Re: [Harp-L] Brit Folk, cajun -- thanks

[Grant Walters <grant@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sounds like you had a blast!

Dirty Old Town...(Dublin I Believe)

I would not have thought about this when you asked about "British Folk".
Great how you jumped in on some real folk tunes.
 I was never great at the true Traditional Irish tunes...but loved to  
hear them.

Played many years in a group called Claddagh  (Celtic based)
Lead singer played all the sad ballads or as he said "bad salads".
and some my favorites included:

Carrickfergus, Star of the County Down (solo in 3rd pos), Dirty Old  
Town, Ragland Road, Sam Hall,
and many others...that were fun to play...
Very heavy into the harmony singing...loved it.  Everyone took a  
solo...every song...whether you knew it or not.
The Audience was really into singing along when we hit the pub scene  
and they knew the tunes word for word, note for note.
What was great was that the Irish audiences were wanting to hear fresh  
interpretations of the songs they knew so well.
Very good players of Jazz, blues, rock ,etc.  would join us  and wing  
it....to the delight of this crowd.
You could not go wrong if you played from the heart.

When all else fails at an Irish pub or festival...play some of their  
favorite son...Van Morrisson.

i've also appreciated the info from other genres/harp... (cajun/ 
zydeco/ etc ) doing my homework now...thanks everyone.

Cheers,
I'm actually Choctaw...not irish.

Grant




On Sep 15, 2009, at 9:44 AM, John Kerkhoven wrote:

> A while back I asked for some advice for a show focussing on British  
> Folk .
> We had our show this past weekend. I played Swallowtail (which I  
> learned
> from a clip Cara Cooke has on her website) and Dirty Old Town (Ewan  
> MacColl
> version), backed up on both by a friend. I also joined him on Tramps  
> and
> Hawkers (there's harp in the background on a version by the Corries  
> -- D
> harp played mostly in the third octave). I hung in while he played The
> Rambling Pitchfork. And I joined a couple of other fellows on Richard
> Thompson's Cooksferry Queen. A fun evening and a nice opportunity to  
> swim in
> different musical waters from what I'm used to (blues).
>
> I'm also playing in a band these days with some cajun in the mix and  
> really
> appreciate the recent posts on that topic. In particular, I will  
> single out
> Winslow for his suggestions and contributions for both Brit Folk and  
> cajun,
> but a note of thanks to all who put in their two cents.
>
> Cheers,
>
> John
>
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