DAVE BAINBRIDGE & SALLY MINNEAR SHOW, WITH CHAS CRONK AS SUPPORT NEW

A great show from Dave Bainbridge and Sally Minnear at The Bedford in Balham on 5 July, with Chas Cronk and friends as support. I'll post a review shortly, but you can watch the how on Youtube at:

https://www.youtube.com/live/jQ8JZPFqS-0

or download it from:

vimeo.com.

Three more dates to come (Dave and Sally only - Chas will be playing again with Dave Bainbridge on some Colin Bluntsone da\tes later in the year)

FOLK SUPERGROUP PITMEN POETS COVER "PART OF THE UNION" NEW

Folk supergroup The Pitmen Poets, featuring Bob Fox, Jez Lowe, Billy Mitchell (of Jack The Lad and Lindisfarne fame) and Benny Graham, perform material mainly about the North-East's mining past and industrial/trade union heritage. For their 2024 CD Reunion, to coincide with their 2024 "reunion" tour, they included a jolly take on John and Hud's "Part Of The Union".

Self-released by the band, it can bought from Billy Mitchell's website or The Pitmen Poets' website

NICK AWDE BOOKS NEW

Nick Awde has already added to the folklore of thhe Strawbs with his mighty tome on the Mellotron, which featured chapters on Dave Cousins, John Hawken, Blue Weaver and Robert Kirby for those interested in the Strawbs, Mike Pinder (Moody Blues), Tony Banks (Genesis), Greg Lake, Ian McDonald, John Wetton, Bill Bruford (all King Crimson) as well as countless others, and his Singer-Songwriter books, Voilume 1 of which included chapters on Dave Cousins, Ralph McTell, Richard Thompson, Al Stewart, Arlo Guthrie, Iain Matthews and others.

Now he has followed up with two further publications, this time on Guitarists and bassists.

In Volume 1, Dave Cousins features in a chapter which fcusesses on his use of tunings (as a taster for the forthcoming songbook), alongside chapters on Steve Howe (Yes), Dave Hill (Slade), Luther Grosvenor/Ariel Bender (Spooky Tooth/Stealers Wheel/Mott The Hoople), Chris Spedding, Andy Fairweather-Low and others.

Volume 2 includes contributions from Francis Rossi (Status Quo), John Wetton (King Crimson), Steve Hackett (Genesis), Dave Brock (Hawkwind), Wilko Johnson, sessions player BJ Cole and Bert Weedon (guitar primer author and legend) and others.

You can buy all/any of these direct from publisher Desert Hearts (who are offering a £10 saving if you buy bothe Guitarist/Bassist volumes) at their shop, or buy from Amazon using the links below.

MELLOTRON STILL AVAILABLE	SINGER/SONGWRITERS VOL 1	SINGER/SONGWRITERS VOL 2	GUITARISTS/BASSISTS VOL 1	GUITARISTS/BASSISTS VOL 2
Amazon link	Amazon link	Amazon link	Amazon link	Amazon link

MEMORY OF CROPREDY – LIMITED EDITION FULLY SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH OF THE CROPREDY FINALE LINE-UP

L-R: Mauritz Lotz (el gtr), Kevin Gibson (drms), Schalk Joubert (bs), Dave Cousins (vcls, dulcimer, banjo)
Brian Willoughby (el gtr), Cathryn Craig (vcls), John Ford (vcls, ac gtr), Bleaver (kbds)

As winter approaches in the UK, one memory that lingers for many of us is Dave Cousins' farewell stage performance at Cropredy. As a ‘one and only opportunity’ the Commonwealth Medical Trust (Commat) arranged for a photo of the line-up to mark the occasion.

This is a limited edition of only 50 photos, each signed by those who played at Cropredy – a tribute to Dave Cousins' amazing work as singer and song writer. Dave, as a trustee of Commat, asked that this photo be made available to support the organisation’s work in providing water tanks to improve the health and lives of women and children in poor and marginalised communities in Uganda.

If you would like to have your own signed copy of this souvenir (whilst stocks last!) you can make a donation of a minimum of

LIVE REVIEWS AND PHOTO GALLERIES - 2016 TO 2023 REINSTATED

after a lengthy absence from the site, work has recommenced on reformatting tHe live reviews and photo galleries pages. Just uploaded Jan 2016 to date, more to come. Check out the main Live Reviews page to see the new pages.

STRAWBS SMASH CROPREDY

Strawbs wowed the crowd at Cropredy with their final live performance, a tour de force which had the crowd giving a whole-field standing ovation at the end. There's a review and setlist on the Cropredy page and an initial raft of photos. Some more photo galleries added.

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Photo: Seth Zworestine

LATEST STRAWBS ALBUM - THE MAGIC OF IT ALL

There's a review on Strawbsweb by Dick Greener on the Magic reviews page - feel free to send any reviews comments to Dick Greener

You can read the Cherry Red press release and see the track listing and other info on Strawbsweb on the main Magic page

Singles

Two singles have been released as downloads - you can listen to them online at the Cherry Red website via various streaming services (including Spotify and YouTube Music):

Interviews and reviews  UPDATED 

Video clips

And there are still videos online of Dave's solo living room performance of two of the new songs on the album, intended to promote the 2022 Chiswick show

Video 1 - The Magic Of It All
Video 2 - The Time Has Come For Giving Back

NEW MONKS 2CD COMPILATION "NO SHAME" RELEASED 15 SEP 2023

A compilation of the two Monks albums Bad Habits and Suspended Animation, together with bonus tracks many of which have never been released. Whilst a stark departure from Strawbs music, following the hit single "Nice Legs, Never Mind The Face" Hud and John together with vocalist Terry Cassidy produced two commercially successful albums - the first for EMI, and the second for Polydor Canada, which went platinum in that territory.

You can order at: from the Cherry Red website.