The Coal Porters at All Saints Church, Pocklington. Picture: Paul Rhodes
THE evening after the night before, plus a bad head cold. On the face of it, the signs weren’t encouraging for The Coal Porters’ Pocklington show, (hardly) fresh from Sid Griffin’s 70th birthday concert bash at The Water Rats, in King’s Cross, London – a show Griffin himself put in his top three.
We need not have worried, thanks to the power of bluegrass and Griffin’s ‘the-show-must- go-on’ attitude. A double whisky whisked in and down at the interval certainly helped as well.
Griffin assembled The Coal Porters, billed as alt. bluegrass, primarily to entertain. There is something life affirming about the way banjo and fiddle sound together, with double bass and mandolin floating over the top on a round of harmonies.
Griffin is a musician and writer, one of the founding fathers of today’s alt. country genre with The Long Ryders. Like his hero Gene Clark (who featured later in Looking For Lewis And Clark), he is critically acclaimed but has never troubled the hit parade despite lifting roofs off venues all over.
Alongside him were three extroverts, Kerenza Peacock on exuberant fiddle and vocals, Andrew Stafford on bass and Neil Robert Herd on guitar and vocals, going strong after two decades. In the more reflective camp, but out front anyway, was Paul Fitzgerald on banjo and vocals.
The band’s red jackets and black over-long trousers gave them the appearance of trad bluegrass, but the set list blew such notions away. Griffin’s jacket would end up hung over the church pulpit.
Across 23 songs and some 100 minutes the band threw themselves into a wide range of music. From the traditional bluegrass of Bill Monroe to ‘Porterised’ punk and rock songs reborn as country.
Heroes, by David Bowie, too ubiquitous, can rarely have sounded better, while Another Girl, Another Planet, by The Only Ones, confirmed that the best tunes can work in any genre if handled with care and again topped the original.
Griffin’s own songs could also make the journey back to punk rock. The Day The Last Ramone Died worked best (although Pocklington scored low for Ramones T-shirts in the audience).
The Coal Porters’ sincerely sung love of the material was clear, and also for one another. With their leader ailing and singing with teacup in hand (would one more song of souls in restless agony see him off?), the others took a number of turns. Peacock received the biggest hand for her instrumental Chopping The Garlic while Fitzgerald showed us his love of Chuck Berry.
Talking to charleshutchpress.co.uk earlier in the week, Griffin, a man who knows a thing or two about a good line, memorably said: “It’s what I do, it’s what we do, as Robbie Robertson said of The Band. Good times, bad times, I make music. I don’t have riches or fame. I’m just happy.”
All Saints Church is a venue that brings the best out of performers, with clear sightlines and lovely sound. It inspired Griffin to set aside his solo album in favour of a rousing version of I Am A Pilgrim (a stand-out single from The Byrds’ Sweetheart Of The Rodeo).
Played for the love of the music and despite illness, Griffin and his friends gave us a wonderful night of feelgood music.
Review by Paul Rhodes
Coming up at All Saints Church, Pocklington are Chris Smither on October 29, 7.30pm, and The Unthanks At 20 – already sold out – on November 22, 7.30pm. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/pocklington/all-saints-church/chris-smither/e-moryao.
The Coal Porters: Led by Sid Griffin at All Saints Church, Pocklington, on September 19
THE Coal Porters, the world’s first “alt-bluegrass” act, play All Saints Church, Pocklington, tonight as one of “two (count ’em) encounters with church-based entertainment venues” on their nine-date tour.
Prominent figures in the UK Americana and bluegrass scene for 17 years, Sid Griffin’s band are back in the saddle throughout this month, performing one Yorkshire concert already at Filey Americana Festival at Filey Evron Centre on September 7.
In a further highlight, eighth-generation Kentuckian Griffin marked his 70th birthday with a special gig at the Water Rats, London, last night.
2025 has been quite a year for Long Ryders and Coal Porters frontman Griffin, both on the road and in the recording studio. “The Long Ryders have made a record and now The Coal Porters are firing up again for this tour,” he says.
Tonight AMA Award winner Griffin leads The Coal Porters at All Saints Church on vocals, mandolin, harmonica and autoharp, accompanied by Grammy winner and Adele string section leader Kerenza Peacock on fiddle and vocals; Paul Fitzgerald on banjo and vocals; Andrew Stafford on bass and Neil Robert Herd on guitar and vocals.
“We’ve played St Mary’s Creative Space, an absolutely beautiful church in Chester, and a deconsecrated church in Glasgow, so we love playing civic buildings of interest in any form or shape, which are worth their weight in plutonium,” says Sid. “If they can’t hear a choir singing the praises of the Lord, they can hear us.”
How does Sid know which of his songs will suit the his long-running American alternative country band The Long Ryders or the fiddle, mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitar and doghouse bass, four-part harmonies and melodies of The Coal Porters’ alt. bluegrass?
“Some of the acoustic songs are really written in the singer-songwriter/troubadour tradition, and are not right for the scale of The Long Ryders, and likewise some songs need those drums and bass,” he says. “I can tell upon writing a song where it should go – and the audiences hardly ever disagree!
The tour poster for The Coal Porters’ September travels
“There’s a danger that you start writing songs that you know the band can play, and that’s a mistake as you have to challenge them to get out of their comfort zone. You really have to watch that. It’s one of the pitfalls.
“You have to extend yourself, but not too far, you have to be different, but not too far, which seems contradictory. The Ramones and Credence Clearwater Revival managed to do that, but it’s usually the point at which bands split.
“The Temptations changed, ZZ Top changed, but sometimes you can’t do that – and that’s the thing. I’ve always tried to traverse, with The Long Ryders experimenting and The Coal Porters being entertaining – and being told we’re too entertaining for hillbilly!”
