Acoustic Troubadours March 23,2007

March, 23 2007, THE ACOUSTIC TROUBADORS at Moot Hall, Holton le Moor, near Caistor. Pics from a fund raising gig for "Raise my sail" featuring the Acoustic Troubadors who for "one night only" were Steve Jackson, Chris Treebeard and Paul Pearson, Roger Coult and the Brothers Norman, Paul and Jonathon. We all did solo spots then got together for something unrehearsed! Great roaring fire too!

AND THE REST/SET LISTS/PLOUGHMENS BUNCH

Comments & Things

*Review (By Tim The Twangler)- Market Rasen Folk Club Friday 3rd November 06 (edited)

Steve Jackson was better than I have ever heard him with a good mix of his own songs and some classics getting the audience singing along and all really enjoying the guys set. Another player who can ring the changes and play several instruments.(Grrr)

As it happens, from beginning to end this was a great evening of music.But the outstanding thing for me was the way in which the audience took to the performers from the first to the last and sang and stamped and clapped the evening away.Sound was as ever superb!

On stage at Belfast City Hall ( 22nd Sept 2006)performing "Communication Blues"
Enjoyed the busking at the 2006 Greenbelt Festival (26th - 28th August) held at Cheltenham Race course, I wasn't too sure what to expect. A range of live music, speakers, arts events, food,clothes stalls (picked up some colourful shirts) and the constant sound of drumming! Busking was done in one hour time slots and over the three days I managed 4 hours of playing, At the end of this I had friction burns on my wrists! Plenty of interest in the strummer. Also managed to perform at the Winged OX Folk Club which the organisers are hoping to develop further for next year. I signed the petition to support this. Enjoyed listening to music writer Stever Turner talk about his new biography on Johnny Cash (The Man Called Cash) and bought a signed copy. Following this another highlight, an interview with artist Bill Drummond (don't call him a prankster, he doesn't like it) and his Choir 17 project.
Music wise blown away by a couple of bands I admit I've never heard of. My Morning Jacket (from Louisville,Kentucky) and Michael Franti and Spearhead (from San Francisco). All I can say is I bought albums from both when I stopped off at Nottingham on the way home. Another highlight was something called "The Rising" which consisted of a quartet of song writers on stage talking about their craft. This included the likes of Dave Sharpe, Ben Okafor, Iain Archer and host Martyn Joseph.

Jolly Brewer Check out the website at http://www.thejollybrewer.co.uk which includes a webcam. The camera is in a static position but the sound and visual quality is good There's also a weekly comment on the performers too.Best to check out the Brewer website for all the latest updates. A big thanks to Neville Arthurs who's downloaded and put a CD together of some of my performances at the venue and he's just done a Volume 2. Much appreciated Nev!
Hank Wangford plays the strummer!
I took my strummer along to a recent Hank Wangford gig at Willoughton Village Hall near Kirton Lindsey (28th April) and he had a look and a strum. I thought it might appeal to him in an old timey country kind of way. He seemed genuinly interested or maybe he was just being polite! Either way a great evening of live country music from Hank and Reg Meros!
The Scullion Strummer Roadshow made their debut at the Lincoln Folk Club at the White Hart, Nettleham on 7th April 2006. Above left to right - Mel Oysten, Hugh Scullion, Steve Jackson, Chris Wright and Steve Hindley. There's a DVD of this performance too!
I'm also a member of roots'n roll n' ceilidh band "Ploughmens Bunch" see www.pbunch.blogspot.com/ and hear us at www.myspace.com/ploughmensbunch

LIVE APPEARANCES
I have performed solo at various venues in the Lincolnshire area including the Market Rasen and Lincoln folk clubs,the Jolly Brewer, Lincoln Drill Hall, Turners Arms Wragby,The Bull Horncastle,The Farm at Anderby Creek,Salutation Inn, Near Caistor, Caistor Sports and Social Club, Black Horse Nettleham, Bargate Club, Caxton Theatre Grimsby,Golden Eagle,Lincoln,Lincoln Central Library and I can now add Belfast City Hall and the Europa Hotel in Belfast which apparently is the most bombed hotel in Europe! Plus there's Greenbelt Festival 2006. Sessions too like the Black Horse at Old Bolingbroke where they play lot's of top notch old timey stuff with various instruments including banjo,fiddle,washboard, guitar and mandolin. If there's an opportunity to play I'll do it. I'm looking to do more solo performing and am happy to play with a PA or totally acoustic.
SIREN FM
*I've been doing some broadcasting (Roots n' Boots) for Siren Radio- Lincoln University. It's one hour show on Siren Radio on 87.7 FM and also available to listen to on the internet at http://www.sirenonline.co.uk . The first programme included tracks from Hayseed Dixie, Gillian Welsh, Carter Family, Creedance, Gene Parsons,Good Old Boys, Johnny Cash, Scullian and Hindley, Jesse Fuller, and the like. Siren now have an all year round broadcast licence staring in the spring of 2007 and It looks like I'll be doing a regular "Roots n' Boots" programme plus I'm hoping to assist the station around their future launch and programming. I've called it Roots n' Boots, real music on real instruments with a stomp to it from folk, country, blues, americana, old timey, new timey and all points in-between!

