Cambridge Folk Club

Friday 15 January: Na-Mara

Na-Mara are Paul McNamara (voice, guitars) and Rob Gracia (mandolin, octave mandola, guitar, voice) and their combined musical vision doesn't appear to have many limitations or boundaries. The duo's repertoire includes music from the British Isles, Brittany, Asturias and Galicia with plans to venture even further.
www.na-mara.com

Support: Laura Cherry and Howard Roscoe
Laura Cherry and Howard Roscoe play traditional and modern songs, including some written by Laura who comes from Belfast. Laura's lilting voice with wafting rhythms combines with Howard's innovative guitar to create delight in the new and bring new dimensions to the old.
For some sample tracks, visit http://uk.myspace.com/lauracherryuk .

Friday 29 January: Hot Lips and Chilli Fingers Band

When internationally renowned musicians Steve Lockwood and Chris Newman met during a recording session six years ago it was obvious there was a real musical chemistry between them. The rare combination of true virtuoso harmonica playing and world class roots and blues guitar eventually led to them forming HOT LIPS & CHILLI FINGERS so they could explore their passion for traditional American music styles further.
Session bass man Fabian Bonner has recently returned to full time work with several bands in the UK after extensive international touring with Mark. From Rock and Roll to Ragtime, Fabian’s (Godfather) superb funky blues playing  and huge enthusiasm add life and drive to the HOT LIPS & CHILLI FINGERS line up. 
Writer, producer and innovative drummer Mark Russell (Horace X) adds a North American ‘frame’ drum to the available options.  With drumming described by Charles Shaar Murray as ‘sensational’, he has headlined festivals in Canada for audiences of 8,000 and recorded numerous albums, including the last album recorded by the late great Ewan MacColl. Together the HOT LIPS & CHILLI FINGERS line-up will get you in the party spirit.
www.myspace.com/hotlipschillifingers
www.steve.ms/index.php?id=69

Support: Robert Brown
With his unique style and presence Robert delivers a wealth of styles and emotions throughout the roots spectrum. His psychedelic folk cum blues cum jazz performances are unique yet accessible, eccentric yet consistent.
www.robert-brown.info

Entry: £10(door), £9(advance), £8(members)

Friday 26 February: Alan Prosser (Oyster Band)

Those who encounter him as the indefatigable core of Oysterband, power chords and solos to the fore in a sharp electric lineup, know only one part of Alan’s playing. Long before all this, he was part of a collective of young experimenters who one day would be playing medieval music for banquets, next delving into the arcane kabbalistic mysteries of the North Carolina Ramblers or the Mississippi Mud Steppers, and the next trying to fathom how the great English players - Davy Graham, John Martyn, Bert Jansch and Martin Carthy - managed to do that on their guitars. From Coley Jones to Nic Jones in one giant step.
www.cantweb.co.uk/music/alan_prosser

Support: Dave Stubbs

Dave has been playing the folk clubs and pubs in his home county of Yorkshire for more than 10 years.  With a soulful voice and versatile guitar technique, Dave performs his own musical arrangements of songs from Blues, Folk and Jazz, as well as his own material.

Friday 12 March: Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy and Chris Parkinson
Special Concert at St Luke's Church, Victoria Road, Cambridge CB4 3DZ

For more than 30 years Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy have been at the forefront of the English folk scene. Joined by their long time friend Chris Parkinson they perform fantastic traditional songs and music in a way only they know how. Her wonderfully compassionate voice makes Norma Waterson one of the country’s finest, most emotive singers. Martin Carthy has been a much loved and enormously influential figure in English folk music for over 40 years. Chris Parkinson has played music since the age of 5, starting with the harmonica and developing into a long career playing with various bands. His instruments include the piano, guitar, concertina, tin whistle, melodeon, piano accordion and fiddle.
www.watersoncarthy.com
www.chrisparkinsonmusic.co.uk

Support: John Meed with Lester Lloyd-Reason and Cliff Ward

John Meed, singer songwriter and guitarist, will be joined by Lester Lloyd-Reason (lead guitar) and Cliff Ward (violin). 'I continue to be impressed by John's sense of narrative and perception' (FATEA). 'John Meed's music could easily sooth any troubled soul' (Music-zine)
www.johnmeed.net

Friday 26 March: Redhouse Radio

Redhouse Radio are an eight-piece semi-acoustic band, based around Cambridge. Their set features mainly original songs, laced with forgotten jewels from the roots/soul back catalogue. “Last week's session from Cambridge ensemble Redhouse Radio was up there with my favourite sessions of all time. The eight-strong band of accordion, flute, guitar, fiddle and djembe players surpassed themselves with songs of kinky politicians and drunken meanderings.” Jeremy Sallis, The Audio Files, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
www.myspace.com/redhouse6

Support: Dave Jenkins
Dave Jenkins is a member of Redhouse Radio but also performs solo. His traditional background mixes happily with his modern, self-penned compositions reflecting life and love.