Sid takes his point further. “We’ll take songs by Bob Dylan or David Bowie and we’ll ‘Porterise’ them, knowing we’re playing a Dylan/Bowie song but in a bluegrass form, being true to the idiom.
“The bluegrass police don’t like it. It’s like The Stanley Brothers again. People always want it to be better but different, and it’s pretty impossible to square the circle,” he says. “Traditionalists don’t like it but Coal Porters fans love us to death, so the question is, how do you make things better than yesterday?”
Should he shed the optimism in The Coal Porters’ performances, ponders Sid. “That would be a mistake when you have to entertain but also give the audience a mirror of what’s going, but are we giving them respite, an escape, from what’s going on?” he says.
“I take performances at least as seriously as recording. They’re staring at you; you have their complete, undivided attention. They’ve paid their money, they’re facing you, whereas at home they’re not paying as much attention to a screen.
“Live gigs are now so important because no-one’s making money out of albums. Merch stands are important too. People come up to ask me questions when it’s their moment to have that conversation with someone that has influence and they really want to give me their opinion.”
Singer, songwriter, band leader, musicologist, broadcaster and author Sid Griffin has lived in London for 33 years, where music will continue to frame his life. “It’s what I do, it’s what we do, as Robbie Robertson said of The Band. Good times, bad times, I make music. I don’t have riches or fame. I’m just happy,” he says, as he turns 70.
“It’s what I’ve been doing for a long time and I’ll keep doing it. I’m very pleased anyone wants to hear what I have to say. It’s very touching that these middle-aged guys, usually in their Clash and Ramones T-shirts, come with their wives and their kids and say what our music has done for them.”
Coming up next will be The Long Ryders’ sixth studio album, the follow-up to 2023’s September November. “It’ll be out in March/April. No title yet,” says Sid. “We recorded in a little town in the desert with producer Ed Stasium [who has worked with the Ramones, Talking Heads, Motörhead and the Smithereens, among others].
“It was a really great experience to get together with the guys again. It’ll possibly be our last one but it was a lot of fun to do. Now we’ve got to be mix it for release in the spring.”
Hurricane Promotions present The Coal Porters, All Saints Church, Pocklington, tonight, 7.30pm. Box office: sidgriffin.com/tour; Pocklington, ticketsource.co.uk/hurricane-promotions/the-coal-porters/2025-09-19/19:30/t-eaoqmak.
Martha Wainwright: 20th anniversary tour show at All Saints Church, Pocklington
MARTHA Wainwright plays All Saints Church, Pocklington, tomorrow on her 18-date 20th Anniversary Tour.
The Montreal-born singer-songwriter will be marking 20 years since she released her self-titled debut album, when she stepped out of the shadow of her illustrious North American musical family (father Loudon Wainwright III; mother Kate McGarrigle; brother Rufus Wainwright and aunt Anna McGarrigle).
“Twenty years ago my life as an artist took shape when my first record was released,” recalls Martha, now 49. “In many ways that record defined me, as well as launched me into a now over-20-year-long career that has made me who I am.
“It was after ten years of playing in bars, making cassettes and EPs to sell at my shows, singing back-up for my brother Rufus, falling in love and out of love, practising, writing, singing until I could barely sing anymore, partying, playing with musicians and listening to great artists, working with my ex-husband [producer and bassist Brad Albetta] in the studio for two years, all that created this first record.”
Martha continues: “Labels wouldn’t sign me when I started and I had to craft, with the help of many people, an album that would finally be licensed and released in 2005. My first record tells my story and when it was finally released I was able to work and tour and have a career in music – something that I always wanted but wasn’t sure would happen.
“Twenty years later, with six other albums under my belt, two kids and a career that is chugging along, I can safely say my first record paved my way forward.”
In May, [PIAS] (CORRECT) released Martha’s debut on vinyl for the first time, alongside CD and digital versions with extra tracks and a bonus disc of 14 rarities and alternate versions: unheard songs, outtakes and early material from ten years of discovery that led to her first record. Gems include Bring Back My Heart, featuring Rufus Wainwright, Our Love with Kate & Anna McGarrigle and Far Away, featuring the late Garth Hudson, of The Band.
“In the years before my first album was released, I was doing my own version of ‘artist development’ – playing a lot of gigs and going into the studio to make demos,” says Martha. “I got to New York City in 1998. It was a magical blur of fun and discovery, meeting musicians, playing and seeing shows and going into the studio. Hopping from bar to bar in the Lower East Side and Williamsburg.
“These are some of the recordings that came out of that time. Some were released as EPs that I would sell at shows but others have never been released. These are the ones that best reflect that time and the wild eclecticism I’ve always had, for better or worse, as an artist.”
Why did she call her first album “Martha Wainwright”? “That’s a very classic singer-songwriter thing to do. It’s your introduction, and the world’s introduction to you, and it also means there is not necessarily one song that defines the record. It’s not saying ‘this is the single’; it’s not creating an image. That’s how eponymous works for me,” says Martha.
“Also, I think, for my first record, as is the case for some artists, this one was a long time in the making as I couldn’t get a record contract, thought I released my first cassette in 1997, then moved to New York, made some EPS and tried to discover myself musically.
“Coming from a musical family, I needed to discover myself when there’s a lot of shadow to come out of, and these were songs that I wrote over many years as a young person defining myself.”
Was she ever tempted not to use her family name? “Well, it’s interesting, because I come out of a tradition of songwriters who use their own name as they had an interesting name and didn’t need to change it or didn’t want to,” says Martha.
“Artistically, it could be silly to change my name, though not necessarily so, because people will inevitably draw comparisons, but we’re all bogged down by our families, whether we want to be or not.
