BIOGRAPHIES OF COMING GUESTS

Here is something about the second album by these three, released in 2011:-

This album chosen by fRoots for their selected playlist in 2011 and forming part of fRoot's whopping 90cd prize competition, brings together the musical skills of , Chris ‘Yorkie’ Bartram (songs, percussion) Neil Brookes (fiddle) and Tony Weatherall (melodeon). Neil and Tony had recorded their earlier instrumental CD The Whitchurch Hornpipe (for Wildgoose Records WGS350CD), which featured 19th century dance tunes from the North Shropshire manuscripts of the Hughes family and John Clews, and were keen to continue to revive more material from this wonderful collection. Some of these tunes are now finding their way into the repertoire of English musicians from other parts of the country and the title track is now used by a team of Molly dancers from East Anglia for one of their dances!
Chris had also made a very fine CD (on Coughing Dog Music, COF0504) of unaccompanied songs from his unique repertoire of traditional material. It was therefore a natural step to join forces and produce an album that combined these separate talents in an entertaining, highly infectious mix of songs and tunes.
On this album Neil and Tony have unearthed more great dance tunes, rare hornpipes and stirring quicksteps used by militia groups from the region. Chris sings his own versions of both well-known and rarely heard songs, some of which are accompanied by Neil and Tony, and he augments the tunes with his distinctive percussion sound. The aim is to give a flavour of Shropshire’s heritage in a style that is refreshing, informal and full of humour, portraying the best of the traditional music that has been performed in pubs and dance halls for many years. The concept of this collection has given rise to a formidable band that is equally at home on the concert stage, in folk clubs, pub sessions, in leading workshops and in playing for dancing.
Since the release of this album we have received some outstanding reviews of it, below is just a sample.
'The well programmed mix of songs and tunes is an utter delight; if there is going to be a better album of English dance and songs in 2011, it will have to be amazingly good. This album sets the standard.' Vic Smith - 'The Sussex Folk Diary' May 2011
'New Midsummer's Day - even the title makes you feel good; just wait until you hear the CD...A thoroughly enjoyable CD that wills you to bask in the reflected rays of the sun on a new Midsummer's day, even in the depths of winter.' John Bentham - 'English Dance & Song magazine' June 2011
'I really must say how much pleasure it gives me that records like this are being made in the 21st century - only ten years ago I wouldn't have believed it possible... Every piece they play is a pure delight, and I'm at a bit of a loss as to which track to use as a sound clip. I suppose I'll let them decide, and play you a bit of the title track, New Midsummer's Day / Hunting the Rabbit. Lovely! You can (and should) buy this great CD from the 101 Company's website.' Rod Stradling - 'Musical Traditions' March 2011

"An English Emmylou..." Justin Currie-Del Amitri

"Dreamy, Fantastic voice…" Peter Buck-REM ‘

"Achingly expressive…." Maverick Magazine

"A favourite voice of mine…I love to hear her sing…" Shirley Collins

Autumn 2011 sees the release of Naomi Bedford’s 2nd album, ‘Tales from the Weeping Willow’, a collection of dark songs, laments & murder ballads. Combining duets & original song contributions from Paul Heaton & Justin Currie; musical contributions from such disparate talents as the wonderful nu-folk star Alisdair Roberts, blues guitar master Kris Dollimore & producer Gerry Diver, the album reworks key folk & country styles to showcase the full range of Naomi’s haunting vocals….
Entirely self financed, with all contributors working for the love, ‘Tales from the Weeping Willow’ finally captures the essence of this authentic & original English vocalist after 20 years of an eclectic musical life.
Born into a family immersed in music, Naomi learnt to sing some of these murderous ballads from the age of 5. Her father, Richard Bedford, edited some of the landmark pop videos of the late 70’s & 80’s including ‘Come On Eileen’, ‘Undercover of the Night’, ‘Smooth Operator’, ‘The Great Rock n’Roll Swindle’ & ‘Poison Arrow’…
At night the family’s small Putney flat would reverberate to the sights & sounds of the new; cult movies showing in the living room, Julien Temple & Don Letts holding forth in the kitchen; The Clash, Dolly Parton & Hip Hop blasting from the bedrooms….To fund her illicit gig going & nights at the Mud Club, a teenage Naomi would often baby sit for her downstairs neighbour…a young guitarist called Andy Summers. His famous boiler suit now hangs next to her Cath Kidston dresses…
In the 90’s Naomi continued to form bands, follow bands & party. She also joined the Party, becoming increasingly politicised by the Thatcher/Major Tory administration. A period of activism in Militant was soon followed by a major role in the Anti Poll Tax Movement where she co-ordinated Artist Liaison for the great Hyde Park demonstrations…
In 2000 Orbital heard her singing at a Brighton party & co-opted her to sing & co-write their Top 20 hit ‘Funny Break’. With that record she appeared on Jools Holland’s show alongside REM and across the national media but once again she soon changed paths; first to explore India & then to raise a family…
In 2007, re-enthused by the folk & country songs she had first loved as a child, Naomi re-entered the musical sphere with a Mick Glossop produced album ‘Dark They Were And Golden Eyed’. The beginnings of her unique fusion of English & Americana roots were evident, capturing the enthusiastic attention of Bonnie Prince Billy with her cover of his song ‘Riding’…
Now finally comes ‘Tales From the Weeping Willow’ – a full realisation of her talent & a beguiling new take on this timely & timeless music. Four centuries of music in 52 minutes of magic….not to be missed.
Paul's instruments are Guitar, Bouzouki, Mandolin and Keyboards and he has been a long-term member of one of the country's leading folk-rock bands, "The Men They Couldn't Hang".

