REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman, Selby Town Hall, April 28

Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman: “Songs crafted with great care and love of language and form”

A POWER cut, a piano and a bottle of wine. Such were the beginnings for one of the new songs unveiled by the fine folk duo Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman.

That tune, Year Without A Summer, closes their new album Almost A Sunset, and is based on Mary Shelley’s sodden holiday that created Frankenstein.

You don’t have to travel to Switzerland to find inspiration, and the song was written one wi-fi-less evening at their home on Dartmoor. Roberts is originally from Barnsley while Lakeman is hewn from the Devon lands and from something of a musical dynasty.

Many of their songs are inspired by books. Roberts, a prolific reader, shared her love of fine words and colourful characters from the past (human and animal). Ropedancer, a standout on the album, is based on one Charles Blondin, a Victorian funambulist (a tightrope walker to you and me).

As she sang, Roberts’s voice soared, still a wonder and undimmed by the years. Roberts and Lakeman are not prolific, but each of their albums (the first in 2001) are crafted with great care and love of language and form.

Roberts and Lakeman’s Selby setlist “was a marvel, full of welcome changes and shifts of style and pace”

This was reflected in the quality of the performance, which was consistently at a level only a select few can reach. Blondin once carried his (presumably soon to be and now ex) manager on his back across a chasm – but this concert never felt like a nervy high-wire act. We were in the safest hands. Like her Barnsley peer, Kate Rusby, Roberts and Lakeman occupy the more accessible end of the folk spectrum and even their more obvious material is full of melody.

This wonderful venue felt like an apt staging post for the duo, entertaining and selling beautifully scented, organically made albums that you can’t buy on Amazon or eavesdrop on Spotify.

The 16-strong setlist focused mostly on the new record, interspersed with deft nods to their past. Roberts was mostly at the keyboard, barefoot, gracefully leaning to the left as she drew out the emotion with exquisite control.

Her husband, meanwhile, was in his brown familiars, and his face mirrored the patterns he coaxed from his guitar. While Roberts’s voice can take on all comers, Lakeman’s playing, in its variety and feel, was equally magnificent.

The setlist itself was a marvel, full of welcome changes and shifts of style and pace – including the obligatory bawdy one (The Lusty Blacksmith) and a more left -field moo (Cows Of Mystery, which could have been awful but was anything but).

After 90 minutes, all too soon they were gone like the May blossoms that adorn their songs. Memories of this lustrous concert will linger longer.

Review by Paul Rhodes

Black Swan Folk Club presents Chris While & Julie Matthews online and Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman at NCEM

Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman: Celebrating 25 years together…with an arm wrestle

THE Black Swan Folk Club is still closed under Covid restrictions, but the York club is mounting two concert evenings this autumn, one online, the other at the NCEM.

“We are starting to put a few things together that are the start of our journey back to regular live music,” says club organiser Chris Euesden after booking Chris While and Julie Matthews for October 15 and Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman for two hour-long shows on November 17.

While and Matthews will be playing their 7.30pm online concert exclusively for the club and will conclude the night with a live question-and-answer session.

Tickets are on sale at: whileandmatthews.com/virtual-tour. “Once you’ve purchased a ticket, you’ll be able to watch the streamed performance whenever you want,” says Euesden. “Chris and Julie have been guests at the club and played for us in concert at the NCEM many times over the years and it’s always been a great evening.”

While and Matthews have been performing together for more than 25 years, clocking up 2,600 gigs, appearing on 100-plus albums and writing hundreds of original songs. Last year, they released their 11th studio album, Revolution Calls.

Sponsored by the Black Swan Folk Club, Roberts and Lakeman’s concerts at the National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, will start at 6pm and 8.30pm, each featuring the same setlist.

“2020 marks 25 years of making music together for this wife and husband duo,” says Euesden. “Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman have long established themselves as one of the UK folk scene’s most rewardingly enduring partnerships.

“To celebrate and acknowledge this milestone, the couple will revisit and reinterpret songs that span their career. From the early days of folk supergroup Equation through to 2020’s On Reflection, with a nod or two along the way to their extracurricular musical adventures, the evening promises a whistle-stop tour through their artistic journey to date.”

Limited seating will be available for the November 17 shows. Each household/support bubble will be seated around small tables positioned at a two-metre social distance from others. Tables can accommodate up to four people in the same group. Check out the guidelines for these concerts via: ncem.co.uk/events/kathryn-roberts-sean-lakeman/ 

Tickets for Roberts and Lakeman will be on sale at blackswanfolkclub@yahoo.co.uk from October 9. If you bought a ticket for the duo’s postponed April 22 gig, the NCEM team will be in touch soon to discuss your options.

Black Swan Folk Club postpones all gigs until end of August but new dates in diary

Once the leaves turn to brown again: Eliza Carthy is re-arranging her April 10 concert for January 24 2021

ALL shows at the Black Swan Folk Club, Peasholme Green, York, are postponed until the end of August in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Most prominent among them is the Roland Walls Weekend from June 5 to 7. Formerly known as the City of York Folk Weekend, it has been re-named this year after the driving force behind both the folk club and the weekend, who died last June.

