E-Newsletter 244
6th May 2021
Hello everyone
This Newsletter is a little overdue but as you can imagine with dates chopping and changing over the last few months it’s been difficult to put something definite together. As we move towards the lifting of ‘lockdown’ it now feels like the dates we have in place have a real sense of permanence.
Our first event is scheduled for Monday June 28th and features ex-Bellowhead front man JON BODEN. There will be 2 performances at 6pm and 8-30pm held under Social Distancing guidelines and so tickets are limited. The venue will be the National Centre for Early Music in York. As both these performances will be held under social distancing guidelines changes to ensure safety, wellbeing and enjoyment will be in place. The venue requests that you understand these before booking, please click here to read the details. Tickets are available from the NCEM box office www.ncem.co.uk
For the summer months of July and August we are planning to have some outdoor music in the Black Swan car park. More details coming soon.
September will see a string of concerts co-promoted with York based promoters Please Please You.
At the Crescent Club, 8, The Crescent, York YO24 1AW we have:-
USA Bluegrass Band DELLA MAE on Saturday September 4th.
This Grammy nominated acoustic 5 piece boast an all-female line up and with their new album ‘Headlight’ are boldly breaking genre convention, pushing beyond their bluegrass roots and achieving their most sonically adventurous body of work to date.
Support is acclaimed singer-songwriter RACHEL BAIMAN also from the States.
Tickets are now available from https://thecrescentyork.seetickets.com/event/della-mae/the-crescent/1614418.
The following evening we have a guitarist and singer-songwriter who many will remember from his folk club days in the 1970s as well as from his work with David Bowie and as support to many big names, Frank Zappa, The Who and King Crimson included.
KEITH CHRISTMAS plays The Crescent on Sunday September 5th.
www.seetickets.com/event/keith-christmas/the-crescent/1842059.
Next ELIZA CARTHY and RESTITUTE play The Crescent on Wednesday Sept 8th.
This booking was one of the first casualties of the pandemic, originally scheduled for April 2020. The band for the Restitute tour comprises Eliza Carthy, Ben Seal, Ben Somers, Willy Molleson and David Delarre with a support slot and special guest appearance from Saul Rose. In addition to the Restitute material, the band will perform songs from brand new recordings of original songs by Eliza Carthy and Ben Seal – taken from their forthcoming album ‘Through that Sound my Secret was Made Known’. Here it is over a year later and tickets are now available. www.seetickets.com
Our final concert in September will be at the National Centre for Early Music, YORK on Sunday September 29th. It features highly acclaimed Devonian folk-singer JOHN SMITH.
Known for his intimate song-writing, his honey-on-gravel voice and pioneering guitar playing, he’s spent the last fifteen years touring internationally and has amassed over 40 million streams on Spotify. As a session musician he’s played guitar with artists as diverse as Joan Baez and Tom Jones. Tickets from:-
https://tickets.ncem.co.uk/en-GB/shows/john%20smith/events
Moving into October and at The National Centre for Early Music another event postponed from April 2020.
KATHRYN ROBERT and SEAN LAKEMAN appear at the NCEM on Wednesday October 20th.
2021 marks 26 years of making music together for this wife and husband duo who have long established themselves as one of the UK folk scene’s most enduring partnerships. To celebrate they will revisit and reinterpret songs which span their career. From folk supergroup ‘Equation’ to the current release ‘Personae’. The evening promises a whistle-stop tour through their artistic journey to date. ‘It’s folk music for the modern age.’ The Telegraph
Tickets are available now:-
https://tickets.ncem.co.uk/en-GB/shows/kathryn%20roberts%20-%20sean%20lakeman/events
The National Centre for Early Music is also the venue for Scottish songstress RACHEL SERMANNI on Tuesday November 23rd touring in support of her recently released ep ‘Swallow Me’ that charts her journey to motherhood with songs written predominantly while pregnant and on tour in the USA.
