Dear all,
Lots to tell you about from my gigs so far but before I do – I am running a workshop as part of my tour. An all day workshop on clawhammer banjo run by me at the beautiful Gleanings Rural Study Centre in Shropshire. Details can be found on their website: http://gleaningscentre.co.uk/events/. I’ll be going from the very beginning through some more advanced techniques so whatever your ability, do come along.
So then my gigs…Bury and Durham I covered in my previous outing but since then I’m three gigs further down on my UK tour. Baldock Folk Club was a fun gig, always a nice and receptive crowd at this one and this was no exception. It also has the remarkable bonus of a pub landlord who by coincidence is also from Stafford who has an extensive selection of very good real ale and phenomenally expensive whiskey with which he is very generous. I enjoyed that night.
Next up came a trip down to Exeter to see my cousin and I had a bloody marvellous time as we watched ridiculous youtube videos, drank a bit and generally had a bloody good time. From there I headed to Plymouth for my first ever gig in the city and what a gig it was! God bless the B Bar for a cracking night which you can tell from the ludicrous length of my set. Special thanks to Steve Brown and Mark Wiggins for drumming up so much support and thanks to you all in Plymouth for such a great night. Nice noodles too and Steve and I drank long into the night while enjoying an excellent swing band called Company B at Annabelle’s.
London provided the venue on Monday night at the marvellous and reliably excellent Green Note in Camden. I was joined again by Patsy Reid and Nic Zuppardi. We really enjoyed the trio experience and would like to do it more and the audience seemed to have a great time at this gig and they, like me, enjoyed the fantastic support act Captain’s Biscuits featuring some exquisite harmonies and lovely guitar playing. This was a truly great night for me so I thank you all and especially nice to see my first cousin once removed (I think I got that right…) Sarah and her husband Stuart.
This week I’m off to Stourbridge tomorrow to play Stourbridge Folk Club at Katie Fitzgerald’s then Montacute in Somerset on Friday at the village hall (this was a belter last year!) before heading to Wotton-under-Edge on Saturday to play Under The Edge Arts.
Cracking overheard conversation on Monday. At Camden Town tube station as I was heading up the escalator on the other side going down were a couple of schoolboys. This was all I heard ‘imagine Imogen right but like less fat and wearing a bin liner’. Intriguing.