Open Mic Report by Steve Davis

Despite  the first real icy fingers  of winter creeping across Newport causing a shiver for all those who ventured out and football on the TV to boot Newport Open Mic held a sparkle of warmth lifting the spirits of those brave and hardy folk who crowded in to the Navy Club in Bellman’s Yard.

First on was Ben Garrott with a great bluesy voiced rendition of the Robert Johnson classic “Crossroads” which he had only just learnt tonight! Next up, a cover of “Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga, different but very good and finally a Tom Waits song “Tango Till They’re Sore”...a great set indeed.

Olly Flavell sang his jazzy funk version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” followed by two self penned numbers “By My Side” and “I Don’t Know Why” to conclude an excellent performance. Don’t forget Olly hosts a fortnightly Open Mic session at the Bridge Inn, Newport, the next one being on 5^th December.

Young Nathan Davies started his set with “Best Day” by Taylor Swift accompanied by Angel Day who sang really well. This was followed by a song written by his father Martyn “The Revolution Song”, concluding with his own “If I Could Change at All”.

Newcomers Nicola and Chris were the acoustic duo Elmore Row, two guitars and lovely vocal harmonies from these talented teenagers, bringing a fresh slant to some old standards by Aimee MacDonald, Little Talks, One Direction, The Lumineers and Guns ‘n’ Roses “Sweet Child of Mine”.

An extended set allowed a five piece band Freeze from Wolverhampton to showcase their tremendous ability singing and playing some rock and indie classics by  The Who, Beatles, Green Day, Free and to finish “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC which had the audience rockin’ in the aisles. Great lead vocals from Chanel Lamb, with Henry Rowbotham on lead guitar, Kris Collins on rhythm, Andy Morris on drums and female bass player Drew Allen. A brilliant tight set and vocal harmonies from a teenage band aged between 15 and 18 and looking to go far.

Dave Sanford and Friends (Olly Flavell, Andy Clarke and Pete Sherriff) followed with a classic blues set, with Dave in fine form on his new guitar. All the numbers these lads played were  self penned by Dave and you could feel the blues oozing out into the room, great little band indeed so well done to you all....I loved it as did the crowd

Now regulars at Newport Open Mic, Gaz and the Tones played original songs with Pete Sherriff ably stepping in on drums. These local lads are coming on in leaps and bounds and have become a really tight little band with good guitar work from all the lads as well as a good range from Gaz with his vocals. I have to admit that I am not ashamed to say that I am a big fan of these lads and “Go” is in my mind a single waiting to be recorded. 

 Always nice to see a 12 string guitar getting an airing from Gaz and by coincidence this was followed by another airing of a 12 string, this time electric, from Graham Dabbs playing with his band Sherriff’s Men, who haven’t been seen together at the Navy Club in nearly 3 years. No one would have guessed that Graham was nervous to hear him sing and play wonderfully well on his 12 string with Pete Meyrick on fretless bass and Pete (The Sherriff) driving the set along on drums. A set of 60s classics included “Walk in the Room” by The Searchers, “Mr Tambourine Man”....the perfect song for the jingly jangly sound of the 12 string to finish off a Beach Boys classic “Sloop John B”, originally a West Indies folk song but made famous by my all time favourite band in  1966. A trip back in time and a real treat for me as I found myself singing along but regrettably having to restrain myself from joining them on stage to join in on vocal harmonies....maybe next time. 

An evening of lively and varied music from talented youngsters to the more experienced oldies amongst us and always good to see new faces who are prepared to travel a not inconsiderable distance for 15 minutes of fame! Before I leave for a nice cuppa rosie lee a big thanks to not only those who turn up and play but also to those who, week in week out, set up, man the sound desk, the door, take photographs and stay up into the wee small hours to write up a report.

A reminder that next Tuesday 26^th November Open Mic at the Navy will be acoustic so although there won’t be the full drum kit down from the loft there will be the use of the cahon, so bands, feel free, to do an your set “unplugged”. KEEP MUSIC LIVE.....cheers!

