The Gathering - a UK tour

Subject: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: BanjoRay
Date: 09 Jan 04 - 06:57 AM

As promised in the thread on the Gainsborough Old Time Festival, here's as much as I know at the moment about a UK tour by four of the stars. It's called The Gathering, and it consists of Debby McClatchy and Tom, Brad and Alice.

Debby McClatchy:
Many will have seen Debby in folk clubs over the last quarter century or so, giving her superb charismatic take on old time mistrel, gold rush and Appalachian string band material with immaculate banjo accompaniment.

Tom, Brad and Alice:
Tom Sauber is a superb banjo player at home in a number of different picking styles including clawhammer, and an excellent fiddler, with a history of playing with some fine people.

Brad Leftwich has produced a couple of first rate instruction videos for old time fiddle and the definitive book of tabs for Round Peak clawhammer banjo. He has analysed the fiddle and banjo styles of many of the great old guys, and reproduces them really well.

Alice Gerrard is a fine guitar and fiddle player and founded the Old Time Herald, a wonderfully informative and useful magazine, which she edited until last year. She made many fine recordings with Hazel Dickens.

The three of them produce wonderful string band music with first class harmony singing, and have produced a string of excellent CDs.
They knocked everyone out at Gainsborough two years ago.

The Tour:
Feb 18 - Keswick (Theatre by the lake) - 017687 74411
Feb 19 - Hexham (Queens Hall Arts Centre) - 01434 652477
Feb 20 - London (Blackheath Halls, Lee Road) - 0208 318 9758
Feb 21 - Selby (To be confirmed) - 01757 705101
Feb 24 - Birmingham (Ceol Castle, 402 Moseley Road) - 0121 440 4278
Feb 25 - Bridport (Arts Centre) - 01308 424204
Feb 28 - St Ives (St Ives Theatre, Lower Stenack) - 01736 786655
Feb 29 - Great Torrington (The Plough Arts Centre, 9-11 Fore St) - 01805 624624
March 5 - Kingswinford (The Woodman Folk Club) - 01384 831263
March 6 - Trowbridge (Arc Theatre, College Road) - 01225 756376
March 11 - Redbourn (The Hollybush Folk Club, Church End) - 01582 452954

My connection - Debby's an old friend who's talked me into driving for them. It didn't take much doing!
Cheers
Ray

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jan 04 - 07:09 AM

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST,cookieless Nickp
Date: 10 Jan 04 - 01:47 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 10 Jan 04 - 02:24 PM

UK?

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST,cookiless Nickp
Date: 11 Jan 04 - 04:12 PM

Yes, UK

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: BanjoRay
Date: 11 Jan 04 - 07:06 PM

A couple of additions - Debby tells me that she thinks Selby is confirmed but will double check. They will be doing a guest set at Bodmin Folk Club on 27th Feb.
I'm sorry it's only in the UK, John.
Ray

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: BanjoRay
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 10:20 AM

Tom, Brad and Alice have a website here where you can hear a few tracks and see some history.
Ray

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 11:44 AM

England only so far
John....in Scotland

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: BanjoRay
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 12:56 PM

I see what you mean, John
Sorry!
Ray

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST,Paul Castle
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 03:30 AM

Thanks to Banjo Ray for posting the tour dates here.
I have added a link to this thread on the On Tour page
of my 'Acoustic Music Across the Pond' site - and have
booked tickets for the Blackheath Halls (20th Feb).

We (The Rosinators) met up with Alice Gerrard at a
great festival in Northern Ireland last year when
she was playing with O Sister ! (with Ginny Hawker,
Carol Elizabeth Jones and Laurie Lewis - see photo

We'll be going to the London show with Spydaradio DJ
Gail Comfort, who regularly plays Alice's music on her
show 'The Comfort Zone' and is a big fan.

Should be a great night!

Paul

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: BanjoRay
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 08:13 AM

Thanks for the picture, Paul - I didn't realize Alice played banjo as well as fiddle and guitar.
Cheers
Ray

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: BanjoRay
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 07:29 AM

These guys have just made a storming appearance at the Gainsborough Old Time Festival, (see This Thread) and they're in great form for the tour.
There are a couple of additions/corrections:
27th Feb: guest appearance at Bodmin Folk Club
21st Feb - Selby is now confirmed: tel [phone]

Come along and, while you're at it, join FOAOTMAD (the Friends Of American Old Time Music And Dance)

Cheers
Ray

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 12:38 PM

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: BanjoRay
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 09:15 AM

Just a last reminder - the tour starts tomorrow in Keswick at the Theatre by the Lake. We'll be hitting the road in the morning, and I'll show them some of the Lake District before we get there.
Maybe I'll see some mudcatters on the tour.
Cheers
Ray

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 01:28 PM

Refresh

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 01:17 PM

Refresh

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: Megan L
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 01:28 PM

What harm did we do up in Scotland - apart from the little matter of Bannockburn that is?

