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Having the future mapped out with a nicely-spaced constellation of gigs is always important for us. Amid the slings and arrows that life can throw at you they provide bright points of escape and reliable pleasure.
In January we went to see Trish Clowes performing her jazz album ‘My Iris’ at the Hidden Rooms. In February we saw Jim Moray, who is one of our favourites, especially his song about the Voyager space probes. Mike McGoldrick was marvellous as always, and we alway enjoy Cara Dillon. The Transatlantic Sessions were maybe a bit too transatlantic, but Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham are always worth seeing.
While we were in Sheffield we saw a feminist supergroup ‘The Coven’. Grace Petrie was particularly good I thought. Anything involving Lucy Farrell is always worth a shot, and so ‘The Estuary Songwriting Project’ proved.
On a visit to Glasgow we saw James Yorkston with a double-bass player and an amazing player of a bowed Indian instrument called a Sarangi (Yorkston, Thorne and Khan).
We decided to go to the Cambridge Folk Festival for two of its four days. One of the highlights was the first time we had seen Lucy Farrell play solo. She gave us a selection of her strange and wonderful songs - songs like nobody else’s. They reminded me a bit of Lal Waterson’s songs - not similar songs, but like them in their unusualness, and lack of any folk music clichés.
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The Transports at the Junction 2
Trish Clowes at the Hidden Rooms
Jim Moray performing his new album Upcetera
Transatlantic sessions
McGoldrick, McCusker and Doyle
Cara Dillon at The Junction 2
‘The Coven’ in Sheffield Graystones
Alasdair Roberts with the Estuary Songwriting Project
Lucy Farrell and Hazel Askew with the Estuary Songwriting Project
Alasdair Roberts with the Estuary Songwriting Project
We went to London to see Mike Heron, backed by his daughter and Trembling Bells. It was so lovely to hear a whole load of our Incredible String Band favourites: he even did ‘A Very Cellular Song’.
Mike discovered a musical about the Small Faces which we went to see. The group played live on stage, and sounded exactly like the Small Faces! You felt you’d actually seen them (which neither of us had) and the singer moved exactly like Stevie Marriott, and even looked a lot like him. This was the gig that was followed by our ‘not being able to find the car park’ epic in Bury St Edmunds.
What else? A classical concert with Mitsuko Uchida in a very small room in Peterhouse at which the program told us not to cough!
We always go to see The Furrow Collective and Leveret whenever we can. Reliably wonderful. We also saw Richard Thompson, solo acoustic, at Saffron Hall, which we hadn’t been to before. Very nice.
Martin Simpson was really good too. His recent songs are very thoughtful and well written. There was lovely one called ‘Maps’ that we both liked.
Finally in December Kate Rusby came back to the Corn Exchange for her Christmas show, at which she sings a whole set of Yorkshire Carols which are not sung in churches anymore. She came on as an angel with wings for the encore! Lovely!.
The Furrow Collective at the Folk Festival. Emily Portman, Alasdair Roberts, Lucy Farrell and Rachel Newton.
James Yorkston, with Yorkston, Thorne and Khan
Quite a few classical concerts at the Corn Exchange.
The Small Faces musical ‘All Or Nothing’
The Furrow Collective
Cambridge Folk Festival in the rain
Lucy Farrell at the Cambridge Folk festival
‘The Coven’ at the Cambridge Folk Festival
Cara Dillon at the Cambridge Folk Festival
Mike Heron with Trembling Bells
Sigur Rós at the Hammersmith Apollo
The mighty Leveret!
Richard Thompson
Mitsuko Uchida’s piano!
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