Born in Virginia, the third of four children, Judy grew up with singing from both parents and a love for music. “We sang at the table, we sang washing dishes, we sang riding in the car, they sang lullabies to us.” Informal singing went beyond the immediate family: Judy’s father called singing squares for neighborhood dances and played songs on the piano by ear; Judy’s mother made sure singing was a big part of the scout troops she led; extended family gatherings often featured evening sings.Judy’s sense of whimsy and joy of singing surely date from her earliest years.
A solid appreciation for music and singing goes back further yet. Generations of Judy’s family have attended Oberlin College where proximity to the conservatory of music ensured plenty of personal experience with good music and musicians. Though she never really knew them, Judy’s ancestors included preachers, teachers, and elocutionists; if there is a gene that predisposes one to love delivering a good story, Judy has it.
As she took her place in the folk community, Judy began researching the songs she loved and discovered the wealth of written, recorded, and personal sources for traditional songs and ballads. “I sang with friends at Scout camp, and Oberlin College, but lacked a communal setting for sharing the songs until I joined the Folklore Society of Greater Washington.” Through FSGW Judy met other folks who love the old songs. They could get excited talking about variants and sources. Her respect for traditional music was already strong, but continued to deepen as she started visiting old bookstores and the Library of Congress to learn from the many rich collections of traditional songs and ballads. Judy’s idea of a good time is to spend a Saturday night, or better yet a whole weekend with friends singing songs and ballads that have been memorized and polished. “The folk community is wide; we’ve enjoyed swaps and sing-arounds both at home and wherever we travel.”
Judy began performing professionally in the early 1990’s when people she met at song swaps began asking her to sing at their festival’s and coffeehouses. “My self confidence grew as I realized that there are a lot of people who love the songs I sing, and that I get such joy from sharing them with those people.” In England, Sara Grey introduced Judy to the British folk community at the Whitby Festival in ‘97 and David Jones at The National in ’96. When Judy decided to start touring in 1998 she did so in the UK as well as in the USA right from the start. She has quickly come to be well respected on both sides of the Atlantic as a singer and propagator of the old songs. Her joy in singing, deep respect for the tradition, and sense of humor delight her listeners.
Judy has four full length CDs. Her first CD of unaccompanied traditional songs and ballads, “ If You Sing Songs…” was released in 1998, followed two years later by “Far From the Lowlands”. “Tenting Tonight: Songs of the Civil War” was released in 2007, and “Lincoln's America” in 2009.

One of the relatively rare occasions when we will be operating without guest performers. Two of our excellent resident singer/musicians, Will Duke (concertinas) and Dan Quinn (melodeons) will be leading an evening that is a mixture of tune playing with all musicians welcome to come and join in tunes which will be mainly from the common repertoire of tunes that are played at tune sessions in the Lewes area. Participating musicians will be asked to take their turn in leading tunes or to offer one of their "party pieces".
Singers, poets, solo dancers and declaimers of monologues will also be wecome to contribute to the precedings.

