It's been almost a week since the Gate to Southwell folk festival,

 so I thought it time to post a few pics along with a taste of some of the music I enjoyed.

The weather was mixed, with Friday being a lovely sunny day,

Saturday it started out fine but then we had heavy rain and the site soon became a bit of a bog,

 but once the rain had finished out came the trusty volunteers with the bales of straw and with a bit of help from children and adults alike the site was soon easy to negotiate once again.

On the Sunday again we had mixed weather sunny most of the time though there was a pretty heavet thunderstorm mid afternoon.

As always with this great festival there was lots of great music to enjoy both and off site. My first set was in the beautiful Southwell Minster where I saw the Mischa Macpherson Trio, winners of this years BBC Radio Two Young Folk Award. Despite Mischa having the remnants of a bad cold a nice set of songs and tunes.

Later back on site it was Marquee 2 for me for most of the rest of the day. First up The Dovetail Trio once again 3 very talented young singers and musicians.

Next up was Caladh Nua (pronounced Coll-ah Noo-Ah) five accomplished musicians ans singers from Ireland. Playing a wide variety of instruments.

Around 3-30 in the afternoon onto the stage came festival favourite Martin Joseph who having not long arrived at the site was soon up and playing. Having recently put together an album of Bruce Springsteen covers, Martin played a full set from the album.

Next it was time for a break and some food, plenty to choose from as always.

I will continue posting another day. Hope you have enjoyed the music so far.

Not long to go before I will once again be going to The Gate to Southwell Folk Festival. 

There is a great preview on youtube of some of the artists appearing this year, why not take a look

Click on the big top and see

Following on from a previous post a few days back, I got to thinking about some of the great album titles in my collection and came up with a few i'd like to share. Back when we had the shop, one of our favourite bands to play in store was the Legendary Half Man Half Biscuit. The bands name itself is just epic, but album titles and indeed the album covers plus tracks are off the scale. Here are just a few gems from the HMHB catalogue.
     Trouble over Bridgwater   Track Mathematically safe    


 CSI Ambleside Track Blue badge abuser


Achtung Bono  Track Mate of the bloke                 
       Some call it Godcore Track  Friday night and the gates are low                                    

    Cammell Laird Social Club Track The light at the end of the tunnel                       
Saucy Haulage ballads Track I went to a wedding  

  Four lads who shook the Wirral  Track   Ready Steady Goa
                                           

    Voyage to the bottom of the road  Track Eno collaboration  

Saturday afternoon on my way home from work I caught a little of Jamie Cullum broadcasting from the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and he played a great version of Dave Brubeck's track "Take Five". I think it was by The Sachal Studio Orchestra Lahore. A great mix of jazz, sitars and tambalas. Brilliant !

   This made me remember an old northern soul track that was a version of the Stones "Paint it black" by the Love Sitars. So I tracked it down on You Tube, must be 30 years since I last heard it.     Fatal to hear an old northern track, it got me to listen to other tracks that i've not played for years. Guy Darrell "I've been hurt" originally on CBS but re-issued here in UK on Santa Ponsa through PYE records making the charts. 
Another floor filler from the seventies was Archie Bell's "Here I go Again" One of my all-time faves from back then is Al Wilson's "The Snake" This single has appeared on numerous different record labels over the years, though the version I remember having was on Liberty  Having heard "The Snake" I was eager to hear more from Al Wilson and on the back of the success of this Northern Track, in 1973 Bell Records put out the super smooth soul track "Show and Tell" which became a bit of a smooch record at the end of a night.
  along with some great super smooth soul from Al Green, the best of which must be "Let's stay together"     Time to wind up this session and I had to finish with a piece of classic Motown. The Four Tops "Reach out I'll be there" for no other reason than it's still a great sounding track nearly fifty years since it first came out !   So there we go from Pakistan to Detroit and places in between, it doesn't matter where the music comes from or who is playing or singing, if it sounds good that's all that really matters.