Friday 23 April: Liz Simcock
                                   
Liz Simcock writes songs and performs them in folk and acoustic clubs in and around the Southeast.   In 1999 she featured on the Playpen Album of New Acoustic Music alongside Eliza Carthy, Billy Bragg, Eddi Reader and Kathryn Williams.  Since then she has trodden an  independent path, recording three albums and gaining a growing  reputation as a performer and songwriter.  At this gig  Liz will be found in the illustrious company  of Ian Newman (bass)  and Warwick Jones (guitar).
www.lizsimcock.com

Support: David Stevenson

David Stevenson has produced a series of strong, melodic, guitar-based songs, with an emphasis on first-person historical narrative. His growing reputation as a passionate performer centres on the outstanding Great War Trilogy and the epic of migration, The Last of England.  Other songs draw on his experiences of travelling around the world on business, with an acute eye and ear for observation, and emotional songs of love and distance.
www.david-stevenson-music.co.uk

Entry: £9(door), £8(advance), £7(members)

.

Friday 30 April: Showcase: Invocal and April Anderson

Invocal are a female acoustic band that perform with cello, guitar, oboe and harmonious voices - described as having dark gypsy folk tugging from one side and an all out west end musical tugging from the other. Their songs tell tales of modern life - with caustic and bawdy humour, powerful and moving lyricsand (most days) expert musical prowess.
www.invocal.co.uk

April Anderson is a multi instrumentalist and a unique and refreshingly original singer-songwriter, who has just released her debut album “Swings and Roundabouts” on Acoustic Clock Records. She is the sole writer, arranger and producer of these lyrically quirky, well crafted songs and her music has been described as an idiosyncratic blend of contemporary folk, tinged with jazz. “Fabulous voice, fantastic songs, amazing live”- BBC Sue Marchant Show.
www.aprilanderson.co.uk

Entry: £7(door), £6(advance), £5(members).

Friday 7 May: Open Stage with Dragonfruit

Dragonfruit are Clare Woodcock (violins/vocals) and Ian Heywood (vocals/guitar). Their style ranges widely from pure folk to pure pop and all stations in between, and features a lot of original material. It's the way they blend voice and violin that makes this duo special.

Entry: £4(door), £2(members), £1(performers).

Friday 14 May: Lightning Jack and the Sheri Kershaw Band
Formed in 2002 the nucleus of Lightning Jack has remained the same since its conception. Comprising Welsh bluesman [Professor] Lester Lloyd-Reason, ageing rocker Phil Utting-Brown, Cliff Ward, who is a singer/songwriter in his own right, and Ian Turner who recently worked with Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac. Lightning Jack perform a wonderful set of original numbers and covers, and create a  lively, fun and exciting atmosphere everywhere they go!!
www.lightningjack.co.uk

Singer/songwriter Sheri Kershaw has now formed her own band. The Sheri Kershaw Band  are Sheri (vocals/guitar), Martyn Hewitt (guitars) and Chris Brimley (bass). This has added a new dimension to her music. Sheri's influences include Joni Mitchell, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. “I am a musician and music is where my heart has always been, an expression of love and joy as well as the sorrows we all share as humans.”

www.myspace.com/sherikershaw

Entry: £7door), £6(advance), £5(members).

Friday 21 May: Robb Johnson, Support: Les Ray

Robb Johnson is now recognised as one of the finest songwriters working in the UK today. His songs feature in the repertoires of a wide variety of musicians, from folk legend Roy Bailey to acclaimed cabaret diva Barb Jungr. He has played pubs, clubs, pavements, pickets and benefits, arts centres and festivals, radio and TV, both in Britain and abroad, and the Royal Albert Hall. Robb has worked with a variety of bands, with friend and fellow songwriter Leon Rosselson, as well as solo. He has released many CDs on his own label, Irregular Records, some backed by his band, The Irregulars.
“creator of some of the most potent songs of the last decade.......The guy's status as national treasure should not be underestimated,” fRoots.
www.robbjohnson.co.uk

Support: Les Ray

Les is currently working on a project about how, at a time when "most young men and women grow up in a sort of permanent present" (Eric Hobsbawm), folk music can help us gain an understanding of our history and our relationship with it. So be prepared to be informed as well as entertained by his songs.
www.myspace.com/lesandthestreetscreamers

Entry: £9(door), £8(advance), £7(members).