Traditional Irish and American songs presented in a warm and beguiling way by north London husband-and-wife duo Webb and Hall, ably assisted by virtuoso bluesman Hindley.
Peta Webb, whose individual vocal style was influenced by Irish traditional singers (especially Margaret Barry, Sarah Makem, and Sarah and Rita Keane), released a solo album, I have wandered in Exile, in 1973. She recorded with Scottish singer Alison McMorland in 1980. In the early 1980s, she and Tony Engle were members of Alan Ward's Tex-Mex band The Armadillos. Webb has recorded with the Watersons, was part of Sisters Unlimited in the 1980s and 90s, and has formed her own band, Webb's Wonders. She performs as a resident singer at the Musical Traditions folk club in London; she is also an Assistant Librarian of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at Cecil Sharp House, headquarters of the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
Here is a review of their album by Georgina Boyes:-
Peta Webb and Ken Hall's artistic ability and warm, informative approach their visible enthusiasm for singing - have deservedly won many friends and admirers. Cover pictureAs Close As Can Be is the first album of their ten year partnership and its collection of fine variants of traditional songs and more recently written material offers much to delight their existing audience as well as providing a welcome introduction for new listeners. It also poses a number of challenging questions for current thinking in the Folk Revival in England - but more of that later.
Entirely unaccompanied, the album has some gem-like individual tracks. Peta Webb's performance of the The Rich Man's Daughter is a gripping and authoritative piece of storytelling in the finest ballad tradition. In contrast, her simple and understated singing in Scarborough Fair Town conveys the real sense of love and unaccountable loss that transcended the stereotyped language of street ballads and made them so meaningful to their performers and audiences. It's a fitting remembrance of Sam Larner, who was its source. There may be more resonant voices around, but whether raised in praise in Fred McCormick's hymn to the Bacon Butty or leading us through the classic narrative of The Holland Handkerchief , the performances here demonstrate what an under-rated solo singer Ken Hall is.
As a member of the generation whose idea of a boy band was The Everleys I think Webb and Hall's decision to draw on the American tradition of brother singing duos for their two-part harmonies is particularly appealing. Webb's arrangements of Poison in a Glass of Wine and the genial Yodel It Over Again show the pair's different vocal qualities to great advantage, whilst their appreciation of the interplay of traditional and art lyricism is well demonstrated in The Seasons, a poem by the Irish writer, Joseph Campbell to which the Northamptonshire singer Jeff Wesley added a completing fourth verse. Perhaps the most telling use of their two voices though, is on Frank O Connor and Philip King's I Am Stretched On Your Grave. The poetic imagery of this translation from the Irish always seemed sadly outweighed by its overblown histrionics, but here misgivings evaporate before powerful singing that makes strikingly good use of harmony.
The values that underlie all these performances are clearly stated - Peta Webb and Ken Hall have listened for years to traditional singers learning their craft as directly as possible. This fundamental principle has many implications. Despite widespread adoption of aspects of traditional repertoire within the Folk Revival, the decision to choose source singers as stylistic models has been far less common. Once the trained voices associated with English Folk Dance and Song Society's approach to folksong had been abandoned, controversy about the way traditional songs should be sung raged within the growing Folk Club movement of the later 1950s and '60s and has never been fully resolved. Conscious that the immediate future of English folk-song is in the hands, or rather the mouths, of the revivalists rather than the survivalists, A L Lloyd wrote in a 1952 review of a record by Ewan MacColl:
A growing number of singers are listening carefully to recordings of live performances of genuine traditional singers, and trying to absorb and reproduce the characteristics of folk-song in its workaday clothes. They try to sing in a style which is acceptable as a performance to ordinary audiences, and which, at the same time, stays as close as possible to the traditional manner.
But almost simultaneously he was also claiming to have witnessed performances by a lady MacColl and a male Isla Cameron . From its earliest days, the Folk Revival was at work creating its own styles - and in general, enthusiasts found them preferable to the historical styles of traditional dancers or source singers. Even today when Topic releases and re-releases, Veteran's stalwart proselytising and this magazine's hi-tech cottage industry have made the voices of traditional singers more accessible than at any point in the past hundred years, Martin Carthy and June Tabor have inadvertently influenced more vocal performances within the Folk Revival than Louie Hooper or Harry Cox. Webb and Hall are among the very few nationally known performers who so effectively embody the combination of performance and workaday style of the source singer that Lloyd saw as a goal. Unlike the doctrinaire purist, they do not pretend that the Folk Revival and modern communications do not exist. But reflecting the diversity of their own backgrounds and the availability of models from English, Irish and North American sources today, they have incorporated and developed a way of singing that grows out of traditional styles, making them a natural aspect of their performance. And the Folk Revival is infinitely the richer for it.
As Close As Can Be therefore has many excellent qualities. It catches its singers at the height of their powers and as solos or in duet, the individual songs are beautifully sung and recorded with a directness that is exemplary. But the totality of the album is - for me at least - a problem. Source singers don't (yet) generally make and produce their own albums, where it exists, their part in the structuring of a recorded product is at best, advisory. This is not the case here. Webb and Hall are appropriately in control of the process from studio to notes and production of artwork. But their choice of songs seems aimed to mirror contemporary collector-producer's attempts to show the breadth of traditional singers unfettered inclusion of traditional and popular, new and old rather than their own engaging performances. It is as if Webb and Hall - two talented and thoughtful Revival musicians - have consciously made a record like those collectors produce from the repertoire of source singers, rather than creating a programme from their commendably undoctrinaire body of known songs. And in this sense, As Close As Can Be is not so much an incorporation of tradition as a reflection of how other people do it. It's a thoroughly welcome, but elusively incomplete, project.