From: Martin Snodin [martin_dot_snodin_at_homecall_dot_co_dot_uk]
Sent: 31 May 2009 23:59
Subject: Acoustic Sussex Newsletter 2009-06-01

Attachments: image024.jpg

Newsletter               1 June 2009

 

Contact details
Tel. 01342 716975
or email:
info_at_acousticsussex_dot_org_dot_uk

GRYPHON – 6 June at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank


Box Office 0871 663 2500 or
book online

Gryphon in 1974, clockwise from top left: Brian Gulland, Graeme Taylor, Philip Nestor, Richard Harvey and Dave Oberlé

Back in the mid 70s, a South-East based outfit called Gryphon were one of the most interesting and unusual progressive bands on the music scene. The band has reformed for a reunion concert, taking place at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on Saturday 6th June. Why are we telling you this? Well, a well-kept secret is that the band’s drummer, Dave Oberlé, is these days part of the team that stages the Acoustic Sussex programme of events (he does the sound engineering for many of their shows).

It’s been over two years in the planning, but we’re delighted it’s happening at last.” said Oberlé, who is the band’s spokesman. “It’s over 30 years since the band last gave a public performance – we were rather knocked sideways like many bands at the time by the punk rock movement. Before that, we were used to playing big venues such as Houston Astrodome and Madison Square Gardens in New York. Back in 1974, we supported bands like Yes and Steeleye Span on their UK tours.”

“For the reunion concert, all of the original band members will be there to play an acoustic concert of material from our first two albums, ‘Gryphon’ and ‘Midnight Mushrumps’.”  Read more in the News Release

£1,000 donation made to the Teenage cancer Trust

At the Mark Erelli show on Monday 23 March, we held a successful charity raffle in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust which, together with a donation from Acoustic Sussex funds and a matching sum from Legal & General plc, has resulted in a £1,000 donation to the charity.

A reminder of our upcoming events:

 


Click to listen to sample tracks of upcoming shows on our MySpace jukebox

Ø     Monday 8 June
Click here for more details below

Dick Gaughan

Special guest: Ruth Notman

Ravenswood, Sharpthorne

 

Ø     Friday 19 June
Click here for band’s website

Show of Hands SOLD OUT

with Miranda Sykes

Chequer Mead
East Grinstead

 

Ø     Monday 6 July
Click here for more details below

Christine Collister

Support: Alex Hall

Chequer Mead
East Grinstead

 

Ø     Monday 20 July
Click here for more details below

Iain Matthews

Support: Mary Leahy

Ravenswood, Sharpthorne

 

Monday
8 June
Dick Gaughan

at The Ravenswood
Sharpthorne

www.theravenswood.co.uk

Change from previously advertised:
Special guest:
Ruth Notman

PLEASE BOOK EARLY:
£10 (£13  door)    8.00pm
Tel. 01342 714810
or
buy online via Acoustic Sussex website

Tickets are also available at Hobgoblin in Crawley and Bullfrog in East Grinstead

 

 

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Scottish singer and guitarist Dick Gaughan is just as strong and inspirational as when he started out, over 30 years ago.  He grew up steeped in the music of the Gaels with his Scottish and Irish ancestry. Both parents were musicians - his mother a singer and his father a fiddle player - and he started playing an instrument when he was seven years old.

His first solo album won him a Folk Album of the Year award, and almost twenty years later in 1989, Folk Roots Magazine voted his album, A Handful of Earth, Album of the Decade. In 2005, Gaughan was nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year Award.

Restlessly imaginative, passionate in his beliefs, Gaughan remains a commanding presence on the musical scene. You go home from a Dick Gaughan session feeling exhilarated, not just at the wonderful skills of the most potent singer ever to emerge from the Scottish folk-music revival, not just at the astonishingly fluent and explosively eloquent guitar playing, but by the sense of the stark exposition of wrong and the tremulously argued legitimacy of right.

"There are very few singers who can inspire audiences with the commitment, passion, emotion and downright understanding that Gaughan has consistently achieved over the last 30 years or so.  A truly masterful performer." Folk Roots

"Commitment. Passion. Honesty. You'll rarely find a review of a Dick Gaughan recording or concert that doesn't come up with one of these terms" Living Tradition

Special guest for this show is Ruth Notman, who was a finalist in the 2006 BBC Young Folk Awards. She started out on the live circuit at just 13 years old, performing at folk clubs and venues in the Midlands and soon began securing slots at leading Festivals. Her debut album, Threads achieved much critical acclaim with top reviews in The Guardian, Mojo, The Independent, BBC Radio 2 and fRoots, among others. Ruth's pure and powerful voice conveys stories of love, loss, adventure and heartache, weaving through simple stripped down ballads and soaring above complex arrangements.

