Festival Fleadh
Preview by Peter Ashton

Folk singer Cara Dillon who appears at this year’s Gosport & Fareham Easter Festival on Sunday April 11 has had a rapid rise to fame over the last couple of years. Cara and her partner Sam Lakeman like Cara a former member of Equation have produced two albums, the eponymous “Cara Dillon” and “Sweet Liberty.” Both packed with beautiful songs, the albums have helped make Cara and Sam one of the most sought after acts on the folk music scene all over Europe.
A BBC Folk Award for best new act and Track of the Year for “Black Is The Colour” followed the first album and triumphant appearances at WOMAD festivals around the world soon followed. "Oh it's been absolutely incredible," says Cara in that winning wide-eyed way of hers. "We put out the album and didn't expect anything really, but the way it sold took us totally by surprise. We did over 200 gigs last year and played WOMAD in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore - I still haven't taken it all in."
Two of the songs on “Sweet Liberty,” “The Gem Of The Roe” and ‘”The Winding River Roe” reflect Cara’s childhood in the town of Dungiven, Co.Derry.
She lives in England now, but remains close to Dungiven and the grounded upbringing it gave her. She has vivid memories of her mother taking her and her sister to fleadhs around Ireland and listening transfixed to the dramatic ballads sung by old men in the back room of pubs. Her sister Mary, herself a superb singer who guests on “Sweet Liberty,” found a "treasure chest" of old tape recordings she had made of some of these old guys in pubs, passed them on to Cara, and she's recorded a couple of them on the album.
The songs are dear to her heart for dark pub rooms at fleadhs were
essentially Cara's training ground. She remembers listening to great traditional singers like Paddy Tunney and Rosin White, both regular visitors to Dungiven, and in no time had a repertoire of her own to sing at the fleadhs. At 14 she won the All Ireland Traditional Singing trophy and a year later she was in her first band, Oige. They were pretty successful too, but Cara was all set for university when she got a call out of the blue in 1995 inviting her to come to England to replace Kate Rusby in the band Equation where she met her soulmate Sam.
After leaving Equation a couple of years later and setting up as a duo Cara and Sam spent a good deal of time writing together before hitting the road and building up their huge fanbase.
Tickets for the Cara Dillon gig which also features Show of Hands are £11 via the box office at Ferneham Hall, Fareham, Tel: 01329 231942.
 (©Peter Ashton 2004)

Former Ten Years After guitarist Alvin Lee is obviously well-respected in
the music business - on his latest album “Alvin Lee in Tennessee” he teams up with guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer DJ Fontana, both originally with Elvis. And on his latest tour which hits The Anvil in Basingstoke on Tuesday April 20 he
performs with Edgar Winter and Tony McPhee of The Groundhogs.
Born in Nottingham England, Alvin began playing guitar when he was 13 and formed the core of the band Ten Years After by the time he was 15. Originally influenced by his parent's collection of jazz and blues records, it was the arrival of rock and roll that truly inspired him, particularly guitarists like Scotty Moore. Originally called The Jaybirds, Alvin’s band followed The Beatles to Hamburg in 1962, but it wasn’t until they changed their name to Ten Years After that success came. A residency at the legendary Marquee Club in London and an invitation to play at the 1967 Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival led to their first recording contract.
Their self-titled debut album got played on San Francisco's underground
radio stations leading to an invitation to tour America in the summer of 1968.
Audiences were immediately hooked on Lee's unique rapid fire guitar playing and the band's innovative mix of blues, swing jazz and rock. Ten Years After went on to tour the USA 28 times in 7 years, more than any other UK. band.
An appearance at Woodstock accelerated the band’s superstardom and soon they were playing all over the world. TYA eventually clocked up ten albums together before Lee began experimenting with other styles and collaborating with other performers in 1973, including a host of rock talents like George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Ron Wood and Mick Fleetwood with whom he recorded “On The Road To Freedom,” a highly acclaimed country rock album.
In the late 1980s he formed Ten Years Later who also released two albums and toured extensively throughout Europe and the United States. Musical collaborations with other artists also continued during the late 1980s and early 1990s including Rarebird’s Steve Gould, the Rolling Stones' Mick Taylor and George Harrison.
Tickets for the Anvil gig are £18.50 and £20.50 via 01256 844244. The tour also stops at Portsmouth and Bournemouth during May.  (©Peter Ashton 2004)

