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Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)

DigiTrad:
EAT BERTHA'S MUSSELS
THE ROLLING MILLS OF NEW JERSEY


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Joe Offer 03 Feb 25 - 11:39 AM
GUEST,Guest Joan F 03 Feb 25 - 12:00 PM
RTim 03 Feb 25 - 12:02 PM
Mark Ross 03 Feb 25 - 01:28 PM
Charley Noble 03 Feb 25 - 02:57 PM
AllisonA(Animaterra) 03 Feb 25 - 04:59 PM
wendyg 03 Feb 25 - 05:10 PM
rich-joy 03 Feb 25 - 07:02 PM
MoorleyMan 03 Feb 25 - 07:33 PM
Thomas Stern 03 Feb 25 - 09:22 PM
GUEST,JimLucas 04 Feb 25 - 05:09 PM
Bat Goddess 04 Feb 25 - 06:18 PM
RTim 04 Feb 25 - 10:38 PM
GUEST,George Stephens 05 Feb 25 - 12:01 AM
GUEST,JimLucas 05 Feb 25 - 07:08 AM
GUEST,Wally Macnow 05 Feb 25 - 09:06 AM
Felipa 06 Feb 25 - 06:51 PM
Phil Cooper 07 Feb 25 - 11:45 PM
GUEST,Dan (An X-Seaman) 08 Feb 25 - 08:36 AM
Stilly River Sage 08 Feb 25 - 11:01 AM
Felipa 08 Feb 25 - 07:09 PM
Rex 09 Feb 25 - 12:50 PM
GUEST,freda underhill 10 Feb 25 - 10:28 AM
GUEST,Don Meixner 10 Feb 25 - 04:28 PM
Waddon Pete 11 Feb 25 - 10:53 AM
GUEST,Helen Engelhardt 14 Feb 25 - 05:22 PM
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Subject: Obit: John Roberts
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 11:39 AM

There are several threads on Facebook that report that John Roberts has died. I think it was this morning, and I think he was 81. He was known as "Anglo" on Mudcat and he was a good friend and mentor to many of us. He was an amazing singer and a master of the concertina. He was always wise, and always funny, and always a friend to everyone.
Rest in peace, John. I thought you'd live forever after eating all those mussels, but it was not to be.

-Joe-


John's posts at Mudcat: (click)

Eat Bertha's Mussels

My favorite song by Nowell Sing We Clear is "Chariots": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYUT5p7yP3A

John & Tony's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfgUeiZ5J0svxPvQPXINUJw

The Old Figurehead Carver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcOUxZSyb-g


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Subject: RE: 2025 Obit: John Roberts (Mudcatter 'Anglo')
From: GUEST,Guest Joan F
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 12:00 PM

I'll remember him best as the announcer from the stage at Old Songs for many, many years. Singing songs between the acts at the concerts.


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Subject: RE: 2025 Obit: John Roberts (Mudcatter 'Anglo')
From: RTim
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 12:02 PM

It is a sad day here, missing John already and reading all the messages on Facebook to my old kind and generous friend. A singer and musician beyond parallel, I learnt so much from him...
I first met John on my first visit to the US in 1990.....and we were talking at Marlboro and he said...."Of course I've heard you sing.." and I said "But haven't met until today..?" and he replied.."I heard you sing in Kenny Goldstein's basement..!! He had copies of the Lps you made in the 1970's..."
I was gobsmacked...but that incident explained John to a tee....He was always interested and listening to music and remembered it and the performers...he had a knack for that.....

My goodness...he will be missed....and please spare a thought for Lisa too...she has had to put up with a lot...and I am thinking of her today too....Good luck for the future...xxx

Farewell Old Friend...RIP

Tim Radford


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Subject: RE: 2025 Obit: John Roberts (Mudcatter 'Anglo')
From: Mark Ross
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 01:28 PM

I met John in the Cafe Feenjon on MacDougal St. in The Village in '69, or'70. We were trading veses of The Ball of Ballynoor. It was always a pleasure to go hear him and Tony Barrand back when when I was in NYC. After I moved West it was always nice to run into him when i was visiting the Mysterious East. A fine singer and a true gentleman.


