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
It was to be a late afternoon of Dan's first up is Dan Wilde, to be followed by The Dan Webster Band. I genuinely think the bass player that played alongside Dan Wilde was called Dan, though I stand to be corrected on that one. Certainly the man that plays bass on Dan Wilde's debut album, "This Is The Right Place" is called Dan.
"This Is The Right Place" has been getting Mr Wilde a fair bit of attention as both a songwriter and performer up in this neck of the woods and, judging by this performance, that really doesn't come as a shock as there's a real sense that he's got what it takes, not just as a writer and singer, but also because he has good stage presence.
Beverley supports its local artists well they are distributed right through the bill. I think it would have been possible to have got through the festival without listening to anyone from outside a thirty mile radius and with acts like Dan Wilde making up the numbers, you certainly wouldn't be disappointed by the quality.
There is a fruitful mellowness to his sound, delicate refrains, matched by some laid back guitar work. I found myself leaning back against the tent surround by an oasis of calm that was taking me away from the general hustle of the festival.
On the day, The Dan Webster Band turned out to be just Dan Webster, but being new to him and here on a recommendation I really had no points of reference so I had no reason to be. Apparently as well as being a singer-songwriter, he's no stranger to the other side of the desk, producing several other artists as well as co-producing his own most recent album, "Diamond Land".
Performing solo, I thought there was something of James Yorkston about him. I think it's the grittier edge of both his writing style and delivery. He seems to want to tell it how it is and take no prisoners. That's not to say there's not a more emotional side to his music, there is, but it comes with a certain amount of intensity.
I'm told that with the band he's got a more folk rock, even slightly west coast sound, if that is the case I'd really like to hear it, because solo he impresses me as to how he puts his songs together. I'd like to have stuck around longer after his set to have talked to him in more depth, but I'd already made a commitment to another band to get across to their album launch.
I scoot across to another marquee called the Village Hall where Southern Tenant Folk Union are about to launch their new album, "Pencaitland" on an unsuspecting world. When I get there, Pat McGarvey, the band's leader, seems to be involved in a question and answer session with the festival goers.
It's also pretty obvious that there isn't any amplification and that the album will be performing the whole album acoustically, good on them. After a few more questions including what the album was named after, a village just outside of the band's Edinburgh base, that also gets its own song on the album.
Southern Tenant Folk Union take their name from Southern Tenant Farmers Union, a rare multi-racial organisation formed in the US in the 30s to try and ensure more income for the farmers. This is relevant for two reasons. One is that it influences the politics of the songs from within the band and secondly that it's a time the band draw many of their musical influences from.
Whilst the band use a lot of bluegrass and old timey instruments and arrangements, it would be difficult to genuinely apply that description to the sound, ironically less so when playing acoustically than when they were playing with amplification earlier in the day.
There's too much of a Scottish influence on the sound for it to be considered pure, but it's one heck of a mixture, cross fertilisation often delivering a fine crop. Ripest amongst those live is "An Irish Airman Foresees His Own" death, based on the poem by W.B. Yeates, an incredibly moving song.
I manage to squeeze in some food and a pint before hightailing it across the site and back into the Leisure Centre to catch the start of the Evening Concert. Due to a throat infection, Martin Carthy has had to withdraw, his place being taken by Moore, Moss & Rutter, the trio once again benefiting from the misfortune of someone else, can someone check their tent for pins and some suspicious globs of wax on the tent floor?