Newsletter        19^th October 2007

Contact details
Tel. 01342 716975
or email:
info_at_acousticsussex_dot_org_dot_uk

The last few days has seen a number of exciting bookings confirmed for our programme in 2008, ranging from Charlie Dore to Martin Stephenson (check our website for details). Not to mention the addition later this year of the wonderful Haley Sisters on 17^th December (see below) – it’s a show that’s guaranteed to cheer the spirits as we approach Christmas. And with a fair wind (not to mention an internet connection if you live outside the area) you can hear the Haleys live on 16 December on East Grinstead’s community radio station, MeridianFM, which returns to the airwaves on November 25^th with its Sunday night Folk, Roots & Acoustic programme.

Folk Roots & Acoustic programme back on air 25 November

Now playing on the Acoustic Sussex MySpace site  - tracks from Buddy Mondlock and Jane Taylor

Acoustic Sussex Regional Gig Guide

Acoustic Sussex recommends…

This Saturday, 20 October, Acoustic Sussex favourite Guy Davis is at the Hailsham Pavilion to help celebrate seven years of Spyboy’s events in the area. No doubt he’ll also be celebrating his nomination this week in no less than 3 categories in the W.C.Handy Awards (the Grammys of the blues world). The evening includes rare archive films of some of the blues greats and complimentary drinks.  Tickets are £17.50 - call 01323 841414 (note early start time of 7pm).

The same evening, Saturday, 20 October, sees all nine members of the Copper Family (famous in Sussex and across the world for traditional, unaccompanied English folk song) at the Lewes Arms Folk Club (Mount Place, Lewes). Tickets are only £6 but there are very few left so you’ll have to act quickly – contact Val on 01273 476757.

Don’t forget that as well as our own shows, the Acoustic Sussex website has a Regional Gig Guide and links to venues and clubs in the South East that offer folk, roots and acoustic music – and our MySpace site contains over 500 links to a variety of other MySpace ‘friends’ sites, including musicians, venues, magazines and lots more.

OUR NEXT EVENTS

Ø     Monday 29 October – Buddy Mondlock + Jane Taylor at The Ravenswood, Sharpthorne

Ø     Thursday 15 November – The Dylan Project (support: Ella Edmondson) at Chequer Mead, East Grinstead

Ø     Monday 3 December – Sam Baker (support: Adeline) at The Ravenswood, Sharpthorne

Ø     Monday 17 December – The Haley Sisters at The Ravenswood, Sharpthorne

Ø     2008 dates

Monday
29 October
BUDDY MONDLOCK
+ JANE TAYLOR
at The Ravenswood
Sharpthorne
www.theravenswood.co.uk
£10 (£12  door)     8pm
Tickets 01342 714810
or buy online via Acoustic Sussex website

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Buddy Mondlock writes songs. He does it so well that some great songwriters have recorded them on their own albums; Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark, Garth Brooks, Maura O’Connell and Janis Ian, to name a few. But there’s nothing quite like hearing the writer sing them.

In the early '80s Buddy was a regular on the Chicago club scene, then in 1986, he secured a publishing and writing deal with EMI and moved to Nashville: people were starting to pay attention. His third album, Poetic Justice, brought him to wider attention in the UK (the title track was recorded by Maura O’Connell). Bob Harris began playing the album and he toured here for the first time, including appearing at Cambridge Festival

More recently he’s collaborated with the legendary Art Garfunkel and Maia Sharp. The three of them wrote and recorded an album together called ‘Everything Waits To Be Noticed’ before touring in America and Europe.