It was with great pleasure I was asked to write about this week’s Open Mic. Being a regular at The Navy Club I was pleased to help out. It was my second visit in a week as I run the newly formed Victoria Bridge Club which meets here on Monday evenings. Nestling just in Bellman’s Yard the club has great facilities and a great atmosphere. However back to the job in hand of doing the write up, it was great to see my very good friend and fellow musician John Lloyd who had been drafted in to run the sound desk which he did to his impeccably high standards.

First on tonight was Lawrence Gale who played several lovely acoustic tracks which included the classic Beatles numbers ‘Let it Be’ and ‘Here comes the sun’ accompanying these numbers Lawrence sang a classic from American singer songwriter Jackson Browne ‘Naked ride home’. To finish the set off Lawrence gave us a good rendition of  ‘Lay Down’ by the Strawbs.

Second up tonight was the irrepressible Olly Flavell. This young man has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years. He runs his own biweekly open mic on a Thursday at the Bridge Inn in Newport adding to the local live music scene. While studying music at Stafford College Olly also finds time to play with his band the Brushes. I am sure we will see them gigging shortly Olly already does solo performances around Shropshire. Tonight he offered up some delights which included two of his self-penned works ‘By your side’ and ‘I don’t know why’ His wonderful jazzy style of guitar playing added to his smooth vocal style was a real treat for all to hear. He finished off his solo set with lovely renditions of Maroon 5’s ‘Sunday Morning’ and the Bill Withers hit ‘Ain’t no Sunshine’ which incidentally won the Grammy for best R&B song in 1972 and is still a crowd pleaser.

Next up was young Nathan Davis. He is no stranger to the Navy club and regularly gives great performances. His set started with a Levellers number called ‘Maid of the River’ and this was followed by ‘Ho Hey’ which was a 2012 platinum selling hit for American folk band the Lumineers. Nathan finished his set with one of his own songs ‘ I will only say’.  I am sure we will be hearing a lot more from this talented chap in the future.

Next up was a real treat for blues fans. Dave Blu who plays guitar to an amazing standard was on lead while being ably backed by Olly Flavell on rhythm guitar, Andy Clarke on Bass and young Jobe Spencer on drums. This tremendous blues jam band gave us the highest quality of music. Playing some of his self-penned songs Dave Blu gave us his usual master class and treated us with his own songs including ‘How? Why? When?’, ‘Black Country Boy’ and ‘Bar Tender Blues’. For a quartet of musicians thrown together at short notice one could not help be inspired by their fluidly and sheer ability to play to this wonderful level of musicianship. 

Stepping up next was Newport based band ‘Gaz and the tones’. The band consists of Gary on twelve string acoustic guitar while Andy plays lead electric guitar and Tony I believe plays the Bass. You may see where the band name came from? Tonight they had seconded a drummer named Tom who made a good job of backing the guys on the drums. I have had the pleasure of watching this recently formed band several times and I am becoming one of their biggest fans, I am particularly impressed with their overall sound and great song writing skills. There set tonight included all their own material with songs such as ‘ Sweet Lorenzo Harmony’ , ‘Passion’ , ‘Over’ ‘This too shall pass’ and ‘Newton Squared’. With a polished performance they have a quality no far removed from that off the ‘Beautiful South’ but with a heavier ‘Keane’ feel to it. I am sure these guys will go far and will be soon gigging in the local area. As they are both dedicated and friendly in their attitude I am sure they are possibly destined for bigger things in the future.

Last up was the amazing Darcy Crawford with his rugged looks he gave us all plenty to talk about. As one of the local tennis coaches for Boughey Gardens Tennis Club, Darcy fits his music in around his busy coaching regime. Tonight was no exception as he gave up a great vocal rendition of Ed Sheerin ‘Wayfaring Stranger’ Using a looping peddle he created a quite spellbinding cover of this song which highlighted the quality and  vocal range of this young man. Darcy followed this up with several wonderful acoustic covers which included Paulo Nutini’s ‘Last Request’ The Scripts ‘Man who can’t be moved’ and the Kings of Leon ‘ Someone like you’.

The evening was as always full of top quality entertainment and I recommend you give the Navy club a visit on a Tuesday night and enjoy the live music. Open Mic’s sessions are friendly and fun and give everyone the opportunity to showcase their material. Please come and support your local venue.

