NEWS
Well, it's that beer festival time of year again and I'm delighted to be playing at the Hare & Hounds, Bowland Bridge at their great BEER FESTIVAL on Sunday 3rd June at 1.00pm. The festival runs for the whole week-end and will be definitely worth a visit.
Good night at the Mortal Man in Troutbeck last night Sunday 13th May. Along with Rosi and me there were some poem recitals by Brian Leslie and a couple of songs from Don Harding. For good measure (or maybe measure for measure) Kate (the Landlady of the MM) recited a couple of pieces by the bard himself. All in all a great evening, thanks to all who came.
Just arranged a gig at a new venue…the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel in Great Langdale, near Ambleside on Saturday 9th June…see the Gigs page for further details.
Good turnout at the Gillow on Thursday 12th…really enjoyed the gig, hope those who came did also. Hopefully see some of you there again soon.
Playing the Robert Gillow in Lancaster 9.00 pm Thursday 12th April - looking forward to it and hopefully seeing some of you there. We need to keep live music at the Gillow so let's give it the support it deserves!
Back at the The Mortal Man with Rosi Chester on the 18th March at 8.30 p.m. for a relaxing sing…come and listen, or join in and do a few songs and tunes yourself.
John Harper at the John O' Gaunt January 2012
Heard from Tony Cooke, who is not only an extremely talented musician playing in many different guises including The Duo (from Folk to Floyd), Moorgate and the ever popular Free Reed Band, but also does more than anyone I know to keep music live in Lancaster. The news is that there is a new landlord in the Robert Gillow and that he is keen on continuing the fine tradition of putting on live music for his customers. Good news for his customers and also we local (and sometimes not so local) troubadours who have been lucky enough to play at the Robert Gillow over the years. Welcome to Mark…
I'm getting pretty excited about my trip to Dublin on the 5th February to see my son Mark Chester who is in two successful bands in Dublin, Grand Pocket Orchestra and Ginnels. Mark engineered and produced my last CD 'Losing the Colours' and we will be recording some songs for the new CD whilst I'm in Dublin. The CD will be called 'Grateful' and will comprise of some original songs and carefully chosen covers. It should be ready for purchase at my gigs by May or June this year at the latest. I'll keep you posted!
ARLO GUTHRIE
Someone posted a link to Arlo Guthrie's "Motorcycle Song" on Facebook recently - this prompted me to spend more time than is reasonable watching and listening to most of the songs by Arlo posted on You Tube. Anyway, I was reminded of a song from a long time ago called "Darkest Hour" which I've always loved but never got around to learning. Here it is...
DARKEST HOUR CHORDS
If you'd like the chords I'm using in this song just right click HERE and download a pdf with the chords and lyrics.
It was good to be back at the John O' Gaunt in Lancaster after a break of a few years. There was a good turnout for early January and I'm looking forward to getting back there on February 9th.
I played at the Penny Farthing reunion gig on Saturday 19th November and had a great evening. Met up with John Finnan from the old Black Diamond Folk Group days. He was in fine voice as ever…so good to hear some of the old songs and a few new ones from him. Rose Price was there too (see Bio page) and I intend to get down to the Raven Folk Club on her recommendation early in the new year…thanks to Russell Dumbill for arranging the whole thing and allowing me to sing a few songs.
Listen to a recording of my set on the Music page.
(Thanks to John Finnan for sending me the recording.)
A recent gig at the Robert Gillow in Lancaster reminded me what a truly two way street performance should be and that if you are lucky enough to get a receptive audience, how easy the whole thing becomes. New songs were played, old friends of songs rediscovered and I hope the audience enjoyed them as much as I did. Thank you.
Having a lot of fun arranging new songs for my wife Rosi and me to sing. We'll probably take them to an audience sometime soon…and it looks like the Sailing Club and Mortal Man gigs will be first!
ROLLING BACK THE YEARS Part II
After some 39 years I recently heard from Ian Chesterman (see the Bio page) resulting in Ian and his wife Ann paying Rosi and me a visit. As well as catching up with decades of news, eating and drinking, we also found time to play some of the old songs. Remarkably, we remembered most of the chords and some of the words! It was good to see Ian and I hope to get to play Wrexham Folk Club at some stage where I should catch up with a few more old friends.
ROLLING BACK THE YEARS
I played a gig at the Strickland Arms Beer Festival in 2009 which coincided with a visit from an old friend - click on Rolling Back The Years to see some photographs of me playing with a very special guest...