2008 programme

On this page you will find the 2008 programme for TATT, with details of the artists appearing* and links to any websites they have.

Depending what time of the year you are reading this, you may already be too late to see some of these people - hard cheese, you should have found out about us earlier! However, we have kept their details on the page because 1) it's too much trouble to update this page every month and 2) if you're new to TATT, this will give you an idea of the kind of people we book at the club and therefore, the kind of club we are.

Want to find out more about our guests?

Click on the guests' names for more information further down the page.

Links to artists' websites have been inserted - always assuming that they have one. If they don't have a site of their own, I may have inserted a link to some other site that gives you further information about them.

January 6th.	Singaround	June 1st.	John Waltham
February 3rd.	Sean Mone	July 6th.	Brian Peters
March 2nd.	Rosin White	August 3rd.	Summer Sing
March 16th. Extra night!	Phil Callery	September 7th.	Steve Turner
April 6th.	Will Duke and Dan Quinn	October 5th.	Mary Humphries and Anahata
April 27th. Extra night!	"Herd Laddie o' the Glen" - Alison McMorland	November 2nd.	The Residents in Residence
May 4th.	Roy Clinging and Neil Brookes	December 7th.	Martyn Wyndham-Read

Singaround It has become traditional over the past few years that we don't have a guest for the first night of the year. For one thing, with Christmas not properly over, we need a quiet night, and not everyone may be back from visiting relatives, etc; partly, I think, it's in memory of Andy Leith, whose sudden death at this time of the year we all quietly remember. This is actually one of the nicest nights of the year - relaxed, friendly, sitting around the room informally, just singing and, for those with the talent, playing together. So come and join us. But be warned; this year our January Sing falls upon Twelfth Night, traditionally the time when the usual order is turned upside down. So who's going to be the Lord of Misrule? take down your decorations, come along and see ...

Sean Mone Continuing the fine TATT tradition of bringing you the artists that most parts of the Folk World just can't reach, tonight we are very proud to celebrate our birthday in the company of Sean Mone, from Keady, County Armagh (where Sarah Makem lived and sang) Sean is one of the finest and most original songwriters to come out of Ireland in recent years, and a damn fine singer, too. The late lamented National brought Sean to Sutton Bonnington a few years back and opened the eyes of many not lucky enough to have heard him on his native ground, but this is the first time he's been back since then. For anyone who wasn't at S.B. that year, Sean's songs have been heard in the mouths of such as Frank Harte, Rosie Stewart and Ken Hall; mostly classic satires such as My Name is David Trimble (a.k.a. The Little Orange Pimple) or The Transit Van. However, Sean is also the author of Lovers and Friends, which for my money - and that of many people I know - is simply the best, deepest and truest song to come out of, and about, the troubles. Catch him while he's here - it could be a long time before you get another chance. Happy Birthday to us!

Rosin White I don't suppose many people reading this site will need telling who Roisin White is, or need any encouragement to drop everything else and rush to the Top Room to hear her sing. OK, for the rest of you, Roisin is one of, if not the, the finest singer(s) of traditional songs to come out of the northern part of Ireland, as well as being definitely one of the most knowledgeable. Roisin mostly sings in English but is also a fine Sean Nos singer - well, teaching Irish was her profession. She is also one of the most self-effacing, un-prima-donna like singers I have ever been lucky enough to know. For Roisin, it's the song that matters; her singing style reminds me of Joe Heaney's description of a true singer as being a man who will sit in the corner of the room, often with his cap pulled over his face, so that people will listen to the song rather than pay attention to him. Not that Roisin might strike you as self-effacing on first view, but that's what her singing is all about. Roisin has known and learned from every important source singer and musician of our time, from Robert Cinnamond in Antrim to Junior Creggan in Co. Clare and, in her turn, has helped to pass on her knowledge and love of the music to anyone who wants to learn; one of the most generous as well as most knowledgeable people on the scene. She also has a good sense of humour, which I'm relying on so that she's still be speaking to me if she should happen to read these extravagant but wholly justified words of praise ...

Phil Callery Hands up, who remembers The Voice Squad? The unique, unmatched and deeply missed three-man acapella harmony group who dominated the Irish scene from their early incarnation as the Duleek Gatecrashers in the 70s through to the late 90s. On the last occasion that the Squad were due to play Whitby Folk Week and couldn't come, Phil with his daughter Sarah turned up and filled the bill more that ably. Phil's trad. singing credentials were already well established before the Squad started up; back in the 6os, he founded the Singers Club in Dublin, based on McColl's (in)famous club of the same name in London. Since the Squad ceased to sing together,, he has gone on to work with bands of his own and others' organising, as well as returning to Whitby to sing solo in 2002 but hasn't as far as I know, been back to these shores since; nor has he played in clubs over here. Our loss, which is now being remedied. It's been a great Spring for catching up with the very best of Irish Traditional singing, and this extra night with Phil rounds it all off very nicely.