By Grahame Weir

Fireworks a plenty at The Navy   Words: Jude Paton,  Pictures: Matt Thomas

 
 Here’s a little test. Do you recognise these names? Thomas Bates, Robert Winter, Christopher Wright, Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy……….Guy Fawkes?   All were among the thirteen conspirators who plotted to blow up James 1^st in 1605 by placing 36 barrels of gunpowder in a cellar under the Houses of Parliament, but it is normally only the one name that people recognise. For more than 400 years since then, the Gunpowder Plot, now more often known as Bonfire Night, has been celebrated every Nov 5^th by burning an effigy of Fawkes on bonfires all over the country. All over that is, except for St Peter’s School in York, who steadfastly refuse to condemn Guy Fawkes, a former pupil of theirs!

Nov 5^th this week at the Navy was certainly a much quieter affair, but with four bands and a couple of individuals to entertain a crowd of fifty or so, we were at least treated to a few musical bright sparks.

No sooner had the doors opened before young Olly Flavell had assembled a great ‘Scratch House Band’ to take us through the sound check. With lead guitarist Roger Clarke, Baz Webster on drums and bass man Alan Middleton, Olly proved that he really can mix it with these experienced musicians. A great jazzy funk version of “Valerie” started us off, a quick run through the chord sequence led into Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” and finally ”Sweet Home Chicago” to close.  Well worth mentioning brilliant improvised lead breaks from Roger.

Multi-talented Ben Garrott, once again on guitar tonight, opened with that “gas drinking, piston clinking, air polluting, smoke belching, four wheeled buggy from Detroit City” in other words Jerry Reed’s song “Lord Mr Ford”. Last week I noticed the similarity of Ben’s gravelly voice to Tom Waits, and this was confirmed again as he followed up with a marvellous version of “Cold Water” including splendid whistling break. Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It” showcased this brilliant young musician’s originality.

Club regular Nathan Davies seems to have been around for ages so it’s worth remembering that he is only sixteen years old and the Navy was his very first live performance, just a short while ago. A self-penned song to open, ‘I’ll Always Say’ followed by very nice versions of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and “Cannonball” by Damien Rice, completed a great set.

No Alex tonight, so a depleted Vinyl Tap had Alan Lane providing lead vocals for this popular local band. A couple of fine instrumentals, “Time is Tight” and “Wipeout” featured Cath Butler on keyboards for the old Booker T number and a very energetic Remynie on drums for an extended version of The Surfaris classic. Sixties favourites “Sorrow” and “The Letter” rounded it all off.

Making only their second appearance at the club, Telford based Two Pence Short was our next band of the evening. Although only together for around five months, their original, alternative rock, grabbed the audience’s attention from first song, ‘Leave’. A great rhythm section provided by Nigel Stevens and Ellis Holmes supported strong vocals from Jamie O’Neill and steady lead from guitarist Ben Bromwich. Other songs included “Gravity Strong”, “Batteries and Bells” and new song “It Goes Without Saying” closed a polished performance.

Gaz and the Tones, who are the support act at this year’s Open Mic Christmas Party on Tuesday 17^thDecember, tonight had young Andy Conway on drums which really made for a strong driving set. Lovely blend of 12 string guitar with lead and bass……. best song tonight was “Newton Squared”.

Joe Bayliss had the difficult task of following four live bands but brought the room to a hush with a terrific opener by Lana Del Rey “Video Games”. “Lighthouse”, an original from Joe preceded a fine version of “Wishing on a Star” covered by Paul Weller in the 70s but originally done by Rose Royce. Great acoustic set from Joe who can regularly be heard at the Navigation Open Mic session on Thursday nights.

We normally see Grahame Weir in the audience, but tonight we had the pleasure of hearing him on stage performing, in my opinion, the best set I have ever heard from him. Opener, Dylan’s “Big Girl Now” was followed by an original of his “Third Floor” which was quite exceptional, before closing the evening with a Bowie classic “Changes” from the 1971 album Hunky Dory.