“My family chose songwriting to be the big subject in life, and I guess I was leaning to that, but it was also about love and unrequited love.
“It was this acceptance of where I came from, but also maybe that I would have to push and shove , and you can hear that edge, that youthful resentment, to make you different to Kate and Anna, Rufus and Loudon.
“Every artist is trying to find their spot, trying to find that centre, and maybe we are trying to do that not only as artists but as people: to find our voices.”
Now comes her 20th anniversary tour with “a few great musicians”, when Martha will be playing her debut record in its entirety, complemented by a few new songs. “There’s no 49-year-old me without the 28-year-old me,” she says.
Martha Wainwright, supported by Michele Stodart (of The Magic Numbers), All Saints Church, Pocklington, August 27, 7.30pm. Also The Foundry, Sheffield, August 28, 7.30pm. Tour tickets are on sale at marthawainwright.com.
MARTHA Wainwright will play All Saints Church, Pocklington, on August 27 (7.30pm) and The Foundry, Sheffield, on August 28 (7.30pm) on her 18-date 20th Anniversary Tour.
The Montreal-born singer-songwriter will be marking 20 years since she released her self-titled debut album, when she stepped out of the shadow of her illustrious North American musical family (father Loudon Wainwright III; mother Kate McGarrigle; brother Rufus Wainwright).
On May 23, [PIAS] released this album on vinyl for the first time, alongside CD and digital versions with extra tracks and a bonus disc of 14 rarities and alternate versions: unheard songs, outtakes and early material from ten years of discovery that led to her first record. Gems include Bring Back My Heart, featuring Rufus Wainwright, Our Love with Kate & Anna McGarrigle and Far Away, featuring the late Garth Hudson, of The Band.
“In the years before my first album was released, I was doing my own version of ‘artist development’ – playing a lot of gigs and going into the studio to make demos,” recalls Martha. “I got to New York City in 1998. It was a magical blur of fun and discovery, meeting musicians, playing and seeing shows and going into the studio. Hopping from bar to bar in the Lower East Side and Williamsburg.
“These are some of the recordings that came out of that time. Some were released as EPs that I would sell at shows but others have never been released. These are the ones that best reflect that time and the wild eclecticism I’ve always had, for better or worse, as an artist.”
Vinyl track list: Far Away; G.P.T.; Factory; These Flowers; Ball & Chain; Don’t Forget; This Life; When The Day Is Short; Bl**dy Mother ******* Asshole; TV Show; The Maker and Who Was I Kidding.
Digital/CD track list: Disc 1, 20th Anniversary: Far Away; G.P.T.; Factory; These Flowers; Ball & Chain; Don’t Forget; This Life; When The Day Is Short; Bl**dy Mother ******* Asshole; TV Show; The Maker; Who Was I Kidding; Whither Must I Wander; Bring Back My Heart (featuring Rufus Wainwright); Baby and Dis, Quand Reviendras-Tu?
Disc 2, Outliers: Can You Hear Me *; The Sex Song *; The Dead *; Factory #2 *; Our Love *; Far Away (with Garth Huson) *; Pretty Good Day; The Car Song; It’s Over; I Will Internalize; Bye Bye Blackbird; New York, New York, New York; When the Day is Short (Demo) * and Year of the Dragon. *Never before released.
“Twenty years ago my life as an artist took shape when my first record was released,” says Martha. “In many ways that record defined me, as well as launched me into a now over-20-year-long career that has made me who I am.
“It was after ten years of playing in bars, making cassettes and EPs to sell at my shows, singing backup for my brother Rufus, falling in love and out of love, practising, writing, singing until I could barely sing anymore, partying, playing with musicians and listening to great artists, working with my ex-husband in the studio for two years, all that created this first record.”
Martha continues: “Labels wouldn’t sign me when I started and I had to craft, with the help of many people, an album that would finally be licensed and released in 2005. My first record tells my story and when it was finally released I was able to work and tour and have a career in music – something that I always wanted but wasn’t sure would happen.
“Twenty years later, with six other albums under my belt, two kids and a career that is chugging along, I can safely say my first record paved my way forward.
On her tour with “a few great musicians”, Martha will be playing her debut record in its entirety, complemented by a few new songs. “There’s no 49-year-old me without the 28-year-old me,” she says.
Tour tickets are on sale at marthawainwright.com.
MICHELE Stodart, multi-award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, musical director and multi-instrumentalist, will be the special guest at Martha Wainwright’s Pocklington concert.
She is best known as bassist, vocalist and co-songwriter of the Mercury-nominated, double-platinum-selling The Magic Numbers, who have five studio albums to their name and have supported Neil Young, Radiohead, Brian Wilson, U2, The Who, Flaming Lips and Bright Eyes.
She continues to tour worldwide in the London band alongside brother Romeo and fellow siblings Sean and Angela Gannon, with a new album set for release next year.
Born in Trinidad, she spent her early childhood there until she and her family fled a military coup attempt, leading them to Queens, New York, and eventually to London.
Inspired by Karen Dalton, Judee Sill, Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch, she has always pursued her own writing, nurturing a love for folk, country and Americana music. This can be heard on three solo albums, 2016’s Pieces, 2022’s The Hug and 2023’s Invitation, a confessional, melodic set of songs with an orchestral, cinematic feel that won the UK Album of the Year at the 2024 UK Americana Awards, where Michele scooped the coveted award for UK Artist of the Year too.
In addition to her Magic Numbers and solo commitments, away from recording and touring, she has built a name for herself as a musical director, collaborator and producer. She has been invited to curate stages at festivals and events and she curates and directs an annual multi-artist show marking International Women’s Day, as well as promoting and hosting regular nights at the Green Note in Camden Town, celebrating both established and emerging talent.
