The Kalamazoo Klub

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Every second Friday of the Month, Downstairs at the King's Head is proud to present the best in Acoustic Music from around the world.

Doors Open 8.30pm  Admission £12 (August Gig £6)

Online Tickets can be purchased here http://www.wegottickets.com/location/1003

Programme of Artistes 2009

January 9th Martin Stephenson

One of the most amusing and talented acts we have ever put on, Martin takes his influences from an eclectic range of musical styles from Rockabilly and show tunes, through to straight ahead rock and full-tilt Punk. Founder of The Daintees in the early 1980s, Martin's debut single, "Roll On Summertime", was a hit that announced a considerable new talent. It was a track on the marvellous Daintees' first album, "Boat To Bolivia" (1985). "Excellent, rootsy pop songs," Time Out.   Tickets available from www.wegottickets.com/event/37407 To visit Martin Stephenson’s website go to www.daintees.com

February 13th Martin Simpson

Born in 1953 in Scunthorpe, Martin became a professional musician in 1971. Like his friend Martin Carthy, he still plays the British folk club circuit as eagerly as the grandest music rooms that the world of music can offer. In 1975 Barbara Dickson recommended Martin to Bill Leader who went to see him perform, which led to Martin's first solo album, Golden Vanity, (1976). Within the year, he was supporting Steeleye Span and then accompanied June Tabor for 10 years, producing three influential albums, A Cut Above (1980), Abyssinians (1983) and Aqaba (1988). Martin moved to the US in 1987 but continued to play for June on An Echo of Hooves (2003) and in her television special in the 2004 BBC4 Sessions concert performance series. He cites Harry Cox, Blind Willie Johnson, Big Joe Williams, Percy Webb and Blind Willie McTell as influences and incorporates songs by Bob Dylan, Bob Franke, John B Spencer, John Tams and Richard Thompson in his repertoire, not to mention his own compositions on albums such as Bootleg USA (1999) and Righteousness & Humidity (2003). In The Bramble Briar (2001), he concentrated on British story-telling of traditional kinds. Tickets available from www.wegottickets.com/event/37408 To visit Martins Simpson’s website go to www.martinsimpson.com

March 13th Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson and Chris Parkinson

Martin Carthy is regarded as one of the finest singers and interpreters of British traditional music and an innovative and highly influential guitar player. He made his first solo album, Martin Carthy in 1965, recording this and his second album with Dave Swarbrick. From 1970 to 72, Martin was a member of Steeleye Span, with whom he first played electric guitar. In 1972, he left Steeleye and began recording on his own again. That same year, he married Norma Waterson and became a member of her family's folk-singing group, The Watersons, of which he has remained an active member. He also became a member of The Albion Band, the group formed by Ashley Hutchings in the early 1970s, working with them on the album Battle of the Field. Between and during group ventures, Martin maintained a busy solo career, recording such acclaimed albums as Crown of Horn (1976) and Because It's There (1979). In the early nineties Martin renewed his partnership with Dave Swarbrick, producing two more fine albums, Life and Limb and Skin and Bone. By then Martin was working alongside his wife and daughter, Norma Waterson and Eliza Carthy (both Mercury Music Prize nominees and successful artists in their own right) as Waterson:Carthy. The albums Waterson:Carthy (1994) and Common Tongue received great praise. In June 1998, Martin was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to English folk music, and he subsequently released the acclaimed Signs Of Life, his first solo release in almost 10 years. He also teamed up with Roger Wilson and Chris Wood to form the folk supergroup Wood, Wilson and Carthy. His new solo album Waiting for Angels is now available. SOLD OUT - Sorry

 

April 10th Dave Swarbrick

May 8th Hans Theesink     We've had an American in Paris, but a Dutchman in Vienna? And one who has dedicated himself, body and soul, to American blues and roots music? Okay, Hans Theessink (pronounced Tay-sink) did not pick the easiest way to do this, but he has done so with a certain degree of single-mindedness. In the early 1960s a love of the Blues took hold of the man whom Bo Diddley described as "one helluva guitar player" and it has not let go since. Country blues especially impressed Hans and played a role in his development as a musician. His roots are in the blues but he's also been influenced by countless aspects of roots music. Hans is probably one of the top blues and roots musicians worldwide who has entertained audiences around the globe during a musical career that spans over more than 35 years. The world's leading bluespaper - US magazine Blues Revue wrote: "Hans Theessink is an international blues treasure. He is one of the world's pre-eminent country pickers and his warm baritone expresses blues". Hans has released 20 albums. "Banjoman", the tribute project to Derroll Adams produced with Arlo Guthrie, was recently nominated for a Grammy. In 2004 Hans got the Austrian Amadeus award for Songs from the Southland, a tribute to the music of the American South - a constant source of inspiration and companion on his musical journey. A Danish Music Award for best blues album followed in 2005. His most recent CD, Bridges - is nominated for the Amadeus. His' latest work is a DVD, Live in Concert, A Blues & Roots Revue.   Hans Theessink is the only European nominee for the 30th Blues Music wards in the category Acoustic Album of the Year.The results will be announced at the 30th Annual Blues Music Awards ceremony on May 7th 2009 in Memphis, Tennessee. Here is a link to the complete list of all 2009 BMA nominees. www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/nominees.php4   www.wegottickets.com/event/38122 To visit Hans Theesink’s website go to www.theesink.com

