Category Archives: Guests

Coming guests for May

14 May: Hase Waits

The trio’s name is formed of two words – ‘Hase’ being the name in the Domesday Book of the town that the band was formed (Hessle) and ‘Waits’ the name the town musicians were called in medieval times.
Hannah & Heather, the sisters, draw inspiration from Celtic music. Growing up surrounded by musical influence from their mother Liz, they developed a profound love for traditional music, by attending sessions in pubs, playing with the family band ‘Shiftipig’ or playing the Great Highland Bagpipes in ‘The City of Hull Pipe Band’. Their expressive playing styles capture the essence of the old while injecting a fresh vitality into the new.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWlLryrhwgA
Website: https://www.hasewaits.com/about

28 May: Wayward Jane

Wayward Jane’s music is a modern interpretation of American folk and Old Time traditions, blending roots music with fresh, nuanced arrangements and original songs. Their rich sound features fiddle, clawhammer banjo, double bass, guitar, wooden flute and close vocal harmonies.
Wayward’s live shows have a joyful energy, expressing the fine musicianship and playful chemistry of the four musicians and friends. Ranging in mood from bouncing, energetic tunes to tender and soulful songs, Wayward Jane tend to leave audiences with a glow in their hearts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWP9O_2n67s

https://www.waywardjane.com/the-band

Our next guest, 9 April: Brian Peters

Brian Peters is one of the English folk scene’s great all-rounders, a compelling singer and an outstanding multi-instrumentalist on both squeezeboxes and strings. Brian is one of this country’s best anglo-concertina players, is just as good on melodeon and plays guitar to a high standard, recently adding banjo to his act. Well known for towering renditions of Child Ballads and other songs from the English tradition, Brian’s repertoire is full of variety, fire and humour. He also has a deep knowledge of the history behind the old songs, which is why he’s a guest at most folk festivals as a workshop leader working with many musicians.

Members can come in for £10 whilst non-members pay £12. You can pay using our card machine, so cash is only needed for the raffle. Doors open at 7.45 pm for an 8.15 start, and we finish by 11pm.

Brian is followed by Hase Waits on 14 May and Wayward Jane on 28 May.

Hicks and Goulbourne: 12 March

Lynn Goulbourn and Steve Hicks were our hugely entertaining guests on 12th March 2025. It was something of a nostalgic return for Lynn, who had been a club regular in the 1980s. Her Gren Blatherwick moped anecdote was much appreciated.
Numerous Hicks-made instruments were in evidence. Steve treated us to a splash of Turlough O’Carolan on a guitar that Lynn assured us “he’s just knocked up”, and she introduced us to Nashville tuning (E A D G up an octave + standard B E) on a Hicks mini-guitar. Possibly the ukulele upon which Steve (supposedly beginners-level) shredded later in the evening was also a Hicks product. One suspects he even hand-crafted the coconuts which clip-clopped us through ‘Black Hills of Dakota’.
The room was packed and in good voice. The chance to join in on the call-and-response gospel blues of ‘Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning’ was very eagerly seized.
US-derived material made up a sizeable portion of the evening’s delicious fare, from Lead Belly’s ‘Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie’ to John Prine’s ‘The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness’ via the trad children’s songs ‘Polly Wolly Doodle’ and ‘Shortnin’ Bread’ (the latter morphing into Scott Joplin’s ‘The Entertainer’) and a roaring version of ‘Saint James Infirmary’ with more hi-de-hoes than Cab Calloway (though slightly fewer dance steps). Steve’s extraordinary guitar-playing was mesmerizing as he paid tribute fingerstyle to Duck Baker and effortlessly merged the oldtime bluegrass of ‘Ragtime Annie’ with ‘Angeline the Baker’.
Lynn sang ‘Fear a’ Bhàta’ in impressively capable Scottish Gaelic, and turned the Geordie up to 11 for ‘The Lambton Worm’ [rhymes with storm]. Steve delivered some wonderful Canadian poetry in Bruce Cockburn’s mixed spoken-word-n-song ‘Three Al Purdys’, and played a beautiful guitar-adaption of the South African composer Abdullah Ibrahim’s piano piece ‘The Wedding’.
For variety and dexterity the duo are hard to beat. If we learnt one thing this evening, it’s that talent can outplay arthritis. If we learnt a second thing, it’s that Jesus was a Geordie.

Our next guest is Brian Peters, on 9 April.

Holly Clarke: 12 February

It’s rare for a guest to be booked solely on their YouTube videos but we did just this for Holly Clarke and it was amply justified.

She began with the traditional ‘The Maid of Kilmore’, then ‘John Barleycorn’ as sung by Bert Lloyd, but then sang ‘The Unseen Guide’ which she had set to music from a poem written in her native Coniston to explain how the first Mountain Rescue Team began. In singing a Danish ballad (in English) followed by ‘The Lakes of Coolfin’ she showed her scope of influences. She closed her first set with ‘Wild, Feral & Free’ which she had composed using the shapeshifting Reynardine story as a hook for her experience of becoming confident in her own skin. Despite an autism diagnosis, she graduated in 2018 from the Traditional Music Degree course at Newcastle University.

In her next set Holly followed her composition ‘The Spectral Stag’ with Chris Wood & Hugh Lupton’s song ‘Bleary Winter’. She sang 3 more traditional songs ‘John Randall’, ‘Bonny Woodhall’ and ‘Young Collins’ with confident explanations of their origins, and one that she learned from Nick Dow ‘Burd Margaret’ that he believed was written by an Irish traveller. It was a joyous evening with varied contributions from nine floor singers and well worth the tenner!

