May 2nd Grateful Fred Night Unfortunately Cancelled
Hi Fredheads,
Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances that have affected the band “Lyra Celtica” we will have to cancel the Grateful Fred Night for Wednesday 2nd of May.
Sadly there have been major changes within Lyra Celtica and they will now not be appearing.
Apologies to anyone who was looking forward to seeing them at Grateful Fred’s and of course any tickets already purchased will be refunded or will be valid for our next Night with the excellent “My Darling Clementine” on Wednesday 4th of June.
Could I ask anyone who kindly took posters for Lyra Celtica at last week’s Grateful Fred Night if they could take them down from anywhere they may have placed them?
I am really sorry to have to cancel a Grateful Fred Night as we enjoy them ourselves so much.
However, for anyone who’d like to keep the Grateful Fred feeling going between now and the 4th of June we, “Grateful Fred” will be appearing at Cafe D’Art in Formby on Thursday the 10th of May when we’ll attempt to play 2 x 45 minute spots without Kevin, the owner, throwing us out!!
We’d love to see you there.
Colin
My Darling Clementine on Bob Harris
Hi Fredheads,
My Darling Clementine
Great friend of Grateful Fred, Peter Cowley, has told me that “My Darling Clementine” who are appearing at Grateful Fred’s on Wednesday 6th of June will be appearing on this week’s Bob Harris Show on BBC Radio 2.
Here’s what Bob is saying about “My Darling Clementine“…
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Join Bob for the very best in country music, tonight with My Darling Clementine in session.
My Darling Clementine are the brainchild of longtime British alt.country stalwart Michael Weston King & his partner – musical & romantic – Lou Dalgleish. Together they’ve recorded “How Do You Plead”, an album of Country duets with echoes of those great Country duet albums of the Sixties and Seventies like George and Tammy, Porter and Dolly – the lists goes on & on!
Michael Weston King is widely acknowledged as one of Britain’s finest singer songwriters, Admired by the likes of Chris Hillman, Ron Sexsmith, Jackie Leven, and the legendary Townes van Zandt (who recorded one of his songs), he draws his influence from a wide range of styles, from Pop to Folk, from Country to Soul, from Gospel to Blues. He is the former leader of U.K. alt.country pioneers The Good Sons, with whom he made 4 critically acclaimed albums in a seven year career.
MOJO magazine wrote “The band who must rate as England’s very own Uncle Tupelo. A truly thrilling collection.”, while www.americana-uk.com said “The British band that played alt. country before anyone knew what the hell it was.”
For the past eight years he has been a solo troubadour, touring all over the world, performing with the likes of Nick Cave, John Cale, Roger McGuinn, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, America, Chris Hillman, Nils Lofgren, Ron Sexsmith, Arlo Guthrie, Steve Forbert, Son Volt, and many more, and releasing 6 studio albums, 3 live albums .
“As fine a singer songwriter as Gram Parsons” CHRIS HILLMAN
“…a voice part Nashville balladeer and part Alt Country hero…a cross between Nick Cave and Rodney Crowell.” THE INDEPENDENT.
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Dont’ miss out on what is sure to be another sell-out at Grateful Fred’s, get your tickets now.
Great Review of The Toy Hearts at Grateful Fred’s – 4th April 2012
I’ve just received a copy of a review that Peter Cowley has written for the excellent FATEA folk and acoustic magazine.
Peter has kindly given me permission to post it here on the Grateful Fred Blog…
Tonight saw the triumphant return of the wonderful Toy Hearts to a packed Grateful Fred’s ,following their sold-out appearance here in September 2011[that show is widely considered to be one of the best that Grateful Fred's has put on]. Thus, expectations were running high and we weren’t disappointed as the band played a storming set of bluegrass, western swing, gypsy jazz and even blues numbers.
For the uninitiated, The Toy Hearts are one of the hottest live acts around . The core of the band is the Johnson family, sisters Hannah and Sophia and their dad Stewart. They are all brilliant musicians, Stewart plays banjo, dobro and steel guitar ; Sophia plays electric and acoustic guitar and sings ;Hannah plays mandolin and is lead singer. On their current tour they have been joined by ace double bass player Al Gare ,who is on loan from Imelda May’s band.
Before the eagerly anticipated return of the ‘Hearts to the Grateful Fred’s stage we had a set from the GF house band ,who play their own unique blend of Tex-Mex and Celtic music [Tox-Mex] . Of their short set, particular highlights were Tox-Mex versions of the 1960 Jim Reeves country hit “He’ll Have to Go” and Freddy Fender’s 1975 Tex-Mex hit ” Before the Next Teardrop Falls”.
Next up ,and continuing Grateful Fred’s policy of featuring the best in up-and-coming new talent , was singer-songwriter Pip Mountjoy from Richmond ,North Yorkshire. Pip is an excellent songwriter with a lovely voice and she performed several of her own songs from her debut EP “Louisiana”. She also played a gothic version of James Vincent McMorrow’s “Follow You Down to the Red Oak Tree”.
Following Pip’s well-received set, The Toy Hearts took to the stage for their first set. Their shows are currently in two halves .The first half is primarily an acoustic bluegrass set which features songs [mainly] from their ace 2010 album “Femme Fatale” .The second half is an electric western swing set ,with songs from their soon-to-be released new album “Whiskey”.
From the “Femme Fatale” album [a real favourite of mine and highly recommended] they played “Good For Me “, “Femme Fatale” , “Carolina” ,”Tequila and High Heels” and ,best of all, “The Captain” , a great song about being in a bluegrass band ,which was released as a download single. Coincidentally, this song was played on the Bob Harris Country Music programme on BBC Radio 2 on the very day that the ‘Hearts played at Grateful Fred’s last September. The first set was completed by a song from the new album ["Pass the Jack"] and a couple from their second album ,including the gypsy jazz tribute “Montpelier Street”.
For the second set, Stewart put aside his banjo and dobro and took up his triple -necked steel guitar .Likewise, Sophia switched from acoustic to electric guitar and the band launched into their western swing set, beginning with Bob Wills’ “I Hear You Talking”. The blistering electric set continued with a rockabilly “Big Fool” [Ronnie South] ; Wayne Hancock’s ” Thunderstorms and Neon Signs” [featuring some great steel playing by Stewart] ; two Hank Williams songs ” Since My Sweet Love Ain’t Around” and “Your Cheatin’Heart” and another Bob Wills song “Ridin’ On Down”.
Adding to the eclectic mix was a great version of Patsy Cline’s hit “Walking After Midnight” which was beautifully sung by Hannah and a blues number “Me and My Gin ” [originally performed by Bessie Smith, then Dinah Washington] .This version featured a wonderful guitar solo by Sophia. The set was completed by an original song from “Whiskey” [Stutter Blues] and a cover of King of the Hillbilly Piano Players Moon Mullican’s “Lonesome Hearted Blues”.
Thia was another wonderful performance by The Toy Hearts .As one member of the audience said “I could have listened to them all night long”. The good news is that The Toy Hearts are coming back to Formby in July as part of the Formby Live Festival. I can’t wait !
Posted courtesy of Peter Cowley
