Last Wednesday's Willows featured a great guest appearance from superb country/bluegrass band THE ACOUSTIC ASTRONAUTS, serving up a strong mix of great instrumental skill and delightful, harmony-laden vocals that wowed everyone in the audience!
Thanks to the band's electric performance, as ever we have two new YouTube videos to present to you! This first video shows off the band's tender side, with some lovely harmonies:
This second video shows off the band's more up-tempo side, with an energised version of the classic country song "Walking The Floor Over You":
Tuesday 18th October | Southdown Ramblers step into the breach with a bluegrass extravaganza!
You may remember a short while ago we reported the sad news that JOHNNY SILVO has been forced to cancel his forthcoming UK tour, including his gig at the Willows on Wednesday 16th November, due to ill health.
Stepping into the gap left by Johnny's cancellation are popular local bluegrass band THE SOUTHDOWN RAMBLERS! Reg, Chris and Big Chris will be joined on stage by famed bluegrass multi-instrumentalist RICK TOWNEND on banjo, and local luminary JON WIGG on fiddle!
You can check out the poster for this evening by clicking on the thumbnail on the left. We're billing the evening as a Bluegrass Extravaganza, which promises many classic bluegrass songs and Ramblers favourites as you've never heard them before! We hope all of you will join us for this special one-off evening.
Monday 17th October | New videos, and a special thanks!
We've had two great weeks at the Willows, firstly with our guest night on 5th October, which featured MARTYN WYNDHAM-READ & NO MAN'S BAND, and then with our Come All Ye - Open Stage Night last Wednesday!
Martyn and the band (featuring Iris Bishop, Jon Wigg and Gary Holder) delivered a cracking set of mellow, ambient folk, a real treat! Thanks to them, we actually have (you guessed it) two more YouTube videos to share with you! By coincidence, both songs featured were written by Stan Graham - this first video features the band's performance of "Olive and the Vine":
This second video features the powerful song "Old Whitby Harbour":
You might have spotted from this news story's heading that we want to give a special thanks to someone - that thanks to the Willows' good friend Bryon Winslade who stepped in at short notice to act as Guest MC for the Come All Ye last Wednesday, after regular MC Chris was taken poorly! (Don't worry, he's back to full strength now!) Thanks Bryon, we really appreciate it!
Thursday 6th October | Johnny Silvo cancels Willows gig
Unfortunately we have received the sad news that JOHNNY SILVO has had to CANCEL his forthcoming UK tour, including his appearance at the Willows which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday 16th November, due to health issues. Both Johnny and the Willows apologise for any disappointment caused.
I'm sure we speak for everyone at the Willows when we extend all good wishes to Johnny for a speedy recovery. In the meantime, we are hoping to fill this date with something we think you will all enjoy - check back soon for details as soon as we have them!
Once again, here at Willows HQ we apologise for the lack of updates - busy times all round, but we hope to now get back to updating more regularly. (Famous last words perhaps??)
We had a great Showcase Special evening a couple of weeks ago, and from that evening we have no less than four new YouTube videos to bring to you, two each from the two great acts we featured! This first video features SHIPWRECKED's performance of the Ralph McTell song "Mr Connaughton":
This next video again features SHIPWRECKED performing an instrumental medley - "The Ross Memorial Hospital" written by Phil Cunningham and the traditional tune "The Blarney Pilgrim":
Our second Showcase act was another great band, HARVEST HOME - here they are showing off their great harmony vocals on the Show of Hands song "Don't Be A Stranger":
Last but definitely not least, here again are HARVEST HOME playing the classic song "Star of the County Down":
Thanks to everyone who's supported the Willows so far this autumn, we really appreciate all your great support! Stay tuned because there's lots more great music still to come!
Wednesday 21st September | One of the folk scene's best!
Last Wednesday we had the pleasure of welcoming the legendary BOB FOX back to the Willows - Bob is one of the folk scene's most popular and respected performers and delivered a terrific and highly entertaining show, showing off his great vocals and strong, skilled guitar work!
Courtesy of Bob's barnstorming show - guess what? You guessed it, we have two more YouTube videos to share! First of all we feature Bob performing "The Bonny Gateshead Lass" followed by the jig "Elsie Marley":
In this second video, Bob presents his excellent take on the Ewan MacColl song "Champion At Keeping Them Rolling":
Thanks to everyone who came along to support Bob's gig, we had a really healthy audience! We're also very much looking forward to tonight's Showcase Special featuring two great local bands, HARVEST HOME and SHIPWRECKED - hope to see some of you there!
Saturday 10th September | Two great weeks at the Willows!
Apologies for the lack of updates - it's been a busy couple of weeks here at Willows HQ, we've been hard at work getting everything ready to let you all know about the exciting programme of music we have coming up between now and the end of the year! Check out our What's On page for more details!
We had a marvellous night a couple of weeks ago when we welcomed our great friend and former member of The Spinners, HUGHIE JONES. Hughie delivered a barnstorming performance and pulled in a superb audience of 83 people, the best turnout we've had for him!
Thanks to Hughie's great performance we also have two more YouTube videos to present to you! This first video features Hughie singing his best-known original song, "The Ellen Vannin Tragedy":
This second video was Hughie's closing song of the evening, the classic song "The Leaving of Liverpool". Take note of the sustained applause and shouts for more at the end - testament to one of the folk scene's longest-serving and most popular performers!
We also had a superb and well-attended Come All Ye - Open Stage Night last Wednesday, successful also for the great number of VIN GARBUTT advance tickets we sold. Thanks as always to all the fine performers who came along to entertain us, and to everyone who came along to listen - we're very proud of our Come All Ye nights!
You may remember a short while ago we reported the sad news that JOHNNY SILVO has been forced to cancel his forthcoming UK tour, including his gig at the Willows on Wednesday 16th November, due to ill health.
Unfortunately we have received the sad news that JOHNNY SILVO has had to CANCEL his forthcoming UK tour, including his appearance at the Willows which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday 16th November, due to health issues. Both Johnny and the Willows apologise for any disappointment caused.