“Buddy can say more with few words and less hoopla than anyone I know. He’s a master of the understatement” Gretchen Peters

"All I knew about Buddy Mondlock before I chose to listen to and review his new CD was that he had a reputation as a great songwriter whom others sought out to cover his songs. But now I know him as a wonderful singer and storyteller as well. I think Mondlock is one of the greats on the contemporary music scene."
Roberta B. Schwartz www.acousticmusic.com

When Jane Taylor’s song Fall on Me, was recently played on Johnnie Walker’s Drive Time show on BBC Radio 2, he was inundated with e-mails wanting to know who this new singer songwriter was, where they could find out about her, and most importantly would he please play more. Jane has since toured with the likes of Andy Fairweather-Low, Bill Wyman, Dean Friedman and Blue Nile’s Paul Buchanan.

Buddy Mondlock

Buddy with Art Garfunkel and Maia Sharp

Hear Buddy on BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris programme just after midnight on Saturday 27 October

Jane Taylor

Thursday
15 November
THE DYLAN PROJECT
at Chequer Mead
East Grinstead
www.chequermead.org.uk
Support:  tbc

£15 (less conc)     8pm
Box Office 01342 302000

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Take four of Britain's most talented folk-rock musicians and a unique singer, add the repertoire of a genius, and you've got the recipe for a dream band.

The musicians in question are Fairport Convention's Gerry Conway (drums and percussion), Simon Nicol (guitars) and Dave Pegg (bass), joined by PJ Wright (slide and electric guitars, pedal steel) and the singer is Steve Gibbons. As The Dylan Project, they present an exhilarating tribute to the work of arguably the greatest post-war songwriter in the English language – Bob Dylan.

The Dylan Project is far more than a mere copycat act. The members bring their own distinctive take on the music: Steve Gibbons sounding uncannily like Dylan interprets the lyrics with stylish individuality, while retaining his own inimitable vocal style. There's PJ Wright’s scintillating slide and haunting pedal steel; Simon Nicol adding compelling rhythm guitar and fine backing vocals; Dave Pegg bringing his beautifully subtle and powerful bass lines, and Gerry Conway holding the whole groove with a tour de force on drums and percussion.

“Whether you are a diehard Dylan fan or just enjoy great songs performed with flair and brio, The Dylan Project will take your breath away. Go and see them or buy one of the albums - you won't be disappointed.”  
Andy Farquarson, 2003

Support for this show is talented young singer songwriter Ella Edmondson (daughter of Jennifer Saunders and Ade Edmondson).

The Dylan Project

Ella Edmondson

Monday
3 December
SAM BAKER
at The Ravenswood
Sharpthorne
www.theravenswood.co.uk
Support:

Adeline

£10 (£12  door)     8pm
Tickets 01342 714810
or buy online via Acoustic Sussex website

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20 years ago, Austin songwriter Sam Baker was riding on a train in Peru when it exploded, the result of a terrorist bomb. Many people died and Sam was seriously injured, enduring 17 reconstructive operations over 10 years. Sam doesn't understand how he survived. He wrote about it in the song Steel on his 2004 debut album, Mercy -  "God have mercy / I believe my heart has failed / Smoke rises through a hole in the roof / The dead say fare thee well."  Sam began writing stories in an effort to make some sense out of the chaos in his mind. He also re-evaluated his songwriting. "My prior songwriting was pretty boilerplate: 'I love you, you love me, you don't love me.' After (the incident) those songs didn't make as much sense to me. I was a better observer of other people and how they lived their lives." The bomb damaged Sam’s hearing and he now plays guitar left-handed. At times, he almost talks through his songs, with his gravel tones inflecting deep humanity into the stories he is telling.

These days, Sam is becoming one of the biggest underground Americana names of recent years. His debut album gained much critical acclaim, largely by word-of-mouth. Within days of its release in Europe, his new album, Pretty World, was sitting at the Number 1 slot on the Euro Americana Chart, compiled from returns sent in by over sixty Americana music journalists, radio show presenters and internet sites in the UK, Eire, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden.  The album looks set to project this unassuming Texan out of his cult-hero status and into mainstream consciousness.

On the inside cover of Pretty World, are the words "how beautiful are these days". Come and discover Sam Baker’s beautiful world for yourself.

