The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #150058   Message #3494339
Posted By: Murray MacLeod
24-Mar-13 - 05:32 PM
Thread Name: Tradsinger seeks gigs (UK)
Subject: RE: Tradsinger seeks gigs (UK)
I have watched a couple of your videos Gwilym, and I would say that you are a perfectly competent singer of traditional songs.

Mere competence is not enough to make it on the circuit however, you need that (dare I say it ...) X-factor, which is undefinable, but which is possessed by such as Dave Burland, Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson and the late Mike Waterson, to name but a few straight off the top of my head. Do you have it ? Maybe you do, I have never seen you live, so how can I tell...

One thing that does make me cringe just a tad is the header to your Youtube video of "Fathom the Bowl" , wherein you state ...

"Gwilym Davies singing a Hampshire drinking song collected by him" ..

Collected by him " ???..."collected" in the folk music world has a very narrow window ... Cecil Sharp, Bert Lloyd, Alan Lomax, Hamish Henderson ...they collected folk songs....I would venture to suggest that "Fathom the Bowl " was in the repertoire of the Watersons and the Copper Family long before you ever heard the song ...

nonetheless, good luck with your venture if you do decide to make a go of it ...