"Further proof that the British  folk scene is in remarkably fine shape” **** The Guardian

"One of the most assured, varied and impressive debut albums of the year." The Guardian

"She gets so close to Sandy Denny's  perfection that it's difficult to discern   the gap.“  ***** Rock 'n' Reel

 “An 18 year old with such a spark in her voice it's hard to see
how she can fail"
**** Mojo

"A great new talent." John Tams

“A new voice in British folk” The Independent – ALBUM OF THE WEEK

 


Dick Gaughan


Ruth Notman

Monday
6
July
Christine Collister

at Chequer Mead
East Grinstead

www.chequermead.org.uk

Support: Alex Hall
£12 (£ 10 conc)    8pm
Box Office 01342 302000
Tickets are also available at Hobgoblin in Crawley and Bullfrog in East Grinstead

 

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With a gravity-defying voice and impressive live performances, Christine Collister (singer of the theme song of the popular BBC Television series The Life and Loves of a She Devil) is one of the most respected female vocalists in the contemporary music scene.

Although she first attracted attention as a member of Richard Thompson's band in the late 1980s and then in a duo that she shared with Clive Gregson, she's continued to make her presence felt since embarking on a solo career in 1992.

Over the course of her career Christine has become a familiar name on the UK ‘live’ scene and at all major festivals from Glastonbury to Winnipeg to Cambridge. She has the ability to mesmerise and astound with her unique blend of soul, blues, pop, jazz, country and folk.

"..boundary breaking is routine for Collister and makes her one of the finest grown-up vocalists on the planet.   ...so much soul you think she’d been signed by Motown" Q Magazine

“Christine Collister can sing the birds down off the trees and send them back with a tiny flick of her vocal chords.”   Mojo

"Christine Collister has a killer voice. As full as Dusty Springfield or as blue as Alison Moyet"  FRoots

"Forget your Katie Meluas. If you want a real voice try Christine Collister"  Alan Clifford,   BBC website

Support for this show is from Alex Hall, a young singer songwriter from Brighton who we think is a real talent to watch. His haunting and melanchonic song 'Carley' is a shining example of the brutally honest and well crafted material which the 22 year old has written.

 


Christine Collister


Alex Hall

 

Monday
20 July
Iain Matthews

at The Ravenswood
Sharpthorne

www.theravenswood.co.uk

Support: Mary Leay
£10 (£13  door)    8.00pm
Tickets 01342 714810
or
buy online via Acoustic Sussex website

Tickets are also available at Hobgoblin in Crawley and Bullfrog in East Grinstead

 

 

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When some artists are referred to as “legends” it is usually measured in years, or based on the quality of their music. Few are measured in both time and quality. One artist that has been judged by both is Iain Matthews.

As a founding member of Fairport Convention back in ’67, Matthews appeared on the bands’ first three recordings (Fairport Convention, What We did on our Holidays and Unhalfbricking) until musical differences caused him to leave in ’69 during the recording of their third album.

In order to facilitate and develop his growing fascination with American singer/songwriters, in 1969 he formed his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort, This group spawned a massive European hit with the Joni Mitchell song "Woodstock". However, within a year, Matthews felt restricted and began his solo career, signing with the Vertigo label and a new era began. After 2 albums for the company, once again, he felt the need for newer pastures and in 1972 Plainsong, a quartet, was formed with friend Andy Roberts, where together and to high critical acclaim, they chronicled the exploits of American aviator, Amelia Earhart.

Within a year Matthews was again on the move, this time changing continents in a move to Los Angeles, where he established an artist, producer relationship with ex Monkee, Michael Nesmith.

Intending to make the one album, stay for a year and return to Britain, Matthews eventually became a US resident, staying for the next 28 years. Along the way, recording a further 15 solo albums, plus several more with Plainsong and a couple with former Pavlov's Dog founder, David Surkamp, in the short lived Hi-Fi.

In 2000 he returned to Europe and for the next 4 years worked closely with Dutch singer/songwriter, Ad Vanderveen and together with Eliza Gilkyson, they formed the trio More Than a Song, recording and releasing 2 albums.

3 years ago Matthews released his 11th solo work, Zumbach's coat.

On his latest album, Joy Mining (with the Searing Quartet), Matthews says:”It’s the best work I have ever done, without a doubt. It took me forty years to find this place and now I’m here, I wonder where the hell I’ve been looking all those years.”

 


Iain Matthews


Mary Leay

 

Don’t forget that as well as our own shows, the Acoustic Sussex website has a Regional Gig Guide and links to venues and clubs in the South East that offer folk, roots and acoustic music – and our MySpace site contains over 500 links to a variety of other MySpace ‘friends’ sites, including musicians, venues, magazines and lots more.

 


Regional Gig Guide

For your future diaries...

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Future 2009 dates in the Acoustic Sussex programme include:

Ø     3 September – Claire Martin

Ø     7 September – Sam Baker (band) + The Haley Sisters

Ø     21 September – Corinne West + Tinderbox

Ø     12 October – Uiscedwr + Luke Sital Singh

Ø     9 November – Chris & Kellie While + Joseph Topping

Ø     23 November – Jez Lowe and the Bad Pennies+ Lucy Ward

Ø     11 December – The Unthanks (formerly known as Rachel Unthank & The Winterset)

More information on all up-and-coming artists can be found on our website: www.acousticsussex.org.uk. You can also find us on MySpace (with samples from some of the artists appearing) at: www.myspace.com/acoustic_sussex. If you know anyone who you think may enjoy our events, please forward this email to them.

 

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