Will Duke and Dan Quinn Will and Dan were meant to be playing our Birthday night in 2007 but had to cancel; we were determined to get them back at the earliest possible opportunity. It's far from being their first visit to TATT; always popular and always good company. Look forward to the sound of two melodeons, or of Dan on melodeon and Will on Anglo Concertina (Scan Tester's former instrument or a Colin Dipper special, for aficionados), mixed with either or both of them together singing. Their music is drawn from across the South of England, both being natives of those parts and residents at the excellent Royal Oak Club in Lewes, with whom TATT frequently shares guests. It's nice to meet someone else who thinks that Mary Ann Hayes was one of the greatest source singers of all time. I know Dan is in the habit of checking club websites to see if he's really been booked there or not, so I hope I've got this all right; I'm sure he'll let me know if not ... Photo taken one Sunday afternoon in Dorset; Will playing with Paul Burgess, wife Chris attempting to sleep through it all in foreground.

Herd Laddie o' the Glen" - Alison McMorland Alison and her partner, Geordie McIntyre, last sang at the Tiger some years back, but have more recently been heard and seen at our friends, the Grand Union club in Barrow (see photo) and it is with G.U. that TATT Has teamed up here to bring Alison back with her presentation on the life of Borders' shepherd and singer, Willie Scott. I still remember that grand old man, seemingly as indestructible as the hills from which he drew his birth and his livelihood, sitting in the corner of the old Whitby Festival Offices at Church House, carving his crooks, one of which would be a raffle prize at the end of the week. A wonderful voice right up to the end of his life, that would hold the room silent as he sang the songs which conjured up the hills he had walked and the life he had lived. Alison, who amongst other accomplishments is a tutor on the Scottish Music Course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, worked with and collected from Willie for many years and has now put together this programme about his life and music. An extra night in our ongoing quest to bring the very best of the traditional music of these isles!

Roy Clinging and Neil Brookes Roy has been one of the artists that has been "in the frame" for a return visit to TATT for sometime now. The songs of his home county don't feature very high in the repertoire of most of our local singers, so that will be put right when Roy joins us to kick start summer. The maturing partnership with Neil is sure to be a winner with those who haven't seen them before and a renewed pleasure for those who have. Neil is a very fine fiddle player indeed and has recently published, with much well deserved acclaim, a book of Shropshire tunes. Fine singing and playing of concertina and fiddle of songs and tunes primarily from Cheshire and Shropshire. Now that's something you don't get down our way very often.

John Waltham Vincent Motorbike enthusiast and former cider maker extraordinaire, John runs a small but very select singing weekend every June, which is usually sold out within weeks of the notices going out around his mailing list. His past credits include running a folk programme on Dorset local radio and winning the Best Singer award at Sidmouth; collecting songs in Dorset and Inishowen and releasing two excellent sets of recordings, one on cassette and a more recent CD, Farewell to the Green Fields, marking his own enforced departure from the farm on which he had been born. In his new incarnation as globe-trotting director of the bio-fuels collective which he helped to found, John can be a hard man to pin down for bookings, but we managed it by engaging him for the Sunday before his own festival, the only weekend in the year when he guarantees to be in the country. John visited the club some years ago now, in company with his neighbour and friend, George Withers, on the Sunday night following the National weekend at Sutton Bonnington. I remember well that they had been originally due to come to TATT on our January night, but the gales that had blown up the previous night made travelling from the storm-blocked lanes of Dorset to the equally storm tossed Midlands impractical and the visit had been postponed. George, unfortunately, is no longer strong enough to travel up but we look forward to hearing again John's wealth of knowledge of the music both of his own native South West and of Donegal, his second home, conveyed in those honeyed tones and interspersed with illuminating side notes and stories of his adventures in both areas.

