History It was decided that concentrating on folk music was at the root of the problems as there was many excellent folk clubs in the area. It was also decided that there were a lot of ‘rootsy’ acts out there that would be appreciated by audiences who were not being catered for by folk clubs. So, the Acoustic Wednesday was formed, the eclectic music club!! At the forefront were the Sunderland based band Hit The Bottle who became resident band. The band has gone through changes through playing at the club and the line-up remains fluid. They act as resident band, comperes and accompanists. Also instrumental (ho ho!) was Rita Mawson, long a stalwart on the local music scene. The club would also like to mention the support of Derwentside District Council. The music offered by the club encompasses folk, blues, country, jazz, calypso, Tex-Mex… in short, anything goes.

21.2.01

SKIPRATS

 This month’s guest night was a response to a request from a club regular. Kicked off by a truncated 3-piece HTB who played favourites old and, well… er old really. Our harmonica expert was to be master of ceremonies this evening, but Arthur Baker was late in arriving so we asked Jim to do it instead! The Skiprats exploded onto the stage. The double bass was pounding out the beat, providing both a bassline and percussion; the slap bass technique perfected by Mickie Downey. Twangy lead (electric) guitar from Ian Rhodes and frontman Colin Mee was waggling his leg ala Elvis. The sound they create makes it clear why they are in demand all over Europe. It’s infectious, simple and highly enjoyable. Drawing from a back catalogue of excellent CDs they performed self-penned numbers, old classics from such as Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Elvis and from lesser known, but no lesser talents like Faron Young and Johnny Horton. A highlight was using Jim Bullock to add harmonica to the jump-blues of ‘Sneaky Pete.’ Close your eyes and you could almost be sitting in Sun Studios, the authentic sound matched by the convincing look captured by the band right down to the excellent mic used by Colin. They perfectly evince the primal music of rural America; rock ‘n’ roll, blues and country which together make rockabilly. So, another excellent guest night was over, but the smiles on the audiences faces justified our faith in bringing something new yet again to the Beamish.
 
DIARY DATES

March 28th:

EDDIE WALKER

 Quite how to categorise Eddie is not easy (in common with most of our other guests!). He’s been playing for 35years (with coffee breaks of course) all over the world; from Hong Kong to Australia, to New Zealand and Poland. Vastly experienced, he is equally at home in folk clubs, blues clubs, country honky-tonks… anywhere! His huge repertoire includes blues (old and new), hillbilly, country, contemporary and traditional British and American folk and stunning guitar instrumentals. He sill finds time to write his own award winning songs too!! Songs by Mississippi John Hurt, John Prine, Steve Goodman, Bing Crosby, Hank Williams, Louvin Brothers, Sam Cooke and Chuck Berry testify to his versatility.

April 18th

JACK BURNESS & the CORNER BOYS

 The clubs resident Van Morrison impersonator returns with his Boys. His ‘boys’ are Graham Anderson on double bass. Jack hasn’t yet grasped the rudimentaries of the English language, an ‘s’ on the end usually denotes more than one Jack. Never mind, a favourite of the club (and at one time organiser of the old folk club) is sure to be given a warm welcome. Jack plays a mixture of his own songs with Tom Waits, Waterboys, Randy Newman and Steve Earle. Like Ziggy Stardust he plays left-handed, basically so no one can lend his guitar. The resident band that take a gleeful delight in destroying other people’s reputations will probably join Jack. One of the characters on the Northern scene, we love him to bits.

MAY 23rd

JOHNNY MARS & the GLOBAL RHYTHM EXPLORERS

 A night of ‘new’ blues with one of America’s legendary musicians, Johnny has been described as the ‘Hendrix of the harmonica.’ After trying to pick up tips from our own Jim Bullock, Johnny will regale us with an exciting set of contemporary blues, soul and rhythm ‘n’ blues. Backing him on this current British tour will be, as ever, club regular’s guitarist Dave Wright and HTBs percussionist Finn McArdle.
MAY 30th TANDY By general concenus our best night (and there is some stiff opposition!!) was given us by this New York based alternative country band. The band maintain a fluid line-up and this year they will probably appear as a four-piece using the same band as last year minus fiddle player Miss Darlene.