LEWES SATURDAY FOLK CLUB PROGRAMME

March April May June and Beyond
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 SOLD OUT. DO NOT TURN UP ON THE NIGHT IF YOU HAVEN'T BOOKED. 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 Will Noble is a fine, authentic singer of mainly traditional songs from his native Yorkshire, having learned many in the traditional way from friends & family and adding more recent songs from other sources. He is a master craftsman dry-stone waller with an international reputation and a mainstay of Whitby Folk Week. Pippa's repertoire is drawn from her native North East, France, Ireland and beyond. Sometimes accompanied, sometimes contemporary and occasional singer songwriter, she provides the nomadic counterpoint to Will's grounded Yorkshire heritage. WILL & PIPPA NOBLE BALLAD FORUM Saturday 29 April 10:45 - 16:45 £45 (2 under-25s £22) Email to reserve places Will & Pippa will each sing some ballads & facilitate a discussion drawn from aspects of ballad singing that interest the group (history, performance, varying versions, magic, folklore & so on). You are invited to nominate a ballad in advance that you will sing & the group can discuss.
6 May COME ALL YE: THE LIFE OF THE COMMON PEOPLE £5 13 May COME ALL YE: NO THEME £5 20 May BRIAN PETERS £12 Email to reserve tickets, pay cash on the night One of the country's finest melodeon players, just as good on Anglo concertina, fine singer, guitarist & banjo player, Brian sings traditional songs & tunes from the British Isles. He is well-known for towering ballads & is a Festival favourite. BRIAN PETERS MELODEON WORKSHOP Sunday 21 May 10:45 - 16:45 £45 (2 under-25s £22) Email to reserve places Brian is a fine tutor with a wide teaching experience on melodeon, including Melodeons at Witney, Folkworks, Music without Frontiers (Netherlands) & a Masterclass at the Australian National Folk Festival. He also gives regular lessons to groups & individuals. The workshop will cover alternative chording, squeezing the Blues, & some attractive Welsh dance tunes. Players should have a G/D instrument & be reasonably experienced; music will be provided for readers but by-ear learners are welcome too. 27 May COME ALL YE: NO THEME £5
3 June COME ALL YE: NO THEME £5 10 June EMMANUEL PARISELLE & DIDIER OLIVER £12 Email to reserve tickets, pay cash on the night Emmanuel is one of the best melodeon players in France, a singer & an expert in French regional dance music. He also plays a specially-designed 'Franglo' concertina. He has taught at Hands-On Music & regularly leads melodeon-building weeks in England. Didier is a superb fiddler & also dazzles on mandolin, boha (Gascon bagpipes) & guitar. They are favourites at the National Centre for Folk Arts at Halsway Manor. Both are wonderful singers. EMMANUEL PARISELLE & DIDIER OLIVER WORKSHOP: FRENCH TRADITIONAL MUSIC FOR ANY INSTRUMENT Saturday 10 June 10:45 - 16:45 £45 (2 under-25s £22) Email to reserve places Email to reserve places, bring cash on the day We are finalising which area of French traditional music the workshop will cover. 17 June NANCY KERR & JAMES FAGAN £15 Email to reserve tickets, pay cash on the night Nancy is a brilliant fiddler & singer of traditional songs. She's also a fine songwriter. James is a fine singer & thrilling bouzouki player. Their performances are always beautiful, exciting, & filled with invention & exhilaration. NANCY KERR: FIDDLE WORKSHOP Saturday 17 June 10:45 - 16:45 £45 (2 under-25s £22) Email to reserve places Email to reserve places, bring cash on the day A superb fiddle player, singer & composer, Nancy is one of the most celebrated folk musicians of her generation. Long acclaimed as a brilliant performer of traditional music & song, Nancy is also a fine writer of tunes & songs with her own poetic voice. Nancy has worked with Eliza Carthy, Sandra Kerr, James Fagan, Kerr Fagan Harbron, the Melrose Quartet, The Sweet Visitor Band, The Full English, & Simpson Cutting Kerr. We are finalising which aspects of fiddle playing the workshop will cover. JAMES FAGAN: BOUZOUKI & CITTERN WORKSHOP Saturday 17 June 10:45 - 16:45 £45 (2 under-25s £22) Email to reserve places Email to reserve places, bring cash on the day James Fagan is a leading player of the flat-backed bouzouki, with a wide range of stylistic approaches to instrumental & song-based music. He's taught internationally; his teaching is personal, challenging & inspiring. His duo with Nancy Kerr has attracted many ears & two BBC Folk awards. We are finalising which aspects of bouzouki & cittern playing the workshop will cover. 24 June COME ALL YE: NO THEME £5
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 21 Oct New Scorpion Band Early Music for Folk Musicians 11 Nov Bryony Griffith Vocal harmony (Christmas songs) 25 Nov James Delarre Fiddle 25 Nov Saul Rose Melodeon