To add to the excellent reviews we have had in Rock ‘n’ Reel, Unicorn magazine and FATEA, we have now had further reviews in Folk Monthly which covers the Midlands area, and in Folk London. I am pleased to say that both have been extremely supportive and positive. Similar themes continue to take shape, namely, that reviewers are very engaged by the stories we are telling, and, secondly, that different listeners and reviewers have different favourites from the CD.
Not surprisingly, these new reviews are encouraging us to once more contact London and Midlands clubs and see if we can get the opportunity to play for them.
We had a recent sortie into London on Friday 28th January, to once more play at JJ’s Barnet Folk Club at the Arts Depot in Barnet. We had an audience of around 40 and were given a very warm reception. We saw some excellent floor spots and then took the podium ourselves. One occupational hazard of the podium was that, when I play, I can’t help but tap my foot – not only does then become an intermittent percussion section but it also means the mike stand starts rocking – in this case, tapping me on the end of the nose for most of the evening!
So, having played at both the Cambridge Folk Club and the Barnet Folk Club on the past two Fridays, we are looking forward to a busy time for gigs in February. We are guests of the Tudor Folk Club in Chesham on Monday 7th February (visit: www.tudorfolkclub.org.uk ) and on 14th February we are very excited to have been asked to support Emily Smith at the Compass Theatre, Ickenham, Middlesex (visit www.compasstheatre.com , for details). Emily was recognised as Scots Singer of the Year 2008/9 and is a leading light in the Scottish folk scene. She has just launched her new album at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow and Ickenham is the third stop on her national tour. This should be a great event. We are grateful to Archie Macauley from the newly re-formed Uxbridge Folk Club who are the organisers for this event and were kind enough to invite us to support Emily.