Tamworth Folk Club
March 2011 Guest Night Review

Mick Ryan and Paul Downes

The folk club has a policy of having guest nights several times throughout the year and this one will stand out in the audiences mind for a long time. As I arrived Stephen Edkins was setting up the PA system and the support in the name of Nigel Bullock was putting it through its paces. It sounded good to me until I found out that he was not plugged in at the time, why you may say am I writing this review with such a hearing imperfection, pardon.

The audience started to arrive and by 8.30 we had a good compliment of about 50, with some visitors from Scragg End Folk and a couple who I think were fans of our guests, at least they appeared to be staying at the same guest house afterwards.

At these concerts there is always a support act and tonight would be no different, but our master of ceremonies was also to perform an opener. In fact masters of ceremony, plural, as Mitres Well in the form of Stephen Edkins, Steve Swoffer and Malcolm Robinson played and sang to get the evening off to a great start.

Nigel Bullock took to the stage (Paul Mills take note) and after plugging his guitar in, you see I noticed, started his performance with a song as he explained sits well in his mind, but then I think Nigel performs all his repertoire with the same skill. Nigel gave us great melodies and his usual dexterity on guitar was received well with all the audience.

Stephen, on his own now, introduced the main guests who were Mick Ryan and Paul Downs. Just a bit of history. Mick is well known on the folk scene, having written both comic and serious material, as we were to enjoy later, and folk musicals like “A Tollpuddle Man”, “A Days Work”, “The Voyage” and recently “The Navvy`s Wife”. His voice has been described as definitely the most underrated singer in the country by “Folk Roots” and I can endorse this after tonight’s performance.

Paul has been introduced as one of the greatest acoustic guitarists in the world but he still produces a sensitive but fun approach to his performance.
His rich musical background working with Phil Beer, The Arizona Smoke Review, Pete Seeger shows through and since the age of 12 his best friend has been Steve Knightley, must I say more.

Mick and Paul played and sang their own penned compositions, and with Mick’s rich voice and Paul’s dazzling array of styles delighted the audience.

Half way break for the raffle came all too soon, but as time was short, Stephen got us all back to our seats as Mitres Well started the second half with an Irish theme, well its very close to St Patrick’s day.

Nigel Bullock gave us some sensitive renditions in his second set, and I must say his voice came over with such clarity, thanks to the sound mans precision control of the PA, thank you Stephen.

Mick and Paul commenced there second half with some poignant songs, one written after Mick’s father died which sticks in ones mind well after it ended, but straight away the banter between the two lifted your spirits and I could tell that they not only liked the intimate venue but they played and sang because they enjoyed themselves as well as us.

The night ended on the stroke of midnight after a couple of encores, with the audience happy but reluctant to go.

RDC 2011