Pictured right with Jolly Brewer guitar maestro and host, Bob Cairns
ORIGINAL SONGS
I appreciate it's quality not quantity but so far it's.... WHAT WAS WRONG (YOU MADE IT RIGHT) (an old timey gospel feel,played on the strummer) I LOST MY HAT (story about losing my hat in a gust of wind off the coast of Norfolk,again played on the strummer) NOW (if you want to say something before it's too late, say it now) AS THE YEARS GO BY (aimed at that time in your life when you discover your turning into your Dad, mannerisms, voice, walk, actions.....It's scary!) All the above four tracks on Ploughmens Bunch CD Hat Trick. EVEN THE BEST GROW OLD (included on Ploughmens Bunch CD - In A Field Of Our Own) (First song I wrote for the band) FISH OUT OF WATER (How I felt when I had an unexpected stay in hospital) HUMBER RHUMBA (Life on the ocean wave,or rather on a trawler in the River Humber) (Also on In A Field Of Our Own) SURFIN IN LONDON (A frantic nod in the direction of the Beach Boys) CROONING THE NIGHT AWAY (old style 78 with a Bing Crosby feel) (Included on Hat Trick CD) I DON'T KNOW (WHERE THAT PLACE IS) (Skiffle meets Johnny Cash) (Opening track on Ploughing On) IN A FIELD OF OUR OWN (Also on Ploughmens Bunch CD - Ploughing On) UPSIDE DOWN, DO-SI-DO TO BILL MONROE (homage to the bluegrass veteran) (On Hat Trick) OLD CROW (On Ploughing On) PEEL ACRES (INSTRUMENTAL) (one for John Peel- noodling away on the strummer, John Peel's face was featured on the front of the NME - a striking image following his death-it was on my music stand so he was looking at me as I played - one of the good guys so I named it after him) Now has a spanish/mexican feel when performed with the band. YOU FLOAT MY BOAT (inspired by watching Mutiny on the Bounty- the Clark Gable/Charles Laughton version - on the strummer) THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES ( a single I recorded in 1981) COMIN' HOME TO YOU - On the Uke, needs a good foot stomp. BORN TO STRUM (what it feels like to pick that super strummer up!) TRAVELLIN' BLUES (playing on the back porch with friends and a cold drink and dreaming about where you might want to travel) (On Hat Trick) SOAKIN' UP THE BLUES, PUTTIN' SOME OIL ON THAT RUSTY OLD WHEEL (in Don Williams mode) MAN ON A TRAIN WITH A PIZZA (a true story about a guy who got on at Birmingham Station and ate a pizza sitting next to me) THE MORE YOU KNOW, THE MORE YOU GROW (about life really) THE BEACH - a ragtimey ode to the seaside. YOU CAN NEVER TOUCH THE SKY - about your heros/influences,from whatever perod in time/history AIRBRUSHED FROM HISTORY ( work in progress, usually two sides to every story, depends who tells it!) STOMP AND DELIVER - a new instrumental on the strummer. You - a new slightly bluesy ballad in progress- STONE FALLING MY WAY - a story song based on the impact someone speaking can have on you. YOU - a new melodic ballad which so far has been well received.

RECORDINGS/DISCOGROPHY
Above- my 1980 single "Fiction" & "The Man With the X-Ray Eyes" recorded at the Studio Playground, Wragby in Lincolnshire. The musicians were Paul Johnson on lead guitar (sadly no longer with us), Ivan Codd on bass guitar and Ray Perry on drums. I sang and played rhythm guitar on the tracks. We spent a Sunday recording the two songs and I remember having to drive drummer Ray Perry back to the Sands Club in Cleethorpes in the late afternoon for an evening gig where he was part of the house band and then straight back to the Wragby Studio.
Highpoint was a play on John Peel's BBC Radio One Show!
The single and picture sleeve are on the left. Paul Johnson took the photograph in the back room of my Mum and Dad's house in Lestrange Street, Cleethorpes. OK, that was the look at the time!

