broadstairs revisited

Broadstairs Folk Festival, 8th & 13th August

Some highlights:

- Mississippi Ol' Macdonald: He's not old (late twenties, I'd say) and sounds like he's from nearer the Thames Delta than the Mississippi. His name may be Macdonald though. A great gravelly blues voice and some nifty fret work. Songs by Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, and other usual suspects. He's chock full of stories too, from his time in Memphis where he's been helping to raise money for a gravestone for O.V. Wright, unsung soul legend who died in 1980. It never occurred to me that steel guitars (he plays a National Steel for some numbers) are apt to go out of tune because they expand and contract dependant on the temperature. Obvious really...

- The Woodshed Session: I came here last year and recognise many of same faces this time. Individually they're called on in turn to sing or play a tune while the others strum, bow, blow and/or sing along with varying degrees of confidence. Some of them are impressively talented: a flautist improvises some interesting flute accompaniment to "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and an accordionist hurtles through a couple of reels at breakneck speed. Quite interesting that these hidden pockets of amateur music-making exist...

- Cocos Lovers were busking down by the harbour and I shelled out a fiver for a couple of CDs on the strength of their pleasing vocal harmonies and instrumental arrangements. I like their songs but I'm not sure how far that name will get them. Debut album coming soon it seems.