Tag Archives: Guitar

Damien Barber and Mike Wilson on Friday 1 March

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On Friday 1 March we look forward to welcoming Damien Barber and Mike Wilson, two of the finest exponents of traditional song.

A proud Norfolk man, born, bred and heavily influenced by such earlier Norfolk singers as Walter Pardon and Peter Bellamy, Damien Barber is a stylish and distinctive singer, be it unaccompanied or alongside his guitar or concertina. Though he has now resided for some time in West Yorkshire, his roots remain firmly planted in his beloved East Anglia. 

Mike Wilson is the youngest member of the inimitable Wilson Family, the powerful Teesside singing siblings who have raised the rafters at many a festival and folk club event over the years. His musical heritage remains emphatically that of the North East – an evocative mixture of rural and industrial folk songs, both traditional and modern. 

Together, Damien and Mike share an incredibly rich repertoire of traditional songs from around the country, as well as drawing on the work of modern folk writers such as Peter Bellamy, Ewan MacColl and Mike Waterson.

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. The concert starts at 7.30 pm. Bring your own drinks – teas and coffee available in the kitchen. Parking available at the hall and in nearby streets.

Pete Morton on Friday 2 February

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On Friday 2 February we welcome back Pete Morton – a singer and entertainer with a wealth of self penned songs that ‘express everything from the highly personal to the truly international’. Often referred to as an old-time troubadour, he delivers an unruly mix of humanism, politics, love, social commentary and humour, all wrapping its way around the folk tradition.

Since discovering the acoustic music scene at 16, Pete has been on a never-ending tour as a folk singer. With his powerful euphonious voice, storytelling and compelling stage presence, he continues ‘his merry niche’ of singing his anthemic folk songs with a fun-loving and approachable style. A new album ‘Fair Freedom’ is due for release in late February 2024! This will be his first album since the highly acclaimed ‘A Golden Thread’. Pete will be performing songs from both albums as well as a sprinkling of traditional ballads.

The concert starts at 7.30 pm. Tickets (£13 non-members, £10 club members) can be reserved by emailing us via the contact page. Bring your own drinks – teas and coffee available in the kitchen.

French traditional music from Bof! on Friday 12 January

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In 2000, Bof! started playing as a four-piece band specialising in traditional French and Breton tunes and songs for dancing or listening to. The band members are Val Woollard, Simon Haynes and Phil Lyons, who play diatonic accordions, bagpipes, recorder, flute and guitars, and Breton singer Gwendal Moële, who became a full-time member of the line-up in 2018. Their repertoire is mainly traditional music from Central France and Brittany, but also includes compositions by members of the band and others. Watch: Voile au Vent. 

Bof! have played in folk clubs, for dance groups and at festivals in England and France, as well as organising regular French and Breton dance workshops and public dances in East Anglia, as part of the Burybal and Prêt à Danser groups.

The concert will start at 7.30 pm. There will also be space for dancing. Bring your own drinks. Teas and coffee available in the kitchen, 50p. Tickets (£13 non-members, £10 club members) can be reserved by email via our contact page.

The Rosie Hood Band on Friday 10 November

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A folk singer/songwriter from Wiltshire, Rosie Hood is known for her strong, pure voice and captivating performances, as well as being a member of The Dovetail Trio. A BBC Performing Arts Fellow and 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominee, Rosie has become more than purely a traditional singer. June 2017 saw the release of her first full-length solo album The Beautiful & The Actual, a collection of old and new folk songs, described by The Guardian as “a classy arrival” ****.

Rosie has toured the UK and Central Canada, both solo and as part of The Dovetail Trio, as well as collaborating and performing with a host of fellow musicians including Emily Portman, Jefferson Hamer, Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and the Andy May Trio. She is currently working with talented accompanists Nicola Beazley (fiddle/cello), Robyn Wallace (melodeon) and Rosie Butler-Hall (fiddle). Link to: A Furlong of Flight

The evening starts at 7.30 pm. Tickets (£13 non-members, £10 club members) can be reserved via the email form on our contact page. Bring your own drinks – teas and coffee available in the kitchen for 50p.

Anthony John Clarke on Friday 8 September

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On Friday 8 September we look forward to welcoming Anthony John Clarke. Described by Fairport Convention as a National Treasure, this singer-songwriter has been an integral part of the UK music scene for 30 years. Originally from Belfast, AJ emerged there with his songs ‘The Broken Years’ and ‘The Only Life Gloria Knows’, but now presents as one of the most humorous and entertaining acts around.

Audiences cannot resist the musical invitations to sing from this true gentleman of the music world. Expect a degree of sentiment, but also songs covering topics from the Man From Uncle to Car Boot Sales, Presidents, Karaoke Nights, Nuns, Grandchildren and how to avoid them (he has at least five), Camping, Bigots, and Hitchhiking. This man is perhaps the funniest at serious songs and the most serious about funny songs. Enjoy the ride with AJ and everyone is advised to bring all necessary medication!

Tickets £13 (£10 club members) can be reserved by emailing via the contact page. Bring your own drinks – teas and coffee available in the kitchen.