Hey up that's it for this week. It will all happen again next week, so grab your guitar and come on down to The Royal Naval Association Club in Bellman's Yard just off the high street in Newport Shropshire. See ya there.

 

New acoustic session at the Navy.        Words: Dave Whiteman       Pictures: Jude Paton

Well it could perhaps have been worse than it was, as the biggest storm to hit the UK since 1987, when Michael Fish reassured a viewer that there wasn't going to be a hurricane, blew in this week.  Michael was dragged out of retirement to give his opinion on the weather forecast and as usual, we seemed to be slow in recognising the seriousness of the situation.  Hundreds of properties damaged many thousands without power and, sadly a number of people losing their lives made this one of the worst storms ever experienced. And as Shropshire battened down the hatches in preparation, what happened? It pretty much passed through our county almost without incident.

The weather would have to be pretty bad, however, for the Navy to cancel the Open Mic, and this week saw a change to the normal programme. For ten years or more, the main stage has seen a variety of live music acts from individuals to seven piece bands, but for the first time the smaller back room was the venue for a purely acoustic evening.

Ian Simpkin from Eccleshall gave us the perfect start with an old favourite, Don McLean’s ‘Vincent’ and a little heard classic from Dire Straits, ‘Why Worry?’ before Navy regular Carol Cartwright took to the floor. Carol can normally be heard playing with a band at the Unicorn Folk Club, but she is pretty accomplished as a solo artiste. Great finger-picking of Paul Simon’s ‘Scarborough Fair’ is always a highlight.

Nice to see Mike Collins back at the club. Mike, from Perton always brings something different to the table and this week it was a ‘Black Country Folk Song’……. ’Cum on Feel The Noise’ by Slade, those well-known Wolverhampton folkies!

About six months ago a quiet, softly spoken young man came to the Navy and stunned the audience into silence with his melodic guitar and superb voice. I predicted then that we would be seeing an awful lot more of Zak Christie and I am delighted to say that he has become a bit of a fixture in the town. His version of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ was brilliant as was a self-penned composition, ‘Tales of Before’ but his rendition of ‘English Rose’ was, in my opinion, better that the original….and I am a big Paul Weller fan.

No bands tonight, just a plethora of singer guitarists and the soft acoustics of the back room seemed perfect for next guest, Graham Dabbs. Gray has developed a lovely gentle sound that sometimes can get a little lost on a big stage, but tonight every word and every string could be heard perfectly. ‘It Ain’t me Babe’ was originally written by Bob Dylan and covered by everyone from The Byrds to Joan Baez but Graham’s version tipped a hat to the Johnny Cash and June Carter version, excellent stuff.

Olly Flavell’s Open Mic is packing them in at The Bridge on alternate Thursdays, but it is nice that he hasn't forgotten his roots! A couple of new compositions from him, ‘I don’t Know Why’ and ‘By Your Side’ left the audience wanting more.

One of the club’s most talented young musicians, Ben Garrott is usually found playing keyboard or tenor saxophone, but having purchased his first guitar just a few weeks ago, he is already accomplished enough to accompany himself on stage. I particularly liked ‘Anarchy in The UK’ sung in a slow blues style very reminiscent of Tom Waits but I have never before heard ‘Lord Mr Ford’…. a protest song about cars written by Dick Feller….complete with very authentic Southern States Drawl.

Next up Richard Thomas does like a challenge, so following Ben we heard an old pop song by Suzi Quatro no less, done in the snarling punk voice that only Rich can get away with! Keeping with middle of the road pop theme he then covered Racey’s ‘Some Girls Do’ before amusing the audience with a rewritten ‘The Boxer’ entitled ‘The Sadist’s Song’…hope no-one was too offended with the near the knuckle lyrics!

It was left to Helen Brown from Priorslee to bring the evening to a close, getting the audience to join in with ‘Streets of London’ the Ralph McTell classic, before a lovely version of ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ written by Carole King but more often associated with James Taylor.

So an excellent, and quite different, evening from our usual Open Mic. Did it work? Give us feedback and let us know. Certainly the more intimate surroundings suited the low key style of many of our performers, every note and word heard clearly but it is your opinion that really matters. Back to normal next week on the main stage, see you there and keep it live!

