Bob Wood – 9th August

Irvine Folk Club have been nominated for Folk Club of the Year 2015. Please vote for us. If you go into projects.handsupfortrad.scot you should be able to vote. Voting stops on the 22nd November. Support your local club which is preparing to celebrate its 50th Anniversary next year.

Here is a direct link to the voting page: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/tradawards2015

The guests at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday 11th November are Maria Dunn with Shannon Johnson and all reviews and information suggest that the Irvine audience are in for an excellent night. Both are based in Alberta in Canada and are in the UK for a month-long tour.
Maria Dunn was born in Scotland but moved to Ontario with her parents as a young child. She is now based in Edmonton, Alberta. She has five CDs to her name – all of them produced by Shannon Johnson, one of Western Canada’s most-in-demand record producers. Maria is a singer and also plays guitar, accordion and whistles. She honed her accordion skills accompanying fiddlers at weekly pub sessions. Her playing can meld folk, bluegrass and country.
Maria also has a formidable songwriting talent. She writes about the lives of working men and women and hopes that her songs will give a richer understanding of history and make for a more compassionate take on today’s world.
Appearing alongside Maria is Shannon Johnson. She began studying violin aged three and was playing professionally at eight! Since then, numerous fiddling awards at national and international levels have come her way. Shannon also has an excellent voice and is said to have a raucous sense of humour.
It’s strongly recommended that you are at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday 11th November to hear Maria Dunn and Shannon Johnson. The Club starts at 8pm in Vineburgh Community Centre in Quarry Road and it’s BYOB.
Elsewhere, on Friday 20th November in the University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel a concert will mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Muir –‘the father of Scottish democracy’. It is part of a series of events celebrating the life and times of a remarkable man. A contemporary of Burns, Thomas Muir was transported to Botany Bay for 14years for advocating universal suffrage and parliamentary reform. Dick Gaughan, Rallion and the Kirkintilloch Male Voice Choir are some of those appearing. Tickets are £15 from www.thomasmuir.co.uk/thomasmuir250

Kent DuChaine the nomadic Bluesman from Minnesota is back at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday 28th October and this will be welcome news for his many fans in these parts. His abundant energy and enthusiasm means there is no chance of nodding off when he is playing. Kent’s guitar playing is exceptional and combined with the power of his voice and his passion for the Blues means it’s another night not to be missed at the Irvine Club.

Kent’s potted history is: born in Wayzata, Minnesota; formed a garage band at 13; and it was reading Eric Clapton album notes led him to check out a Robert Johnson album at his local library. So taken aback was Kent by the album, that he almost wore it out listening to it. The music of the Mississippi Delta had captured him.

In 1969 Kent learned to play slide guitar and ten years later he found his beloved Leadbessie – ‘a beat-up 1934 National Steel Guitar’ as he describes her. It’s kitted out with extra heavy strings to cope with his ferocious style and there is now a whole lot of gaffer tape on Leadbessie as well! The name Leadbessie is an affectionate amalgam of Blues legends Leadbelly and Bessie Smith.

Kent lives to spread the Blues and has clocked up countless thousands of miles and close on 100 overseas tours from his South Georgia base in the USA. Songs about Kent’s youth, his adventures, family and friends are linked by frank anecdotes in true troubadour style.

He always brings something of his own interpretation to covers of standards such as Little Red Rooster, St James Infirmary, I’ll Be True To You or Trouble in Mind. His intricate, finger-picking slide-guitar and use of his hand as a handhammer beat, all contribute to the sheer intensity of a Kent DuChaine performance.

Wednesday 28th October is a night for Blues fans to enjoy at Irvine Folk Club with Kent DuChaine. The Club meets in Vineburgh Community Centre in Quarry Road, starts at 8pm and it’s BYOB.

Steve Dan Mills is a new name to Irvine Folk Club and he makes his debut appearance on Wednesday 14th October. He is an American singer and songwriter and was a co-founder of Speed 35 – one of the first folk-rock bands in the American South.
A native of Milwaukee in Wisconsin, he eventually settled in Nashville, Tennessee, began a solo career in the mid ‘70s and did the rounds of the journeyman singer for a number of years. He has a rich and powerful voice and there’s a chance that you may have heard him as he is frequently asked to narrate documentaries and also does voice-overs for commercials – listen out for Ben & Jerry’s or Gatorade!
His vocals and songwriting talent is best heard on songs like ‘Inside out lookin’ in’ – taken from a CD of the same name: a song about the pain of being misunderstood. His songwriting has been described as reflective, sensitive, moving and healing – songs that can illicit tears and laughter and also instil hope. He accompanies himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. Having moved to London a couple of years ago, Steve Dan Mills regularly tours the length and breadth of the UK.
On Wednesday 14th October, Steve Dan Mills will be at Irvine Folk Club in Vineburgh Community Centre in Quarry Road. The Club starts at 8pm and it’s BYOB. Floor singers and Storytellers are always welcome !

