17th March 2005

Another great and busy night. Everyone just keeps coming back for more. It's super.

In the spotlight tonight were Old English - purveyors of Traditional English music. And what a good night we had,  with cries at the end of the evening for 'more'.  But, we had run out of time... again!

1 We had a fine start with Kevin Robinson singing 'Easy Rock' accompanied by Dave Donohoe. Then John Campbell joined him for 'Knocking on Heaven's Door'. Thanks, all of you.	2 Next up was Alex who was feeling a little under the weather but was persuaded to play! He delighted us again with 'La Paloma' and the 'Romanza'.
3 In a reflective mood Jack sang two sad songs. Marty Robbins' 'Lord You Gave Me A Mountain' ("it always gets to me" said Jack) followed by 'The Cowboys Lament' with some yodelling thrown in for good measure. Lovely.	4 Jim next with two of his own songs and his blue guitar.  'Freedom' all about George Bush's re-election followed by a new song 'The Chancer From The North Of The Tyne' to the tune of 'Dark As A Dungeon'.

5 Spotlight In honour of St Patrick's day Old English began their 1st set with an Irish song, 'On The Bridge of Tomb'. They followed this with 'Sauve', 'The Labouring Men', then a love song which we missed the title of. Next was 'The Bellringing Song' with some deft guitar work from Pete. They finished the first set each doing a solo song - Al did 'Rocking The Cradle' and then Pete with his new classical guitar.

After the break Val reminded everyone of the pending changes... Folk Bar refurbishment, and the fact that we'll be charging a whopping £1 entry fee from April onwards. It's still great value - a lot less than the price of a pint.	6 Ray Derrick started the 2nd half with his "grumpy old man song" 'It Comes And Goes'. Then he sang 'The Ash Hopper Boats' - the winning song from last year's Morpeth Gathering Songwriting Competition. Will he win this year too?
7 More 'folky' than usual, John Campbell  sang 'Ballad of Springhill' about mining in Nova Scotia. He then returned to his roots with Jessie Fuller's 'You Gimme The Blues' which he said proves that blues is happier than folk! Great stuff as usual.	8  Then it was time for Tony Hamblin who was in fine form with 'The Rambling Sailor' followed by an unaccompanied  'You Won't Get Me Down In The Mine'. The mining theme was now set.
9 Dave Donohoe continued in mining vein (no pun intended) with a poem he had set to music. 'Death Of Our Village' is about the mines in West Sleekburn. He finished off with 'Abeline'. Super!	10 "This is my paranoia song" said  George Rosenthal who sang 'Everybody's Talking At Me'. Next he gave us the Alan Hull song 'One More Bottle Of Wine'. Great stuff.

11 Pat began with Leonard Cohen's 'Bernadette' and just when we thought it was safe...  another mining song! 'Redwing Blackbird' is a traditional American mining song. Smashing Pat, thank you.

12 Another fine singer songwriter, Dave Anderson was next with 'Take A Little Time', a beautiful song he had written for two friends going through a very difficult patch. He followed this with 'Where Do You Go'. We look forward to more of Dave's great writing and performing.

13 Spotlight Then, back with more traditional harmony, Old English started their 2nd spot with another Irish song, and a medley of 3 shanties. They finished the night in great style with 'Up The Row' (pronounced in true Geordie accent as 'Up The Raa'), 'Sorry The Day I was Married' and finished with the classic end-of-night 'Wild Mountain Thyme', the room resounding to the swelling choruses. There were shouts  for "More" but alas we were out of time and 'Thyme'...

1 spotlight act,12 floor spots, 34 songs, poems and tunes - our highest number yet! It was a great night thoroughly enjoyed by all. Don't forget... Singers, Musicians & Poets on the 1st Thursday of every month, and more of the same but with extended Spotlight sets on the 3rd Thursday.

Thank you all -  what a smashing night... what a smashing club... a great place to be.

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