SCOLDS BRIDLE - IN CONCERT - SPECIAL GUESTS RUTH & KEN POWELL from RISKY BUSINESS

Presented by: Gregson Lane Folk Club

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0	HOGHTON: Gregson Lane Folk Club - Nets Bar PR5 0FD
P	Friday 30th November, 2018
N	8:00pm

Event information

SCOLDS BRIDLE Gregson Lane Folk Club – 1st September 2016.
It is a great feeling you get, as a Folk Club Organiser, when you take your place, on the door at the start of proceedings, in the knowledge that it’s going to be a packed house due to nothing more than the well-earned reputation of the artists that are booked to perform that evening.
Scolds Bridle (Sue Bousefield & Liz Moore) are a pair of very talented ladies who have been delighting (and continue to delight) folk audiences for longer than they care to remember. Fabulous harmonies – superb guitar playing and that interactive patter that can have the crowd (and I mean ‘Crowd’) absolutely spellbound. Very professional with bucket loads of charisma.
A mixture of songs – happy – sad – funny! There is a bit of a theme – no ‘axes to grind’ – nothing political – just a fascinating insight into life in a northern fishing port – often from the point of view of the wives, mothers and daughters left on shore whilst their loved ones battle the waves and the swell, risking their lives, to earn a living on the trawlers. Then continued life, in that town, after the demise of that once booming industry.
I often judge the mark of a performance/show on how many songs have left such a positive impression on me that they become ‘Earworms’ - both – on the way home and the following morning. Well here I am typing this review and I’m humming - Sounds of The Night – The Sea –I Wish I Had Someone to Love Me and Come Home Safely to Me – This interspersed with a smile as I remember – The Menopause and The OMO Song with which the ‘Girls’ had the audience in stitches.
Quality entertainers like Scold Bridle really have ‘Staying power’ I’m too much of a gentlemen to go into detail about ladies ages but last night we had Steve Parkinson (Doctor Bods Old Hat Band – Cats In The Village – Mooncoyn and SPARXSOUND) in the audience who revealed that he had booked the ‘Girls’ to play at The Broadfield Arms – Leyland – back in 1978 – at which point someone heckled “Bloody hell they must have only been six!” – Being a big fan of Sue and Liz – I know exactly what that heckler meant. They will always be ‘Our girls’.
Thanks to Simon and Jamie Blatchley for being excellent hosts for the evening..
RISKY BUSINESS
RISKY BUSINESS - Gregson Lane Folk Club 26th June 2014
I’m proud to say that I played a very small part in the process of persuading Risky Business to get back together
for a re-union tour.
It was just 12 months ago (27/06/13) when we had Scolds Bridle on at the club and Dave Walmisley was backing
Liz & Sue on a few songs.
When he was packing up his stuff he said “You never had ‘The Riskies’ here; did you?” and the conversation
ended with him saying “I’d like to try and get them back together to play here.”
I asked him to ring me next day to talk about it – he did and we arranged it. I’d never seen them play and to be
honest I wasn’t sure what to expect – for some reason I was expecting a very ‘arty farty’ – serious affair. I couldn’t
have been more wrong!
Risky Business (Ruth & Ken Powell + Dave Walmisley) are the consummate choice for the informal setting of a
folk club. At Gregson Lane our audience want to be entertained and we were not disappointed. The ‘Riskies’
have the perfect formula to appeal to any audience.
1. Musicianship – Ken & Dave are both top notch guitar players and Dave also knows his way round the fretboard
of a mandolin and a bazouki. Most of the bands instruments (except for Dave’s Martin guitar and Gibson
mandolin) are ‘Powell Guitars/Bazoukis – (instruments that both look and sound fantastic) made by Ken.
2.Great Songs – The fact that the band (obviously) perform several of Dave’s songs (I particularly like Africa –
Vagabond Rules & Rosemary’s Garden) gives them a flying start on ‘Great Songs List” – Don’t get me wrong –
I’ve heard Dave perform these on his own and he does a first class job – but putting the Risky Business stamp on
them takes them to a whole new level.
Having a great songwriter in their troupe doesn’t mean that they are too proud to include some timeless classics
from other great writers such as Rosie Hardman & Jimmy McCarthy.
3. Interface with the Audience Ruth Powell – Brilliant (I almost want to be sexist and say “Front-man”) Not only
has she got an amazingly – clear – pitch-perfect singing voice she also has that natural ability to communicate
with an audience. She can do ‘Funny’ – she can do ‘Brassy’ – she can do ‘Happy’ – she can do ‘Sad’ and I
guarantee that every member of that audience went home thinking that Ruth was their new best friend.
A master-class in how to immediately grab the attention of an audience and keep that attention all through the
performance – concise and entertaining intros to songs and good humoured banter.
Ruth, Ken & Dave make it look easy – but the fact that they have a wealth of experience – not only playing
together – but performing in many other line-ups, has enabled them to hone their craft to perfection. This coupled
with the fact that they have no axes to grind, nothing to prove and obviously love what they do.
Here’s hoping that they get together (again) more often