LEWES SATURDAY FOLK CLUB PROGRAMME

January February March April and Beyond
7 January COPPER FAMILY £15 (Email to reserve a ticket, pay cash on the night) The Copper Family of Rottingdean in Sussex sing the songs their family has loved and preserved for at least seven generations - songs of farming, sailing, love, drink, war, sport, drama and comedy. They use the vocal harmonies handed down through the generations as well. They are as Sussex as chalk paths, flint walls and Harveys beer. 14 January WASSAIL NIGHT £6 We light the log fire and the candles tonight. Bring songs and tunes for winter and wassailing. Bring a long twig from your own apple tree for our indoor wassailing ceremony to share in any blessing it might give. We'll be serving Twelfth Cake, (orange peel, crystallised ginger, honey, spices, rum) and a wassail bowl of hot spiced old ale. 21 January SUSSEX ALL-DAY SINGAROUND Free with collection (£1 suggested) 11.00 a.m. - 11.00 p.m. Elephant & Castle, White Hill, Lewes BN7 2DJ Good pub food on sale until 7:30 p.m. First an hour of informal tunes while people arrive. Then the singing starts, with a break from 6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m., finishing with a good hour of glorious choruses. Ballads & the occasional instrumental party piece will be very welcome too. The open fire will burn throughout & we'll light candles for the evening session. SUNDAY 22 January ENGLISH TUNES SESSION Free Noon – 3: p.m. Elephant & Castle, White Hill, Lewes BN7 2DJ 28 January EAST CORNER TRIO £6 Three young instrumentalists, finalists in the 2022 New Roots competition & members of the London & National Youth Folk Ensembles, Elye Cuthbertson, Danny Marshall, & Mía Iles-Pérez create inventive, entertaining & exciting music on melodeon, banjolin, flute & pipes.
4 February DOVE'S VAGARIES £9 Sarah Pavey & Chris Evans sing & play melodeon, flute, Anglo concertinas, guitar, pipes, drum & the exotic Hulusi (Chinese gourd flute). They perform an entertaining mixture of Playford-era & music hall songs & tunes. 11 February PEPPER'S GHOST MAGIC LANTERN SHOW £10 Victorian Magic Lantern slides illustrated by songs, tunes & readings from Rene Marriott, Charlotte Oliver (voice, concertina, melodeon) & Richard Spong (fiddle, mandolin, guitar, voice). 18 February ANDY TURNER £10 English traditional songs & tunes with grace & zest, with Anglo concertina & melodeon. 25 February TWAGGER BAND £10 English & Scottish traditional music & songs with a few excursions abroad from Joy Lewis (voice, hammer dulcimer, harp) Derrick Hughes (whistles, Northumbrian pipes, serpent, voice) Sue Evans (hammer dulcimer, English concertina, voice) Ian Chisholm (guitar, mandolin, voice) & Will Duke (Anglo concertina, voice)
4 March ALAN REID £10 Alan is a Scottish songwriter & folksinger with guitar, keyboard & accordion. He was a member of the hugely influential Battlefield Band for many years, & then worked with US singer & guitarist Rob van Sante as well as solo, touring Europe, North America & Australia. He has also written music for the theatre & is a valued teacher & composer. 11 March MARCH JEZ LOWE £12 Email to reserve tickets, pay cash on the night Jez Lowe is one of England’s finest singer-songwriters, producing powerful, moving & often humorous songs using the traditional styles of his North-East home about working people, especially miners, shipbuilders and deep-sea fishermen (Back in Durham Gaol, Old Bones, The Bonny Barque the Bergen, These Coal Town Days, High Part of the Town). They have been recorded by Fairport Convention, the Tannahill Weavers, the Unthanks & the Young’uns. He currently works with his band The Bad Pennies, with Bob Fox, Billy Mitchell & Benny Graham in The Pitmen Poets, and contributed to the new BBC Radio Ballads series. Jez plays guitar, harmonica & cittern. JEZ LOWE SONGWRITING WORKSHOP Saturday 11 March 10:45 -16:45 £45 (2 under-25s £22) Email to reserve places The workshop will cover an approach to writing 'modern' songs using the techniques & sensibilities often found in traditional folk songs & narrative ballads, both lyrically & musically. People who don’t read music or play an instrument are welcome. 18 March JIM GLOVER & CHRIS SKINNER £9 A fine mixture of a cappella traditional songs & new songs in traditional style from two well-loved local singers. 25 March STEVE TURNER £10 Email to reserve tickets, pay cash on the night Steve Turner is known as a pioneer of highly sophisticated English concertina song accompaniments, stretching the boundaries of traditional forms, with one of the best voices in the business. He is a multi-instrumentalist, who also accompanies himself on the cittern, and also plays mandolin and banjo.
