King's Head, Wildgoose, Amberley, Ashurst and Riga

Busy, busy. Loads to see, hear and do!
I went back to the Gosport club on Monday 8th October and sang Sheepcrook and Blackdog; Sovay, Sovay; Ship in Distress and the Blacksmith. Good practice for tomorrow.
Back to Wildgoose for the second half of the recording. Much better attitude from me this time and it showed in the end results. Managed to lay down four more tracks, so will end up with a seven track recording and I hope it'll be good.
We sorted: Lord Gregory; Bay of Biscay; Sheepcrook and Blackdog and Diego's Bold Shore and I was happy with all of them. What a difference a fortnight makes (it used to be "what a difference a day makes", but not any more!)
No Four Chesnuts this week 'cos Claire and I headed to Amberley to see Last Night's Fun and wow what a great night. They really know how to entertain a crowd and what a crowd there was. Best night I've had for ages and even managed one song, so chose Lord Gregory as a request. I was quite nervous, don't really know why, but there you go!
Being the 2nd Wednesday of the month, I went to Ashurst for a chorus and harmony evening. Another good night, which is just as well 'cos it's a long way from home! I sang Follow the Heron and Where are you Tonight I Wonder. I must learn some chorus songs, but these ones went down well, so that was fine.
I spent the weekend with friends in Riga, Latvia and we went sightseeing, ate, drank and sang our way around. A thoroughly good time was had by all!! even the poor punters who had to listen to us.

Four Chesnuts, the Regnum, the Limes and Christmas Soup!

Club singaround night 2nd October, so it's always good to go and catch up with everyone and everything. Jane brought her guitar this week and she did really well, I was very impressed.
I sang Blackwaterside and Sovay, Sovay and tried out the new pitchpipes I'd bought at the weekend. It made such a difference for Blackwaterside which is one of those songs you need to pitch correctly for it to work.
I finally managed a Friday night at the Regnum and felt a bit uncomfortable because I hadn't been for ages, but it ain't easy to do everything. Anyway, we had a fantastic night raising over £200 for Oxjam, singing, playing Folk bingo! and with a raffle. I sang Lord Gregory as a request and the Cock, 'cos I still like it and I hadn't done it here before. Good night all round.
Ed Rennie was guest at the Limes on Saturday 6th October. He's a very accomplished singer and melodeon player, so it was a good evening. I sang Sheepcrook and Blackdog, one I hadn't sung for a while but which I felt fitted in with the evening.
On Sunday,about a dozen of us met up to thrash out some ideas for a couple of traditional carols to sing this Christmas. We decided on Lullay my Liking and The Trees are Bare. Others that we tried were the Holly Bears a Berry and the King. Who would have thought it singing Christmas carols in October, sitting in the garden in the sunshine.....marvellous!

Four Chesnuts and Forest Gate

Tuesday 25th September and the club hosted Joseph Topping a really lovely singer/songwriter. He was well appreciated at the club although not everyone enjoyed his "down to earth" approach! Still you can't please all the people.....
I sang The Cock, a favourite of the moment.
So, when we headed off to BBs in Forest Gate on Friday evening it was a natural choice for me to sing it again! It was very well received and they invited me back again. So must try to make it back soon, although it is difficult to fit in as it's on Friday and the last Friday of the month at that, so loads of clashes. The Kremlinaires were the special guests of the evening, so we had quite a night with a seven piece swing band!! Great!
To finish off the weekend we visited the Sail Loft folk Club in Horndon on the Hill where I sang the Blacksmith and The Cock at an open mic session. It's the sort of place you know instantly if they like you 'cos it's quiet room or not...it was quiet room so really pleased.

recording

No sooner back from Otley than a day in the recording studio at Wildgoose. What a fantastic experience. Just shows how rubbish you can sound!! However a relaxing pint down the pub and things were much better...thankfully. We laid three tracks down and I booked to return two weeks later to finish off the job. The tracks we sorted were: The Cock; Stow Brow and the Blacksmith. I was quite pleased with these so more to build on for next time.
Then I dropped into the King's Head in Gosport for a folk evening where I sang the songs I'd laid down earlier in the day. Quite exhausted but enjoyable just the same.

Four Chesnuts

After a busy couple of days helping my daughter move had lovely evening of music at the Four Chesnuts. No guest tonight, so a good old singaround, chalky was M.C. and we had afew newcomers...a melodeon player, Lester, a lovely unaccompanied singer Jan fro petersfield and Nigel, new to the area, but will certainly come again bringing his instruments next time.
I sang The Grey Cockerel and the Unquiet Grave and they both went down well.
Another good night in good company.

Royal Oak Langstone

I spent a relaxing evening on Sunday in the company of the local folk club. There weren't many of us, so we went round the group several times and shared our music.
I sang: King Jame's Version
The Ploughboy
The Farmer's Boy
Bay of Biscay
Stow Brow
Springhill Mining Disaster

Hampshire Song Day Titchfield

Well, I went to this gathering with mixed feelings, because I wasn't really sure how it was going to work out. There had been a lot of changes to the programme and I ended up with a slot in the evening. however I was there for nearly the whole day and helped out on the door, which was fine. It also enabled me to take in the Titchfield talk by Paul Hawkins and Bob Askew's really interesting profile of George Gardiner, the not so well known folk song collector.
There were also good performances from Jeff Henry, Gwillam Jones, Tangle, Pete Watkinson, Steve Jordan and the Askew Sisters. We'd all taken on the task of learning new songs from the Gardiner collection, and all of us had found it a very difficult, but rewarding process. Some interspersed their sets with other material and everyone enjoyed the day.
I had a particularly enjoyable set comprising of songs collected by Gardiner, but some with a different twist to them.
I sang: the Drowned Lover
Bushes and Briars
The Cruel Ship's Carpenter
Sheepcrook and Blackdog
The Blacksmith
The Unquiet Grave
Blackberry Fold
Wow! what a buzz that was...to do so many songs to a very appreciative audience. I so enjoyed myself. I received a lot of positive feedback: Steve Jordan has invited me to do a spot at his club in the New Year, the organisers of St. Dennys club invited me down, as did Trevor and Jane from the Fo'c's'le and the Gosport King's Head club. Bob Askew and the Askew sisters all said how much they enjoyed the set, so I came away feeling on top of the world.
I've decided to bite the bullet and go to the recording studio...watch this space!!!