Extra Gig! Tuesday May 26th Rachel Harrington & Zak Borden   Reared among the Pentecostal pines of Oregon, Rachel Harrington has been doing things in the wrong order for quite some time. She'd had extensive radio play before performing her live show, and she was opening for Grammy winners and nominees before releasing her first record. Now, hot on the heels of her critically acclaimed 2007 debut, The Bootlegger's Daughter, Rachel presents City Of Refuge. Her backing band on the recording is TIM O'BRIEN on fiddle, Mike Grigoni on dobro, Zak Borden on mandolin, and Jon Hamar on bass, with Holly O'Reilly and Pieta Brown on backing vocals. Peopled with characters seeking respite, escape or salvation, City Of Refuge farms personal and mythical stories from the American West, including tales inspired by the memoirs of prostitutes during the Alaska Gold Rush, the cantankerous Harry Truman of Mount St. Helens and short story writer Raymond Carver. Several tracks from City of Refuge have already been selected for in-store airplay by Starbucks. Fresh off a three month European tour, Rachel is currently as a duo, joined by multi-instrumentalist Zak Borden.   www.wegottickets.com/event/43792 To visit Rachel Harrington’s website go to www.rachelharrington.net

Extra Gig! Tuesday June 2nd Walter Strauss     "Michael Hedges meets Bruce Cockburn and together they steal Ry Cooder's smoking jacket..." Fingerstyle guitar wizard Walter Strauss was born in Wyoming and looked to the vast spaces of the American West for his musical inspiration. While rooted in American folk forms, Walter's music evokes far reaches of the globe as well. He has worked with musicians from West Africa to Australia and Finland, and successfully weaves world beat, Americana, and jazz into a brand uniquely his own. Strauss digs deep grooves for his audiences - he layers on highly articulated melodies and harmonies, rhythms and counter-rhythms in a way that gives the impression he is playing several instruments at once. His voice is smokey and intimate, and captivates the listener with a dastardly charm whether he's singing a lusty proposition or an existential lament. Before embarking on his solo career, Walter performed for more than 15 years as an ensemble musician. He toured extensively with Rounder Records' eclectic folksters The Burns Sisters Band and performed alongside numerous first-rate musicians, such as Vassar Clements and Martin Simpson. Of late, Walter has been performing solo and with The Walter Strauss Trio with bassist Sam Bevan and drummer/percussionist Kendrick Freeman. For the last 3 years, Walter has also engaged in a unique transcultural collaboration, touring periodically in a duo with Malian kora virtuoso and 2005 Grammy nominee Mamadou Diabate. In the words of reviewer Patti Witten (FAME), Walter's first solo CD Pulling Shadows is "a soulful journey of stellar guitar playing and songs suffused with tenderness and wit. Walter Strauss has the scope and musicianship to express himself in multiple genres... in a fresh way, without cliche or repetition." Legendary British broadcaster Bob Harris gives the CD a big thumbs up... "What a lovely album it is!" On the disc, as in live performance, he weaves together a cohesive quilt of musical styles and somehow renders each more 3-D, more psychedelic. Walter colors outside the lines.   www.wegottickets.com/event/43793 To visit Walter Strauss’s website go to www.walterstrauss.com