The cover artwork for Michel Stodart’s 2023 album, Invitation
Michele has worked as a tutor and held songwriting masterclasses at creative workshops and songwriting retreats, both for adults and children.
In 2019, Michele appeared in the Danny Boyle/Richard Curtis film Yesterday, having been chosen for her role for her melodic bass playing and electric, enigmatic stage presence. Working alongside Boyle, Curtis and musical composer Daniel Pemberton, Michele’s bass and vocals are featured on the Abbey Road Studios movie soundtrack, reinterpreting The Beatles’ most beloved hits.
In 2022, she was awarded the AMA-UK Instrumentalist Of The Year Award. In 2023, she was invited back as musical director at the UK Americana Awards, where she put together an all-female house band and played with the likes of The Waterboys’ Mike Scott, Allison Russell and Lifetime Achievement award-winner Judy Collins, who took a moment on stage to compliment Michele on her “incredible” talent.
Since then, she has continued in the musical director’s role at the annual awards show, where she has collaborated with many different musicians and worked with Candi Staton, Billy Bragg, Lyle Lovett and many more.
Michele’s diverse skills have led to many collaborative projects on stage and in the studio with Kathryn Williams, David Ford, Bernard Butler, Hannah White, Julian Taylor, Natalie Imbruglia, Charlie Dore, David Kitt, Rachel Sermanni, Bill Fay, Ren Harvieu, Emily Barker and O’Hooley & Tidow, among many others.
The Coal Porters: Led by Sid Griffin at All Saints Church, Pocklington, on September 19
THE Coal Porters, who claim to be the world’s first “alt-bluegrass” act, will play All Saints Church, Pocklington, on September 19 at 7.30pm.
Prominent figures in the UK Americana and Bluegrass scene for 17 years, Sid Griffin’s band are back in the saddle this autumn for nine dates that include a second Yorkshire concert at Filey Americana Festival at Filey Evron Centre on September 7 at 7.30pm.
Further highlights will be a first visit to Edinburgh in ten years at Leith Depot on September 6 and a special gig to mark Griffin’s 70th birthday at the Water Rats, London, on September 18. All Saints will be one of “two (count ‘em) encounters with church-based entertainment venues”.
The Coal Porters’ songs showcase the power of fiddle, mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitar and doghouse bass, all harmonised with four-part vocals and melodies.
The poster artwork for The Coal Porters’ September itinerary
Led by AMA Award winner and The Long Ryders luminary Griffin on vocals, mandolin, harmonica and autoharp, the line-up features Grammy winner and Adele string section leader Kerenza Peacock on fiddle and vocals; Paul Fitzgerald on banjo and vocals; Andrew Stafford on bass and Neil Robert Herd on guitar and vocals.
The Coal Porters have featured on NPR’s Morning Edition in the USA, performed live sessions for Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 and Marc Riley for BBC 6 Music and made festival appearances at Glastonbury, SXSW (South By South West) and MerleFest.
“This is a rare opportunity to see a pioneering band – don’t miss it!” says promoter James Duffy. Box office: sidgriffin.com/tour; Pocklington, ticketsource.co.uk/hurricane-promotions/the-coal-porters/2025-09-19/19:30/t-eaoqmak; Filey, wegottickets.com/event/643969.
Hayley Bamford in rehearsal for her lead role as Deloris Van Cartier in York Musical Theatre Company’s production of Sister Act The Musical
FROM Holmes & Watson to Wright & Grainger, a play told two contrasting ways to funny nun business, Charles Hutchinson fills diaries for arty times ahead.
Nun better musical of the week: York Musical Theatre Company in Sister Act The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
KATHRYN Addison directs York Musical Theatre Company in Alan Menken’s American musical with Hayley Bamford in the sassy role of “novice nun” Deloris Van Cartier.
When club singer Deloris witnesses nightclub owner Curtis Jackson (Zander Fick), commit murder, the police hide her in a convent, where she meets the Mother Superior (Kirstin Grififths) and an ensemble of 22 nuns. Cue multiple upbeat numbers as friendships grow and the convent is saved from financial ruin. Hallelujah! Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Improv show of the week: Unwritten, The Literary Improv Show, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, tomorrow, doors 7.30pm, show 8.30pm
EVER wondered what Whose Line Is It Anyway? would be like with a literary twist? The Bluffs take classic short-form improv games, then infuse them with storytelling flair. Every show is unique, shaped by audience suggestions and spontaneous creativity. An evening of humour, surprises and plot twists awaits. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.
Dominic Goodwin, left, and Thomas Frere in Clap Trap Theatre’s Switcheroo, the play told as comedy and then seriously seriously
Role-swapping play of the week: Clap Trap Theatre in Switcheroo, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.45pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Post-show discussion, Friday. Also Helmsley Arts Centre, May 31, 7.30pm
TOM Needham’s play Switcheroo is based on the simple premise that “it’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it”. Presented by Ryedale company Clap Trap Theatre, the story follows three siblings who, when it comes to scattering their mother’s ashes, are hit with a bombshell revelation that turns their world upside down.
The first act is a full-blown, larger-than-life comedy, whereupon the actors swap characters to repeat it as a serious drama. Paul Birch directs a cast of Thomas Frere (Alex/Sam), Clap Trap co-founder Cal Stockbridge (Sam/Pat) and Dominic Goodwin (Pat/Alex). Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheratreroyal.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
The poster artwork for ACT’s production of Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty at Helmsley Arts Centre
Ryedale play of the week: ACT in Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7pm
SHERLOCK Holmes and Dr Watson are back on the case as ACT (Ampleforth College Theatre) presents Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty, an investigation into the Bohemian king’s stolen letters that cascades into an international mystery filled with spies, blackmail and intrigue.