1 April THE WILSONS £15 Email to reserve tickets, pay cash on the night The glorious, powerful vocal harmony of The Wilsons of Teesside has rung out in folk clubs & festivals for over 40 years. In 2011 they performed at the Royal Albert Hall & in 2013 accompanied Sting in 20 shows at The Public Theatre, New York. Tom, Chris, Steve, Ken & Mike sing traditionally-oriented songs with deep understanding, joy & good humour. They shared a close friendship with Peter Bellamy & cite him as a major influence, along with The Copper Family, The Young Tradition, The Watersons, Johnny Collins, Jim Mageean & Fred Jordan amongst many others. They were awarded the EFDSS Gold Badge in 2018. WILSONS WORKSHOP: SINGING THE WILSON WAY Saturday 1 April 10:45 - 16:45 £45 (2 under-25s £22) Email to reserve places 8 April EASTER COME-ALL-YE £6 Bring songs, tunes & readings for Easter & spring. We serve home-made Easter biscuits with currants, lemon, mixed peel & a crisp sugar coat. 15 April OLD SPOT £10 Rowan Piggott (of The Wilderness Yet) & Joe Danks play Appalachian traditional & new music with fiddle, banjo, gourd banjo, guitar, five-string fiddle, viola, viola d’amore, double bass, shruti & voices in harmony. Their debut album launches on 7th. April. 22 April GEORGE SANSOME & MATT QUINN £10 A new collaboration between two leading young traditional singers, George Sansome (Granny’s Attic) & Matt Quinn (Dovetail Trio) sing traditional songs from the British Isles unaccompanied & with mandolin and guitar. Their well-blended voices & close harmonies create a warm, enthralling sound and their English folk instrumental styles complement each other perfectly. 29 April WILL & PIPPA NOBLE £12 Email to reserve tickets, pay cash on the night Traditional singer Will, champion stone waller from South Yorkshire, learnt from his family & local singers as a young man and has since sung at numerous events from Whitby Festival to Pinewoods USA . Pippa has a compelling command of traditional song & it’s also a delight to hear her French chansons & self composed songs. WILL & PIPPA NOBLE BALLAD FORUM Saturday 1 April 10:45 - 16:45 £45 (2 under-25s £22) Email to reserve places Will is particularly known for singing traditional ballads. He & Pippa will sing some of these & lead discussion of others brought by participants. You are invited to choose in advance at least one ballad of your choice to sing & talk about. If your choice has been taken, we will let you know & invite you to choose another. If you’d like guidance about what counts as a ballad, do email us for a friendly chat about it.
21 May Brian Peters Melodeon (Sunday) 10 June Emmanuel Pariselle & Didier Oliver French traditional dance music 17 June Nancy Kerr Fiddle 17 June James Fagan Bouzouki 8 July Ben Paley Fiddle 16 Sept Pete Cooper Fiddle – Rattle on the Stovepipe evening 16 Sept Dan Stewart Banjo – Rattle on the Stovepipe evening 11 Nov Bryony Griffith Vocal harmony (Christmas songs)