1 Kate Bramley
Last seen in the Club in a wonderful evening with ‘Sweetgrass’ in 2004, but more usually seen with ‘Jez Lowe & the Bad Pennies’, Kate is now earning well-deserved appreciation as the talented singer, musician and songwriter that she is (about time too). Quote “just what the folk scene needs ... a feel for the traditional, but with a firm grip on the fresh and new”. Apart from a very attractive voice, her principal instrument is the celtic fiddle, but she also plays guitar and bouzouki (and was recently seen playing mandolin). Her 2003 CD Old Fashioned Looking Glass is almost all her own songs and the 2006 CD Little Canaan has songs by such as Jez Lowe, Peter Bond and others besides her own. Listeners find themselves wanting to sing with her and both CDs have the same affect.
8 Brian Peters
Brian’s expressive voice and superbly inventive playing of melodeon, anglo-concertina or guitar make it all sound so easy and both songs and tunes are full of vibrant life, peppered with natural humour, making him a welcome guest all over the UK and around the world. The amazing variety of his vast repertoire never strays from his traditional roots (including the songs and tunes of NW England which he so loves) and he brings a freshness to ballads full of power, mystery, evil, drollery, love and courage. As well as his own beautiful compositions, you will also hear English dance music and the songs and tunes of contemporary ‘heroes’ from Leon Rosselson to Robin Williams, plus the odd daring foray into ragtime, rock’n’roll or blues. In his ‘spare time’, he duos with Gordon Tyrrall, plays in two very different Bands and teaches instrumental techniques and singing skills at the ‘Hands-On Music’ and Folkworks courses and at Festival workshops everywhere.
Starting 7.45pm brief AGM (please come earliest) followed by G.A.G (Gardiner Appreciation Group)
 Anne Winter |  Emily and Hazel |
who are Bob Askew (with Paul Hawkins) telling the fascinating story of George Gardiner (left) collecting 1400 lovely songs in Hampshire in 1906.EMILY & HAZEL ASKEW and ANNE WINTER sing the SONGS (no, not all of them!) - Emily & Hazel are busy earning an enviable reputation and Anne has a truly lovely voice - a few of the songs are well alive in the folk world, but GAG believe a lot more songs are worth attention and that George Gardiner’s work as a song collector should be recognised.
22 FUNI (Bára Grímsdóttir & Chris Foster)
‘Funi’ is an old Icelandic word meaning ‘Fire’. Singer/Composer Bára was born in Iceland and has been singing Icelandic traditional songs since childhood in her crystal clear voice. She grew up hearing her parents and grandparents singing folksongs, went on to a formal musical education, played in the first Icelandic all-female rock band and continued musically into performing the old rimur and kvæðalög song styles in Europe and North America. Singing with ‘Embla’ at the 2000 Baring-Gould Folk Festival, Bára met Chris and they started exploring combining his open-tuned guitar-playing style with the modal melodies of Bára’s Icelandic songs with spellbinding results. Growing up in Somerset where he first started singing traditional songs, Chris established himself in the 1970s as one of the UK’s finest traditional ballad singers with his deep warm voice drawing listeners into the ancient world of storytelling linking generations and cultures, accompanying himself with sensitive guitar-playing, illuminating the songs. Along the way, he picked up traditional songs in East Anglia, unusual songs from Victorian/Edwardian west-of-England song collectors, contemporary songs from people like Leon Rosselson and awards for his recordings. After working with his (co-founded) Mobile Arts mixed-media company during the 1980s, Chris re-emerged on the folk scene in the 1990s with two shows ‘Sting in the Tale’ and ‘Traveller’s Tales’ and then continued performing solo at Festivals and Clubs all over the UK and in Canada, Hungary and Iceland. As Funi since 2001, Bára and Chris have appeared on Radio and TV and performed and taught in many countries (also releasing an acclaimed CD FUNI), interpreting the narrative traditional songs of both England and Iceland with sublime artistry, especially when singing in the unique Icelandic tvísöngur harmony style, accompanying themselves with Guitar, Kantele, or with Langspil or Fiðla (traditional Icelandic instruments).
29 Anything Goes
Play or Sing, read a Poem, tell a Story, listen, fetch the beer, anything