Faced with world peace at stake, Holmes and Watson join forces with American actress Irene Adler to take down cunning criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty and his network of devious henchmen. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Paul Chowdhry: Heading for York Barbican with his Englandia show
Comedy gig of the week: Paul Chowdhry, Englandia, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm
PAUL Chowdhry, the most successful British Indian stand-up comedian in British history, heads to York on his 41-date itinerary. “After more than a quarter of a century and half my life on comedy stages, it’s time for my biggest tour ever,” says The Paul Chowdhry PudCast podcaster.
“I hope to see you there. If not, I’ll be in massive debt and doing benefit gigs for the foreseeable future.” To help Chowdhry avoid that scenario, book tickets at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The Dunwells: Returning to Pocklington on Friday
The boys done well: The Dunwells, All Saints Church, Pocklington, Friday, 7.30pm
LEEDS duo The Dunwells continue their working relationship with Hurricane Promotions’ James Duffy, who has promoted brothers Joe and David’s indie-folk/Americana band across Yorkshire, not least at the market town’s Platform Festival and Pocklington Arts Centre, where he worked for many years. Box office: thedunwells.com.
Alexander Flanagan Wright in Wright & Grainger’s Helios at Helmsley Arts Centre
Storytelling show of the week: Wright & Grainger present Helios, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
A LAD lives halfway up an historic hill. A teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car. A boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky. Welcome to Wright & Grainger’s story of the son of the god of the sun that transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound around the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city.
“It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build into it, and the little things that leave big marks,” say friends since Easingwold schooldays Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger. “Join us in a little room with a tape player and a delicate tale to tell.” Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Jed Potts: Playing with The Hillman Hunters at the Milton Rooms, Malton
Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters, Milton Rooms, Malton, May 29,
EDINBURGH guitarist and vocalist Jed Potts fronts Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters and Under-Volt and also plays with The Katet, The Blueswater, Nicole Smit and occasionally with American blues artist Brandon Santini too. This time he has The Hillman Hunters for company.
Potts first picked up a guitar at nine and performed his first gig at 16.”Blues is my musical first language and it infuses everything I play,” he says. “Even when I’m playing with The Katet or Thunkfish, the blues is always there. I don’t think I could hide it even if I wanted to.” Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
In Focus: Francesca Simon’s exhibition, The Spaces Between, at Ryedale Folk Museum, until June 29, and Platform A Gallery, Middlesbrough, until June 19
Check C, by Francesca Simon, 2022, at Ryedale Folk Museum
FRANCESCA Simon’s bold new art exhibition is running simultaneously at two venues: her series Check Works at Ryedale Folk Museum’s Art Gallery, Hutton-le-Hole, and Goaf Works at Platform A Gallery in Middlesbrough.
The Spaces Between invites visitors to experience vibrant geometric abstractions, made in and engendered partly by the landscape of the North York Moors that surrounds Francesca’s Glaisdale studio.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to be able to exhibit across these two galleries simultaneously. The paintings and drawings shown here originally grew out of the hours I spent walking in Glaisdale during lockdown,” says Francesca.
“These works feature intense, bright colours, which I used consciously to create uplifting works. I wanted people to feel their spirits rise when they looked at them. The more austere later works demand an intense analysis of structure.”
Glaisdale artist Francesca Simon
Ryedale Folk Museum director Jennifer Smith says: “We’re delighted to share this exhibition with visitors. Francesca’s work resonates deeply in this region. Through precise, geometric artworks, Francesca has distilled our beautiful North York Moors and brought her unique perspective to the landscape we know and love.”
Francesca’s relationship with both galleries spans more than ten years, beginning with her involvement in the group show Making Matters at Platform A Gallery in 2014.
Gallery director Tony Charles says: “A decade ago, Francesca delighted audiences inourregion, showcasing her characteristic and beautiful precision. Now, in The Spaces Between, we see her rigorous investigations endure and the strong identification with the landscape continuing to be so significant within her work”.
Working within the distinctive moorland setting, Francesca acknowledges a visual filtering process where the organic colours, lines and textures around her are translated into bold, structured compositions.
In Check Works, arrangements of right-angled or half-square triangles are disrupted by horizontal bars to create playful, almost musical compositions.
Goaf 1, by Francesca Simon, 2025, at Platform A Gallery, Middlesbrough
The body of work at Platform A, monochrome in tone apart from dashes of colour in the horizontal bars, is a development from the work at Ryedale. In these paintings, her particular focus includes the goaf or void remaining after the collapse of mined-out areas, a feature of 19th-century ironstone mining in North Yorkshire, and, latterly, the triangles observed in Indian stepwells. Works such as Cross Cut, Sky Seam and Cobalt Base 1 and 2 explore these themes.
Describing the new exhibition as “exciting contemporary art”, Jennifer says: “What Francesca does in such a compelling way is to translate experiences that are familiar to us – like a walk on the moors, light on trees – into striking abstract forms.”
Francesca holds a BA from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Fine Art Painting from Central Saint Martins. Her art is held in prestigious collections such as the Government Art Collection, Newnham College, Cambridge, and the Tim Sayer Collection, bequeathed to the Hepworth Wakefield. Her work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition on several occasions..
Both venues offer free admission to The Spaces Between. Ryedale Folk Museum’s Art Gallery is open Saturday to Thursday, from 10am to 5pm (closed on Fridays); Platform A Gallery, Tuesday to Friday, 11am to 4pm, or by appointment (www.platformagallery.net).
