See Home Page for Session Dates
QUICK LINKS TO EXTERNAL SITES Old Real-Music Club Site Online Tickets QUICK LINKS TO PAGES ON THIS SITE Tickets Sessions Diary Concert Diary Events Diary Venues Poetry/Lyrics
MUSIC IN THE LOUNGE
APRIL 30th
Many thanks to the landlord of the Green Man for letting us use his lounge once again to stage an open evening of local musical talent.
Additional thanks to the group of diners who had just settled in the window seats when we came to set up the PA system and kindly moved to other seats.
The evening was started by Dez playing Before you Accuse Me and the self-penned I Will Sing For You Always, followed by Chris and Message in a Bottle and Don’t Pay The Ferryman: later in the evening they got together to play Nights in White Satin.
Drew performed Across the Great Divide and His Latest Flame with great dignity, while John O gave us a delightful performance of the self-penned Harper’s Serenade on autoharp and Danny Boy and Bread and Fishes on harmonica.
John W gave us lovely versions of Working Class Hero and Out of the Blue and Into the Black and Dave and Lynne performed The Power of Love and You Do Something to Me with their usual flair.
Graham sang What a Difference a Day Makes and Things we Said Today in his gentle sing-along style and Nigel followed with Pretty Flamingo, a storming Slip Slidin’ and finished with SugarMountain.
Chris Payne gave us Lyin’ Eyes and Angels in a key so low that most of us can only dream about it and Keyna silenced the few remaining talkers in the audience with a wonderful Lay Me Down Gently and Turn Around.
Neil performed Girl the self-penned Shadows of the Evening in his nonchalent fashion then Gemma and Matt played Lavender, bravely debutted Making Tracks and Matt soloed with Blossom and Pineapple Head. All songs self-penned by both partners of this talented marriage.
Eric gave us the lovely, self-penned Heartbeat Waltz and In a Town This Size whilst Jody’s performance of Sorry and the self-penned (and far too mature for his years!) Believe in Me was much appreciated.
Kris sang Dream a Little Dream and Thank You and finally Raine gave us CanaryIsland on mandolin.
Thank you to our audience on the night and also the indulgence of the folks in the bar who usually enjoy a quiet night out at the pub on a Thursday night!
Well, March has been and gone and once again I find myself playing catch-up with regard to the reviews. Blame it on the sunny weather and getting out and about, blame it on the fact that my study reverted to it’s former use as a bedroom as my youngest returned from uni for Easter, but since you’re not writing this, don’t blame it on me!!!!!
Our regular contributors gave us their enduring support and many quality performances:
Slow Burn, the spin-off band from the RMC gave us What a Difference a Day Makes, Baby, Now That I’ve Found You, At Last, Sentimental Journey and Break The Rules. Individually, the band members also played:
Dez: The Here and Now, I Found Love, The Debt We Owe and More – all self penned, and all quality numbers.
Graham: The Tide’s Not Turning Anymore, It’s Up To You, She’s Just Like You, Unaware Of Me – all self penned, You See This Guy, and accompanied by Dez, a great instrumental of Woman (harmonica and guitar).
Kris: instrumentals, Signe, Air on a G String and Desperado.
Drew sang Across the Great Divide, This Old Guitar, Ann is Going To Sing a Song, The Water is Wide, Meet Me on the Corner and with Chris P and Graham in accompaniment they gave us So Sad.
Nigel played an un-named self-penned melody, Old Kentucky Home, Stand By Me, Catch The Wind, Urban Spaceman, Let it Be, He Gives Us All His Love, Guess it Doesn’t Matter, North Country Blues and You’d Better Hide Your Love Away.
Chris P gave us On My Way Again, Across The Universe, Mountains of Maughan, Who Knows Where the Time Goes, Angels and with Robin and Graham, Forever Young.
John O played Try To Remember, Skye Boat Song, Streets of London, All My Loving, Eidelweiss, Jesu Joy, Bread and Fishes and the self-penned Willington Rag
Keyna sang Water Lily, Hills of Shiloh, Weeping Gold, Turn Around, Fine Thief? And The Blues in my Mind.
Robin performed She Made me Love Her, Walking in Memphis, How I’m Going to Let You Down, For Just One Day, Every Little Piece of You and Sometimes.
Raine played a medley of Irish tunes, a trio of melodies, Green Shoots, Plant a Meadow and Lighthouse.
Ken sang The Van Ellen Tragedy, Mad World, Sun Down, Paddy McG’s Goat, Marvellous Little Toy and The Sloop John B.
Eric gave us The Ploughman, Tom Marionette, Code Monkey (self-penned I think) and I Still Miss Someone.
Dave and Lynne sang Half the World Away, Taxman, Rain On Me and Killing me Softly.
Occasional returning visitors popped in at various points during the month to give us a great selection of music.
Mick performed Gonna Last, The Barges and See The Light.