"His vocals are halting, spoken like he is singing to himself with no mind for the audience, this is a private dialog, the songs are short films playing in his head. It doesn’t exclude the audience though; you are drawn in to these tightly sketched dramas by the imagery, the broken vocal and most importantly for the initial listens – the sympathetic musical backing.” AmericanaUK.com

“Absolutely fantastic reaction to the Sam Baker track I played last Saturday. He is a major artist. He'll be playing play live on the show when he's in the UK in December. 'Pretty World‘ is magnificent - one of the great albums of the year."  Bob Harris

Support for this show is French songstress Adeline, who now lives in Hastings.

Sam Baker

Adeleine

Monday
17 December
THE HALEY SISTERS
at The Ravenswood
Sharpthorne
www.theravenswood.co.uk
Support: tbc

£9 (£11  door)     8pm
Tickets 01342 714810
or buy online via Acoustic Sussex website

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Jo-Ann and Becky - The Haley Sisters – have been described by Maverick magazine’s Alan Cackett as “the great undiscovered natural talent of the UK music scene” and we couldn’t agree more. 

Born and Raised in West Yorkshire, in the village of Harden, just outside Bingley, they followed in their parents’ footsteps showing a strong interest in music, especially Country Music. They first appeared professionally back in 1989, when they launched themselves into a successful singing career. Since then they have appeared at leading venues, festivals, theatres and clubs throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe, gaining massive popularity by virtue of their natural talent, dedication and down to earth personalities.

In June 1993 top guitarist Brian Smith joined them, having previously worked in Nashville, Tennessee, on Crystal Gayle’s “Three Good Reasons” album.

Here are just some of the many awards and accolades they have already received:- 1990 Most Promising New Act - British Country Music Association. 1990/91 Most Popular British Duo - Country Music Round-Up Paper. 1992 Top British Duo - British Country Music Association. 1993 Top British Duo - British Country Music Awards. 1993 Top British / Irish Duo or Band - Country Music People Awards. 1993 British / Irish Rising Stars - Country Music People Awards. 1994 Most Popular Group – Country Music Round Up 1995 Top Female Vocalist (Becky) - North Country Music Magazine 1996 Best Duo/Band - Great British Country Music Awards 1997 Best Band – Country Music Round Up 1998 Best Trio – North Country Music Magazine 1999 Best Band – British Country Music Awards 2000 Best Band – British Country Music Association.

"I fell in love with the Haley Sisters when I first saw them in 2006 at the Soul Cafe in Maidstone (on a 'Bob Harris Presents' evening - he's a big fan). They were a sensation at this year's Crawley Folk Festival as the 40-strong queue to buy their CDs afterwards testified - what amazed me was to hear afterwards that everyone in the queue bought more than one CD - I've never heard of anything like it before, or since."
   Martin Snodin, Acoustic Sussex

Becky

Jo-Anne

Brian Smith

Click here to visit
The Haley Sisters
MySpace site

For your future diaries...

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2008 dates in the Acoustic Sussex programme include:

Ø    14 January 2008 – Martin Stephenson (website)

Ø    7 February 2008 – Steve Knightley (Show of Hands website)

Ø    18 February 2008 – Charlie Dore Band (website)

Ø     1 March 2008 –Lark Rise to Candleford  (About the show)

Ø    10 March – Tom McConville (website)

Ø    31 March – Brooks Williams (website)

Ø    21 April 2008 - Corinne West (website)

Ø    15 May 2007 – Tannahill Weavers (website)

Ø    26 June - Lucy Kaplansky (tbc)  (website)

Ø    21 July 2008 - Eve Selis  (website)

More information on all up-and-coming artists can be found on our website: www.acousticsussex.org.uk. You can also find us on MySpace (with samples from some of the artists appearing) at: www.myspace.com/acoustic_sussex. If you know anyone who you think may enjoy our events, please forward this email to them.

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