Our next guest: Dan McKinnon 16 October

Our next guest, on 16 October, is Dan McKinnon, a performer from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who we have already enjoyed at the club in pre-Covid days. His warm voice, superb guitar and original compositions have won him widespread praise. Dan’s thoughtful songs and smooth melodies cover the entire folk spectrum, traditional, historical and contemporary, but above all they are stories in song.
https://www.danmckinnon.ca

(photographer unknown: sorry)

We Mavericks: Wednesday 11th September

Every so often we are approached to see if the club would like to offer a booking to folk artists from abroad who are on tour in a particular month. We Mavericks ( https://www.wemavericks.com.au/) are Lindsay Martin and Victoria Vigenser. Lindsay’s masterful strings and vocals complement songstress Victoria’s magnificent voice and driving rhythms. Originally from Riverina in New South Wales and Auckland in New Zealand respectively, they first played together in 2018, but have since had a fast rise to Australian festivals, music awards and as the Australian choice to attend Folk Alliance International. Ambient Light NZ sums them up “glorious harmonies and touching melodies of We Mavericks. Together they craft exquisite folk music, evoking spirits originating from Appalachia to Alba.”

Admission is £12 or £10 for current members. Please bring cash as we don’t yet have any card facilities. Doors open at 7.45 pm for an 8.15pm start and we finish by 11pm.

We are open every Wednesday until our party on 18 December, with singers and musician nights apart from the guest nights below. Membership is now £5 for the rest of the year.

MORRIS AND WATSON

Our Next Guests: Wednesday 17 July

Back in 2020 our committee agreed to book this young duo to perform on 18th March, but we agreed to postpone two days before as the lockdown was announced. Lizzie Morris and Dan Watson from Barnsley have been playing together since their studies at Leeds College of Music, graduating in 2015. They perform a mix of traditional and self-penned songs interspersed with fiddle tunes, capturing the entire frequency spectrum, driving their songs and tunes directly into the hearts of their audience. Kate Rusby says “They’re fantastic” but aye she’s a Barnsley lass isn’t she.

Admission is £8 or £6 for current members. Please bring cash as we don’t have any card facilities. Doors open at 7.45 pm for an 8.15pm start and we finish by 11pm.

We have guests booked for the rest of the year as follows:
Wednesday 11 September – We Mavericks – touring from Australia & New Zealand
Wednesday 16 October – Dan McKinnon – return visit of Nova Scotia songsmith
Wednesday 13 November – Chris Sherburn, Denny Bartley and Emily Sanders
Wednesday 4 December — Jim Causley from Devon including seasonal songs

See you any Wednesday in our comfy redecorated room upstairs at the Gladstone.

Next guest: Damien Barber on 17th April

Raised in Norfolk and heavily influenced by such earlier Norfolk singers as Walter Pardon and Peter Bellamy, Damien is a stylish and distinctive singer, either a Capella or accompanied on guitar or English concertina. Though he has lived in West Yorkshire for over 20 years he retains a strong East Anglian identity.
Damien was 5 years old he was first taken to The Orchard Garden’s Folk Club in North Walsham, Norfolk where his family lived and where he began to absorb the styles and sounds of local singers such as Tony Hall, Peter Bellamy and most notable of all Walter Pardon. Walter was one of the last great Traditional singers of the region and, along with his weekly visits to the folk club, Damien was fortunate to listen to, and play with, Walter a number of times at his home before his passing in 1996.

Admission is £10 but only £8 for current members. Please bring cash as we don’t have card facilities. Doors open at 7.45 pm for an 8.15pm start and we finish by 11pm

Damien’s YouTube channel is at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi3pb0cPGKWtESlZnJEIDOg
Damien is also one of Breaking Tradition, the people behind the brilliant Lock In dance shows: worth catching next time they come round: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2qqVbomHVQ

It’s £10 in cash for membership for the rest of the year until Christmas, which gives free entry to singers’ and musicians’ nights every Wednesday at 8.15.

We have guests booked for the following dates in 2024:
Wednesday 17 April – Damien Barber – tradition from Norfolk and new Yorkshire songs
Wednesday 15 May – Virginia Kettle – vocalist/guitarist in Merry Hell: pleased to come to us
19 June – Richard Grainger & Chris Parkinson
17 July – Morris & Watson

See you any Wednesday in our comfy redecorated room upstairs at the Gladstone.

The Brothers Gillespie

Wednesday, March 20th

Described by Folk Radio UK as ‘weaving an especially compelling magic’, and ‘showing off British acoustic music in its best possible light’, Northumbrian duo The Brothers Gillespie sing songs of great lyrical power, animated by the sound of soaring sibling harmony, inspired guitar playing and a rich array of acoustic instruments. Their songs and performances have a rare, intimate energy that is both earthy and ethereal, romantic and radical.

James and Sam Gillespie found their sound growing up in the fells and valleys of Northumberland, their songs often describing relationships with wild places and the experience of finding oneself in a world alive with soul. The music comes to them most strongly when walking in the borderlands with their packs and instruments which remains a regular practice for them. Since that time, the brothers have travelled widely and sung their songs at campfires, concert halls, Parisian circuses, folk clubs and a host of UK festivals including Sidmouth and Cambridge Folk Fests.
https://thebrothersgillespie.com/

Upstairs at The Gladstone, 45 Loscoe Road, Carrington, Nottingham, NG5 2AW
Doors 7.45 for 8:15 start
We don’t have advance tickets: just turn up and pay on the door (cash only) £12/£10 members

Carrington Triangle Folk Club meets every Wednesday for singarounds, with guests once a month