Before I get started on January, just a mention of our Boxing Day Session, 2017. Thanks to Kevin who biked to Carlisle and on to Newcastleton by car to give us some grand tunes such as Matt Seattle's 'Lindisfarne', 'Green Bracken,' 'Bewick's Hornpipe' 'Highland Whisky' and 'Jane's Fancy' among others on concertina. While being a small and intimate gathering of two musicians and two singers (a Venn diagram being required to show how three people equate to this group), it was a jolly contribution to our festivities, tucked away in the valley of the Liddel Water as we are. Felicitations, Kevin - now back near snowy Madrid, I believe!
JANUARY: A fine gathering: good to welcome Jasmine back with some superb Karine Polwart, Leonard Cohen and Amanda Lambert numbers. Indeed, guitarists were in healthy number, not to mention a rather special visit by a decorative guitar with a great tone (accompanied by its owner). Sadly I didn't note down its name and not being a guitar nerd...
Some other songs accompanied on guitar were: Christine's rendering of Frank Henessey's 'The 'Old Camarthen Oak, her Don Williams', 'Lay Down Beside Me,' Janet's 'The Lake's of Pontchartrain' (a particularly resonant one for me), her rendering of Rick Kemp's 'Deep in the Darkest Night,' Steve's 'The Valley of Strathmore' and 'The Dawning of the Day,' Phil's Lord Franklin (in response to Angus' unaccompanied Stan Rogers: 'The Northwest Passage') and Phil's 'A Bag down in the Alley-o' - penned by his own hand - and to be heard on Youtube, I notice!
Among the unaccompanied songs were Katy's, 'Herring Croon' and 'Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, Angus' 'MacIain,' David's 'Follow Me Home' (Kipling/Peter Bellamy) and Eliza's 'The Month of January.'
David played tunes on small pipes including 'More for Beauty than Gear' and accompanied a couple of Eliza's songs on Bodhran and we finished off with a selection of tunes from the musicians.
Looking forward to gathering again on the 27th of February.
