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A month or so ago, enthusiasts for traditional folk-singing all over the world collectively mourned the death of Louisa Jo Killen. She had been singing traditional songs - to great acclaim - since the 1950s.

Writing an obit for her, however, comes with a logistical problem. Y'see, Louisa Jo has only been publicly known since around 2010. Up until then she was known as Louis Killen; a bearded, beer-swilling tenor who specialised in bawdy songs. All her well-known albums were recorded as Louis and almost all of her performing was done under that name, too. She came out as female at the age of 76, just three years before she died.

Read more... )

Here's Lou Killen singing one of my favourite songs: Blackleg Miner
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Wow. It's very exciting. At least, it is if you're me. For the first time that I've ever noticed, Jez Lowe is playing in London. On Friday.

And he's bringing the Bad Pennies with him.

And it's in King's Place, which is a lovely venue.

Jez Lowe is a traditional-sounding folk songwriter from the North East. If - like me - you grew up hanging out in folk clubs in Durham then you will have slowly spent your life discovering that half the songs you thought were traditional were actually written by him.

I think his best-known song is probably Greek Lightning, though it's one I only met relatively recently. Annoyingly, YouTube doesn't seem to want to furnish me with the (rather dafter) song I wanted to link to, about a dog that wouldn't bark.

Anyway, if you like good song-writing, folk-style music, or stripey t-shirts I highly recommend it. Tickets available from here.
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The short version: if you have any interest in folk music, folk dance or contemporary dance I strongly advise you to consult the touring schedule of The Lock In to see if it's coming near you. It's well worth checking out.

The Long Version )
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Every year I have grand intentions of blogging about Whitby Folk Week, and every year I fail because while I'm there I'm too busy running about and dancing and drinking.

I usually then also fail to write it up proper after the fact, because it's usually a bizarre mixture of the surreal and the exactly-like-the-previous-34-festivals and I'm not sure where to start. So I don't.

Instead, this year, I think I'll attempt to write about some isolated incidents (where "some" may end up being "one"). So...

God speed the plough! )

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