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Subject: RE: 2025 Obit: John Roberts (Mudcatter 'Anglo')
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 02:57 PM

Very sad news, and a great loss to the folk music community. John was an excellent performer and very approachable when one wanted to ask him questions. He will be missed but not forgotten by those of us who have known him through the years.

Charlie Ipcar


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Subject: RE: 2025 Obit: John Roberts (Mudcatter 'Anglo')
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 04:59 PM

Heartbreaking news. I first met John when in my very first Christmas Revels in 1976, in Hanover, NH. I attended countless Nowell Sing We Clear concerts. After the 9/11 disaster, there was a memorial in Brattleboro, VT. Two of the victims belonged to the Marlboro Morris Men, as did John. I sat with the team (a morris dancer myself) and for awhile John cried in my arms.

When Byron died, whenever I saw him, at a concert or festival, he went out of his way to be kind to me, and we developed a bit of a flirty friendship (always within appropriate bounds). It was a joy to introduce my now-husband Hunt to him, and to share his wonderful music.
We are both grieving today.


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Subject: RE: 2025 Obit: John Roberts (Mudcatter 'Anglo')
From: wendyg
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 05:10 PM

John and Tony were the first British folksingers I heard live, at Cornell in 1972 when I was a freshmen and they were grad students. I've enjoyed seeing him at various Zoom sings over the last year or two, and have always admired his talent and multi-instrumentalism. RIP.

wg


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Subject: RE: 2025 Obit: John Roberts (Mudcatter 'Anglo')
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 07:02 PM

Oh, sad news indeed, yes. I think I have most of John & Tony's recordings and still regularly enjoy them. There'll be some fine harmonies at The Reunion on t'other side!!

VALE, John.


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Subject: RE: 2025 Obit: John Roberts (Mudcatter 'Anglo')
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 07:33 PM

I am gutted. John was a truly magnificent singer and musician, and a huge inspiration to so many, including myself. What a tremendous 80th birthday concert he gave at Old Songs last May! And on a personal note, I cherish the memory of his kind and generous direct feedback in the zoom chat box in response to my own performances. RTim's comments above sure ring so very true. RIP John.


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Subject: RE: 2025 Obit: John Roberts (Mudcatter 'Anglo')
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 09:22 PM

very sad news - condolences to Lisa and all his many friends and
fans. A fine singer of folk songs, musician, music hall.
We all will miss you. Rest in peace.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=john%20roberts

Thomas.


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: GUEST,JimLucas
Date: 04 Feb 25 - 05:09 PM

Very sad to hear that John is gone. We have/had been friends for more than 50 years, even after I moved to Denmark almost 30 years ago.

I first met him at an after-concert party as I was beginning to discover folk music when I wound up in NYC after college. It wasn't a case of "star" and "fan"; we were just two individuals enjoying a conversation. That was how he dealt with everyone.

We often crossed paths in the folk music community, in connection with the sloop Clearwater, and through Morris dancing. John was both a dancer and musician with the Marlboro Morris Men, who hosted what I believe was the first Morris "Ale" (a weekend gathering, with dancing out in surrounding communities) in North America and was a strong factor in the growth of Morris and sword dancing in America.

I remember that in the early days, both John and Tony (Barrand) could play a bit on the English concertina, but Tony left that behind, and John switched to the anglo, with an expertise and style -- especially for singing -- that inspired many others to take it up.

And as a singer, he was simply wonderful, in duets with Tony Barrand, but also as a solo singer. (I won't say "solo act". With John, it wasn't an "act"; it was his soul.)

I was really looking forward to meeting him again durnig a planned trip to the US this spring. Alas, that's not to be. But I'll be thinking of him, constantly.


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 04 Feb 25 - 06:18 PM

I didn't meet John until a Press Room gig in January or February 1981, but John and Curmudgeon (Tom Hall) had been friends for ten years at that point. It was a quiet, mid-week gig. Afterwards John and Jay Smith (who owned the Press Room) and Tom and I sat around trading songs. The first of a number of such evenings.

One year Tom introduced Nowell Sing We Clear at the Portsmouth Music Hall. John razzed him for ages about the fact that Tom was wearing a brown tweed sports jacket.

And, of course, he was often a performer at the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival.