Songwriting Circle at The Navy.   Words: Jude Paton    Pictures: Matt Thomas

There have been a number of programmes lately about British songwriters and their impact on the world of music. Lennon & McCartney predictably led the way, and even though most of their songs were written individually, with perhaps little or no input from the other, both names always went on the song writing credits. The most unusual collaboration though, has to be Elton John and his writing partner Bernie Taupin. They met after Bernie answered Elton’s advertisement and what was very different about them was not that they didn’t write together, but quite often they were not even in the same country! Bernie would pen the lyrics, post them on and Elton would sit down at the piano, pull a tune out of nowhere and turnout a masterpiece….amazing!

So many of our young Navy regulars have been writing songs for some time, and I am always astonished how crafted a lot of these songs are. Incredibly on Tues night this week, the vast majority of our performers were singing their own material. With a full board by 8pm it was Olly Flavell who kicked off the evening. A new song from him, ‘I don’t know why’ was very well received as was his version of ‘Valerie’. Catch Olly’s Open Mic at The Bridge every other Thurs.

The ever reliable Carol Cartwright up next, taking us back to the sixties with a super medley of songs from Simon and Garfunkel, the Bee Gees and a lovely version of Kris Kristofferson’s “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends”. One of our youngest songwriters, Nathan Davies then gave us a couple of numbers written by his late father Martyn, ‘Don’t Walk Away’ and ‘I wonder Why’, a great set finished off with ‘Maid of The River’ by The Levellers.

Last heard busking in Paris, Melissa Severn then gave us her own take on life as a teenager. She is a most talented and prolific singer/songwriter and her 15 minute set of original material included a new song “Prettiest Person” to which a certain Dave Morris said “That’s me!”  Perfectly in tune, confident and with a winning smile she had the audience captivated. She has a well-earned place in the regional final of Open Mic UK this Sunday in Liverpool.....good luck Melissa.

Darcy Crawford who had stepped in at the last minute to be the man in charge of the sound desk, left his duties for a short while to deliver an excellent set which included Ed Sheeran’s “A Team”, “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson and his signature song, “Wayfaring Stranger” with the sound and voices layered on his loop pedal.....wonderful.

Introduced to the club by her friend Melissa, 15 year old Lara Millard from Shifnal was making her second appearance at The Navy, and gave us another original set, including “Turn Back Time”, “Mr Blue Eyes” and “Straight Up”. What a crowd of talented youngsters we witnessed tonight.

First band of the evening with Dave Sandford, Olly Flavell, Andy Clarke and the energetic Andy Conway on drums. A special mention for Dave’s guitar, having a special airing tonight on its 10^th birthday and what a beauty....a Terry Morgan Garric Custom made in Cannock. Dave’s own song “Black Country Boy” followed “Crossroads” and “Sweet Home Chicago” by Robert Johnson, and another self-penned song from Dave, a slow blues number “Hey Mr Bartender”. Truly a guitar master class from Mr Sandford.

Megan Hodgkinson, accompanied by Alan Lane on guitar, sings from the heart and although obviously nervous at the start soon gained in confidence with reassuring glances from an experienced veteran at her side. Songs included “Let Her Go” by Passenger, Rhianna’s “Love the Way You Lie” and “Wade in the Water” by Eva Cassidy which was excellent.

Gaz and the Tones are now regular attendees at Open Mic and gave us another set of original material with the first airing of two new songs “Sweet Lorenzo Harmony” and “Newton Squared”. Gaz playing 12 string gave an excellent intro into “Surrender” and finished another superb set with my favourites of theirs, “Round the Sun” and “Over”.

So another terrific night with a crowd of around 60 enjoying local song writing talent, and as a special treat, sandwiches and cake for all. Door takings and further donations amounting to £80 raised by Open Mic will be given to MacMillan Nurses and Cancer Research in memory of Dick Hotchkiss who died recently and was a great supporter of the Royal Naval Association.

Don’t forget next Tuesday is acoustic night in the back room. We are responding to member’s suggestions, so there will be no amplifiers or drums, all instruments will go through the PA. Get there early to be sure of a seat!