The effervescent former Faces keyboarder Ian McLagan returns to The Brook at the end of April with his excellent Bump Band. It must be a couple of years now since the previous gig which was brilliant, so stick the date Friday April 30 in your diaries now!
Ian “Mac” McLagan, he of the spiky hair and rollicking keyboard playing,
was an essential member of both The Small Faces of the mid-1960s in the Steve Marriott-led Mod years and the rockier Rod Stewart-Ronnie Wood incarnation when they were known simply as The Faces. Ian wrote some of The Faces material like “Cindy Incidentally” and played on Faces classics like “Itchycoo Park”
and on Rod’s “Maggie May.
When Rod went solo and Ronnie joined the Rolling Stones in 1975, Ian began what a solo career as one of the most talented sidemen in rock and roll, working for some of the greats over the years, the Stones, Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and many others. He has also pursued a solo career, releasing the albums “Troublemaker” in 1979 and “Bump In The Night “ in 1981. Despite the fact that he was still playing live regularly, there was a long gap before his next album “Best Of British” which picks up right where he left off with a mix of rock, blues, pop and boogie woogie.
An amiable man, Ian has had a lot of fun during his career, and has shared it by relating his experiences in an autobiography called “All The Rage.”
For more information on the book and the album released on Gadfly Records see www.macspages.com. Tickets for The Brook gig are available via 02380 555366.  (©Peter Ashton 2004)

Three exceptional female talents take the stage at Thornden Hall, Chandlers
Ford on Sunday April 18 as The Passion. Nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with music as Jacqueline Dankworth, Liane Carroll and Sarah Colman join forces for a concert organised by Angela Jackson’s Vocal Workshops. The concert is preceded by a community vocal workshop in the afternoon from 2pm
to 5pm with the concert starting at 7.30pm.
The Passion is an exciting collaboration between three of the UK’s most
popular contemporary performers, Jacqueline Dankworth, daughter of Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Sara Colman, and Liane Carroll. The music of the passion has no boundaries beyond the instrumentation - three voices and a piano. Sweet harmonies are the basis of the arrangements for their songs which are a mix of jazz standards and popular songs.
A former actress with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Jacqui formed The Passion two years ago and alternates between her solo jazz gigs and dates with pianist and singer Liane and Sara. The trio have so far released one album, “One Good Reason.”
Tickets to include both the workshop and the concert are £18 and £12
concessions, and £9 and £7 concessions for just the concert. Tickets include a glass of wine or soft drink and are available from the box office at The Point, Eastleigh, Tel:02380 652333. (© Peter Ashton 2004)

Success Wreck
Preview by Peter Ashton

A lot of people will have heard of Wreckless Eric who pops up in Southampton and Winchester this month. A former artist on Stiff Records alongside the late lamented Ian Dury, Eric never had a hit record but has had a fascinating career. Eric fill us in on his website from which I quote:
”So what can I tell you - I lived in France for nine years (1989 - 1998) -
I went to Art School in the early seventies where I studied Fine Art (Painting & Sculpture) - (no I don't) - I made my first record in 1976 for Stiff Records - I toured all over the place (UK, Europe, America, New Zealand, Australia) and just on the points of busting through into the real bigtime I got sort of pissed off, jacked it in and pursued a career as a full time alcoholic. I signed to Go! Discs with a group called Captains Of Industry which included two of the Blockheads. I fucked that up but finally got my drink problem under control and formed the Len Bright Combo. From that point on all my records have been home made except for a version of Clever Trever that I recorded with the Blockheads in a proper grown-up studio - it it sat very nicely alongside Paul McCartney's “Partial To Your Abracadabra” and the ubiquitous Robbie Williams and his shit-drenched version of “Sweet Gene Vincent “ (no disrespect to The Blockheads). Oh - and I've written a book. It's called “A Dysfunctional Success” published by The Do Not Press. I'm recording a new album, my first since 1998, for release on my very own Southern Domestic label (distributed by BMG). The album title is going to be “Bungalow Hi.” And after I've got over the shock of writing my first book I'll probably write another.”
Wreckless Eric plays support to Beatles spoof band The Rutles at The Brook on Tuesday April 6 and a solo gig at The Railway Inn in Winchester on Wednesday April 21. (©Peter Ashton 2004)

