Our 2012 Schedule
Wednesday 1 February 2012 |
‘WOODY GUTHRIE: HARD TIMES AND HARD TRAVELLIN’
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| Plus full supporting programme |
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| Book early for this unique event in the centenary year of Woody’s birth.WOODY GUTHRIE: HARD TIMES AND HARD TRAVELLIN’ is a live documentary that sets the songs of Woody Guthrie in the context of the American 1930s – the Dust Bowl, the Depression, the New Deal and the state of popular music itself.
In the presentation, Will Kaufman brings such hard-hitting Guthrie songs as “Vigilante Man”, “Pretty Boy Floyd” and “I Ain’t Got No Home” into conversation with other relevant songs – from Joe Hill’s “The Preacher and the Slave” to “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”. These renditions, buttressed by detailed historical commentary, exemplify the blending of music and radical politics that marks Guthrie’s most powerful and evocative work. “No one can understand the American people without listening to Woody Guthrie. Will Kaufman’s doing important work here.” “I thank Will Kaufman for introducing a new generation of Europeans to ‘the Other America’. It’s a wonderful job he’s doing.” WILL KAUFMAN is a singer, guitarist and Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Central Lancashire. In 2008 he was awarded a BMI-Woody Guthrie Fellowship. His book, Woody Guthrie, American Radical was published in 2011 by the University of Illinois Press. |
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Thursday 1 March 2012 |
Eddie and Frank Thomas |
| Full supporting programme |
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| With three CDs of original songs released in less than a year, brothers, Eddie and Frank Thomas are telling unique stories from a baby boomers’ perspective.They grew up in the northeast Mississippi foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and aren’t sugar coating or over dramatizing their experiences. With a wide-eyed, mischievous but serious point of view they say, “The stories we’ll be telling are all mostly true.”
During a thirty-year, award-winning career as Thomasfilms, Inc., Eddie and Frank learned to paint pictures. Original sound tracks always personalized the Thomas brother’s film and video productions, but Angels on the Backroads, a 4CD tribute to blues and jazz, took a different tact and moved the music to the forefront. Angels on the Backroads became a multimedia stage show that spanned 12years and was featured on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition Sunday. Eddie and Frank leave film and silver screen behind for this spring 2012 tour of the UK. With guitar, bass and Southern accent they take you on an American journey of story and song through the eyes of brothers from Mississippi. |
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Thursday 5th April |
| The Toy Hearts |
| Full supporting programme |
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| In September (2011) we had one of the very best night’s we have ever had at Grateful Fred’s when the fantastic Toy Hearts appeared.
We are absolutely delighted to be able to announce that they will be playing at Grateful Fred’s once again on Thursday April 5th. Last time we sold out all 70 tickets and could have sold out at least another 30+ tickets so to be sure that you can see this wonderful band once again please be sure to book your tickets online in advance. Since cutting their first record in 2006, UK based Bluegrass/Americana group The Toy Hearts, have been one of the hottest acts emerging out of the burgeoning acoustic scene. The band is fronted by sisters Hannah and Sophia Johnson, who bring both a feminine, and British perspective, to an essentially American music. However, they keep one foot in the traditional camp by employing their father Stewart on banjo and dobro, while non family members on double bass and fiddle complete the 5 piece line up. |
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