Neil sang The Blues Are All the Same and Shadows.
Linda gave us Fields of Gold, Me and Bobby Magee, and Darling Annie.
Gene performed Blow the Wind, Cheapside and Sailing Out to Sea – the latter two being self-penned.
Stuart played his self-penned Bitter Angry
Matt and Gemma played Lavender
Jonathan played Broken Man and Full Moon – both self-penned.
We were also visited by new artistes, giving us brand new, much appreciated musical experiences.
Martin sang the traditional melodies of Banks of the Roses, Black Jack Davey True Love Knows No Season and Jimmy
Mark and Diane gave us Sailing On, The Geese Fly Farther Than The Eagle, I’ve Got All I Need and Both Sides Now.
Graham played Cold, Rainy, Haily Night
Spade sang Farmer is the Man, The Dark End of the Street and an instrumental of Both Sides Now.
FEBRUARY AT THE REAL MUSIC CLUB
A slow week to start February, saw Dez playingFireside LoveandMore, both self-penned numbers and later with Chris, San Francisco Bay Blues, How Wonderful You Are, Nights In White Satin and Get Back. Drewtreated us toBlue Eyes Crying In the Rain, the lovely, self-pennedA Touch Too Far, Everyone’s Gone to the Moon and Try For The (Zen?).Krisfell back onDown and Outand the instrumentalSigne. Dave and Lynneplayed a brillFever and Where Are You Going To Sleep Tonight?followed byYou Do Something To Me and These Boots Are Made For Walking. John brought along his plug-in autoharp and gave usHarper’s Serenade, Maggie, Waves and The Old Grandfather’s Clock – lovely bass reproduction on the new harp. Chris Sweetmangave usHappy Hour and the charming Sweet Little Mysterybefore teaming up withDezafter the break. JulianplayedNorwegian Wood, Maggie, Stealin’ and Lady in Black– four of the best. Ericgave us a great performance ofTime Passes Slowly, Dark as a Dungeon, Ruby’s Arms and New York Girls. Lindaperformed two numbers, TemurHarbour and TimelessLandand a set of dance tunes followed by her own song,Inspired By My Visit To Morocco.Rainegave usLate Night Dance Classand the well observed, Silly Conversations.
The second week in February saw a huge turn out, thanks in part to friends from the Alrewas folk club – held on a Wednesday night at The Crown.
Chris Sweetmanstarted the evening with a most unusual opening line that has yet to be translated….the song he gave us wasDon’t Get Left Behindand that was immediately understandable and musically accomplished - as ever.Krissang a quietSorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. Drewgave us a slow, measured, seemingly effortless Kathy’s Song much appreciated by the audience.Graham gave us a smoothWhat a Difference a Day Makesand everyone joined in with the refrain. He followed this with Waiting For Spring
John gave us Streets of London on his brand new plug-in autoharp and the self-penned Harper’s Serenade. Chris Payne made a welcomed return to the fold tonight and gave us Joni Mitchell’s Clouds and Suspicious Minds. Nick and Joy, double bass and nylon strung guitar and female vocal gave usHave You Heard the Rumours(self-penned) andThere is a Little Place, followed after the break byRide On and The Last Show(sp).Phill and Michelleperformed self-penned numbersSpirits of Oldand Come to the Fairgroundon violin, guitar and mixed vocals, giving us two more, one of which wasJohn Barleycorn after the break. Ericgave us three whirling reels,Dillon’s Reel, RoxburghCastle and Maid in a Box, on violin. Lindasang a self-penned love song calledSong For Loveand then gave us a turn on a penny whistle.
Robingave us a cheery (for Robin) self-penned numberThe Best I Can Do and Let Me In.Julianstarted the second half withThe Wizard and What a Wonderful World.Raine gave us a mandolin solo,Full Moon. Jackgave usI Wouldn’t Have Missed it For the Worldwith flair and panache andYesterday.
Tonygave us Tom Paxton’sNow I Knowand with bass, a second song. Dezgave us his eponymous, self-penned song,Real Musicbefore he and Kris playedKiller Queen and More Than Words to finish off the evening.
And then I went on a well-deserved holiday – see you some time in March……
JANUARY AT THE REAL MUSIC CLUB
Another year and we are still here every Thursday night. Now we are either doing something right, or….we’re doing something dreadfully wrong. I’ll let you decide. In the break Julian and Dez have been busy making bespoke guitar hangers for the back wall of the upstairs room at The Green Man. This means that there will be no more nervous gasps as a guitar begins its painfully slow descent to the floor when it is knocked over by some careless idiot – at least the first ten of us to turn up anyway.