I thought club members would appreciate a reminder about the Concert and Album launch for Fraser & Ian Bruce – Mrs Bruce’s Boys – this Saturday, 10th October at Adelaides, Bath St, GLASGOW, 7.30. Tickets and details from www.trad.org.uk

Fraser used to be an MC at Irvine Folk Club and did a great night at the club recently. On that night, his brother Ian played guitar, but for this evening as Mrs Bruce’s Boys, you get the full power of Fraser and Ian together.  A little bit of as they were then, a bit of as they are now – and a hint of things to come.

Hungrytown is a new name to play at Irvine Folk Club. They are from across The Pond in the US of A and are the special guests at the Irvine Club on Wednesday 30th September.
Rebecca Hall & Ken Anderson are Hungrytown and this duo and couple have been singing full-time for over 10 years. They met in New York when Rebecca was a Jazz singer and Ken was a Drummer with a variety of Garage Bands – neither of them had sung or had much interest in Folk music. It was when a close and mutual friend died and left her collection of Folk music albums and her Guitar to them that their interest was kindled. Inspired by stories of real life contained in trad ballads, Rebecca started writing songs and she and Ken began singing round the Coffee Houses. Some years later, she and Ken quit their day jobs and moved to Vermont to start a career as full-time touring folk musicians.
Hungrytown are described as playing music that lies somewhere in between folk rock and old time folk with shades of bluegrass! What is known is that Rebecca has a fine Alto voice and she writes the majority of their material. Ken is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, arranges music and also does vocals. The couple’s vocal harmonies are often highlighted in reviews.
Rebecca and Ken have three Albums to their name – Hungrytown in 2008 was their debut release, followed by Any Forgotten Thing in 2011 and Further West was released this year.
Hungrytown are on the road touring in North America, Europe and New Zealand for at least six months of each year. They are currently on a tour of the UK which includes the Irvine Club and from the UK they will play in The Netherlands and Germany before heading home.
Be at Irvine Folk Club in Vineburgh Community Centre on Wednesday 30th September for 8pm to hear Hungrytown. The Club is BYOB.

The Club flyer shows Steve Dan Mills as Thursday 14th October. 14th October is of course a Wednesday and the Club always meets on a Wednesday. A simple printer error.

Tommy Sands. Just mention his name and the eyes light up of those who have heard his songs. Tommy is the very welcome guest at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday 16th September. He is doing only five Scottish dates on this tour and Irvine is very fortunate to have secured one of them.
The term ‘internationally renowned’ is a term used a great deal, but it really does apply to Tommy Sands. Lines like ‘sow the seeds of justice’ from Tommy’s acclaimed song ‘Daughters and Sons’ led the late Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and Nobel Prizewinner for Literature, to write – ‘You feel you can trust the singer as well as the song’.
Born in Mayobridge in Northern Ireland, Tommy Sands is a singer, a songwriter, radio broadcaster and social activist. As part of the well-known Sands Family, he played in venues from the Carnegie Hall to Moscow’s Olympic Stadium. As a solo artist, Tommy engages audiences with his songs and stories and his charm. He weaves legend, humour and thought-provoking messages into his songs – many of his songs are about helping shape a better world. His passion is peace and he is often described as The Bard of Peace. The University of Nevada awarded him an Honorary Doctorate for his outstanding work as a musician and ambassador for peace and understanding.
Tommy is involved in peace concerts, lectures, school programmes, workshops and in all of them he shares his songs and their message of tolerance and peace. He is the man who wrote classics such as ‘The Music of Healing’, ‘The Age of Uncertainty’ and ‘Who Knows Where The Wind Blows’.
On Wednesday 16th September at the Irvine Club, Tommy will captivate the audience with his musical skills and his songs of encouragement, enlightened ideas and the joy of living. Make sure you are in the audience at Vineburgh Community Centre in Quarry Road. The Club starts at 8pm and it’s BYOB.

The eagle-eyed will have noticed I put the wrong date on Fifty Shades of Blue.
The club meets on the 2nd not the 4th. Brain hasn’t quite recovered from Marymass. Sorry!