John Roberts and Tony Barrand

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 08 Dec 12 - 02:29 PM

Oh. I'll be in Lee, MA, which is very close to Great Barrington, MA, but I won't get there until the day after the concert there. And even though I'll stay in a very cheap motel, I can't afford to go one night sooner than planned.

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: Jeri
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 08:54 PM

I don't know where A-double-l's link was meant to go. Nowell Sing We Clear is here.

It looks like Dublin, NH is as close as they'll be to me, but it's too late now. First time I saw them was in Voorheesville NY in 197ty-something. Last time I saw them was in Portsmouth in ...can't remember - a few years ago. Same fun, although widow Twanky's mustache has more grey in it these days.

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 08:38 PM

Great news, Allison A. Thank you for the prompt update.

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: Elmore
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 10:14 AM

Love them both, and have seen them many times in concert, and at festivals. I particularly enjoy John's solo cd, "Sea Fever."

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: clueless don
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 08:43 AM

I have occasionally gotten up at storytelling gatherings and recited some of the comic recitations of Marriott Edgar - Albert and the Lion, The Battle of Hastings, etc. I would not have even known that they existed if it hadn't been for Tony Barrand! His recitation performances were always a highlight, for me, of any John and Tony concert.

Don

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 07:39 AM

They are performing TONIGHT in Dublin, NH as half of "Nowell Sing We Clear "! I first saw them when I was a fair young lass performing for the first time in the Hanover, NH Christmas Revels in 1976. Little did I know then how much I would enjoy and savor the pleasure of their acquaintance many years later. Fine gentlemen, they.

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 06 Dec 12 - 10:23 PM

I heard them a few years ago at New Bedford's Summerfest. I think I heard John say that he and Tony were going to do a gig near where Tony lives. If Deb C sees this thread, maybe she can ask John (Anglo) to update us. Deb C and Anglo sometimes perform together, and they are also a wonderful pair.

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: topical tom
Date: 06 Dec 12 - 03:06 PM

A simply wonderful duo! I saw them perform many times at the now defunct(?) and sorrowfully missed Champlain Valley Folk Festival. All best wishes, Tony and godspeed to you both!

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: GUEST,john f weldon
Date: 06 Dec 12 - 11:13 AM

Tales of JR & TB...
They were regulars at the (possibly defunct) Champlain Valley Fest, and I never missed a chance to see them. It was a great Festival & I even enjoyed Sunday morning Hymn sing. Often, the gang that showed up for Hymn sing looked a little worse for wear; I have to suspect some late Saturday night jamming. One year, the singers all admitted to to having little or no religion, but treated us to some very unusual hymns... ...JR & TB took us on a journey through the bowels of hell, in a song which gleefully described the torments.
My good friend Ken McKenzie used to play the Scottish pipes at the front gate as people arrived; this time he wandered too close to the hymnists for Tony's liking; he leapt up and yelled out the window: "We Beat You at Culloden!!"

Another year, JR & TB hosted the Saturday night Concert, which was being broadcast on Vermont Public radio. Not surprisingly, they treated the home audience with some rather scatological songs, and Tony told the radio audience that this year the festival was being held in the nude, and that he was looking out over a rippling sea of pink flesh!

Great, talented, funny, fun guys!!

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Dec 12 - 07:46 AM

Excellent choices but why stop there?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: Midchuck
Date: 06 Dec 12 - 07:41 AM

Naulakha Redux, their CD of Kipling/Bellamy songs, would go on my personal "Ten-CDs-for-a-desert-island" list.

Peter

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: Jeri
Date: 05 Dec 12 - 10:20 PM

Golden Hind Music, where you can find their recordings as a duo and otherwise.

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: GUEST,Chris Gonzales
Date: 05 Dec 12 - 10:11 PM

Gosh, while going thru her old tape boxes, my daughter just pulled out a tape called "A PRESENT FROM THE GENTLEMEN, A PANDORA'S BOX OF ENGLISH FOLK SONGS", and asked me where we got it??? I am clueless, so started doing searches on GOOGLE for clues as to how and where we bought this tape... why was it hidden for so long and why haven't I ever heard of these two fine voices before this? Perhaps someone gifted her the tape and she doesn't remember? Mystery! Love their sound and will buy some CDs if I can locate them... love their songs too... I am a 60's person and just discovered these great guys, what a shame, but better late than never!... may they live a long, happy life and keep singing! Chris

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 06:28 PM

Of course I was being an idiot when I posted the above 2-line message. John, Tony and Lou Killen, as 'Twankydillo', were at Old Songs festival last summer, and I just missed Noel Sing We Clear because I was in Canada. Should have known better than to think they'd really stopped singing together completely.

