At the Joiners Arms, in Market Place, Bideford, every Thursday from 8pm.
Singers, Musicians, Poets, Storytellers and audience are welcome at this friendly club. We have occasional guest nights.
For more information - Hilary Bix – 01237-470792
Known as a club that encourages singers and musicians, we have seen beginners take their first faltering steps in folk music and then turn into performers able to perform on a national stage. Our guest nights have featured some fantastic performers, Nancy Kerr & James Fagan, Dave Webber & Anni Fentiman, John Kirkpatrick, Pete Morton, Cloudstreet, Pete Coe, Chris Coe, and Steve Knightley, its quite a list and apologies to all those great artistes we have not mentioned.
Guests (all other nights are singarounds)
Andy Clarke & Steve Tyler 23th Feb – 8pm
Andy Clarke has a repertoire of mainly traditional song from the British Isles including the South West of England.
His reputation as a strong performer continues to grow with increasing appearances at folk festivals and folk clubs across England.
Stephen Tyler began playing the hurdy gurdy in 1993, adding this instrument to the sound of the recently formed medieval music ensemble Misericordia, which he founded with Anne Marie Summers. He also plays Gothic Harp, Cittern and Citole
Judy Cook – 29th March 8pm
We welcome back Judy Cook to Bideford and really look forward to another great concert night. Judy brings a powerful voice, a great- unaccompanied style and a deep respect
for tradition to her performances of a huge repertoire of (mostly) American songs and ballads.
Judy’s singing is marked by a command of narrative that pulls the audience in to really understand what the song is about. Folks come away from a Judy Cook concert with fresh insight into old songs and the warm feeling of having joined with others in plenty of choruses and harmonies. They take with them musical memories: the flirtatious charm of a young maid’s teasing love song, the gripping story of a classic ballad, the exhilaration of a rousing gospel, the silly delight of an animal song, and many more.
Judy lifts the spirit and entertains us with programs drawn from her vast and varied repertoire of traditional songs and ballads from the English speaking world – American songs from North Carolina’s Outer Banks to the Southern Appalachian Mountains; from the Ozarks up to New Hampshire, Maine and eastern Canada; and across the Atlantic to songs from England and Scotland.
Jim Causley- 19th April 8pm
Young Devon folk singer Jim Causley became involved with traditional music from an early age via his family, the local folk scene and an historical tradition of wassailing in his home village of Whimple, East Devon.He has become renowned for his warm, rich and mature singing voice (quoted as being akin to the fruitiest of real ales!) his natural gift for interpreting song and his wry and cheeky stage presence.
He studied Traditional Music at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and his recording debut came in 2005 as part of Martyn Wyndham-Read’s Song Links project, which linked English Traditional songs with their American variants. Later that year he recorded the first of two solo albums with WildGoose Records and was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Causley also received great acclaim for his work as part of a cappella trio; The Devil’s Interval. Most recently he has been collaborating with Essex instrumental quartet Mawkin as Mawkin: Causley and touring with Scottish Musician John McCusker as part of the Celtic Connections/ Cambridge Folk Festival commissioned project.
Duncan McFarlane – 24th May 8pm
We welcome Duncan to Bideford and look forward to a really entertaining evening – the reviews below say it all.
‘Duncan has an obvious feel for the tradition and a deep-rooted belief that it has a place in the current folk scene, aspects which he puts across with lively showmanship. His own songs show a canny grasp of, and response to, the tradition, while his intrinsic seriousness of intent and approach is often laced with a healthy irreverence that happens to be hugely entertaining.’ (Living Tradition) – ‘Classy English Folk Guitar, eminently listenable vocals and great songs, both traditional and contemporary. (Mike Raven) Duncan’s a punchy guitarist in the ‘English folk’ style and offers a set about equally split between his own songs, other people’s and traditional.’ (fRoots)
‘Stylistically, Duncan’s guitar technique falls very much within the Carthy/Nic Jones school, with a strong rhythmic impetus that’s infectious in the extreme. His singing has real character too.’ (Traditional Music Maker)
John Conolly – 18th October 8pm
John Conolly is an internationally-respected songwriter who has based his style firmly in the folk tradition. His finely-crafted songs are performed with warmth, good humour and lilting accompaniments on guitar and melodeon.
Many of John’s songs have a tang of the sea, inherited from his upbringing on the east coast of England, where his grandfather and great-grandfather were boatbuilders on the banks of the river Humber. His best- known composition, the classic Fiddlers’ Green, has the ring of a true folk ballad, and has often been taken for a traditional song.
John Conolly’s songs have been performed and recorded by many well-known artistes – people like The Dubliners, Malinky, the McCalmans, Roy Bailey, Stormalong John, The Yetties and George Hamilton IV,to name but a few – but there’s a special buzz in hearing them sung by the composer : join here on your very own trip to Fiddlers’ Green . . .
Tom McConville & Dave Newey 15th November 8pm
This duo are internationally reknowned for their fiery, hearstopping performances. Tom, who won BBC Folk Musician of the Year in 2009, is truly the most original fiddle player in the UK, blending traditional music from his home town of Newcastle with Irish, American and Scottish influences, creating a sound that has jazz, folk, bluegrass and classical influence. He has appeared alongside Stephane Graphelli, Barbara Dickson and Lindsifarne, and recorded with Richard Thompson and continues to be in huge demand. Seth Lakeman and Kate Rusby count him as a huge influence – indeed, it was Seth who presented Tom with his award.
David’s guitar playing is unique and unrivalled, encompassing both the flatpick and fingerstyle techniques with power, fluency and control. David often blurs the boundaries between Acoustic and Electric styles, coaxing out sounds normally associated with rock and roll, jazz and country. He himself is a 2003 Radio 2 young folk award finalist.