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 02:06 PM

Sod Bannockburn, what about the poll tax! ;-)
John

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 07:59 PM

Sod the poll tax what about haggis!;-)

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 05:50 AM

;-)

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST,NIckp
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 12:58 PM

I think Bridport is sold out now - only a few tickets left when I phoned on Wednesday. We'll be there and at Torrington.

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: BanjoRay
Date: 22 Feb 04 - 08:04 AM

Just got home after the first stage - it's going great. Fine near or full sell-out gigs at Keswick, Hexham, London and Selby. The CDs are racing out. A rest day tonight and tomorrow and then Birmingham. Bruce Molsky dropped in on us last night at Selby for a couple of tunes, followed by a superb session at the Pub where we were staying. I don't often get the chance to play banjo with guys this good, but it was a great if hair-raising experience, with a georgeous minidisk to prove it.
If you get the chance, go and see it. (You even get to see me on stage for a couple of tunes!)
Chhers
Ray

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: Eugene Judge
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 08:47 AM

Refresh.

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: mouldy
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 02:54 AM

I really wanted to go to the Selby gig, but my other half chose that weekend to come back to the UK from his work in Bosnia, and we went up to Scotland to visit his sister.

If the tour goes really well, will you come back again...please?

Andrea

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: Eugene Judge
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 03:01 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: Eugene Judge
Date: 26 Feb 04 - 07:43 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Feb 04 - 07:42 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: Eugene Judge
Date: 02 Mar 04 - 04:30 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: BanjoRay
Date: 02 Mar 04 - 07:12 PM

Well I just finished my bit of the tour.It went superbly - full houses of appreciative people everywhere we went. The only folk club we did (Bodmin) was a total hoot, with some superb craic all round. It looks like the tour could well be repeated in the future - discussions are in progress. Could be about the same time next year. Debby will be back in the summer for the Conwy bluegrass festival and Sidmouth among other things.
Cheers
Ray

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: Eugene Judge
Date: 04 Mar 04 - 07:39 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST,Paul Castle
Date: 06 Mar 04 - 04:24 PM

Glad to hear they'll be back next year, Ray.

I went to Blackheath, with Fliss from the Rosinators
and Gail Comfort (who plays Alice regularly on her
SpydaRadio show) - and we had a memorable evening.

And pleased to see it was so sold out that I managed
to get my money on a spare ticket!!

Hope you, or someone, will put up a webpage chronicling
their tour.

Very best..and well driven, I imagine :)

Paul
Acoustic Music Across the Pond
http://www.acousticmusicacrossthepond.com

PS Can anyone tell me who distributes the
'Old Time Herald' in the UK?

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: BanjoRay
Date: 06 Mar 04 - 07:03 PM

No-one distributes the Old Time Herald in this country, as far as I know. I subscribed to it via their website here. It's a terrific magazine - lots of information and detail. Glad you liked the concert - I really liked driving them.
Cheers
Ray

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: GUEST,cookieless Nickp
Date: 07 Mar 04 - 11:36 AM

I'm pretty sure Ray is right - there is no distribution for OTH but I pay by credit card via the web site - it's worth doing 2 years at a time. Note that they will use surface mail to get it here so it's not always quite as uptodate as you'd like. It's still an excellent mag though.

Don't forget all you UK based Old Time fans, we have our own organisation - as mentioned above. Check out

Friends of American Old Time Music and Dance

and you don't have to be here in the UK to join either!

Nickp

Subject: RE: The Gathering - a UK tour
From: BanjoRay
Date: 07 Mar 04 - 02:25 PM

Yes, Nick you're right. I keep forgetting about FOAOTMAD now I'm chairman of it! And it also has a great magazine The Old Time News published 4 times a year and is part of the membership package - there's no other way to buy it. Some examples of the content are given at the above website. Select Old Time News from the menu on the left.
Cheers
Ray