Quirky singer-songwriter Martin Stephenson formerly of The Daintees plays a gig at Talking Heads on Wednesday April 21, and I can’t wait to see this supremely gifted entertainer again. He has played several excellent gigs at The Brook in recent years, but the Heads’ slightly more Bohemian atmosphere should suit the Geordie man down to the ground.
Born in County Durham in the early 1960s, Martin formed The Daintees in
the early 80's, who quickly gained a cult following with their eclectic music
which included a great debut album "Boat To Bolivia" in 1985. Bursting with rootsy pop songs including the splendid alcoholic's lament "Little Red Bottle" and the atmospheric ballad "Rain " which are still on his current set list.
Over the years Martin has pursued a solo career and reconvened The
Daintees occasionally. He has released half a dozen more albums including "Gladsome, Humour, and Blue," "Salutation Road" and "The Boy's Heart." In April 1999 he released an album consisting of re-recordings of some of his finest songs, from all stages of his career free from commercial constraints of the mainstream music industry.
Now relocated in the Highlands of Scotland, Martin continues to plough his own furrow, and does not appear to follow any career plan. He is just as likely to be seen playing the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall with Janis Ian or standing on the corner in Inverness town with a banjo playing ragtime. Or maybe travelling through Spain solo or with his swing band The Toe-Rags or doing an intimate London show in the 12 Bar Club in Soho. Wherever he plays he puts on a varied and fascinating show - for more details on the Talking Heads gig ring 02380 678446. (© Peter Ashton 2004)

Remember the classic rock anthems “Alright Now,” “My Brother Jake” and “Wishing Well” - if you do then you must be a fan of Free, one of Britain’s best-ever blues-rock bands who last performed live in 1973.
Over thirty years later their music is still as popular as ever, and it’s being played live again by London-based band Freed who have taken their heroes’ mix of blues with attitude, groove and raw soul back on the road. Playing to fans of Free and a whole new generation of rock-lovers, Freed’s Spirit of the Sixties Tour includes a charity event at The Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, Dorset, on Friday March 19. The gig is being staged to raise money for the Paul Kossoff Fund. Paul Kossoff, an original member of Free, died tragically on March 19, 1976, so the Marine Theatre gig is dedicated to his memory, 28 years after his death. Paul was a victim of drug abuse, and his father, actor David Kossoff manages the Paul Kossoff Fund in a bid to warn other youngsters of the dangers of taking drugs. He will be attending and opening the show which also features Jimi Hendrix tribute artists, Purple Haze.
Bill-toppers Freed will be presenting their usual dynamic stage act with
vocalist Simon Fowles capturing the legendary Paul Rodgers' vocal style and Mike Jarvis superbly reproducing the raw and emotional guitar voice of Paul Kossoff. Former Hackensack bassist Izzee Misri and drummer Kenny Stone produce uncanny groove sounds in recreating the work of Andy Frazer and Simon Kirke to complete a winning combination
that is authentic, exciting and sincere.
Advance tickets are £10 via 01297 442394; you can find more info by having a look at Freed’s website www.freed.org.uk. (© Peter Ashton 2004)

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