Brian Peters It was our founder, Mr Roy Harris himself, whom Dave first came across championing Brian Peters, whom he deemed to be a young performer of which it certainly was worth taking note. As usual Roy has been proved right as Brian, some years later, is now a permanent and respected member of the higher echelon of folk performers. It was no surprise that Brian was present on our first ever night at The Tiger singing from the floor and he has been here as a guest in his own right on three subsequent occasions. Brian hails from the borders of Derbyshire and Lancashire and a lot of his repertoire is gleaned from the folklore of the latter county and he makes no secrete of the fact that one of his earliest influences was that great Lancastrian the late Harry Boardman to whom so many of us owe a debt. Brian is a multi instrumentalist accompanying himself on either guitar, concertina or melodeon and he can also weigh in on fiddle. His songs are carefully chosen and stem mainly from the British or Appalachian traditions as well as pieces from the cream of our contemporary songwriters. However he displays a love of the big ballads and his current project is a CD of Child Ballads which promises to be released later in 2008; we should get to know a lot more about this when he returns once more to The Tiger.

Summer Sing In August, when lots of people go away to festivals and other far-flung flings, those remaining have got into the habit of meeting on the first Sunday to entertain themselves and each other with a damn good sing. Join them, if you're around; if you're away, you won't know what you've missed, so I just hope your holiday was enjoyable enough to justify missing it!

Steve Turner Steve Turner has an absolutely un-mistakable playing and singing style; really one of the greats of the English scene, for my money. Four great albums in the 80s, "Eclogue", "Braiding", "Outstack" and "Jigging one Now" (Not sure of the order these came in), then silence and disappearance. Then, one night, I went down to the Grand Union club - couldn't even remember the name of the guest booked and I turned up late - stood outside the door waiting for a song to finish and suddenly realised what I was hearing - Bloody Hell! That voice! That concertina! It can't be - it was. Turned out he'd been quietly running his violin business in Nottingham for years and, latterly, playing in sessions around the area. He'd finally agreed to put his toe back into the waters of folk club performance and boy, was he back with a vengeance; every one of the old favourites just as good as before and plenty of new material as well. Since then, he's played the Tiger both as a guest and even, lucky us, turned up for a floor spot, as well as appearing further around the scene, even with a brief foray to Whitby Folk Week. Well, we had to book him again, even if it is only two years since the last time. Maybe by September he'll finally have brought out that new album that we've all been urging him to make since that night back at the G.U. - I shall buy it the moment it goes on sale, believe me.

Mary Humphries and Anahata Jack Crawford writes: Mary and Anahata are outstanding musicians and lovely people. The craftsmanship and enthusiasm in their performance of traditional songs and tunes is infectious and never fails to delight. They began singing and playing together at the turn of the century and I can't believe this will be their first visit to TATT. Mary plays English concertina and banjo and is an accomplished performer of traditional songs, mostly in English but sometimes in her native Welsh. Her singing is warm and passionate and the depth of her knowledge of folk music is clearly evident. She researches and revives traditional material and is currently unearthing songs native to Cambridgeshire, where she lives with Anahata. Anahata is a multi-instrumental folk musician of the highest calibre. His sensitive accompaniments on 'cello, Anglo concertina and melodeon underpin Mary's singing perfectly and sometimes leave me breathless with admiration. He is a subtle and skilled arranger; when the duo launch into a set of tunes it's often hard to believe there are only twenty fingers involved. Come and enjoy an evening of folk music at its best. If you’ve already seen them live or heard tracks from their three excellent CDs you’ll know just what I mean.

The Residents OK, well I find this one a bit difficult to write, being a modest sort, but someone suggested it was time the residents had a chance to do a bit more than our house-warming two (or more often, one only) spot at the start of the night before half the audience have arrived. It wasn't any of us, honest. Between us, we have quite a wide and differing range of backgrounds, influences and styles, except that we all sing unaccompanied ... At the time of writing, I'm not even too sure who will be the final line-up of "Residents" as far away as next November; John Bentham, Dave Sutherland, Corinne Male, probably, with perhaps Al Atkinson, who is giving up his official Resident's status at the start of this year but may be persuaded back for old times' sake. Maybe we shall even have one or more new residents by then; I'll update this bit nearer the time, perhaps!

Martyn Wyndham-Read Pre-Christmas club nights are traditionally something special and this one is no exception. To welcome in the festive season, TATT is proud to present an all-time great, Martyn Wyndham-Read, of Sussex / Australian song fame and latterly of French singing weekends and folk workshops as well. A great hypnotic voice and possibly the most unashamedly sentimental set of material around, this is man who first introduced us to the work of great Bush writers like Frank the Poet and Banjo Patterson, but who also has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the traditional songs of his native Sussex. I really don't think I need to say any more - I probably didn't even need to say that much; you all know who Martyn is. Come and join us for the last TATT of 2008 and round off a great year in suitable style.