June 12th Andy Irvine     Andy Irvine has been hailed as "a tradition in himself.". Musician, singer and songwriter, Andy has maintained both personal integrity and highly individual performing skills throughout his 40 year career. From Sweeney's Men in the mid sixties to the enormous success of Planxty in the 70s, to THE Irish super group, Patrick Street, in the 80s, Andy has been a world music pioneer and icon for traditional music and musicians. Irvine occupies a unique place in the musical world, plying his trade as archetypal troubadour, with a solo show and traveling lifestyle that reflects his lifelong influence, Woody Guthrie. Few others can equal his repertoire, Irish traditional songs, dexterous Balkan dance tunes, and a compelling canon of his own material that defies description. In his two years with Sweeney's Men, the group ignited an interest in traditional Irish music that survives to this day. Their successful singles, Old Maid in the Garret and The Waxie's Dargle landed at the very top of the Irish Hit Parade. Andy left the band in 1968, and made his first trip way out yonder, traveling by "the sunburnt thumb" in Bulgaria, Romania and Yugoslavia, earning his living as a street musician and absorbing the musical traditions of the Balkans. Returning to Ireland, Irvine united with Christy Moore, Donal Lunny and Liam O'Flynn to form Planxty, fanning the flames of Irish Traditional Music well into the next generation. Planxty took a break in 1976 and Irvine worked and recorded with Paul Brady, making the classic album Andy Irvine & Paul Brady. After a brief time with De Dannan, he rejoined the reunited Planxty from 1979 until its breakup in 1983. Andy's first solo album, Rainy Sundays ... Windy Dreams, followed, as well as Parallel Lines a duo album with the great Scots troubadour, Dick Gaughan. Next Andy formed Mosaic, a pan-European band including Donal Lunny and Hungarian singer Marta Sebestyen. He then returned to solo and duo work. This work soon grew into Patrick Street, featuring Kevin Burke (Bothy Band), Jackie Daly (De Danaan) and guitar maestro Arty McGlynn. Patrick Street recorded three albums from 1987 to 1990. Andy then recorded his second solo album, Rude Awakening, and created the hugely influential East Wind, an album of Balkan music, produced by Bill Whelan and featuring Davy Spillane on Uilleann Pipes. Patrick Street regrouped in 1993 with Kevin, Jackie, Andy, and Ged Foley. To date Patrick Street has released eight recordings, all on the Green Linnet label. Early in 2002, Andy drafted some long-time musical friends and formed his dream band for a one-off tour of Australia. Calling themselves Mozaik, Andy was joined by Donal Lunny, Dutch guitarist Rens van der Zalm, Hungarian bagpiper Nikola Parov and American fiddler Bruce Molsky. They have since released two albums, Live from the Powerhouse in 2003 and Changing Trains in 2007 and have toured Australia, Europe and America. Planxty reunited in early 2004 for 10 reunion concerts in Ireland, which all sold out the same day the tickets went on sale. The concerts were recorded for CD and DVD releases, Planxty Live, 2004. Andy continues to tour with Patrick Street, which released their eleventh album in November 2007, On the Fly. "Woody would have been proud." Denver Post "Andy Irvine's solo stage show is a musical travelogue through time and space. His right hand dexterity on bouzouki was nothing short of amazing." Frets Magazine "Andy is one of the most creative and talented people it has ever been my privilege to work with. Great company, superb singer, genius of a musician, truly original songwriter and an inspiration to all of us - what more could anyone ask?" Dick Gaughan "Andy Irvine is Ireland's Woody Guthrie, with a philosopher's ear and a prophet's passionate voice. He is also a stunning singer and instrumentalist who weaves melody and texture, harmony and rhythm, into a rich tapestry of present and past." Si Kahn   www.wegottickets.com/event/38123 To visit Andy Irvine’s website go to www.andyirvine.com

July 10th Christine Collister   A performer who has stood the hard test of 20 years on the circuit, Christine offers a unique blend of soul, blues, pop, jazz, country and folk, and today she remains as powerful, subtle and effortless as ever. Her latest CD, Love, is the beautiful and amazing result of a special project with Rega Research Ltd, a British hi-fi manufacturer of high standing. Christine's live performances have always been wonderfully magical experiences; here in this new special collaboration with Rega, her voice is captured whole and unadulterated, as close to those live performances as she�s ever been recorded � a real joy! "So much soul you think she�d been signed by Motown" Q Her seven previous solo albums have seen her convincingly interpret Smoky Robinson, Nick Drake, Robert Wyatt, Tom Waits, Paul Simon, U2 and Lal Waterson, amongst many others, whilst with every year her own self penned or co-written compositions have developed a distinctive quality - one which connects on a very personal level. "Christine Collister can sing the birds down off the trees and send them back with a tiny flick of her vocal chords." Mojo Christine Collister grew up on the Isle of Man. Her professional recording career began in the mid 1980s but she first came to national attention singing the 1987 theme for the BBC Television series The Life and Loves Of A She Devil. Following a fruitful association with The Richard Thompson Band, Christine enjoyed a period of critical and commercial success in a seven year partnership with Clive Gregson. She also toured and recorded with the female super group Daphne's Flight. "A voice personally delivered by God." The Times Over the course of her career Christine has become a familiar name on the UK live scene and at all major festivals from Glastonbury to Winnipeg to Cambridge. With a gravity defying voice, assured and impressive live performances and great personal charm she is a phenomenal live act. "One of the world's finest." Q "Christine Collister has a killer voice. As full as Dusty Springfield or as blue as Alison Moyet." Folk Roots   www.wegottickets.com/event/44889 To visit Christine’s website go to www.christinecollister.com