World Cup Qualifier?  Not in The Navy!   Words: Jude Paton, Pictures: Matt Thomas

What was all the panic about? Just last week the press had written off the national football team. Two games to play, two games we ‘must win’ and the harbingers of doom were having a field day. Even after a business-like despatch of Montenegro last week-end, there was still an awful lot of negativity before Tuesday night’s game against Poland. Comparing the situation to 1973 when Poland denied England the chance to qualify, they overlooked the fact that none of the present team were even born in the seventies. Never mind, step forward Captain Marvel in the 88^th minute and all is well, the flights booked for Rio. Thankfully, not all the population was glued to the TV as evidenced by the sizeable crowd at this week’s Open Mic.

Graham Weir who hasn’t been on stage at the Navy in a while gave us an excellent opening set with a self-penned song ‘Third Floor’ and a lesser known Waterboys’ number ‘Old England’. It then became a family affair as Graham’s nephew Dave joined him to perform a couple of songs from Alex Clare and Damian Rice…both exceptionally well executed by this talented young 21 year old.

Next up, one of the most accomplished guitarists in the Navy, Carol Cartwright, brought us a classic ballad, Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly”. Great covers of songs by Alison Moyet, Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge showcased her beautiful fingerpicking style…..good to see you back at the Navy, Carol.

16 years old Nathan Davis and Jobe Spencer sang the second Damien Rice song of the evening “Cannonball”, before two songs written by his late father Martyn, “Why Didn’t You Say” and “Many Roads”. Nathan, who once nervously joined his Dad on stage aged just 11 years old, is starting to sound more and more like him, and I can think of no greater compliment. 

10 year old Jay Harris consistently brings new material to Open Mic and tonight was no exception with “Holes” by Passenger and James Blunt’s “Bonfire Heart”. Making chord changes look easy on a full size guitar Jay destroys the myth that “I can’t play guitar because my hands are too small”. He stands at about 4’10” and can hardly see over the music stand, but a silent room and well deserved applause rewarded this talented youngster.

We then welcomed a first timer at the Navy, 16 years old Vicky Boulton with two of her own songs “Farmer’s Daughter” and a sad song about the loss of her dog last year called “Paw Mark”. I particularly liked the line “you left your paw mark on my heart”. John Denver’s “Country Roads” finished an excellent debut set from Vicky.

Gaz and the Tones are fast becoming familiar faces on the local Open Mic scene performing their own material. Opener “Around the Sun” had Gaz’s strong vocals driving a very solid sound and they kept up the high tempo with more self-written songs “Over”, “This Too Shall Pass” and a new song “Surrender”.  Twin brothers Andy, on bass and Tony on drums provide a great rhythm section and I am sure we will here an awful lot more from these likeable youngsters.

The extremely talented Ben Garrott is equally at home on keyboards or tenor sax but tonight found him in the solo spotlight playing guitar and singing for the first time. He bought a guitar just last Saturday and in 3 days he had mastered Fat Bottomed Girls and 39 both by Queen, but delivered in an unusual and interesting country style. Keeping in the C&W theme he closed with one of Johnny Cash’s signature songs “Folsom Prison Blues”….another string to your bow Ben!

Good to see Darcy Crawford back sporting his trademark cowboy boots and fender t-shirt, performing songs by Paulo Nutini and The Calling. His outstanding performance of Wayfaring Stranger, by Ed Sheeran, used five overlays on his loop pedal and was wonderful stuff indeed.

Onto the graveyard shift and a spellbinding set performed by Cockney rebel Steve Davis, the oldest person on stage all evening. An appropriate opening with Neil Young’s “Old Man, he then covered Bruce Springsteen’s “All I’m Thinking About is You” from the recent Devils and Dust album. ’Ride On’ by Christie Moore and two wonderful songs from the late great JJ Cale – “Call Me the Breeze” and “Crazy Mama” had the audience captivated and closed an excellent set.

