French pipes. Jed gave us a several Swedish tunes in a couple of sets played in evocative style on fiddle. Dave's guitar set was 'Haste to the Wedding,' 'Hogmanay Jig' and 'Lemonville Jig' and on concertina he played 'Planxty Irwin' and 'Hewlett.' Charlie began with 'St. Anne's Reel' on mandolin with accompaniment by various guitars and later on fiddle, 'Soldier's Joy' and 'De'il Among the Tailors.' He also played 'The Heroes of Longhope' on fiddle, written by Ronnie Aim of Orkney about the loss of the Longhope Lifeboat in 1969 as well as 'The Irish Washerwoman' and 'The Tenpenny Bit'.
Songs were, Dave's 'Will You Come Awa wi me My Bonnie Lassie' by David Stone and Peter McNab's, 'Where have the Years Gone Between,' and a song by the Canadian, James Keelaghan, 'Orion.' Bill gave us 'The Fairy' and a moving rendering of, 'The Fields of Athenry,' Eliza, 'The Woodcutter's Song,' 'Sir Patrick Spens' (short version) and 'Oak and Ash and Thorn' by Rudyard Kipling, arranged by Peter Bellamy, Angus, 'Bobby McGee' and a great and frenetic Tyneside medley beginning with, 'The Lambton Worm' and 'The Blaydon Races' firing up much joining in, also 'Song for Ireland' and 'The Day that Lester Died' by Claire Lynch about Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt. Phil began with a song apparently banned by the BBC when it first came out for fear it might upset children or incite them to set fires, 'The Fireman, Tim McGuire,' and followed with two songs one about the sea and the other a sailor, 'Three Score and Ten' by William Delph, a Whitby fisherman and song-maker, commemorating lives lost in a freak storm in 1889, and 'Jack Tar. Katy offered, 'The Merchant's Son' and, later, 'Nancy Whiskey' and 'Shawnee Town' originally sung by the men who worked the barges, 'flat boating' on the Ohio river.
The family group began with a duet by Louis on guitar with May and Louis on vocals for 'Emmylou' written by First Aid Kit and played for Emmylou Harris at an award ceremony. This was followed by a group consisting of Martha, Jack, Sadie, Frank and Anna, the latter on lead vocals with the others harmonising in a song learned from the Unthanks, 'Hey Canny Man Hoy a Penny Oot,' referring to the North-Eastern tradition of throwing a penny for a bridal party. Bill said that a similar tradition known as 'striving' existed in the Scottish Borders, requiring the groom and best man to throw the pennies. Cath led on 'You don't know What Love is' with, once more a fine group of harmonising children. May's second offering was 'Hero.' Thanks to all of the members of this talented troupe.
Robbie weighed in with a song penned by his good self, 'My Soulmate' and followed it later with a spirited rendering of 'A Christmas Prayer' by Billy Fury. David threw in two songs, 'The Young Trooper' and 'The Cock Fight.' Phil finished the night with 'John o' Dreams by Bill Caddick.
A good night. Thanks for coming everyone. See you next year, Jed's bunch. Next month's night will be the 22nd of November.
Eliza