Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist

Subject: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: greg stephens
Date: 12 Apr 06 - 06:43 AM

I have been very pleased to find out that a record I play on is on the fRoots playlist(it's "A Trip to the Lakes" by the Boat Band). Now, this is very exciting, as I dont get much publicity for my nice old tunes, so a bit of attention is very welcom indeed.
   But the thing is, I havent got a computer, and I dont really know what it means. I think it means it's featured on fRoots Radio, but what is that? Is it a radio programme on a sort of loop, so if you click on the right thing you hear it? How long does it last? Is there a presenter? What track do they play off the record? You will appreciate I would love to know. Can anyone with the right sort of computerthat plays music have a listen sometime and tell me what's going on?

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 12 Apr 06 - 06:56 AM

May fRoots Radio isn't up yet but will be streaming later today:

http://www.frootsmag.com

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: greg stephens
Date: 12 Apr 06 - 01:07 PM

Thanks countess richard. I am beginning to understand. You can find the May playlist here but they are still streaming the April radio programme, and that will change in a few hours time. So I would still be very grateful if someone would have a listen when it does change and tell me if we're on it, and what tune they play. Thanks a lot.
   I'm very excited. I've never been on an international web computery thingy before.

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: greg stephens
Date: 13 Apr 06 - 05:14 AM

It is now available to be listened to, I've had a look. But I can't hear it. very frustrating! Anyway, it's thrilling to know that an obscure little record made in my sitting-room in Stoke is winging round the world and on a famous magazine's world music playlist.

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 13 Apr 06 - 06:33 AM

Keswick Bonny Lasses

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: greg stephens
Date: 13 Apr 06 - 07:49 AM

Right I see how it works now(except I cant make it do anything). You can click on one track from each artist, or you can listen to a whole radio programme. Which includes the same tracks? Or different tracks? Dont know.
   The Kathryn Tickell CD that is featured, by the way, is an absolute corker (judging by the bit I heard on Late Junction)

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 13 Apr 06 - 07:26 PM

You click where it says 'listen to the show'.
It's best to have a copy of May 2006 fRoots printed mag at hand to read about the artists.
It lasts 1h19'00".

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: GUEST,jOhn
Date: 15 Jun 06 - 10:51 AM

I got gregs cd, its really nice.
it been played on mike harding show.

i got the Kathryn Tickle cd as well, its nice.

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 Jun 06 - 01:00 PM

Well thank you kindly, JOhn. I was afraid you might say it was rubbish.

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 15 Jun 06 - 01:34 PM

Well I listened to the relevant show, and after about 4 nondescript, non folk music tracks we got to Greg and to Kathryn Tickell, very enjoyable too, the show then reverted to type, so I turned it off.
Giok

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Jun 06 - 01:44 PM

Has anyone submitted thess Mudcatter CDs to FolkAlley.com for airplay?!?! For the Open Mic contest???

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 15 Jun 06 - 01:56 PM

You are referring, presumably, to May fRoots Radio, when Keswick Bonny Lasses by the Boat Band was the 7th track played:

http://www.frootsmag.com/radio/playlists/06/05/

July fRoots Radio is now online:

http://www.frootsmag.com/radio/playlists/06/07/

and about four years worth of past broadcasts are archived.

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: alanabit
Date: 15 Jun 06 - 06:31 PM

One can also hear the estimable Mudcatter El Greko on The Acoustic Stage.I am sure your own record deserves to be played there as well Greg, so you should send them a copy.

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: greg stephens
Date: 17 Jun 06 - 06:34 PM

Hey I've just heard we've been reviewed in fRoots as well. Anybody got a copy yet, I cant find it in my shop.

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 17 Jun 06 - 07:40 PM

July fRoots hits the street next week. The very favourable review by Brian Peters of A Trip To The Lakes is on p.55.

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: Fidjit
Date: 18 Jun 06 - 04:17 AM

I've bought Gregs, "Trip To The Lakes", too. Nice picture on the front. (Shades of eds)It's very good to hear some different tunes too. (Think Albion band have nicked one) Nice one Greg. Got your 15 minutes now.

Chas

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: greg stephens
Date: 18 Jun 06 - 08:04 AM

Thank you Fidjit. I am hoping to extend things beyond fifteen minutes, maybe even to seventeen or eighteen. Thius will clearly need PR stunts. So expect to see photos of me reeling out of Stringfellow's with my arm round that Grace from Big Brother, or driving a sledge to the North Pole towed by chihuahas(Sp?).

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jun 06 - 05:39 AM

fRoots July 2006
Reviews
THE BOAT BAND
A Trip to the Lakes
Harbourtown HARCD047

It's several years now since Boat Band mastermind Greg Stephens opined that what English music needed was a dash of the spirit offered by the Anglo- Cajun bands, like his own, then riding the wave of popularity. On this album the Boat Band have done just that, setting aside their Cajun leanings and attacking the old dance repertoire of Cumberland, Westmorland and North Lancashire. This, however, is no new departure for Stephens, whose Beggar Boy of the North LP blazed the trail for Northwest musicians nearly 20 years ago.
   You'll find slicker groups around in this age of youthful virtuosity, and some listeners will find the Boat Band rough and ready, but they play with a refreshing honesty that conjures up the spirit of proper traditional musicians far more convincingly that many of their peers. Not for them the voguish tendency of syncopating everything to death, or getting bogged down in sulky jazz chords. Melodeons, fiddle, guitar and tenor banjo play with the kind of straight-ahead drive that dancers would appreciate, and the rasping, tapping and thudding of possibly home-made percussion adds greatly to the rhythm. The range of textures achhieved by different combinations of these instruments is impressive; particularly striking are several stripped-down and hypnotic arrangements featuring banjo and guitar.
   The tunes themselves are terrific: jigs, hornpipes, reels and polkas, skirling melodies as rugged as the Cumbrian hills, with many a twist and turn. Despite occasional glances over the Scots border and the Irish Sea, this is as far removed from "Celtic" music as it is from southern English polka-dom. There are ssome fine waltzes too, and two songs which are perhaps less compelling than the instrumentals. All this, plus a well-researched, informative and entertaining essay on 19th century Cumberland fiddler William Irwin--a source for several of the tunes--makes for a very enjoyable collection.
www.harbourtownrecords.com
Brian Peters

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: greg stephens
Date: 26 Jun 06 - 08:21 AM

Brian: I'm older than you think. Beggar Boy of the North was thirty years ago, not twenty.

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: GUEST,Brian Peters
Date: 26 Jun 06 - 11:05 AM

Well, stripe me sideways, Greg. How do you do it - cosmetic surgery? I'll try to get my facts straight next time.

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: greg stephens
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 06:54 PM

Blimey, we're in fRoots again. there seems to be an article on the Boat Band, or so I'm told, in the latest issue(August?). I dont have a subscription, and it isnt in my local shop, so I'm very intrigued.Anybody read this? Is it flattering?

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: greg stephens
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 06:21 PM

I've found it in the local newsagent. I think I look a bit mad in the picture(though not as mad as Tony Weatherall).

Subject: RE: Mudcatter CD on fRoots Playlist
From: Peace
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 07:43 PM

Congratulations, Greg. Great news.