A quartet of Club regulars will be keeping our end up at the Leyton Big Weekend on Saturday 11th September.

We’ll be in the Alfresco Tent between 2:30 and 3:30 in the afternoon. The line up is Russ Chandler, Jim Kane, Alan Neville and Graham Larkbey.

The event is at  Leyton Cricket Ground, Crawley Road E10 6RJ and there’s loads of stuff on all day, and indeed all weekend. The gig name guest for the Saturday (apart from us, of course) is Neville Staple from The Specials.

And the weather is always better in September than it is in August so here’s hoping for some sunshine!

It’s always a blast when Robb Johnson comes to visit us but on the 19th September there’s extra reason to be excited.

The evening will mark the London launch of Robb’s new CD “Man Walks into a Pub”.

This album sees Robb revisiting his folk club songwriting roots. The majority of the 14 tracks on the album were written for the monthly Hove Folk Club  that he’s been running since September 2008. Robb set out to write a new song for each folk club night, and rediscovered just how enjoyable playing an acoustic guitar is – that’s why the album includes two instrumentals, as well as Johnson’s trademark capacity to write intelligently about issues as diverse as love, kids, the war in Afghanistan, the condition of Albion, saving the world, pubs and meeting foxes on the way back from them after closing time. There’s also a cover of a traditional song, collected from the singing of Michael Jones and Joe Strummer, “Stay Free”.

“The organic feel of this album is reflected in the photos used for the cover; they were taken in The Poet’s Corner pub where the folk club’s held, by Agata who also works there as a barmaid,” says Robb. The album packaging contains a 16-page booklet of poems written by Robb over the last two years, frequently in pubs but also sometimes on the bus on the way to work using local paper headlines for initial inspiration.

“It seemed a bit pointless having the lyrics with the album, ’cos hopefully you can hear them on the CD, but it’s always good to have something extra to look at when you first open an album – hence the booklet of poems, many of which relate directly or indirectly to the songs on the album,” explains Robb. However, for those of you who find Robb’s diction a bit suspect, lyrics and notes to songs will be appearing on this website over the summer.

More info at http://www.robbjohnson.co.uk

We don’t know how many of you will be around on Tuesday 10, but we’re going to come along and play some tunes. All welcome as usual, from 8pm at the Plough. Hope to see you there.

Just a quick reminder that we’re having one of our summer sessions tonight, Tuesday 13 July. From 8pm, slow for an hour, quicker later, all acoustic instruments welcome and hopefully a lot of fun. Free of course. I’ve been playing Captain Lanoe’s Quick March a lot recently, and Double Lead Through. See you there!

We always like to run a show or two during the summer break and this year is no exception.

On Wednesday the 4th of August Mai Hernon will be returning to the club for the London launch of her new CD.

Mai is a wonderful singer of traditional music in the Irish tradition and she blew us away when she was our guest earlier in the year.

Thought it would be nice to give a bit more info about the acts coming to Walthamstow Folk over the next few weeks.

Tonight (23rd May) we have David Ferrard. This is his first visit to the club but he’s well know in the area and played a fabulous gig at the Leytonstone Festival last year. He’s also beeen playing around the festivals for a few years now so we’re a bit behind the curve in only just getting him to the club.

Then we’re closed for the bank holiday and on 6th June we have the amazing Jeff Warner. The last time Jeff was at the club I managed to be in the US. I have made no such mistake this time round!

As well as being a superb instrumentalist, he plays the bones, spoons and all sorts of other things you didn’t think were actually instruments.

Then on 13th June we have Tom and Barbara Brown. Russ and I have known Tom and Barbara for some years know as they run the evening singaround at the Broadstairs Festival where we’ve had some absolutely splendid evenings. Again, they’re overdue for a visit! Their last visit was back when the club ran in Hale End.

On 20th  June the Kittiwakes pay their first visit to the club as the main guest. We’ve seen them before in featured spots but now they get their name on the programme.

They also have a MySpace page.

The last week of the season on 27th June is Futureproof IV which Russ has already written about.

The Raven have been regulars at the club for a while now. It’s been a pleasure seeing them find their feet and develop into two fine performers. Especially pleasing was watching them support Eliza Carthy recently. They blew the other support acts off the stage. And the others were quite good too!

I’ve now seen Emma Scarr knowing who I was watching and she’s great! Having seen her play The Plough and the Old Rose and Crown quite a few times it was good to match the name to the face and to know that Russ had booked her for Futureproof.

Thanks, see you there?

Claire

I’m a bit sceptical of on-line petitions but there is a new one, organised by the English Folk Dance and Song Society, calling for the BBC to increase its folk music programming.

The BBC is currently undertaking a Strategy Review Consultation and they want to know what you, the pay-masters, think. This a good opportunity to challenge the BBC to increase its presentation of folk music.

There is a wealth of exciting traditionally-based music being played live in Britain, but the BBC’s national coverage is woefully inadequate.  Scotland, Ireland, and Wales are proud of their national musical heritage, and regional programming reflects that to some extent, but what of England?  Mike Harding’s selection on Radio 2 is very partial and biased strongly towards songs, with one or at the most two instrumental tracks per week.

Local coverage up here in the North East of England is patchy and vulnerable to cutbacks: for example, Alistair Anderson’s programme has disappeared from BBC Radio Newcastle, yet the North-East of England boasts one of the liveliest, most vibrant and youthful traditional music scenes in the UK.

This is our music, let us hear (and see!) much more of it!

Click here to add your signature and/or see who has signed already:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/folkon/petition.html

Sunday the 27th June marks the forth of our Futureproof specials where we try to champion some artists who aren’t as well known on our part of the folk scene as we think they ought to be.

This year the lineup will be -

Emma Scarr

Emma is a Leytonstone based singer-songwriter who’s making a real name for herself.

Emma has been active on London’s live scene for approaching two decades. A proficient performer on guitar, fiddle and banjo, in recent years she has concentrated on song craft.

“London Americana? Yes, it can be done!” – ROCK’n'REEL

http://www.myspace.com/emmascarr

The Raven

Raven have been enchanting us with their recent floorspots and tonight get the chance to stretch out a bit. Beautiful traditional and self composed music from a duo that are really going places.

Earlier this year they supported Eliza Carthy too.

http://theraven.me

A belated Thank You to everybody who turned out for our Folk Against Fascism special a few weeks ago.

Not only did we have a fantastic night but we raised £280 which we’ll be using to make a donation to Folk Against Fascism and Unite Against Fascism to help their continuing battle against the BNP and the EDL.

Best of all the BNP in Barking were wiped out in the general election and everybody who helped the campaign can feel justifiably proud.

http://www.folkagainstfascism.com

http://www.uaf.org.uk

Our regular tune session is tonight. I’ve been hearing some fantastic tunes recently, including the LNB Polka, The Lass of Richmond Hill, The Celebration March and Willafjord. Plus all our regulars of course. Do come — all acoustic instruments are fine, and you’re also welcome just to come and listen. See you there!