My oh my, what a great night it was at the Redbourn Folk Club! The Old School Room at the back of the Hollybush pub was full to bursting and all were in fine voice. It was tremendous to see so many of our friends and supporters amongst the club regulars and was it was doubly nice to see so many talented musicians there to provide the floor spots.
Co-organiser Malcolm Hobbs kicked the evening off with his wonderful version of Irish traditional song, A Kiss in the Morning Early. He then followed it by delivering a truly excellent rendition of na-mara's relatively unknown 'come all ye', In Harmony Resound, which certainly helped flex the audience's vocal chords for the night ahead.
More floor singers then followed, including the runner up in the recent Maidstone Folk Club song competition and an excellent guitar-fiddle duo.
By the time we went on, the room was chock-a-bloc full. At the first chorus song in our set, Avery and the Merchants of Bristol, it was clear everyone was very much up for a sing song, with great harmonies readily supplied by Malcolm and others. By the time we ended the set with Black Widows, everyone was involved in the refrain and the night was in full swing.
It was a busy break catching up with friends and with regulars interested in our subject material. It also became clear that some people had put themselves to substantial trouble to make the journey to see us play and that was very humbling.
A rolling set of floor spots started the second half of the evening. These included a penny whistle player and a group of guitarists and fiddlers combining to create a number of different line ups and sounds - all most entertaining, especially the song ‘The Good Ship Kangaroo’.
We then took the stage to deliver our second set which is well supplied with chorus songs in English, Scots and in French which everyone engaged with heartily, and I am delighted to report we ended the night to major applause and requests for an encore. This we were, of course, delighted to provide and, as at The Maltings, we played the night out on a quieter note with our DADGAD version of The Maid of Culmore.
Many thanks to all those who turned out to see us play at Redbourn and to Malcolm, Jenny and all those in charge of running this manifestly vibrant and welcoming folk club. We very much hope to return to the club in the not too distant future and sincerely hope we can repeat the fun we had this time around.
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