Though I sang with him in groups at after parties and at Indian Neck, it was a big thrill for me to share a "stage" at the Portsmouth Athenaeum with him at the 2019 Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival.

It's a real slam to the heart. And so soon after the passing of Maggi Peirce and Heather Wood.

Linn


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: RTim
Date: 04 Feb 25 - 10:38 PM

I feel a little pissed that there are more posts here about "Cats" here than there are about remembering John Roberts and his contribution to English Traditional Song... Maybe I am biased because John was a good friend and I feel he should be remembered by everyone...but then I am easily upset about such things....RIP John - miss you already!!


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: GUEST,George Stephens
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 12:01 AM

"There was no one like 'im, 'Orse or Foot,
Nor any o' the Guns I knew;
An' because it was so, why, o' course 'e went an' died,
Which is just what the best men do."

John introduced me to Kipling/Bellamy's songs, and to so much more. Gentleman, scholar, musical genius, all around good guy. Thinking of you, Lisa.

George


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: GUEST,JimLucas
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 07:08 AM

Well, the major "news" media don't seem to be aware of John, but maybe that should be taken as a compliment.

Meanwhile, I've gotten various folks in Denmark and Sweden interested in his (and Tony's) singing, and they've been learning songs from the YouTube videos.


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: GUEST,Wally Macnow
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 09:06 AM

John Roberts Dies 3 Feb 2025

A Message From Lisa Preston:

“I am utterly heartbroken to have to share with you that my partner of over forty years, John Roberts, the wonderful traditional folk singer and musician, has passed away. He succumbed to complications from congestive heart failure and esophageal cancer. Funeral arrangements will be private, but a celebration of John’s life will be arranged sometime in the future. An obituary will be posted at a later date.”


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: Felipa
Date: 06 Feb 25 - 06:51 PM

really sad to read these messages ... I was thinking about John on Sat, that I hadn't seen him at a zoom gathering for a while, wondering how he was, hoping of course to come across him again. Like Wendy, I have memories of John and Tony from the early 1970s in Ithaca. He did a fine online concert for his 80th birthday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMMCX_AzG18


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 07 Feb 25 - 11:45 PM

A sad loss. I saw John whenever he, alone, or with Tony played in the Chicago area.


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: GUEST,Dan (An X-Seaman)
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 08:36 AM

I first met John and Tony back in the early 70's, first at Camp Freedman for Folkways gatherings and later at South Street Seaport. I learned many of their songs to add to my rep and appreciation for music from the other side of the pond. I will always miss his voice and excellent concertina work!


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 11:01 AM

He also had a few Guest posts.


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: Felipa
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 07:09 PM

on a zoom singaround, maybe about a year ago, we had a run of coal mining songs, mostly laments of disasters; so John chimed in with a couple of happier collier songs


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: Rex
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 12:50 PM

I dusted off my Live at Holsteins LP. It was good to hear these guys but every track is pretty well etched in my memory anyway. For me John and Tony were a significant window to traditional music and a great inspiration to take up the concertin though I'll never play it as familiarly as they.


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: GUEST,freda underhill
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 10:28 AM

I’m very sad to hear that John has gone, and with it, his beautiful voice and love of traditional songs, his enormous repertoire and understanding of folk lore. I was lucky to meet him when I went to the Getaway 14 years ago, and stayed friends via facebook since then. I loved his singing and his understated style. A kind and very, very talented man. Best wishes to his partner and all his friends.

Freda


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: GUEST,Don Meixner
Date: 10 Feb 25 - 04:28 PM

Good bye John, Thanks for the music.


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 11 Feb 25 - 10:53 AM

Rest in peace John.


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Subject: RE: Obit: John Roberts [Mudcatter 'Anglo'](1944-2025)
From: GUEST,Helen Engelhardt
Date: 14 Feb 25 - 05:22 PM

Taken me awhile to absorb this enormous loss. John was always there -at NY Pinewoods Club weekends and the folkmusic week at Pinewoods-and the Getaway and Mystic, and Essex and NEFFA and and and.He was gentle, generous, and gracious -a living treasure as the Japanese would have entitled him. Irreplaceable.

We grieve with you, Lisa.


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