Friday 28 May: Brian McNeill, Support: Adam Brown and Alan MacLeod This year Brian McNeill celebrates the 40th year of a career that has established him as one of the most acclaimed forces in Scottish music. Brian has been described as ‘Scotland’s most meaningful contemporary songwriter’ (The Scotsman); add to that his work and influence as performer, composer, producer, teacher, musical director, band leader, novelist and interpreter of Scotland’s past, present and future and you have a man who has never stood still. He has performed around the globe, both as a soloist and with some of the era’s most influential bands, including Battlefield Band, which he founded in 1969, and Clan Alba. Brian plays fiddle, octave fiddle, guitar, mandocello, bouzouki,viola, mandolin, cittern, concertina, bass and hurdy gurdy. www.brianmcneill.co.uk

Support:  Adam Brown and Alan MacLeod Adam and Alan have been playing traditional Irish music together from the dawn of the New Millennium and this is reflected in the mesmeric synchronicity that their stage act displays. They have taken well known Irish tunes and stamped their own vibrant 21st century personalities on easily recognised favourites from the Celtic tradition. All Ireland and All Britain Champions on button accordion, bodhrán, and guitar, Alan and Adam keep alive the music of their ancestors for the enjoyment of the present generation and those to follow. Entry: £12(door), £11advance), £10(members).

7:45pm Bank Holiday Monday 31 May: A Concert for East Anglia's Children's Hospices
Boo Hewerdine, Hot Lips and Chilli Fingers Band, Marina Florance

This will be the fourth year that Boo Hewerdine, one of the country’s most respected singer/songwriters, has taken part in this annual concert to raise money for the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices based in Milton. Boo formed the cult Cambridge  band The Bible before going on to make a successful career for himself as a solo artist and songwriter. His most famous collaboration is with former Fairground Attraction singer Eddi Reader, for whom he wrote 'Patience of Angels'.

www.boohewerdine.net

Hot Lips and Chilli Fingers Band: The magic combination of outstanding musicians Steve Lockwood (harmonica) and Chris Newman (guitar) will take you on a roller-coaster ride through the traditional music of the last eighty years, featuring an eclectic mix of original and cover songs, encompassing blues,roots and jazz.

www.myspace.com/hotlipschillifingers

Marina Florance: This fine singer/songwriter from Norfolk performs in her own unique, gentle way. ’Her voice is like chocolate’, Sue Marchant  (BBC Eastern Counties Radio)

www.myspace.com/marinaflorance

Entry: £10. For Tickets telephone 01223 513932

Friday 4 June: Open Stage with Habiboun

Habiboun are Houria Niati (vocals) and Miguel Moreno (classical Spanish guitar). This duo performs the perfect fusion of Arabo-Spanish music. This innovative genre achieves a blend of styles through the combination of just vocals and guitar, which is pure magic.

www.habiboun.com

Entry: £4(door), £2(members), £1(performers).

Friday 11 June: Suntrap, Support: Cruel Folk Suntrap are Sara Byers (vocals, accordion, guitar, whistles, bohdran), Paul Hoad (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Mary Wilson (vocals, violin) and Debbie Chalmers (violin).  Together they perform a mesmerizing array of music including their own material and the best of the traditional and contemporary folk repertoire.  Songwriters Sara and Paul create original, innovative works drawing on English song tradition and American Folk and Country. www.suntrap.org

Cruel Folk are the musical equivalent of an unknown, silent horseman hanging around outside your farmhouse at three in the morning. The traditional music of England is a dark art-form, and it will never take you long to find murder, incest, love, death and betrayal. Cruel Folk celebrate this tradition, playing both original and traditional material in which darkness is never far away. www.cruelfolk.com Entry: £9(door), £8(advance), £7(members).

Friday 18 June: My Sweet Patootie
Based in Mount Forest, Ontario, Terry Young (guitar/vocals) and Sandra Swannell (fiddle/vocals) met as soloists touring and recording with Canadian Folk Music Award winning veteran roots-group Tanglefoot. They soon discovered a mutual love of big bands and swinging country blues. Thousands of miles and shows later, when Tanglefoot made the decision to trade in a life of touring for shuffleboard and wearing pants up to their armpits, Terry and Sandra changed into their zoot suit and party dress to re-emerge as My Sweet Patootie. They had one goal, to produce fun music with deadly playing. While their new sound is a complete departure from Tanglefoot, Terry and Sandra deliver a stage show packed with the same amount of energy, charm, wit and humour.

www.mysweetpatootie.com

Support: Andrew Noyes

Singer and geetarist Andrew Noyes performs a wide range of self penned songs. He may even slip in the odd poem when you're not looking.

Entry: £10(door), £9(advance), £8(members).

