venta

The Designated Hero of the Week for the week-before-last (whom I inexplicably forgot to mention when wittering about DERT) was Fiona. She drove me all the way to Preston and all the way back, and even brought her bloke along to mess up the navigation so I didn't have to. All of which made it a much more pleasant and effortless weekend for me, since all I had to do was sit still, and found myself delivered miraculously from my own house to the Right Place.

Last week's DHW is not, in fact, someone who's done anything particularly nice for me, or indeed done anything especially heroic (as far as I know) in the recent past. Instead, I'm just pausing to comment on someone who is, in the traditional sense of the word, one of my heroes: Bob Tudd'.

At the weekend, I saw a few different bands in concert. On Thursday, I landed myself in Darlington just in time to make it to the tail end of John Kirkpatick's set at the Folk Club. He remains, as ever, a talented player of assorted squeezeboxes, slightly raucous, and thoroughly entertaining.

Friday night saw Ashley Hutchings (of Steeleye Span and Fairport fame) bring his "Morris On" touring show to the festival. This is a celebration of English Morris tunes and song (and even dancing), and despite Hutchings' apparent desire to become a caricature determined to "rock out" in a waistcoat and Radio2 demeanour, was very entertaining.

The original Morris On album was released in '72 and was one of the staples of my childhood, so it was actually remarkable to hear some of the tracks from it. The band for this tour is actually remarkably fine, as well - special mention to Roger Wilson for having a great voice.

On Saturday, the main band was CrossCurrent, a group of five staggeringly good students from the folk music course at Newcastle University. I was supposed to be doing stewardly duties elsewhere, but manage to sneak out to the first half of the concert.

CrossCurrent weren't due on til later on, I was after seeing the support act. I squeaked in ten minutes after the concert began, and there on stage was a small, diffident guy with greying hair. He looks like a teacher - possibly because he is a teacher - and introduces his songs with a half-apologetic air, warning that he might well get them wrong.

But of all the musicians of the weekend, he was probably the act I'd most looked forward to seeing. Bob Tudd' arrived in the folk club a few years back, and was very quickly promoted to being one of my heroes. He's hardly a "big name", even in the folk world - searching online under his full name returns nothing but acadmic stuff relating to his day job. He doesn't have a great voice, either, it's quiet, dry and whispery. Often when he sings there's more than a hint of the "musical talking" that I associate with blues.

Somehow, though, that doesn't matter. His voice suits him, and it suits the songs he chooses. He is a fantastic guitar picker, and makes the playing of complicated ragtime stretches look absolutey effortless. I think that most of the appeal is actually that, though he appears nervous on stage, once he's started playing he becomes incredibly laidback and casual, as if playing the guitar and singing were the easiest thing in the world. I love listening to him.

Apologies to those who thought they'd got away with not hearing about that festival :)