If you are visiting Kelso, there’s a big gathering of traditional Scottish/Irish (mainly) tune players in the Cross Keys, effectively starting Thursday night and keeping on until Sunday pm. All visitors are welome, it’s a good place to listen, or if you know the repertoire join a session.
David Kilpatrick, Gary Cleghorn and friends will be at the Cobbles Inn after 9pm for songs (and indeed tunes, we welcome both). Voices especially needed!
An evening of Scottish Songs from two masterly performers, Fiona Ross & Christine Kydd, at the Oak Room in the Cross Keys, Kelso.
They have come together to present an evening of the best Scotland has to offer in the way of fine songs.
Joint Kelso Folk and Live Music Club / Kelso Music Society Concert
Date: Thursday 26th September 7.30-10 pm
Venue: Kelso Old Parish Church
“Gypsy meets classical”
Lulo Reinhardt (Germany) and Yuliya Lonskaiya (Belarus)
Lulo is one of the foremost authentic and distinctive musical voices in modern Gypsy music. He is from a long line of gypsy musicians, and is master of a fusion of styles, including flamenco, Latin, and Brazilian jazz which he combines with his own artistic stamp and seemingly effortless technical ability.
Yuliya is classically trained and has won several international guitar competitions in Poland, England, Serbia and Montenegro. In 2002, in a duo with Russian guitarist, Dimitrii Illarionov, she won the prestigious GFA guitar competition (Guitar Foundation of America). In 2006, she made her debut in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow as soloist with the Symphonic Orchestra Novaya Rossiya.
They have now come together to perform classic, folk, jazz and bossa nova arrangements in their own fresh and unique way.
See
(Piazzola – Libertango)
(Reinhardt)
The Kelso Folk and Live Music Club is pleased to announce the line-up for this year’s folk festival. As in past years, this will be a weekend of live concerts featuring award-wining acts, combined with sessions, workshops and open mics offering a showcase for local talent. This year there are four great ticketed concerts to catch. On the Friday night we kick off in spectacular style with classically trained and BBC Young traditional musician of 2023 Amy Laurenson and her band, who draw from the Shetland tradition in her own unique way. With them on the same bill are the powerhouse duo of Will Pound and Jenn Butterworth, phenomenal high octane players of traditional music on mouth organ and guitar. On Saturday lunchtime we have the band Wayward Jane who have developed their very own Old-Time sound with claw hammer banjo, double bass, fiddle, flute, guitars and vocals. On the Saturday night we are delighted to welcome two greats of the Scottish folk scene – guitarist and melodeon player Tim Edey and Highland piper Ross Ainslie collaborating together to give you a spectacular show. Also appearing that night are duo Steve Hicks and Lynn Goulbourn, with their entertaining and eclectic mix of songs and stunning guitarmanship. Finally our Sunday lunchtime concert features the legendary songwriter and performer Jez Lowe.
In addition we will have outdoor events on the Saturday afternoon (weather permitting) and the opportunity to participate in our sessions, singarounds and open mics, whether you are a singer or musician or simply wish to listen to some great live music. All are welcome to join in, and you are sure to find like-minded musicians/singers. For those wanting to improve their skills and gain inspiration, there will be workshops on the Saturday morning. All this is going on in the beautiful Borders town of Kelso, a great tourist destination!
The Kelso Folk and Live Music Club is pleased to announce the line-up for this year’s folk festival. As in past years, this will be a weekend of live concerts featuring award-wining bands and artists, combined with sessions, workshops and open mics offering a showcase for local talent. This year there are three great ticketed concerts to catch. On the Friday night we kick off in spectacular style with harpist Catriona McKay and fiddle player Chris Stout (photo above) who perform traditional Scottish music in their own unique way. With them on the same bill is Iona Fyfe, a past “MG Alba Scots singer of the year” winner who performs both folk and pop songs in the Scots language. She is supported by her three piece band. On the Saturday night we are delighted to have the celebrated English songsmith and guitarist Martin Simpson. Also appearing that night are Malin Makes Music, a four piece band featuring piper Malin Lewis, a BBC Alba Young folk musician of the year finalist last year. Finally our Sunday lunchtime concert features the wonderful Ainsley Hamill and her trio performing English and Scot’s Gaelic songs.