Those already familiar with Sermanni’s music will know her from her appearances at Celtic Connections and her associations with Mumford and Sons, Elvis Costello and Rumer.
'Think Joni Mitchell meets Lisa Hannigan, with a delectably eccentric Scottish twist'-The Guardian
Tickets available from the NCEM Box Office or:- https://www.seetickets.com/event/rachel-sermanni/national-centre-for-early-music/1843996
Thursday September 2nd will be the grand reopening of the Black Swan Folk Club and we’re planning a special ‘first night’ back in the hallowed club room.
Details will be released shortly as well as the ticket info. for the majority of this year’s club events. At the moment we only have tickets on sale for banjoist, singer and songwriter KAIA KATER on Thurs Dec 2nd.
Artists booked at the club from September to the end of 2022 are as follows:-
Thursday September 2nd Grand reopening with special guests tba.
Thursday September 9th Maria Dunn and Shannon Johnson on tour from Canada
Thursday October 28th -Katy Moffatt(USA)
Thursday November 4th -Hannah Sanders and Ben Savage
Thursday November 11th-Charlie Dore and Julian Littman
Thursday November 25th-Allan Taylor
Thursday Dec 2nd-Kaia Kater (another Stateside artist, originally from Canada) www.wegottickets.com/event/500629
Wednesday Dec 8th and Thursday Dec 9th Martin Carthy
Thursday Dec 16th the annual Folk Club Christmas Party.
Club closed Dec 23rd and 30th
Still with the Black Swan Folk Club room and there’s a very special afternoon show starting at 3pm on Sunday October 10th.
It will feature LIAM O MAONLAI the lead-singer from Gaelic folk rockers Hothouse Flowers. Support will be from locally based trio White Sail. This is a real scoop so early booking is essential. Tickets are on sale now www.wegottickets.com/event/515571
The rearranged date for the long-awaited show from GRACE PETRIE is now slated for next year. It’s Mon May 23rd 2022. This will be at The Crescent Club and tickets purchased for the previously postponed dates are valid for the new date. Alternatively if the new date is inconvenient you will be able to get a refund.
To check out all ticket links and more info go to www.blackswanfolkclub.org.uk Updates are also announced on our Facebook page and on Twitter. We will keep you updated with the occasional mail shot as well.
Not a Black Swan Folk Club event but if you’re looking for a folk festival this summer then The Magpies are running their own folk and acoustic festival at Sutton Park near York. The date is Saturday August 14th and all the information is here: https://www.themagpiesfestival.co.uk/
Booked to appear so far are SAM KELLY and the LOST BOYS, BLAIR DUNLOP, ROB HERON and the TEA PAD ORCHESTRA, KATHERINE PRIDDY and of course THE MAGPIES.
Still going strong the Black Swan ‘Virtual’ Folk Club is available on our YouTube channel (Black Swan Folk Club York UK). A new session is posted every Thurs evening. Go to the Playlist for the date that you want to watch. If you haven’t yet visited our ‘virtual’ club it features performances from familiar faces who regularly fill the guest spot at the club, and clips from resident singers and performers. It really helps us if you subscribe to our channel. www.blackswanfolkclub.org.uk/vclub.cfm
Finally our late organiser Roland Walls was a great archivist and he left behind a wealth of material most of which is now with York library and the English Folk Dance and Song Society
There are still a lot of World Music, Folk Music and local music magazines here which we need to find a good home for as storage space is limited.
They are Southern Rag (13-24) 1982 to 1985, FOLK ROOTS (25-34) 1985-2012, Froots (345-425) 2012-2019. LIVING TRADITION
(1-130) 1993-2019 ROCK’N’REEL (2-34) 1988-200, R2 (91-77) 2007-2019 TYKES NEWS, STIRRINGS and FOLK ROUNDABOUT.
If you are interested email us at blackswanfolkclub@yahoo.co.uk as soon as possible please.
They will need to be collected, although if you're wanting a lot of them and don't live too faraway we could probably work something out as regards delivery.
Chris and The Black Swan Folk Club