So having tied up with Tim Holt, I headed off for the Club Tent. The first act I caught were TABACHE a duo playing some fine Irish and Scottish traditional stuff. As the programme states 'They are definitely one to watch.'
On the Radio 2 stage Show of Hands were competing with the Levellers. Show of Hands won by a mile. They are a fine duo and one to catch. The Train, written about a trip round India, saw Steve Knightley and Phil Beer swapping licks on an assortment of instruments. They closed their set with a song about the Cheltenham races and it was brilliant.
I did catch the last bit of the Levellers, but having driven through most of southern England to get to the gig I didn't want to hear a band doing a one bass line violin stomp thing.
So I went to bed.
Saturday
The first act was Kelly Joe Phelps, yes you boys were right, this was good. Strange to hear a white guy sing with such soul and play lap steel so well.
Natalie McMaster, step dancing violin, good looker from Cape Breton who I caught glimpses of but didn't settle down with.The Rankin Family etc.
Deaf Shepherd. Traditional band from Scotland who like playing and I like them, they are really young and, like Eliza Carthy, they taking the sound of traditonal to people of their generation. A word of warning though, they must appreciate their older audience as well.
Now the Dillards. A class act. We could have booked this band in 1972 with the Roots and Branches line up. The difference here was Doug Dillard was in the band and they are a lot older.
Mitch Jayne on bass was in fine form and his dry sense of humour was infectious. Things he said had the audience in stitches, like they thought Bob Dylan was singing like a dog who had his leg caught in a barbed wire fence. Also Mitch felt that it was great to be back in England but the way things were going they wouldn't even see home again, let alone return.
It was a short set but Sittin' On Top Of The World was my favourite. It was the Dead unplugged as Dean Webb on mandolin and Doug on vocals set the sound on fire.
It's Saturday morning and Coldhams Common is waking up to day two of the Cambridge Folk Festival. Easily the festival for old gits like me. In store today we have such greats as Dougie Maclean, The Donal Lunny Band, Chip Taylor and Nick Lowe and not forgetting Taj Mahal.
First Band to check out though are Lünasa (they have one of those dots over the U but my machine and I don't know how to type that) They feature ex Waterboy Trevor Hutchinson on double bass and they are a superb Celtic band and have in Mike McGoldrick, he of Capercaille fame a fine flute player and there sound is one to watch out for in 1999.
Any way my notes are all over the place, so the Guinness must have been kicking in when I was scribbling and dribbling during the Poozies. Kate Rusby is a tiny, quiet, good looking lady, she explodes into a cheeky chirpy character when she hits the stage. Business card in hand, I pluck up the courage to invite the best thing to come out of Barnsley to the Island. (Kate I'm still waiting). Overall the Poozies are another one of those acts that mainstream radio etc haven't exposed. Correction, the marketing men haven't gotten their claws into yet. I say good, but on the other hand if they were to leap into fame and fortune it would most likely change the way they play their stuff. Traditional stuff merged with pop.
Dougie Maclean. I posess one album by Dougie and I think he must have known that, as his whole set consisted of most of that album. He is my favourite Scotsman. Some say he is the Scottish equivalent of James Taylor. Having seen both this year it's quite true. His songs are passionate, delicate and full of description.
He made a very interesting statement about when his grandmother died. She was the last Gaelic speaking member of the family so when she died so did that language in his family. By losing that language he said "It felt like losing part of his identity. "When I spoke to him later I told him where I came from and felt that as an Island we had lost our identity and had just been swallowed up by the Mainland. ( I gave him a business card and asked him to call, Dougie, I'm still waiting).
Capercaille
I didn't know that Capercaille is the largest of the grouse. Francis a flute player I met told me this. She was there to watch Mike McGoldrick who I mentioned in the Lunasa part. In preference I like Lunasa better. Capercaille remind me of Dire Straits, very polished and precise. All the rough edges have been removed.
In the infamous club tent Johnny Plank and the Planktones dedicate Ring of Fire to the Charles Wells Brewery. Chip Taylor took the stage after them and he has John Platania with him and delivers a set consisting of the material he performed at Glastonbury:
"There is something about a lady and a West Texas wind,
Something about knowing you won't know her again.
Something about cool rain in the fall.
Something about losing it all.'
He even managed to mention Oasis and Champagne. (For further details on this alcoholic mixture speak to Jane).
The Dillards carried on where they left off the night before, the harmonies on There Is A Time were stunning.
Then for the highlight of the festival. The Donal Lunny Band. The ex-Planxty man with his band of merry people, including Sharon Shannon, were just brilliant. A number called Spanish Point (a place in County Clare) was one of the rockiest Celtic things I have ever heard.
Then Eliza Carthy, this woman goes from strength to strength. She is my favourite folk person at this moment in time. She had the band with her on this occasion which played at Glastonbury. I spoke to her manager and gave him a business card.
To finish off Saturday's entertainment I went for Wolfstone, the Marillion of the folk scene. What a band and a great way to see you to your tent with gallons of Guinness inside you.
I never saw Taj Mahal. I got a glimpse of Nick Lowe but luckily I had seen these at Glastonbury.
SUNDAY
I've never done a workshop before so I didn't know what to expect when I went to see Eliza Carthy holding a fiddle workshop. It was weird walking through the festival site with The Archers chattering over the PA.
The workshop was a real treat. Saul Rose, the accordian player, was late so Lucy Adams got on the mobile and asked where he was. 20 minutes later he arrives. Meanwhile Eliza's entertained the crowd with some fiddle work and jokes about her breakfast. She elects to teach all these fiddle players The Cumberland Waltz and after breaking the tune into manageable chunks she has about 25 fiddle players doing this tune. Amazing.
It's a great way to start the day after a heavy day on the Guinness. Other songs performed were Zachinthos Jig, Tommy's Foot for her drummer and a French Canadian thing, and the Herring Song. She also explained how she enjoys researching English Fiddle tunes and stuff at Cecil Sharpe House (one for Jane and Gwen to laugh about ) in London.If you want to catch her in Southampton she is there on the 25th of September at the GANTRY.
The Blues Band played an unplugged set on the main stage. Sunday lunch with a soft punch. The Prince Charles of Rock (I think he means Paul Jones Ed.) was there doing his stuff and I enjoyed this more than the electric stuff that they do. The hKippers (yes, I spelt it right) are straight from those legendary days of the Bonzo's led by Nigel (Paul Bradley) from EastEnders I was well relaxed with them.
The Dillards for the third and last time. Mitch Jayne explaining how Joan Baez had once got very emotional about this song about a hound. 'Back home where we come from, trucks run over the damn things.' Perhaps where Joan comes from they don't have hounds. He then introduces Old Blue. The Dillards were in my opinion, along with Donal Lunny band and Eliza Carthy band the highlights, and best of the bunch at Cambridge this year.
By now I was flagging and I must confess up in the sky on Guinness and I just had to get to the front for Donal Lunny. Ray Fear on drums is in world of his own on that kit and he mimes every sound he's making. Tremendous and tight, a fantastic band. After this I wandered round sampling the Guinness tent and it's contents of drink and music.
The main stage with Kathy Mattea joined by Dougie Maclean. Then it was Cherish the Ladies an all American / Irish band who had a woman leading them who sounded as if she came out of Cagney and Lacey. She was born in the Bronx. They were good and I was sat with Phil Beer from Show of Hands who watched and I think he must of thought, How do we follow these ? But they did and Show of Hands closed the gig. So I made it and now for Cropredy, and Fairports.
Pete Turner