In addition we will have a Borders showcase concert on the Saturday lunchtime featuring Riddell Fiddles, and outdoor events include a dance display from Ragbag Morris. There will also be opportunity to participate in our sessions, singarounds and open mics, whether you are a singer or musician or simply wish to listen to some great live music. All are welcome to join in, and you are sure to find like-minded musicians/singers. For those wanting to improve their skills and gain inspiration, there will be various music workshops on the Saturday morning. All this is going on in the beautiful Borders town of Kelso, a great tourist destination!
In concert for the folk club, May 27th 2022, playing ‘three jigs’.
Despite Covid and worries that concerts and sessions might provide difficult to stage or even be cancelled at the last minute, the Tait Hall enjoyed about as close to a full house as social distancing permitted during the weekend from September 3rd-5th. The good news is that weather won’t be an issue from September 10th when the weekly Oak Room singaround returns at 8pm.
After a year’s absence the usual 1st weekend in September welcomed us with weather just fine and warm enough to allow outdoor sessions at Rutherford’s micro pub in the square and the cricket pavilion in Shedden Park. In the Tait Hall, there were two double bill evening concerts – on Friday night, the Siobhan Miller Band and Maggie MacInnes joined by Anna Massie; on Saturday, Martin and Eliza Carthy and Luke Daniels and The Cobhers. There were two lunchtime concerts, with North Sea Gas on Saturday and Absolutely Legless Irish dance on Sunday. The festival closed with an indoor concert at the Cross Keys offering an open stage to club members. Photographs: David Kilpatrick.
Our thanks to everyone who attended, all the session players and especially the club stalwart Ron Hastings who anchored sessions in a musical marathon.
Calling all Kelso Folk Club members and friends!
Next Saturday 21st August there is a free music festival at Rowchester near Greenlaw …take the Kelso Stichill Road and follow the R signs. It would be great to get there for our Kelso acts on from 12 – music line-up…. Kelso Folk Group (Allan, Pete, Ron, David, Steve Dent and Andrew Hunter followed by Natalie Bays with David Kilpatrick, then Andrew and BB. Other acts include Lilla & Scott Krueger, Rebecca Williams, Evan Anderson, Banned for Life!, Drenched, The Retrophones and finally Fire in the Middle. No ticket just donation for charity. First live outing and a great platform for Kelso Folk Club. Please support if you can and keep music live.
The club’s second CD – Cobbled Together Volume 2, the first CD had that title back in 2008 – is called Across the Cobbles to mark our recent double value Friday nights. First the Cross Keys Oak Room singaround and then a short walk over the paviours and setts (no cobbles now really!) to The Cobbles Inn for the open late night session.
You can buy the CD for £7.95 collected (Hastings Legal Property Shop at the foot of Roxburgh Street has copies now – discounts, £13 for 2, £18 for 3, £5 each for additional) or for £10 sent by post including p&p (discounts – 2 CDs, £15; 3 CDs, £20; additional £5 each). Club member David Kilpatrick can accept Paypal payment to [email protected] via the Paypal Menu below.
Come to one of our sessions, join in, give us a song or make a donati0n to the festival fund and ask for a CD saying you have seen this page – it could be free!
If you want to pay by bank transfer, or need more than three copies sending to a single address, please email [email protected] with your request.
The CD is a glass-mastered commercial quality release with 21 tracks adding up to 1 hour 20 minutes of great variety from our expanded circle of club members and friends. It’s an ideal Christmas gift as it’s easy to post to anywhere in the world, and the same size as many cards. The tracks range from Scottish traditional (with a contemporary twist) to blues, original songwriting, folk, country and a hint of rock and pop but all with the solo or collaborative small-venue intimacy the club is known for.
Here’s a video from October 2017 catching the informal traditional session in the Cross Keys main bar on a Thursday evening, with Andrew Smith – organiser of the Kelso Folk & Live Music Festival from 2016 to 2024 – playing the hammered dulcimer