PLOUGHMENS BUNCH
I've recorded 3 albums with Ploughmens Bunch "In A Field Of Our Own", "Ploughing On" and "Hat-Trick". "In A Field Of Our Own" was the band's debut release recorded at the Brickyard Studios in Lincoln. A couple of my original songs were included, "Even The Best Grow Old" which was the first original song the bunch tackled and "Humber Rhumba" which is also used as the music to accompany a swiss roll snake like dance at our ceilidhs! To keep the rural image going Allan Johnson put a bluesy tune together and I added some words for "Tractor Blues" It's a spontaneous album, mostly recorded live with a few overdubs.
"Ploughing On" was the band's second release which again was a mix of original and traditional songs and instrumentals. It kicks off with I Don't Know (Where That place Is) a skiffle country number with a shuffling beat, the kind of thing I wrote with someone like Johnny Cash in mind (well I can dream!) "In A Field Of My Own" was to segue into an orchestral fade out and you can see that early on I was getting ideas above my station. A big thanks to producer Bryan Peter Rudd for his efforts on the album. Old Crow was intended as some kind of work song, out in the fields under a hot sun, a break for lunch under the shade of a big oak tree and everyone would launch into song. That's a real saw we used in the recording studio!
Hat Trick is probably our best production to date. The songs are stronger and we've developed as a band. Recorded at Lincoln University again with Bryan Peter Rudd at the helm.
STRUMMER/SCULLION INSTRUMENTS ON CD ALBUMS
Hugh's put together 2 compilation CD's featuring a variety of musicians who play his custom made strummers, travel guitars and mandolins. As something of an unofficial ambassador for the Strummer, I was keen to contribute.The strummer certainly opened up my musical horizons and I'm usually approached and asked questions about it when I play. I've got a number of tracks on the two CD's. I've contibuted various tracks to the two CD's
Stringbender inventor, former Byrd,Flying Burrito Brother,Nashville West member and all round good guy, Gene Parsons tweaks the strummer at Lincoln Central Library. Check out Gene's site @ http://www.stringbender.com/

With Country Joe McDonald, a songwriter and performer who I've admired for many years, since his days with Country Joe and the Fish, the American West Coast psychedelic pioneers. He's much more than the man who put the "F" in Woodstock! Check out http://www.countryjoe.com/

I LIKE TO SEE FROGS IN MY POND!

The Write Note

At the Write Note, Lincon Central Library- 2nd May,2007 - taking advantage of an abstract painting exhibition!

Music fan and real ale drinker Nev Arthurs (pictured) is fast gaining a reputation for his online music reviews. Armed with a pen and notepad you can often spot him at open mic nights jotting down songtitles and the like which he combines with his extensive knowledge of music and tropical fish! He's commented on some of my recent performances (reprinted below), cheques in the post Nev!
Jolly Brewer Open Mic Review 11/4/2007
We seem to have been waiting ages for Steve Jackson to treat us to Gram Parson's "Hickory Wind" but finally we get to hear it tonight and it's been well worth the wait. Steve follows with his own familiar "The More You Know, The More You Grow". Before taking us to the break, Steve asks Pete to cog up the echo effects as he thrills us with a fabulous rendition of Hawkwind's "Silver Machine", complete with beat box vocal effects emulating the take-off and landing. Who else but Steve Jackson would perform a 12 minute set beginning with a country classic and ending with psychedelic rock, all played on two Lincolnshire strummers? And where in Lincoln could you possibly hear it, save the Jolly Brewer? Quite superb!
Golden Eagle Open Mic Review 10/04/2007
Our next performer is the charming and admirably talented Steve Jackson. Armed with a care-worn guitar, he treats us to three self-penned numbers beginning with the ragtime “The Beach”. Steve follows with the lovely mellow “You Can Never Touch The Sky” and then ends on a more upbeat note with “The More You Know, The More You Grow”.
Steve plucks out his “duelling strummers” to treat us to his own “Coming Home To You”. There’s some light-hearted banter from a section of the audience, which of course is egg and milk to Steve who responds by encouraging a hearty sing-along of “Ring Of Fire”. The sing-long continues for Steve’s final number, Bill Monroe’s jolly “Blue Moon Of Kentucky”.

GOLDEN EAGLE,LINCOLN OPEN MIC DAY

GOLDEN EAGLE,LINCOLN OPEN MIC DAY,1ST JULY 2007 , LINCOLN WITH STEVE "LAPTOP" LEALAND AND STEVE ALLEN (SPOONS). SET LIST WAS BAD MOON RISING,I LOST MY HAT,BLUE MOON OF KENTUCKY,FOLSOM PRISON BLUES,SILVER MACHINE, RING OF FIRE.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARTIN McKENNA

Eco- Fest Badger's Farm nr Louth, 17th June 2007

Quite an event. I was there just for the Sunday. Took part in the singer songwriters competition but didn't make the final. Plumped to perform a skiffle like version of "The More You Know, The More You Grow" for the judges. You've got to be able to handle rejection in this business! Just be yourself and do what you do. Enjoyed the open mic session where King Rollo provided some fine snare drum rhythm for my slot. As time goes on I more and more enjoy the spontaniety of having musicians join me. Bluesman, Adrian Byron Burns was also very complimentary about my strummer playing, so thanks Adrian that's much appreciated coming from a quality pro musician. The cheques in the post or maybe it's paypal!
Played Bad Moon Rising, I Lost My Hat, Blue Moon Of Kentucky and Ring Of Fire, which pretty much hits the mark every time! Well received by the audience and some grat dancing too!




Chilling out at the 2006 event, Nev Arthurs (left) Bob Cairns and SJ