Being the first ever Frome folk festival, I guess no one could know how things would turn out, you can book the bands, but that’s no guarantee people will come. Its been a financially hard year for many, Christmas has only just gone and left many scratching around for enough money to pay the bills let alone have spare cash to be frivolously wasting it on entrance tickets and ale. But the folkies are a loyal and dedicated lot and from what I saw I reckon Frome did ok, and finances aside, I think this is a good time of year to hold an event like this, there’s something so right about folk music and winter time.
Frome surprised me as a town, it has a certain elegance I wasn’t expecting, cobbled streets, a river running through, beautiful architecture, oldie worldy shops and in places is on a par with the famously picturesque villages you might find in the Cotswolds. it seemed a very suitable setting for a folk festival.
The idea of spending an entire weekend watching folk music would probably not be number 1 on a list of things to do for many people, even general music lovers, if you’re not a folk purist, then pure folk can be hard work at times, there’s a lot of intense listening and being veeerryy quiet involved, even the Velcro on my camera bag caused a stir at times, but as I found out, if you’re willing to keep an open mind, have some respect and get in the spirit of things, you will find these are seriously friendly bunch who just want to listen to music, drink and have fun, and you wont wake up in the morning to find the kind of devastation and regurgitated nonsense you get at most music festivals or town centres.
Saturday morning, and the start of the festival, we didn’t get the crisp blue skies and winter sun we had hoped for, instead rain and grey was the order of the day, it was a shame, but this is England and we should be used to it. The Morris dancers were out in force, the Frome ukulele club was performing in the shopping centre and the towns folk knew something was going on. The council, it seemed, did not however, as there was major confusion when campers & caravans started arriving under the impression that it was ok to stay overnight in the local car parks, the official line was that it was not, the tourist information centre was at a loss and if questioned, would probably have had difficulty determining what year it was, luckily the local traffic office took a sensible stance, kept the peace, and did what the council should’ve done in the first place.. everybody was happy.
Having spent an hour walking around the town matching up streets with the map & list of venues, my first stop was to see Eddie Martin at the Westway cinema. I must just point out here, the programmes gave a list of who’s playing where, but no biogs, which sounds like a petty criticism, but when you have no idea of what the advertised performers do, you could, in theory, waste your entire weekend watching something wholly un-agreeable for you and be put off folk forever! Luckily, Eddie Martin was a familiar name, and someone I haven’t seen for probably nearly 5 years, I was surprised to see a name like his playing pretty much an opening gig in a cinema rather than the Cheese and Grain, a renowned music venue and the main stay of the festival, but as I found out during the course of the weekend, all the venues included had superb sound systems, sound crew…and a bar. Eddie Martin was doing a one man show, basically one man, a guitar, a harmonica, suitcase bass drum, high hat & shaker, all on his own? Yes, all on his own, all at the same time? Yes, all at the same time! He is quite a unique performer, I attended his free harmonica workshop on Sunday afternoon in the Round Tower, where he patiently attempted to teach a bunch of total beginners the “train blues”, I have no idea what the neighbours must’ve thought!
Its only when you come to an event like this that you realise how wide reaching the influence and genre of “folk” really is. You say the very word folk, and peoples finger will involuntarily move humorously toward their ear, but its influence can be felt throughout most modern music and no-one I saw this weekend better exemplified that reach than “Daturas”, a three piece from Bradford-on-Avon who turned up at the Masonic hall straight from a session recording their latest album. For me, as a non folk purist, this venue had the most inspiring talent of the festival, Daturas, playing a stripped down version of their full band, had the audience by the balls, in a gentile folky way of course, with just a pedal steel, a snare drum, shaker, acoustic guitar & vocals, and some beautiful songs, the Fleet foxes influence was acknowledged by the band afterwards although an inadvertent Counting Crows feel was also apparent.
Following Daturus and heading the bill for the Saturday night, a young band from Stroud called “Hot feet” made it a double whammy for the Masonic hall. Musically very clever, extremely talented and strongly reminiscent of a golden era of the folk super group where traditional merged with jazz and contemporary songs. Playing a set of superbly written and arranged original material, this was a great way to finish a night for me, and definitely a band I would recommend to anyone.
As you would expect, with this being a folk festival, the traditional folk and named artists had use of the main venue for the weekend “the Cheese and Grain”, here you could see acts like Spiers & Boden, Chris Wood, Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman, Tim Edey and Brendan Power and of course, Sunday headliner, Steve Knightly. Most impressive of these for me had to be Edey & power, 11.30 on Sunday morning, a time that most music festivals refuse to even acknowledge exists, the main hall was pretty much standing room only, ready to receive a master class in the art of pushing a genre to the limit. Here you got a piece of anything having the faintest whiff of folk about it, sea shanty’s, jazz folk and even folk rap using a looper and harmonica, all interspersed with stories, comedy and the odd history lesson or two for good measure.
But me, I’ve always been a sucker for a good song and if its sung well all the better. Lady Nade and the silhouettes had travelled down from Bristol for this one, with a deep, sullen, soulful voice, she could sing the cheeky girls accompanied by nothing more that the spoons and you’d believe every word, the fact that she was backed by one of the mellowest bands of the weekend made it all the more breathtaking.
In fact, breathtaking is a word I found myself muttering more times than I can remember this weekend, and certainly more than I had anticipated. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still no convert to the ways of pure folk music, but considering this was the first Frome folk festival, the standard and variety of music and entertainment on offer was incredible, there is without doubt something for everyone to enjoy, I didn’t see one performance that didn’t impress me in someway and I would definitely come again. Yes there were a few teething problems and disappointments, most notably the absence of Jane Taylor, due to illness, but nothing that im sure they aren’t aware of by now, and nothing that can’t be sorted by next year. I would imagine the festival organisers must’ve been raising their tankards and drinking till they merry be as “show of hands” front man Steve Knightly closed the show and made Frome folk festival definitely a probable certainty for next year…
Published on 21 February 2012 by insomniac jack
