Sidmouth part 2 -- Silly Songs

Towards the end of the Sidmouth Folk Festival, to my great excitement, I was invited to join in on a Silly Song session. This is an annual session held by the Middle Bar Singers at the Anchor -- everyone who wants to sings a silly song in turn, unaccompanied. I was late arriving, but they kindly made room for an a capella version of "Space Rabbits of Brocklevoons", and we all bounced along. Then we all sang a very silly song about a gladiator, and I couldn't have been happier.

Then the next part of their annual event took place. They formed a procession, marched down to the sea, waded into the sea, and sang sea shanties.


I didn't go in for a dip, but was very admiring (it was very cold!). Here's me with two of the lovely Middle Bar Singers, Richard and Lynne, I hope we meet again soon:


And here's a video of the Spooky Men lending their voices and legs to Brocklevoons at the Anchor Garden on Wednesday night -- thanks to Cat Manners for putting up this video. Just look at Ryan bounce, that's some quality bouncing right there! Also loving the dance moves by Alex and Lisa, especially the extended "pounce" style by Lisa, and the enthusiastic crowd :-)

Sidmouth Folk Festival

We are currently camped in a village hall just outside Sidmouth. It looks as if some kind of sleeping bag monster exploded in here ... the hall is bursting with camp stretchers, suitcases, and mysterious objects dragged in from the Spooky Bus and Van while they are cleaned.

It's been a very busy time since my last post about Bristol. Being on Spooky tour is sort of like being part of a circus ... there are about 20 of us at the moment, travelling from place to place, usually a new place every day, and every night a new concert ... often a sold-out concert, which is brilliant. You get into a kind of rhythm ... the nomadic life seems very normal at present. Though it's hectic, there are a lot of laughs.

The Spooky Men were the hit of Cambridge Folk Festival last week, which was an awesome spectacle. I've had a couple of my own shows at the Sidmouth Folk Festival this week. Last night the Spooky Men came and sang harmonies with me on Family Outing (the pirate song) and Space Rabbits of Brocklevoons. The amplification this provides means that there was no shortage of people bouncing for their lives in the audience, and it was a lot of fun.

And the very kind folks at Hobgoblin Music lent Ryan a guitar so that he could accompany me --- I'm so grateful to them.

I'm enjoying walking by the seaside, surrounded by folk music lovers, Morris Men of all different colours and kinds, clog dancers, musicians, buskers ... it's bustling and rich and ancient, somehow.

Other highlights from recent times include a guest appearance from the Ashton Keynes choir the Magnificent AK-47s in my set (all dressed as pirates), the fascinating Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford, and the Baths in Bath. In Oxford we performed at the Holywell Music Room ... the oldest secular music venue in England. Amazing to think of all the people who have stood upon that stage, and what they might have been thinking, and whether they too had a hall-full of sleeping bags and mysterious objects waiting for them after the show...