Kiki Dee and Carmelo Ruggeri: More than 25 years of performing together
BRADFORD soul singer-songwriter Kiki Dee and guitarist Carmelo Luggeri bring their acoustic live show to All Saints Church, Pocklington, tomorrow night.
“I remember playing Pocklington Arts Centre with Carmelo years ago,” she says. “It’s lovely to be back in Pocklington again.”
Kiki and Carmelo have performed together for more than 25 years, from front rooms to churches, and now on The Long Ride Home tour of stripped-back songs that will visit East Riding Theatre, Beverley, too on October 18, the tour taking its title from their 2022 album, the fourth they have made as a duo.
The “long road home”? “I started trying to make it as a singer when I was 16 – I recorded On A Magic Carpet Ride for the Fontana label that year, which is worth a lot now – and now I’m coming to the end of my professional career and still enjoying it, which most of the time I have,” says Kiki, who was born Pauline Matthews in Little Horton, Bradford on March 6 1947.
Kiki has lived in Hertfordshire for 16 years, preceded by 24 in London, but Bradford will always have its place in her heart. “I grew up there and it formed me,” she says. Will she be returning “home” to perform in Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture 2025?
Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri’s itinerary for The Long Road Home tour
“I haven’t got anything confirmed yet, though I did speak to them at the end of last year, when we played Silsden Town Hall [near Keighley] in November, hoping if anything could be worked out, but I haven’t been asked to do anything yet,” she says. Event organisers, please take note.
Now 78, Kiki has her place in British pop history as the first female singer from British shores to sign with Motown’s Tamla Records label in 1970 “I went to Detroit for 12 weeks to record with Frankie Wilson, doing some recordings in what is now the museum, a little house in the suburbs.
“I was over there initially as a guest, but they did sign me. I only had four tracks written for me, so some of the others picked for me were in keys that I wouldn’t have chosen, but as I was so far away from home, I went with it. You always needed ‘the song’ with Motown because they didn’t become an albums label until the 1970s.”
The Motown association continues. “I’m doing four dates as the special guest on Smokey Robinson’s tour this year, at Glasgow, Birmingham Cardiff and London in July,” says Kiki. “Originally they were going for a young soul singer, but I believe Smokey said, ‘No, Kiki Dee would be a better fit’.” Spot on, Smokey!
Tomorrow’s gig in Pocklington will combine Kiki and Carmelo’s stories with haunting songs from The Long Road Home, eclectic covers and Kiki’s treasured hits, I Got The Music In Me, Loving & Free, Amoureuse, Star and the chart-topping Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.
Kiki Dee and Carmelo Ruggeri taking the long road home
Covers, Kiki? “We do Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill – our version is very different! – and Robert Palmer’s Every Kinda People, Frank Sinatra too, and we’re kicking around some new ideas at the moment,” says Kiki.
“With a semi-acoustic set, we have more flexibility to do what we want than you do in a full band line-up.”
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart will feature, of course: the one that brought Elton John his first UK number one in 1976 in a duet with Kiki. “I was on Elton’s Rocket Record label and Amoureuse had been a hit in the charts. Gus Dudgeon had produced I’ve Got The Music In Me for me, and it was Gus’s idea to try out Don’t Go Breaking My Heart as a duet after originally I was only going to do backing vocals,” she says.
“It came about in a very casual way, and it’s interesting how certain significant events in your life can come out of such relaxed circumstances. Like doing the video in only ten minutes! Who knew it would become so successful. Elton was quite impatient anyway! He was never going to do 16 takes.”
Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri, All Saints Church, Pocklington, Saturday, March 29, 7.30pm. Box office: kikiandcarmelo.com
The cover artwork for Michael Palin’s new book, in focus at the Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow
FROM a talkative traveller to a Californian Kate Bush tribute act, York’s weekend of open doors to a best-of-British musical revue, Charles Hutchinson seeks diverse cultural opportunities.
Globe-trotter of the week: Michael Palin, Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
IN the words of Monty Python alumnus, actor, presenter and Yorkshireman Michael Palin: “In There And Back – The Diary Tour 2024, I’ll bring to life the fourth collection of my diaries and the first to be released for ten years.
“Lots of fun as I go through the Noughties, and some dark times too. I constantly surprise myself with the sheer amount I took on.” Tickets update: still available at atgtickets.com/york.
Baby Bushka: Delighting in the theatricality of Kate Bush’s songs at Pocklington Arts Centre
Tribute show of the week: Baby Bushka, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow, 8pm
THE music and magic of Kate Bush has reached across the seas and skies to San Diego, California, where the eight women of the bewitching Baby Bushka have honed their wide-eyed, other-worldly versions of Kate’s baroque, ethereal pop.
Performed in jump-suits by Natasha Kozaily, Lexi Pulido, Nancy Ross, Leah Bowden, Batya Mac Adam-Somerm, Marie Haddad, Heather Nation and Melanie Medina, their kooky rock show is filled with four-part harmonies, avant-garde choreographed dancing, theatrical props, costumes and glitter masks. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
The Korgis: This is the time for everybody to learn about their favourite songs at Selby Town Hall
Sing something synth-full: The Korgis Time Machine, Selby Town Hall, tomorrow, 7.30pm
WHIRL back in time with The Korgis as they undertake a musical and audio/visual journey though the songs and bands that influenced them. Best known for their 1980 hit Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime, the Bristol synth-pop band will put their spin on songs by The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, 10cc, The Buggles, Peter Gabriel and their own songs of peace and hope with The Korgis and, earlier, with Stackridge.
If I Had You, Bringing Back The Spirit Of Love, If It’s Alright With You Baby and Something About The Beatles will feature, along with new compositions from this year’s two-album set, UN – United Nations. Questions will be taken too. Box office: 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk.