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 01:18 AM

Thanks for the information, John. I hope some day I'll get to hear the two of you perform.
If you need help resetting your cookie, let me know.
-Joe Offer-
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: GUEST,cookieless JR
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 12:44 AM

Thank you for your concern and support. As postings above suggest,Tony and I are still working together when we can, though we can only play fully accessible venues at this point. (If feasible, we will bring a portable ramp with us to help get his scooter on the stage). As you may imagine, or may have seen, his legs don't work very well. His voice is still good as ever though, and we do hope that people don't think our active partnership in over.

We played the Philadelphia Folk Festival last summer, and did a full schedule of Nowell Sing We Clear concerts in December. Our last recording, done live, was released just over a year ago (info at goldenhindmusic.com).

Tony is still teaching (as a full professor) at Boston University. I am not involved in academics and have continued to play solo, or with other musicians (as Ye Mariners All for example, mentioned above), throughout the more than 35 years of our partnership. A solo appearance by me is IN NO WAY an indication that we are no longer performing together.

If you would like to book us, please contact our agent, Robyn Boyd of Wooden Ship Productions, [e-mail]. and I'm sure she'll be able to find a date that will suit.

John Roberts

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: Ferrara
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 06:13 PM

Have always loved hearing John and Tony together. They have a special magic.

Ye Mariners All are a wonderful group too. They've been performing at maritime festivals. Their "Ye Mariners All" CD is splendid. Every song (except one... I won't say which) was a winner in my book. The three performers, John Roberts (concertina), John Rockwell (guitar) and Larry Young (violin) complement each other very well and you can sort of see where each of them has contributed to the choice of material.

BTW they credit Charley Noble and Barry Finn as the sources for the version of the Yangtse River Chantey that's on this CD.

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 02:06 PM

No two of us with MS have the same symptoms, nor does it progress along or follow anything like similar pathways. All the best to you, Tony --- if you might be reading this.

John is a wonderful solo performer of fine songs with a great and accessible voice that is perfect for the ballads and story songs, or the humorous tunes which have always been a part of shows done by the two of them. If you can, go to see John Roberts performances--. His concertina and banjo accompaniments rank with the best.

Onward and upward,

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 07:30 AM

Tony is still performing when and where he can. He sang last week in Cambridge for a 25th anniversary Revels celebration. He was in fine form with the Nowell Sing We Clear crew over December- he said it was too many concerts as usual, but he did just fine. I think John's just doing his own thing, as he often does, and does so well. I think Tony will keep singing until he really, truly can't. And far distant may that time be!

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: Nerd
Date: 19 Feb 05 - 11:45 PM

Keep in mind that John has always performed some of the time without Tony. (He is also now a member of the trio "Ye Mariners All," which does not include Tony.) But it may be that Tony is finding it more difficult to tour these days.

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: LadyJean
Date: 19 Feb 05 - 11:08 PM

I have held both gentlemen in the highest regard, since my freshman year in college.
The housing department, in their infinite wisdom, assigned me a roommate who was both an alcoholic and a born again Christian, and when I say an alcoholic, I don't mean she went to AA meetings. I mean she had to be poured into bed a couple of nights a week, and she wasn't a fun drunk.
SHE moved out because I liked to listen to "Spencer The Rover is Alive and Well and Living in Ithaca New York", and she couldn't stand them.
Now there are a lot of fine singers in this world, but not many who can fumigate an objectionable lush. I wish them well.

Subject: RE: John Roberts and Tony Barrand
From: Jeri
Date: 19 Feb 05 - 10:57 PM

Tony has Multiple Sclerosis. I don't have any idea if it got too physically tough for him to tour, or whether he just didn't want to anymore.

Subject: John Roberts & Tony Barrand
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 05 - 10:45 PM

While doing some research on summer festivals, I noticed that John Roberts is performing without Tony Barrand this summer. The last time that I saw the two of them (Philadelphia Folk Festival last summer) Tony came out on a golf cart. Nothing was mentioned as to why he didn't walk on stage. He's a fabulous performer and I hope that nothing is seriously wrong with him. Does anyone know if he is having health problems?