onionbagblog

There’s always been a folk element to m’blog.

Blimey.

And so for the second time in a fortnight, I pulled on a chunky polar neck sweater (seriously) and set off out for an evening of traditional acoustic entertainment in North Essex.

On offer on Monday night @ColchesterArts was the great Dick Gaughan. Oh the irony of a Socialist folk hardliner, singing songs of Scottish national identity on a cold Monday night in Sunny Colch.

But first the Arts Centre – I actually got slightly lost wandering down the High Street, heading towards the back of The Odeon.

In what is becoming something of a recurring theme on m’blog of late – the last time blah blah blah… But yeah, back in the undergraduate days and @AnnaJCowen and I went to the newly opened Arts Centre in the summer of ’93, only to find that the band had split up on route to Sunny Colch.

Cripes.

No chance of Dick Gaughan going the way of Paris Angels. Unashamedly spiky, but with a warmth in his voice to make you believe, the folk hero’s appearance in the old church wasn’t preaching, but it certainly was uplifting.

Gaughan is the guitar player that Billy Bragg wishes he could be. Couple this with the story telling style in his songs, and you’ve pretty much got a fantasy folk hero.

The man can even get away with a rambling introduction ahead of a song, describing in great detail the historical significance in terms of the revolutionary timeline, and then… play an instrumental.

A brief beer break, and I felt alone in the Arts Centre for not having brought along a book or my knitting. I somehow bluffed my way through downing a pint of Guinness.

The fine bar staff were even applauding – not me, but the sense of suspension and storytelling craft that Gaughan carried on with after the knitting break. He isn’t the most natural of performers, but that’s the appeal. This is raw folk. It only adds to the message in the music.

An encore-dodging sprint down the High Street for the last train back to the Hoe – I really couldn’t tell you if Gaughan finished his set with a Girls Aloud melody.

Keeping it at a #hyperlocal level, and a parish notice for any local folkies to remind you that the Wivenhoe Folk Club has a change of venue for the November get together.

The Masonic Lodge along The Avenue will host Johnny Silvo on Thursday night. I’m not sure if Scottish Socialism will be on the agenda, but the combination of folk and Freemasonry sounds like a lot of fun.

There’s always been a folk element to m’blog…