Lucy Porter: No regrets about her regrets at Selby Town Hall
Comedy gig of the week: Lucy Porter, No Regrets!, Selby Town Hall, Friday, 8pm
REGRETS? Frank Sinatra had too few to mention, but Lucy Porter has hundreds, and she is raring to go into graphic detail about all of them. From disastrous dates and professional calamities to ruined friendships and parenting failures, she charts all the mistakes she has made, works out why they happened, and ponders how her life would have turned out if she had acted differently.
Porter posits that if you regret something, you can use it to change your ways. “See the thing you regret as your rock bottom, and let it spur you on to become a better person,” says Porter, who names guilt as one of her top five hobbies as a middle-aged, middle-class, left-leaning ex-Catholic. Box office: 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk.
Barbara Dickson: Reflecting on her career in music and musical theatre at All Saints Church, Pocklington, and Leeds City Varieties
Folk gigs of the week: Hurricane Promotions present Barbara Dickson & Nick Holland, All Saints Church, Pocklington, Friday (sold out) and October 16, 7.30pm. Also Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, October 20, 7.30pm
SCOTTISH folk singer Barbara Dickson and her pianist Nick Holland explore her catalogue of songs in these acoustic concerts in intimate settings, where the pair will let the words and melodies take centre stage as they draw on Dickson’s folk roots, contemporary greats and her classic hits, from Another Suitcase In Another Hall to I Know Him So Well. Box office: barbaradickson.net; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.
Festival of the week: York Unlocked 2024, Saturday and Sunday
IN its third year, York Unlocked welcomes residents and visitors to experience York’s architecture and open spaces with the chance to discover, explore and enjoy around 50 sites.
This year’s new addition is a children’s trail book; families can pick up a free copy from York Explore Library, All Saints’ Church, North Street, or The Guildhall. Full details of the participating locations, from Spark: York to City Screen Picturehouse, Terry’s Factory Clock Tower to Bishopthorpe Palace, Holgate Windmill to York Railway Station, can be found at york-unlocked.org.uk. Entry is free, including for those requiring booking.
Stevie Williams & The Most Wanted Band: Heading to Helmsley
“Wild journey” of the week: Stevie Williams & The Most Wanted Band, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
LED by powerhouse vocalist Stevie Williams, The Most Wanted Band take their audiences on a wild musical journey with tight grooves, searing guitar solos and a rhythm section that hits with precision in an accomplished, high-energy, explosive show. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Courtney Brown: From playing Ado Annie in Oklahoma! to assistant-directing Pickering Musical Society’s Wonders Of The West End
Ryedale musical show of the week: Pickering Musical Society, Wonders Of The West End, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, October 10 to 13, 7.30pm
PICKERING Musical Society performs the best of British musicals, from the early 20th century to current hits next week, when the full company will be joined once again by Sarah Louise Ashworth School of Dance students. Lesser-known gems will complement show-stopping favourites.
Regular performer Courtney Brown, seen latterly as the Princess in Aladdin and Ado Annie in Oklahoma!, steps up to the role of assistant director alongside regular director Luke Arnold after expressing an interest in directing. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
Sharleen Spiteri: Fronting Texas at Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer
Gig announcement of the week: Texas, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26 2025
SCOTTISH band Texas, fronted as ever by Sharleen Spiteri, will return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the first time since July 2018 to showcase five decades of songs, from I Don’t Want A Lover, Say What You Want and Summer Son to Inner Smile, Mr Haze and Keep On Talking next summer. Tickets will go on sale at 9am on Friday at scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk and ticketmaster.co.uk. Irish rock band The Script are confirmed already for July 5.
Barbara Dickson: Second night added at All Saints Church, Pocklington
AFTER their October 4 gig sold out in record time, Scottish folk singer Barbara Dickson and her pianist Nick Holland are adding a second acoustic performance at All Saints Church, Pocklington, on October 16.
On each night, they will explore her catalogue of songs in this intimate and historic setting, where the pair will let the words and melodies take centre stage as they draw on Dickson’s folk roots, contemporary greats and her classic hits, Answer Me, Another Suitcase In Another Hall, Caravan and the million-selling chart-topper I Know Him So Well.
The shows are the second collaboration between All Saints and Pocklington-based Hurricane Promotions and follow on from a sold-out event in December with BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners The Young’uns. Two further shows are due to be announced later this month. Watch this space.
Emerging from the late-Sixties’ Scottish folk scene, Dickson has become Scotland’s best-selling female album artist, earning six platinum, 11 gold and seven silver albums. Her stage career has included the roles of the original Mrs Johnstone in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers and Viv Nicholson in Spend Spend Spend, both bringing her an Olivier Award for Best Actress. In 2002, she was awarded an OBE for her services to music and drama.
Holland joined her touring band in the 2000s, playing keyboards and adding vocals on her September 2004 album Full Circle, the first to feature the style of music she now performs.
Dickson and Holland work as a duo where she plays guitar and piano, her vocals being complemented by his keyboards and harmonies, whether in cathedrals, festivals or theatres.
“It’s a different experience to working with the bigger band, but just as enjoyable, and gives the music breathing space,” says Dickson, 76.
All Saints Church is “always delighted to see the church used for community events”. “Churches historically have been the social hubs of their communities, bringing people together for fellowship, entertainment and the sharing of ideas and opinions,” says the church statement. “This concert wraps those three things up in one great package.”
Barbara Dickson & Nick Holland, All Saints Church, Pocklington, October 4 (sold out) and October 16, 7.30pm. Also: Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, October 20, 7.30pm. Box office: barbaradickson.net; Leeds, leedsheritagetheatres.com.
