Beverley Folk Festival
Beverley Folk Festival 2011
Friday June 17th - Sunday June 19th
Multiple Venues
Beverley Yorkshire
Friday - Saturday - Sunday - Gallery
Beverley Folk Festival - Saturday
With a sense of continuity, Wendy Arrowsmith, was followed onto stage by Gerry McNeice, who produced Wendy's album. Gerry is one of those characters that you would describe as a stalwart of the folk scene. As well as performing solo and in bands, Gerry has organised events and carried his skills over into production.
Today he's performing as part of a duo with a cajon and bodhran, which I discovered is known locally at t' tub, player whose name I managed to miss. A lot of Gerry's songs are about people and places, but are written in a way that if you don't know the particular valley or village name checked, it doesn't matter because the songs are universal.
One of the songs he performed was about a grandfather, actually not his grandfather as he'd borrowed the song from a friend, but it was sung with such feeling you almost felt he knew the guy and a person I was sat next to made a comment to no one imparticular, 'yes mine was like that', such is the power of music.
This is a festival, not just a series of gigs, so after Jerry I took the opportunity to go and get something to eat, catch a bit of clog dancing that was going on on a small low rider that had been set up in the middle of the festival village. It all looked a little energetic to me, but great fun, not that I can really imaging getting my overweight frame into doing something like that, though maybe if I did, I wouldn't be overweight in the first place.
I mooch through the festival stalls on my way to have a look at how the ceilidh is going in the concert and dance marquee. Very well appears to be the answer. Blackbeard's Tea Party have been joined by a caller and between them they've got the wooden dance floor full with people right across the age spectrum. The thing all of them have in common is the looks of concentration they have when the dance is being explained and the smiles of sheer enjoyment on their faces when they are going through it for real.
As with pretty every ceilidh that I've been two there is a disproportional amount of females to males, with some of the ladies having to take the gentleman's parts, but I've definitely seen worse ratios at these events.
For a while I'm briefly tempted to join in, but I remind myself that I've got a day and a half more festival to cover and a collapsed and knackered Neil is going to be no use to anyone. I stay for a while, bobbing up and down a bit, Blackbeard's Tea Party, really do play infectious, compulsive music. Everyone seems to be having such a good time, I resolve that one event/festival soon I really must give it a go.
I'm having such a good time that I've forgotten that I'd intended to see Jerry Harmon in the Americana concert, fortunately he's playing on the Sunday, which is just as well because everyone who mentioned him said how much they enjoyed his performance.
I arrive in the main hall just in time to catch the end of the Jess Gardham Band. Today they are playing with full drums, instead of hand percussion and are definitely louder and seem to have more energy because of it.
Whilst the hall isn't yet as full as it was last night, there seems to be better sound today. Sports halls are notoriously difficult to get right, but the parachutes are definitely doing their job as baffles as there really is very little echo.
The good thing about using an indoor venue is that you get to control the atmosphere, particularly light. It's dark, it feels like an evening gig, even though its actually a sunny afternoon outside.
It's something that is more noticeable in Sean Taylor's set, when he comes on stage next. Sean's playing style means that you want to hear every note as its played and you really can. The hall really starts to fill as Sean works through his set and once again the levels of appreciation rise as the set progresses.
Sean seems to be a little bemused at the audience, folk audiences tend to listen then react, Sean often plays venues where there is a more immediate feedback with the crowd. There's nothing wrong with either response, but I guess when you're looking out on to a sea of heads looking up from seats, it can be difficult to gauge a reaction. The between song response would tell him, 'very well actually'. Sean seems to be reaching a wider audience and there were a good number there that had only ever seen him the previous day and were coming back for more.
Finishing off the afternoon Americana concert were a seven piece bluegrass combo from Edinburgh, The Southern Tennant Folk Union. The band are launching a new cd at the festival with an event later in the day.
The band take the traditional bluegrass route of gathering around a single microphone with singers dropping in and out as the need requires, similarly, with the exception of the bass, the instrumentalists gather stage centre as they do their individual pieces.
Unfortunately the end of the Americana stage clashes with two artists that I want to see performing at the Wold Top Marquee, both of whom are only performing that one set during the festival. I reluctantly depart, knowing that I'll be catching Southern Tenant Folk Union later on in the day.