Matt bravely jumped into the shoes of MC and gave us a new song of his called, appropriately, New Year and later, The Benefit of the Doubt. An energetic Gosher followed with an own composition called Ashes declaring his intent to never love a woman again – and the alternative? Knocking on Heaven’s Door followed later. Drew, avec silver face fungus, played Across the Great Divide and The Harbour. Linda sang a self-penned song called Paddle Steamer Come Home about the paddle steamers on the Murray River and on penny whistle – The Pole Polka. Dez and Chris mixed vocals, EWI and guitar gave us a super Nights in White Satin and Dez later gave us an angry, self-penned number, More. Chris Payne, in fine voice, sang Don’t Pay The Ferryman and Graham gave us the lovely self-penned, Where Are You Going To? and All in the Mind. Lynne and Dave sang a great Forever Autumn and Jolene. Julian and Nathan gave us Tambourine Man and Julian braved Bad, Bad Leroy Brown solo. Kris sang the classic U2 number Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and then, after tuning her painfully temperamental classical guitar strings (or so she says) Gary Moore’s Still Got The Blues. Neil sang about an Irish Fiddler – a deceptively polished self-penned number and Gemma, sweet voiced, gave us a song she called My Way Back. Keyna and Chris gave us an unusual choice, Think I’d Better Leave Right Now and Are You Ready? John O gave us Meet Me On The Corner and All My Loving on harmonica and with modulation. Mick sang one of his own hypnotic songs entitled Hiding In The Rain. Robin then quickly followed this up with another of his extensive repetoire called The Optimist. Raine on mandolin gave us a wishful Come the Summer. Then Debbie gave us a strong El Salvador and Garysang a relaxed Don’t Let Go. Harry and Richard gave us It’s Going To Be and Stay Strong – part of the repertoire that they are building up with their group.
Next time round to a very small group of dedicated musicians, The RMC Band started the night with She’s Not There, Dreams, Learning The Blues and Diamonds and Rust. Always good to get a few new numbers blooded before a gig. Drew followed in relaxed manner with Brown-eyed Girl, Galway To Graceland and The Union Man. Ken then gave us three numbers that only he could pull off, Wagon Wheels, Always Look On The Bright Side and Mad World. Lynne and Dave played an interesting group of numbers Girl, Butterfly Collectors and Rotterdam. Keyna sang as only Keyna can, Caravan Of Love, Please Don’t Ask Me To Dance and The Farmer. Chris Sweetman played the self-penned Alcopop, and his lovely slow version of I Only Wanna Be With You. Mick delivered a Cohen number Famous Blue Raincoat brilliantly. John gave us a great set of numbers, The Skye Boat Song, Harper’s Serenade, World Of Our Own and Wooden Heart. Robin treated us to Annie and Me and an uncharacteristic, but brilliantly delivered Like a Bat Out Of Hell. Linda sang a sweet group of melodies, Dainty Davey, Bonnie Doone, Mull Of Kintyre and You Left Me.
Well, since there were no serious volounteers to write this review page, you only have yourselves to blame that I have returned.
Well we started 2009 with a bit of a do in the lounge of The Green Man on Tuesday 6th January. Despite the change of day and the cold, frosty weather, so many of our talented regulars turned up to entertain.
The RMC band started the proceedings with their own versions of Come Up and See Me, Sentimental Journey and later in the evening they debuted their new number Still Got the Blues, with Graham on bass, Dez on lead and Kris on picked guitar and vocal.
Ken played Mad World, Always Look on the Bright Side and Wagon Wheels, enchanting the audience with his choice of song and infectious humour.
John, on harmonica, played All My Loving and Stranger On the Shore and then taking up the autoharp, an instrument new to some of the lounge audience, he gave us his own composition Harper’s Serenade
Eric turned up after an absence of a few months to give us Approaching Lavender, It Ain’t Me Babe and Here In California with his usual precision and style.
Raine played Good Things To Think on her mandolin and read a poem/song entitled The Opera. She was on great form that night.
Keyna sang Lizzie Lynsie and Voice Mail using merely her voice to capture her audience, and joined forces with Chris on guitar to forever change everyone’s perception of the definitive version of Killing Me Softly.
Chris Sweetman then went on to give us his own adaptations of Happy Hour Again and Everything I Own on guitar, and then, joined by Dez they performed The Trees, vocal harmony, two guitars, and EWI solo from Chris.
Gosher hammered out Rocky Racoon, swam lugubriously up the River of Tears before entering Heartbreak Hotel and the audience were only too willing to follow on behind.
Julian urged us all to Come on Everybody, took us to a Wonderful World and then declared I Feel Like Making Love, the latter carefully performed without making eye contact with anyone!
Neil, despite being under the weather, gave us a great performance of two of his own songs, I Wish and You Can Tell.
Graham gave us a medley which comprised Girl From Ipanema, Daydream, Mellow Yellow, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, Nowhere Man, I Won’t Stay In a World Without Love, all delivered in his easy-going, Matt Munro style.
Drew came along after he’d finished at another ‘local’ folk club and gave us a couple of songs which he never named.
All in all a great start to the new year. Thanks to all who organised, contributed and attended.