NEWS ARCHIVE
OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2010:
LATEST NEWS:
Saturday 18th December | Happy Christmas from the Willows!
We ended the year with a bang last Wednesday at the Willows' Christmas Party! We love the Christmas season and it's always a pleasure to share our party with all of you - our party this year was a sell-out, and it was lovely to welcome so many of you!
As well as all the fantastic singers & musicians, we also had several surprise visitors, including the St. Botolph Country Dance Team, a Pearly King, Robin Hood & His Merry Men, and of course our annual visit from Father Christmas!
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Thanks to the Christmas Party, we also have some new YouTube videos for you! This first video features the surprise guest appearance by the legendary St. Botolph Country Dance Team, last seen appearing on BBC TV as part of The Two Ronnies TV program...
One of the highlights of the Willows' Christmas Party is the annual visit by bluegrass band WOOD WIRE & WORDS who come along to join in the fun and play a couple of songs. Here they are performing one of their newest original numbers, "Moonshine & Full Moon", written by lead singer & guitarist David Rozzell:
Always a popular act whenever they take to the Willows' stage, harmony group HARVEST HOME treated us to their own special arrangement of four Christmas carols, strung together and set to a folk tune, complete of course with the group's trademark powerful harmonies:
Every year at the Willows' Christmas Party a tradition is to close the evening with a special Song & Carol Session, complete with rousing choruses and lots of musicians all playing along. Here's an excerpt from this year's carols, complete with the closing Christmas wishes from Willows MC Chris Davis:
We also have a couple of extra bonus videos to share with you! This first video is actually not hosted on the Willows' channel, but was actually uploaded by audience member Shannon who came along to enjoy the Christmas-themed performance by MICK GROVES on 8th December! Here's Mick singing one of The Spinners' classic songs, "Castles in the Air":
Last but definitely not least, when JEZ LOWE & THE BAD PENNIES came to play for us back in November, Jez treated us to his highly entertaining and hilariously funny take on the classic Christmas film "It's A Wonderful Life". Jez's Geordie-themed version is entitled "It's A Champion Life" and makes another entertaining addition to the Willows' YouTube channel!
As always, a massive THANK YOU to everyone who came along to our Christmas Party - and indeed to everyone who has supported the Willows throughout the whole of 2010!
PLEASE NOTE that the Willows is now CLOSED for three Wednesdays, but returns on Wednesday 12th January 2011 for another year of great music!
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Friday 10th December | A trip down memory lane!
Christmas came early to the Willows last Wednesday when we welcomed great folksinger and former member of The Spinners, the one and only MICK GROVES, presenting a special Christmas show! The Spinners were famous for their Christmas-themed concerts, selling out many large concert venues with their annual Christmas tours and also doing many Christmas shows for the BBC on both radio and television, and so Mick's solo Christmas concert was a trip down memory lane for many folk fans for whom it just wasn't Christmas without The Spinners!
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Mick's performance last Wednesday also provides us with new additions to the Willows' YouTube channel! This first video shows Mick leading the audience in the classic Christmas carol "In The Bleak Midwinter":
This second video features Mick singing a song that The Spinners actually released as a Christmas single, "The Wren Boys' Song":
Huge thanks to Mick for a great show, and thanks too to everyone who braved the cold weather to come along and enjoy this great evening!
Don't forget that the club still has one more evening to enjoy this year, taking place this coming Wednesday (15th December) - it is, of course, our annual CHRISTMAS PARTY! Hope to see all of you there!
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Wednesday 1st December | Tonight's Willows cancelled!
Unfortunately, due to the heavy snow and severe weather warnings, with another foot of snow and temperatures of minus 10 being predicted for tonight, we've taken the difficult decision to cancel the Come All Ye - Open Stage Night at the Willows tonight.
As with the snow-enforced closures earlier this year, this isn't a decision we've taken lightly but feel it is the best decision to take given the conditions.
Apologies for any disappointment caused.
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Saturday 27th November | The ultimate entertainer returns!
Last Wednesday we were treated to a guest appearance by veteran acoustic entertainer JOHNNY SILVO, a man widely regarded for the past four decades as possessing one of the best voices on the UK folk scene, and also regarded as one of its foremost entertainers! Johnny delivered a typical show-stopping performance, with a mixture of folk, blues and jazz material and great audience communication!
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Thanks to Johnny's great performance we also have two more additions to the Willows' YouTube channel for your enjoyment! First up we have Johnny performing one of his most popular songs, "Doctor Jazz", a song that really shows off his incredible vocal range:
Johnny has a great aptitude for singing blues material, and this second video shows this off to perfection with his performance of Leadbelly's song "Backwater Blues":
Thanks to everyone who came along to see this great entertainer in concert!
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Wednesday 17th November | Amazing songwriter, amazing band!
We had a terrific night at the Willows last Wednesday when we welcomed the legendary JEZ LOWE & THE BAD PENNIES to the Willows' stage! Jez has long been regarded as one of this country's best and cleverest songwriters, with a gift for writing powerful and engaging lyrics set to instantly hummable tunes, and all of this was in evidence last Wednesday, all ably supported and enhanced by the musical virtuosity of the Bad Pennies, a.k.a. Andy May on pipes and keyboard, Hinny Pawsey on fiddle and David De La Haye on bass!
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This brilliant gig also provides us with two more YouTube videos! This first video shows Jez and the band playing one of the loveliest of Jez's songs, "The Bergen" (as a note of interest you can also hear The Tannahill Weavers playing this song if you search down the videos on our YouTube channel):
This next video shows off one of Jez's trademarks, with "Jack Common's Anthem", an original song of Jez's with a meaningful story and lyric coupled with an instantly memorable chorus:
As always, a huge thanks to the many people who turned up to support this evening, testament to what a class act Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies are!
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Tuesday 26th October | Amazing gig from Elbow Jane!
Last Wednesday at the Willows it's no exaggeration to say we were given a glimpse of the future of folk music when rising stars ELBOW JANE gave us a thoroughly entertaining performance! We knew these guys had pedigree and were good, but we were unprepared for just how incredible they are, mixing amazing vocals and great musicianship with excellent audience communication and great fun and laughter. What a fantastic evening!
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Being able to present acts as talented as this is one of the most gratifying things about running a club like the Willows, and we'd all like to say a big "Thank You" to everyone who came down to support this great young band for what they tell us was their first-ever gig in Sussex!
Elbow Jane's performance also provides us with two new YouTube videos this week! This first video shows the band playing one of their original songs, "So The Story Goes", written by band member Richard Woods:
This second video actually features several highlights from the band's second set - in order of appearance are another Elbow Jane original, "Take Some Time" (once again written by Richard Woods), their version of The Beatles' classic song "Something", and a barnstorming take on Motown legend Marvin Gaye's "Heard It Through the Grapevine" - when's the last time you heard that played at a folk club?! :)
Once again thanks to everyone who turned up to make this into such a rewarding evening, and a huge thanks to ELBOW JANE themselves for the outstanding performance they put on for us!
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