Jim Murray & TTGTH Band, Lewes 27 July

Subject: Jim Murray & TTGTH Band, Lewes 27 July
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 15 Jul 13 - 04:33 PM

Jim Murray and The Too-Good-To-Hurry-Band are the guests at Lewes Saturday Folk Club on Saturday 27th. July.

Jim Murray, Tyneside singer, guitarist & songwriter, joins with Alex Szyzskowski (concertina, melodeon, mandolin) Davie Wooldrige (fiddle) Chris Dyer (fiddle, nyckelharpa) & Lis Stewart (duet concertina, fiddle & keyboards) to make lively music and plenty of laughs with a strong Geordie flavour.

Jim and the band will give us two forty-five minute sets and the rest of the evening is filled by members of the audience doing a song or tune if they wish. Everyone is welcome, especially if you'd like to sing or play. We mostly sing and play traditional music from the British Isles, but we enjoy other styles as well. We always start off with some English dance tunes for anyone with an instrument to join in.

Entrance is £6 tonight. We have a loyalty card. Six visits earn you £5 off an evening when admission is £5 or more.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: Jim Murray & TTGTH Band, Lewes 27 July
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 16 Jul 13 - 02:43 AM

A bit more about the band. This is going to be a hoot - Jim has been visiting the club regularly this year and is always a delight:

Lis Stewart plays duet concertina (56 key MacCann), fiddle and keyboards. Based in London, she plays regularly for ceilidhs, at folk clubs and sessions. Her musical collaborations have included working with Duet concertina player Ralph Jordan, folk fiddler Pete Cooper, and traditional singer Peta Webb. Most recently, she had a solo concertina gig at the Tate in St Ives.

Chris Dyer made the conversion from chamber music to English folk fiddling, inspired (again) by Pete Cooper. Later she bought an IKEA flat-pack fiddle but when she put it together she found it came out as a nyckelharpa. As well as English music, she regularly plays in Swedish sessions with Tom Paley and each month MCs a Scandi session in central London. She plays in the English Nyckelharpa Collective and Euro band SE3.

Alex Szyszkowski and Dave Wooldridge play both in Cheap Jack and the world famous Islington Folk Club Angel Band. The Cheap Jack sound with Dave on fiddle and Alex on melodeon, is rooted in the English country dance tradition of John Clare, Thomas Hardy, and Fred Pidgeon, although their repertoire draws from all over the British Isles. Alex leads the Islington Angel Band, he sold Dan Quinn his first melodeon, he met Jimi Hendrix, and once lent Peter Green his Selmer Thunderbird amplifier when playing in the support band.

Jim Murray started on the Tyneside folk scene in the early 60s and with brother Phil and Mick and Kevin Doonan started the (eventually) legendary Hedgehog Pie. Jim then moved to London and sang in the early clubs ; the Singers Club , the Troubadour and the original Islington Folk Club at the Fox. In the 60s and 70s he played in clubs in many parts of the UK. In subsequent decades he ran clubs in London; in Chelsea, at the Roebuck in Tottenham Court Road and at the Irish Centre in Hammersmith. He *booked* Jimi Hendrix (beat that Alex) and gave Billy Connoly probably his first gig in London.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: Jim Murray & TTGTH Band, Lewes 27 July
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 16 Jul 13 - 05:12 PM

Here's a link to Jim Murray singing The Schoolboard Man at the Davy Lamp folk club earlier this year, accompanied by Stu Luckley and his borther Phil Murray from the Doonan Family Band. Jim describes it as 'sort of Tommy Armstrong meets Tommy Cooper'.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: Jim Murray & TTGTH Band, Lewes 27 July
From: leeneia
Date: 17 Jul 13 - 10:11 AM

Best of luck from across the pond, Valmai. The gig sounds like fun.

Subject: RE: Jim Murray & TTGTH Band, Lewes 27 July
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 18 Jul 13 - 02:24 PM

Thanks, Leeneia!

For those too young to remember (ahem) the band's name comes from the advertising slogan for http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezdc/5419328641/

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: Jim Murray & TTGTH Band, Lewes 27 July
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 18 Jul 13 - 02:31 PM

And some classic musical cartoon ads for the same sweets.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: Jim Murray & TTGTH Band, Lewes 27 July
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 21 Jul 13 - 06:26 AM

Lis Stewart, the duet concertina player in the band, has a Lewes Saturday Folk Club association. Having bought her McCann Duet a few months before she brought it to our Concertinas Anonymous session and caused jaws to drop with the skill she'd acquired in such a short time. A year later she was tutoring at Concertinas At Witney alongside players such as Dave Townsend, Brian Peters and Rob Harbron. Frightening.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: Jim Murray & TTGTH Band, Lewes 27 July
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jul 13 - 03:08 PM

Looking forward to this a lot. Floor singers are welcome, as always. We start off with a few English dance tunes for anyone with an instrument to join in.

Valmai (Lewes)