Teyr on Friday 9 June

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Described by Folk Radio UK as “High-energy brilliance”, James Patrick Gavin, Dominic Henderson and Tommie Black-Roff are three of the UK’s finest new breed of folk musician. Their folk trio TEYR (‘3’ in the Cornish language) evolved out of London’s thriving session scene; that, by combining bothy ballads, focsle shanties, folk tunes and Irish poetry, their trademark blend of voices and instruments draws links between the many sounds of the British and Celtic Isles, as well as the Nordic countries.

Having honed their craft over the best part of a decade, they thrive on weaving their diverse threads together by using close vocal harmonies, fiddle, uilleann pipes, guitar, low whistle and accordion, to characterise themselves and the influences of the great folk musicians who’ve come before.

To reserve your ticket (£13 non-member, £10 club member) email us via the Contact page. The evening kicks off at 7.30 pm. Bring your own drinks – teas and coffee available in the kitchen.

Christina Alden and Alex Patterson on Friday 5 May

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Christina Alden and Alex Patterson have been playing music since they were children and were both raised in musical households in the Norfolk and Suffolk countryside. They are multi-instrumentalist songwriters and have been working together for seven years. Their music is firmly bedded in the folk tradition of story-telling and their writing often reflects on the relationships between humans and the wild.

Christina and Alex have toured extensively in the UK and Europe, including a 23-date concert hall tour with Show of Hands. They have headlined and played on the main stage at some of the UK’s most prestigious folk festivals. They have written and self-released four albums, composed music for a BBC Radio 4 documentary series and have had over a million streams on Spotify. Their 2021 album ‘Hunter’ was well reviewed and had lots of national airplay: ‘a bright, lively collection of songs that plays so sweetly it evokes the sensation of a summer folk festival’ (The Guardian).

Tickets (£13 non-members, £10 club members) are available for this event by emailing via our contact page. Please note that this event runs from 7.30 to our new finish time of 10.15 pm. Bring your own drinks – teas and coffee are available in the kitchen.

Tania Opland and Mike Freeman on Friday 14 April

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Our guests on Friday 14 April will be Tania Opland and Mike Freeman. After over three years of pandemic inspired inertia, disruption and chaos, Tania and Mike are back on the road for their somewhat postponed 2020 UK tour.

In 30 years on the road together these two have played at art shows, boat shows, festivals, fairs, conventions, venues large and small and events both private and corporate. But most of the time they’ve been travelling back and forth across the Atlantic to perfom throughout the UK and North America bringing a car full of instruments, a jumble of multi-cultural folk influences, and a ton of fun to any audience they can reach.

They have recorded eight albums between them (including two collaborations with best-selling author Anne McCaffrey, in Ireland), and make numerous appearances as studio musicians on other recordings in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.

Expect songs and tunes from or inspired by americana, eurofolk, early music and global influences, sung and played with hammered dulcimer, 5-string violin/viola, recorder, hurdy-gurdy, clarseach, guitar, djembe and whatever else has been rediscovered when everything comes out of storage.

The evening starts at 7.30 pm. Tickets £13 (£10 club members) can be reserved via the email link on our contact page. Bring your own drinks and the kitchen will be open for teas and coffee (50p).

Martyn Wyndham-Read and Iris Bishop on Friday 10 February

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Martyn Wyndham-Read has been involved with folk music for over 40 years. In his late teens he left his mother’s farm in Sussex and headed off, with his guitar, to Australia where he worked on a sheep station in South Australia. It was while he was there that he heard, first hand, the old songs sung by some of the station hands at Emu Springs and he became captivated by these songs and the need to know more of them and where they came from grew.

Martyn moved to Melbourne and became part of the folk song revival there and throughout Australia during the early1960s. Based back in the UK, he has toured worldwide, performing a variety of traditional and contemporary songs. Martyn is accompanied by fantastic box player Iris Bishop: Where Ravens Feed

The evening starts at 7.30 pm. Tickets £13 (£10 club members) can be reserved via the email link on our contact page. Bring your own drinks and the kitchen will be open for teas and coffee (50p).

Song session showcase with The Marisca Trio on Friday 14 October

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Norwich band The Marisca Trio perform an eclectic range of music. Traditional songs from the North East, Music Hall monologues, Shetland jigs, twin fiddle Polkas, French mazurkas and South American tangos are just some of the directions they may head in on any evening; mainly playing piano and fiddles, but sometimes bringing out a guitar, banjo or musical saw.
The trio are Bob Hanna, piano and vocals, and Suzie Hanna and Lucy Ellis on fiddles. Bob started singing in folk clubs in the late sixties up in Shotley Bridge, and he ran the Sheffield University Folk Club in the early seventies. Suzie and Lucy are sisters and have been playing fiddles together since childhood, making their debut at Studio 4 in the 1960s. They all used to play in the Oily Rag Band in Norwich in the eighties, and Suzie played in an all girl country band Way Out West in the nineties. They reckon Bob is Norwich’s answer to Violet Tulloch, so prepare to tap your feet!
This event starts at 7 pm and is a song session showcase. There will be opportunities for participation in the first half of the evening, so do bring instruments and voices. There is no charge, but there will be a tip jar and raffle to help with expenses. Bring your own drinks, and there will be teas and coffee in the kitchen (50 p). Shirley’s donation box will be on the counter for any contributions that you can spare for the local food bank.