September 11th Corrine West with Doug Cox   From the open meadows of California's sierra mountains, Corinne West spins tales with a voice that is part velvet, part grit - both achingly penetrating and highly addictive. Her music has a cool, layered, yet driven sound and has been referred to as "utterly spell-binding", "radiant", and "extraordinarily beautiful". In her writing, a myriad of musical influences abound; country, bluegrass, western, Americana and folk, but what comes out is a style all her own. She's a real character; charming, full of energy and passionate about her music. "Second Sight is a record that Alison Krauss or Emmylou Harris would be proud of." Rock n Reel "Corrine is a performer of real passion as she proved playing live for us recently in the studio. And with the great storytelling in her lyrics and a new album of songs due soon, I think Corinne West is a name to watch out for in the future." Mark Seaman - BBC Radio Wiltshire

Doug Cox has played festivals, clubs, camps and concert halls from Alaska to New York to England. The first Canadian dobro player to be invited to Dobrofest in Slovakia and the first to be a featured player at the Montreal Jazz Festival, he has worked with Canadian Bluesman Ken Hamm, the group Travels With Charley, Todd Butler and Sam Hurrie, with American songwriter Chuck Brodsky, the late British Blues icon Long John Baldry and guitar string-bender Amos Garrett, among many others. His latest collaborations in touring and recording are Slide to Freedom with Salil Bhatt, Strung with April Verch and Tony McManus, Fathers & Sons with Amos Garrett, Jim Byrnes and Steve Dawson and with Corinne West. Although primarily known as a dobro player, Cox also spends time on the guitar, Weissenborn, National mandolin and other slidey instruments. Grounded in the traditions of blues and bluegrass music, Cox's performances are always full of surprises.   www.wegottickets.com/event/43794 To visit Corrine West’s website go to www.corinnewest.com

October 9th Robin Williamson     Founder in the 1960s of the influential Incredible String Band and the Merry Band of the 1970s, Robin has been a key figure at the forefront of the folk music and storytelling revival in Europe and America since the 1980s. He has authored a number of books including The Craneskin Bag, a re-telling and re-versifications of Celtic lore and Celtic Bards, Celtic Druids (co-authored with R.J. Stewart). Robin is Honorary Chief Bard of The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.   www.wegottickets.com/event/ To visit Robin Williamson’s website go to www.pigswhiskermusic.co.uk

November 13th Dick Gaughan A professional musician and singer since the 1970s. Though Dick focuses on Folk and Celtic music he has played everything from free jazz and rock to country music and has recorded extensively. He plays most stringed instruments but is happiest with an acoustic guitar.   www.wegottickets.com/event/43795 To visit Dick Gaughan’s website go to www.dickgaughan.co.uk

  Ten years of live acoustic music

 

Ten years ago local musicians Paul Alcantara and Guy Simpson decided that North London needed a music venue that would bring top quality live acoustic artists to the area and that would also give local musicians a chance to play. And so the Kalamazoo Klub was born. From the start it was decided that the Klub would book not only well established artists but would also support new and local talent. A venue was found - the King's Head which already hosted popular comedy nights.
The first night was a nail biting evening - would anyone turn up? Paul and Guy's dreams were realised when, at 8.30 that evening, there was a queue right through the bar of the pub, upstairs and around the block! They had turned up to see 60's folk legend Bert Jansch who has inspired a host of guitarists including Jimmy Page and Bernard Butler. Jansch has since played at the club on several occasions, most notably for Christmas 2001 when he played for free and all the profits went to Save The Children's fund for child victims of war in Afghanistan. The following year Bert was joined by Crouch Ender Bernard Butler (former guitarist in Suede) when the donations were given to a charity helping disabled children.
Over the last ten years the Klub has played host to many outstanding artists, predominately in the folk and acoustic music traditions and has become well known not just in the area but around the country. This is our tenth Anniversary year and we have booked a great list of gigs already with a few more to be announced (see enclosed). Paul and Guy play each month as the house band with a couple of friends and other local musicians often play support too.