Friday 25 June: Open Stage with Geoff Baker and Wishing Well

Geoff Baker: Influenced by such varied folk musicians as Mississippi John Hurt, Woody Guthrie, Nick Drake and Bob Dylan, the music of California-based singer/songwriter Geoff blends furious finger-picking, folk urgency and post-punk energy. He likes his dreams impossible, his drinks neat, his tunes a little catchy, and his lyrics a little poisonous, and has “a fine line in protest song”. Time Out.

www.geoff-baker.com

The Wishing Well are Jai (lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitar), Vanessa (violin), Rivkah (violin), Pete (drums) and Joe (bass and harmony vocals). From Melbourne, Australia, The Wishing Well create spellbinding sounds which produce a rich tapestry of mesmerizing folk, pop and rock. They evoke an extraordinary gamut of emotions with their compelling and awe inspiring arrangements spun around magnificently poetic lyrics.

www.myspace.com/thewishingwellband

Entry: £4(door), £2(members), £1(performers).

Friday 2 July: Open Stage with Foli Gnouma.   Foli Gnouma play music from West Africa. Lucas Keen plays balafon, kamele n'goni and calabash; Chris Peckham plays balafon, fula flute and guitar. They have been performing together for two years, and recently returned from Burkina Faso where they studied with Moussa Pantio Diabate (balafon), Bassirou Sanou (flute) and Mougnini Dembele DembeleMougniny (kamele n'goni) in the town of Bobo Dioulasso. They play traditional pieces that are sympathetically arranged as instrumental duets, achieving a large palette of timbres and textures that evoke a quieter, rural aspect of West Africa.   Entry: £4(door), £2(members), £1(performers).

Friday 9 July: Flossie Malavialle,Support: Dave Jenkins Flossie Malavialle is a French singer who came to Darlington to “improve” her English and decided to stay. Her repertoire is very open as she likes all sorts of different music genres. Her songs include famous numbers, including not only Allan Taylor's "Roll on the day", Kieran Halpin's "Making up the miles", Colum Sands' "The child who asks why", Starrett and Laird's " John Condon" but also Edith Piaf's eternal favourites "No regrets", "La vie en rose", or Jacques Brel's "Amsterdam" and "Ne me quitte pas". She also loves songs full of energy or, as she calls them herself, full of "vavavoum" such as Bonnie Raitt's "Road's my middle name", Kris Kristofferson's "Bobby McGee" (Janis Joplin way), Marylin Middleton's "Wild women" etc. There's also space for lovely ballads such as Keith Pearson's "More hills to climb" or Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the night" as well as jazzy tunes like "Let's fall in love", "Misty" or "Fly me to the moon". So even if you have never seen or heard her before, there will be something in her repertoire to suit your taste! www.flossie-malavialle.co.uk

Dave Jenkins is a member of Redhouse Radio who will be performing on our Friday night Club Tent Stage at the Cambridge Folk Festival. His traditional background mixes happily with his modern, self-penned compositions reflecting life and love.

Entry: £10(door), £9(advance), £8(members).

Friday 16 July: Showcase: Andy Clarke and Tom Colbourn

In recent years Andy Clarke has gained much experience as a solo artist, performing in clubs and festivals all around the country. His programme often includes a selection from the manuscripts of Baring-Gould the 19th century West Country folksong collector. "An excellent singer and instrumentalist who performs with the skill and taste of a master craftsman." - Pete Coe
www.andyclarke.me.uk 

Tom Colborn has made a name for himself as a premier blues musician. Driving Delta bottleneck and funky ragtime accompany the voice of a true blues shouter. His set comprises self penned songs and instrumentals, blues standards and rarely performed songs from the tradition. “...brilliant blues guitarist...prodigiously talented...” - Real City Magazine
www.myspace.com/tomcolbornblues

Entry: £8(door), £7(advance), £6(members)

Friday 23 July: Open Stage with Samphire

Samphire is an acoustic duo performing a diverse mix of traditional and contemporary songs from both sides of the Atlantic, as well as original material. Having performed solo and in various bands in East Anglia for several years, Anna Bass and Ray Taylor have been performing together since the beginning of the year. With their two voices and two guitars, they create a changing landscape of rhythm and harmony.                      

Entry: £4(door), £2(members), £1(performers).

Friday 30 July: Cambridge Folk Festival Club Tent, Cherry Hinton Hall:

We're hosting the Friday Evening Club Tent, 6pm to 11:30pm.  Our guests are:

Redhouse Radio (see 26th March) Kiss the Mistress: This unique and exciting trio combine voice and 'cello, chromatic button accordion and bodhran to create a dynamic rhythmic interplay rarely found outside of a guitar driven band. www.kissthemistress.co.uk Dave Stubbs (see 16th April) Tom Conway: “A song writer of class ... Tom Conway writes songs that are thoughtful, articulate, emotionally mature; furthermore, his singing and guitar playing do them full justice” Rock'n'Reel www.tomconwaymusic.co.uk