This postponement policy also applies to the club’s concerts at the National Centre for Early Music and The Crescent.

In the club’s latest newsletter, organiser Chris Euesden says: “We’re going to review things at the end of May to see where we stand. This includes the Roland Walls Weekend, which was to have taken place in June.

Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman: 25th anniversary concert moves to November 17

“If you’ve already bought tickets for any of our events that have had to be postponed, you can get a refund from the internet ticket provider or you can hang on to your tickets, as they will be valid for the new date.

“This applies to all events except The Paperboys at The Crescent on April 5, which is cancelled. If you have already bought tickets, you’ll be able to get a refund from seetickets.com. Go to their support section for further details.”

One Black Swan concert during the folk furlow is yet to be postponed: Chris Cleverley, presented by Broken Record on June 25. At the time of writing, it is “still hoped” that this night of songs on the theme of deteriorating anxious minds, damaging gender constructs and mystical tales of the occult will go ahead. Watch this space; ticket information is yet to be announced.

Reflecting on the present state of no-play, Chris says: “Well, we’ve never issued a newsletter quite like this one before. As the current situation has changed from day to day, so has the newsletter.

Grace Petrie: new date in the pipeline for May 18 gig

“With the [Government] announcement of  the closure of pubs and other music venues and the uncertainty surrounding the amount of time this is going to go on for, it seems like a good point to let you all know what’s in place at the moment.

“It’s highly likely there will be more changes, but we’ll do our best to keep you all informed on our website, blackswanfolkclub.org.uk, via Facebook, Twitter and with additional newsletters.”

Wheels are in motion already, however, for re-arranging postponed concerts.

Maz O’Connor, a Lake District singer-songwriter of Irish roots, now living in East London, is transferring her March 26 Black Swan gig to The Basement, City Screen, on September 9 with tickets on sale at wegottickets.com/event/497157.

O’Connor, who studied literature at Cambridge University, has been commissioned to write songs for the British Parliament and the Royal Shakespeare Company and is devising a piece of music theatre.

Robin Hood’s Bay folk stalwart Martin Carthy: booked to play Black Swan Folk Club when (hopefully) the tide has turned

The Eliza Carthy Restitute Live/Through That Sound concert at The Crescent on April 10 is re-scheduled for January 24 2021, with tickets on sale at seetickets.com.

Carthy, the Robin Hood’s Bay singer, songwriter, fiddler and self-styled “modern English musician”, released Restitute as her first “solo” album of traditional music last May, recorded at her North Yorkshire home on the coast.

Joining Carthy at The Crescent will be the Restitute band of Ben Seal, Ben Somers, Willy Molleson and David Delarre, complemented by a support slot and special guest appearance from Saul Rose.

As well as the Restitute material, Carthy and co will perform selections from Through That Sound (My Secret Was Made Known), her upcoming April 1 album of original songs recorded with Fife producer, arranger and band member Ben Seal.

The album artwork for Eliza Carthy’s Restitute

Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman’s 25th anniversary concert on April 22 at the National Centre for Early Music has a new date of November 17 (box office, ncem.co.uk).

The husband-and-wife duo will mark this milestone by revisiting and reinterpret songs spanning their career, from the early days of folk supergroup Equation to 2018’s album, Personae, plus a nod or two to their extracurricular musical adventures.

The club is in the process of re-scheduling Grace Petrie’s May 18 show at The Crescent. Drever, McCusker, Woomble, alias three of Scotland’s busiest musicians, Kris Drever, John McCusker and Roddy Woomble, are booked for The Crescent on August 24 (box office ents24.com), so keep an eye open for what may change or not.

Looking ahead, Black Swan gigs are in the diary for Anthony John Clarke on September 10; Christine Collister and Michael Fix, September 18; Maria Dunn, September 24; Sam Kelly & Jamie Francis, October 8; Lucy Farrell, October 15; Sam Carter, October 22; Charlie Dore & Julian Litmann, November 19, and Martin Carthy, Eliza’s father, on December 3.

Toni Bunnell: March 29 concert at The Basement, City Screen, York, postponed

Across the wider folk scene in York, hurdy-gurdy musician, wildlife biologist, broadcaster, song and story writer and York Hedgehog Rescue founder Toni Bunnell’s Tracking The Changes show on March 29 at The Basement, City Screen, has been postponed.

Music sessions are suspended at:

The Maltings, Tanner’s Moat, on Tuesdays;

The Golden Ball, Bishophill, on Sunday evenings;

The Three Legged Mare, High Petergate, on Friday evenings;

Havin’ the Craic at The Fox, Holgate, first Wednesday of each month;

French & Breton, Eagle & Child, High Petergate, second Wednesdays.