So who’s bothered about the footie when there is so much musical talent around? Don’t forget Olly’s Open Mic next Thurs at The Bridge, and a reminder that the last Navy Open Mic of this month, on the 29^th is an acoustic evening to be held in the back room…no bands but plenty of entertainment!

Newport Open Mic 8th October 2013

Report and photographs by Jude Paton

Our regular columnist Dave Whiteman has recently undergone surgery for a knee replacement and although he is now home and starting the recovery process he will no doubt be missing the local Open Mic scene for the next couple of weeks. Music is one of his greatest passions, closely followed by football and skiing and it is a well known fact that music can be a great therapy, reducing pain and anxiety. He may miss some of the live music sessions in and around town but it is worth remembering that there have been a number of great cds produced over the past few years featuring some of the local talent. John Heath was the driving force behind Now That’s What I Call An Original CD, raising funds for Severn Hospice, which came about following the deaths of Open Mic regulars Robbie Woolrich and Roy Hodges over 7 years ago. Live at the Lion and Shroprock were two further cds which were produced and many of you will know some of the performers who included Jon Lloyd, Mark Langford, Pre Sleep Monologue, Alan Turner, Laurence Gale, Rob Bryon, Gerald Maddox, Martyn Templeton, Weazel Diesel, Richard Thomas, Vinyl Tap, Brakedust, Blue Tuesdays, The Making, Near Enough, Anything Goes and many more. Many of these people can still be heard at the Open Mic sessions here in Newport and until Dave returns to the fold he can sit back in his own front room and listen to some of the familiar voices featured on these discs. Not quite the Open Mic atmosphere, I know, but a good aid to his recovery.

Dave Sanford opened Newport’s premier music night at the Navy Club in Bellmans Yard last Tuesday with his new white Fender and a song from comedian-turned-actor-turned-blues-maestro Hugh Laurie before being joined on stage by three Open Mic veterans, Harry Woolley, Andy Clarke and Steve Davis. Harry’s  Allstars eased us into the evening with some slow blues (in E of course) which included JJ Cale’s Call Me The Breeze and something with the line “I love Shropshire onions cos they’re good and strong.” That’s Alright Mama raised the tempo and made way for young Nathan Davies and an excellent solo set which included songs from the Levellers and Bright Eyes followed by Revolution, a song written by his father Martyn and then Nathan’s own composition Hold You. Despite a sore throat his voice sounded really good tonight.

Rich Thomas resurrected some old songs bringing us Abba, the Bee Gees, Mud and Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots are made for Walking unexpectedly sung in German. As always a good and greatly entertaining set from Mr T.

Robbie Pilgrim and Jobe Spencer are now so much more confident on stage at the Navy Club and can often be heard busking their set outside in Bellmans Yard beforehand. Hours of practice has paid off enormously with these two talented 15 year olds playing terrific instrumental versions of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’, Jake Bugg’s Lightening Bolt as well as one of their own compositions. A great set from these two indeed.

Steve Davis, now an Open Mic regular, held us spellbound with his unique interpretation of some lesser known songs by David Crosby and Family as well as Neil Young’s Old Man and finally JJ Cale’s Magnolia with Dave Sanford accompanying him.

From two 15 year olds earlier to a foursome whose combined age came to about 220 years, the veterans who opened the evening, Harry, Dave, Steve and Andy brought us a familiar but highly enjoyable blues set which, you guessed it, included Digging my Potatoes, King Bee, St James’ Infirmary and Laudie Miss Claudie with Harry on vocals, Andy bass, Dave with his lovely Fender and bottleneck and Steve very competently on drums. Dave finished the set up tempo with Clapton’s Before You Accuse Me.

Gaz and the Tones were back again this week with guest drummer Matt Miles comfortably playing alongside these three 24 year olds who play all original material. Twin brothers Andy who plays an excellent solid driving bass and Tony, lead and vocals, compliment Gaz on 12 string and lead vocals exceptionally well and bring refreshing new material to Open Mic. Songs tonight included Round the Sun which I especially liked, Passion, Out There and This Too Shall Pass.

Once again an evening of live music bringing together like minded people either to play or just to sit back and enjoy. All this for just £1 takes place every week at the Royal Naval Association in Bellmans Yard.