Music

I have always had an interest in music (except punk!) of all kinds, my mother played the piano and my father loved to sing, they were both members of the operatic society when we lived in Albrighton, so I was brought up on a mixture of Gilbert and Sullivan and the Messiah! I did "O" level music at school which widened my knowledge of the classical side of the subject. When I left home and was introduced to activities like drinking real ale, I came into contact with folk music, in particular the Irish variety.

Jill and I love to sit in the garden on a summer's evening taking in the abiance with a glass of wine and some music quietly playing in the background. To achieve this I installed some external speakers in our favourite arbour connected to the kitchen hi-fi, so we can even listen when its pouring with rain!

Folk clubs are popular around the West Midlands and Shropshire, so there is no lack of places to go where I can indulge my interest (both of them!). There are several clubs and pubs around the Bridgnorth area which have regular folk nights, and I can be found most Sunday nights in the Bassa Villa, which is down by the river (nice beer garden in the summer) , bashing a bodhrán and rattling a tambourine with the regular band - Geoff Bodenham, Jon Hayward and Friends.

As I have already mentioned, although I am particularly fond of the music of Ireland and Scotland, I have discovered that there is an amazing variety of information about all types of folk music on the web. Some people have gone to extraordinary trouble to provide us with lyrics and tunes for our enjoyment.

Here are just a few of the pages that I have found, I applaud their efforts and I hope that you will find them as interesting and useful as I have.....

The Drowsy Maggie home page - featuring Andy Jones - Andy used to be the regular fiddle player in our Sunday night ensemble until commitments with Drowsy Maggie meant that he had to give it up. Jon Hayward stepped into the breach and has been with the band ever since.

Fairport Convention's site - great band, still going strong - Maartin Allcock used to come and jam with us on a Sunday night until he moved to Harlech - nice guy.

The Flook website, featuring Jonjo Kelly, bodhrán player extraordinaire....

The homepage of Cherish the Ladies, our Transatlantic cousins

Richard Robinson's Tunebook

Mark Gregory's collection of Australian folk songs

Lesley Nelson's folk music site

The index of the Digital tradition Folk Song Database at the Mudcat Cafe.

Tunes at Ceolas - check out their home page

Browse a list of British and European folk festivals, courtesy of Folk Roots magazine,

Here is an extensive list of links compiled by Bob Taverner sent to me by Matt "Mr Morris" Swindlehurst.

You will find that there are links to other sources from each of the above pages, providing even more material for your perusal.

Following from my interest in the bodhrán, here are a few links...

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Page updated 30 June 2005