History with a comical twist: Le Navet Bete in King Arthur at York Theatre Royal
COMEDY legends and Arthurian tales, Welsh rock firebrands and an Italian dance champion, a Scottish folk queen and a school talent troop have Charles Hutchinson reaching for his diary.
Legend of the week: Le Navet Bete in King Arthur, York Theatre Royal, March 21 to 23, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
AFTER Treasure Island and Dracula: The Bloody Truth, Le Navet Bete head back to York Theatre Royal for a retelling of the Arthurian legend, King Arthur, in their inimitable comedic style. Camelot is in trouble, and Arthur knows that if he fails to turn things around, this civilisation will be forgotten and be known as nothing more than a rather dull time in British history.
When three hapless squires approach him about changing that legacy, however, a legend is born in a new comedy for the ages, suitable for the whole family. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The poster for Feeder’s Black/Red Tour 2024, playing York and Leeds
York gig of the week: Feeder, supported by Girlband!, York Barbican, March 19, 8pm
ANTHEMIC Newport rock band Feeder mark their 30th anniversary with a spring tour and the April 5 release of a new studio double album, Black/Red, on Big Teeth Music.
Accruing seven million record sales, Grant Nicholas and Take Hirose’s group chalked up 20 Top 40 hits from 1997’s High to 2008’s We Are The People, and the likes of Just The Way I’m Feeling, Buck Rogers, Feeling A Moment, Tumble And Fall, Just A Day, Fear Of Flying and Lost And Found will surely feature in their set. Leeds Brudenell Social Club awaits on April 7 at 8pm. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.co.uk.
The Talent Troop from Welburn Hall School, performing at Helmsley Arts Centre tomorrow
Community show of the week: Welburn Hall presents The Talent Troop, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow (14/3/2024), 7pm
A SELECTION of students from Welburn Hall School, near York, takes to the stage once more for a variety performance. Prepare to be amazed by The Talent Troop in a fun-filled evening of music and dancing guaranteed to bring out the smiles. Look out for a fund-raising raffle and cake stall too. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
The Pink’un: Vicky Jackson’s tribute show to an American pop icon at the Milton Rooms, Malton
Tribute show of the week: Vicky Jackson: Pink!, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm
VICKY Jackson has been wowing audiences with her energetic portrayal of Pink, the Grammy-winning singer and songwriter from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, for more than a decade.
In bespoke costumes and accompanied by her five-piece touring band, Jackson presents all of Pink’s major hits from her 24-year career. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Roll out the barrel of laughs: Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, at Grand Opera House, York
Comedy at the treble at the Grand Opera House, York: Al Murray, Guv Island, Sunday, 7.30pm; An Evening With The Fast Show, March 19, 7.30pm; Frank Skinner, 30 Years Of Dirt, March 21, 7.30pm.
STANDING up so you don’t have to take it lying it down anymore, Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, is back “to make sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to” in Guv Island.
An Evening With The Fast Show sold out suitably fast. Original cast members Simon Day, Charlie Higson, John Thomson, Paul Whitehouse, Mark Williams and Arabella Weir mark their 30th anniversary with behind-the-scenes insights into their television characters and catchphrases, recreating favourite moments too. Two nights later, Brummie comedian and TV and radio presenter Frank Skinner reflects on his own 30-year landmark. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Beneath The Layers: A work by Anne-Marie Magson from her Helmsley Arts Centre exhibition
Exhibition of the week: Anna-Marie Magson, Beneath The Layers, Helmsley Arts Centre, until May 3
FROM her home studio in York, Anna-Marie Magson creates ceramics and artworks. Trained in fine art painting at Liverpool College of Art, she worked initially with clay, exploring surface decoration and textured pattern on tiles and panels.
Latterly, she has returned her focus to two-dimensional work, expanding her practice to encompass abstract collages, printmaking and painting to reflect her long-standing love of printed textiles and quilt designs and mid-20th century art.
The poster for Leigh Francis’s debut tour, My First Time
Yorkshire comedian of the week: Leigh Francis, My First Time, York Barbican, March 20, 7.45pm
LEEDS comedian, radio presenter and Bo’ Selecta! sketch show regular Leigh Francis is the scabrous, scatological, sometimes rubber-faced humorist behind the characters Keith Lemon, The Bear, Avid Merrion and Amanda Holden’s ‘gran’, Myrtle, along with celebrity impressions of David Dickinson, Ant and Dec and Louis Theroux.
All feature in Francis’s debut venture into the live environment in a tour show that combines sketches with buckets of audience interaction. “Come see me being other people live for the first time!” he says. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Giovanni Pernice: Let him entertain you at York Barbican
Dance show of the week: Giovanni Pernice, Let Me Entertain You, York Barbican, March 21, 7.30pm
GIOVANNI Pernice, the Sicilian dancer from Strictly Come Dancing and BAFTA winner, returns to York Barbican on his 2024 tour, Let Me Entertain You.
Pernice, dancer, performer, showman and Guinness World Record holder for jive kicks and flick to boot, will be joined by fellow professional dancers and West End performers in a show of non-stop action. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Barbara Dickson: All Saints Church autumn concert with Nick Holland in Pocklington
Gig announcement of the week: Barbara Dickson & Nick Holland, All Saints Church, Pocklington, October 4, 7.30pm
IN this special acoustic performance, Scottish folk singer Barbara Dickson and her pianist Nick Holland will explore her catalogue of songs in the intimate and historic setting of All Saints Church.
The pair let the words and melodies take centre stage as they perform material drawing on Dickson’s folk roots, contemporary greats and her classic hits, Answer Me, Another Suitcase In Another Hall, Caravan and I Know Him So Well. Box office: barbaradickson.net.
