Double bill at popular Stonelaw folk night
A double bill of music will take place at the Meeting Place at Stonelaw Parish Church this coming Friday, May 26.
Performing at the popular folk night will be Dave and Helen Howard from Manchester and Miriam BackhouseErasmus from South Africa.
Dave and Helen have been singing and playing together for many years.
Coming from Manchester, Helen’s main love is in the traditional songs of the British Isles, with a particular liking for Scottish material as they lived in Glasgow for five years in the 1970s.
Dave casts his net a little wider, taking in blues, bluegrass and most guitar based music, even playing lead guitar in an Elvis tribute band.
He still plays mandolin regularly with the Oldham Tinkers group, owning a good collection of classic guitars and mandolins which are his great passion.
Back in the Manchester area now after 16 years living in Ireland, the duo are regularly gigging again throughout the local Lancashire folk scene and loving it.
The material will be anything from traditional to modern, with a few mandolin tunes on the way.
Visiting from further afield is Miriam Backhouse-Erasmus.
During a lifetime of entertaining everyone from toddlers to those of more ‘tender years’, she has honed her talents to a fine art.
Her beautifully trained bel canto singing, finely tuned guitar playing and easy going banter make her performances a joy to listen to.
Miriam’s repertoire covers lullabies to light opera, but her forte is singing folk songs, when her ability to fit her voice, and guitar playing, to the mood of the song shines through.
She has put together a collection of some of her favourite live recordings over the years on Best Loved Folk Songs.
As a teenager in the ‘60s she was influenced by the British folk tradition and the new songwriters emerging worldwide, like Bob Dylan, Ralph McTell, John Martyn and Leonard Cohen, and she has always been ahead of her time with the songs she writes.
Miriam was named “The First Lady of Folk” by the folk club organisers of the1970s (and the mayor of Cambridge), when she became one of the pioneer touring female professional folk singers. She has lived up to that – and more.
In South Africa she is booked under the name of the “Queen of Folk”.
Support will come from the Mairs family band.
Doors open at 7pm with the show starting at 7.30pm.
Tickets cost £5, with tea/filter coffee and home baking included.
Children under 16 go free.
The material will be anything from traditional to modern