VENUE: Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street, London NW1 2HR (on the corner of Cobourg Street, near Euston and Euston Square stations; parking is easy), on Saturdays at 8.15pm
INFORMATION: 020 7281 7700; E-mail: Cellarupstairs;
ENTRANCE: Members: £5, non-members: £6 (unwaged £1 less), except on 20 March when it will be £8 and £9. MEMBERSHIP: £2 for the year (September to August).
ACCESS: The club room is up a short staircase.
RESIDENT PERFORMERS: Jim Younger, Gail Williams, Peta Webb, Ken Hall, Bob Wakeling, Sue Williams, Frankie Cleeve
January - June 2010
9 JAN: JEZ LOWE is a popular singer-guitarist-songwriter from the north-east; many performers sing his songs, which include Coal Town Days, Durham Jail, Galloways and Old Bones.
16 JAN: MARTIN and SHAN GRAEBE sing English traditional songs, some of them in harmony. They have done a lot of research into Baring Gould’s collection of songs, and so have lots of lovely and unusual versions of songs.
23 JAN: CRAIG, MORGAN, ROBSON is made up of Moira, Carolyn and Sarah, respectively - three fine singers, who perform traditional and contemporary songs, most in harmony.
30 JAN: ROY BAILEY is a very popular singer who sings personal and political songs.
6 FEB: JOHN KIRKPATRICK is one of the kings of the squeezebox. He performs traditional and his own songs and tunes; his own songs and tunes include Laundroloverette (often called the laundrette song), A Length of Yarn, Blue Balloon and Pepper in the Brandy.
13 FEB: DAVID CAMPBELL is a fine singer from a famous singing family; his father is Ian Campbell, his aunt is Lorna Campbell (both of the Ian Campbell Folk Group) and his grandparents, Dave and Betty Campbell, were traditional singers from Aberdeenshire (they were the people Bob Dylan turned up to see at the Islington folk club in 1987). David sings traditional and other songs, including a few written by his father.
20 FEB: SANDRA KERR sings songs of the personal and the political, some traditional and some written by her, including many great feminist songs such as We Were There, The Bible According to Eve, The Maintenance Engineer and The Cheviot Hills.
27 FEB: LEON ROSSELSON is one of Britain’s greatest songwriters. His songs are comic, tragic, political and personal; they include The World Turned Upside Down (sung by Billy Bragg and Dick Gaughan, among others), Don’t Get Married, Girls, Song of the Olive Tree and Little Tim Maguire.
6 MAR: The KLEZMER KLUB is a band made up of about six men and women, who perform songs in Yiddish and a wide range of wonderful tunes, some jolly and some melancholy, on various instruments.
13 MAR: MATT QUINN and TOM MOORE are two very fine young fiddlers (Matt is 19, and Tom is still at school); they perform mainly traditional songs and tunes. Matt is the son of singer and musician Dan Quinn.
20 MAR**: NORMA WATERSON, MARTIN CARTHY and CHRIS PARKINSON; they’re among the very best. Please note that the prices for tonight are non-members £9, members £8, unwaged £1 less.
27 MAR closed for Easter
3 APRIL closed for Easter
10 APR: ANDY TURNER and MAT GREEN are two excellent performers who do English traditional songs, tunes and possibly dances. Andy is a lovely singer who also plays concertina; he was the first ever winner (some years ago now) of the Sidmouth Singer competition. Mat plays fiddle and dances with Bampton, one of the very few remaining traditional dance teams in the country.
17 APR: PEGLEG FERRET is a three-man group from the north-east of England, made up of Benny Graham, Keith Pollard and Geoff Anderson. They sing; traditional and other songs in strong harmony.
24 APR: CHRIS COE and JOHNNY ADAMS were members of the New Victory Band; Chris used to sing with her then husband Pete, and John was a member of Muckram Wakes. Chris is a truly great singer of ballads and other songs, and both are fine players of tunes on various instruments.
1 MAY: KEVIN and ELLEN MITCHELL are two great singers, from Ulster and Glasgow respectively; they sing mainly traditional Irish and Scots songs, plus some newer and some comic songs.
8 MAY: FRANKIE ARMSTRONG is a powerful singer of traditional ballads, who also sings other songs – some feminist, some political in other ways, and various others.
15 MAY: DEBBY McCLATCHY is a fine singer and player of American old-time songs, many of which she accompanies on the banjo, over from the US on an all too rare visit.
22 MAY: BRIAN McNEILL is a singer, a songwriter, a multi-instrumentalist and, one of my fiddle-playing residents tells me, one of the best fiddlers in the world. He was in the Battlefield Band for many years, and many other performers, including Dick Gaughan, sing his songs, which include No Gods (and Precious Few Heroes).
29 MAY: closed for bank holiday
5 JUNE: JOE PENLAND is a traditional singer of old-time songs, over here on a rare visit from the southern states of the US.
12 JUNE: LEN GRAHAM is one of the best singers in Ireland; he sings mainly traditional songs, most in English.
We are then closed until 4 September.