Latest News

The sun shone brilliantly, the lovely organisers at Shepley Spring Festival really did provide champagne for everyone who came to see what we looked like, photographers snapped away (please mail copies of anything you’d like to see on the website), radio interviewers arrived to ask about the background to the recording, best of all, the audience enjoyed the new songs at the concert - and “as if…” was well and truly launched.

Hear Allan Wilkinson's launch interview with Barry, Jim and Lester on Northern Sky -

www.allanwilkinson.co.uk/node/963

As you might have already heard, the album is already quite a bit of pre-release airplay (Radcliffe and Maconie and Mike Harding on Radio 2 and local radio here and in America) and some appreciative reviews. Mike Harding is broadcasting an interview with Jim and playing more tracks on his show on the 2^nd June see www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/radio/2010/wk22/wed.shtml for extra advance news.

But if you want to hear the songs live, and missed out on Shepley, there’s still a chance to catch up. In the interests of geographical equality for all band members, we’ve also organised a Derbyshire launch at Belper School on the 10^th June. Contact Georgina on 01709 375 063 (there’s an Answerphone if we’re not in, so please leave messages) or mail Georgina@nomasters.co.uk for more information and ticket bookings.

In fact, 2010 is turning out to be a year of significant events. On the 9^th July, all available members of No Masters will be celebrating the Co-op’s twentieth birthday with a joint concert in the Victoria Hall at Saltaire, the beautiful honey-coloured, nineteenth century planned village near Bradford. It’s going to be a very special night of music with contributions from Chumbawamba Acoustic, O’Hooley and Tidow, Ray Hearne, Fi Fraser and Jo Freya, Coope Boyes and Simpson in various kinds of combinations and – no birthday party should be without one – a possible surprise guest. The concert is part of the Saltaire Live season, so keep an eye out for details on their website – www.saltairelive.co.uk

Then we’re packing our buckets and spades for a few days by the sea at Sidmouth in the magnificent company of Blue Murder for a concert that sees us joining Norma and Mike Waterson, Martin and Eliza Carthy and Marry Gilhooley in a unique combination of voices and some mighty chorus songs. After that it’s Voice of the People, our words and music production about Ralph Vaughan Williams and folksong. Vaughan Williams wasn’t just an unusually sympathetic collector, he was a witty and perceptive writer about traditional songs – come along and have your preconceptions shaken by what he had to say and your hearts stirred by the beautiful music he collected. And finally for Sidmouth, we’re in concert in the lovely acoustic of the Methodist Chapel.

Concerts and tour dates for Autumn and Winter are already filling up, so there’ll be another Newsletter out within a few months. In the meanwhile, we hope you enjoy “as if…”

AUTUMN – WINTER 2008

Tours – Projects – Recordings

On Angel Wings

No Masters NMCD30

Release November 2008 – Available from No Masters website late October 2008

We’ve got a really varied and exciting end to the year, with some special projects and events, a completely new band and an innovative No Masters album - we’ve been involved in other new recordings too. Here’s the latest lowdown….

Voice of the People, our words and music production about Ralph Vaughan Williams’ folksong collecting gets its second performance at Ilkley Literature Festival in October with a further outing at Sutton Bonington Village Hall in December. This combination of Vaughan Williams’ witty and perceptive comments and the beautiful songs he found in early twentieth century England has been very popular with audiences, so look out for news of other performances and a tour in 2009.

Taking part in Private Peaceful with Michael Morpurgo is always an outstanding experience. The story of Tommo and Charlie Peaceful puts individual voices to a war that was fought on a vast, industrialised scale - and it’s all the more powerful for hearing the writer himself narrating it. This year, we’ll be at venues well spread about the country from The Sage in Gateshead to Shrewsbury, Bristol (where there’s also a matinee performance) and in Winchester, as well as a special Platform Performance at the National Theatre in London. On Armistice weekend itself, we’ll be taking In Flanders’ Fields, our own combination of words and music about the First War to The Bothy – one of the longer established clubs in the north west – and Music @ The Crossing in Worksop, which is still relatively new. As it’s the 90^th anniversary of the end of the War to end all Wars, it’s also worth noting that a new dramatised version of Michael Morpurgo’s earlier book, War Horse will form part BBC Radio 2’s Remembrance Day output. Featuring Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Bob Hoskins and a host of other stars, the story has been adapted by John Tams and Sally Ward and has an Introduction from the author himself. Just as he did for the award-winning stage version, Tam is also bringing his unique touch to the music, including some tracks from Coope Boyes & Simpson in character as (very) rough soldiery.

In between whiles, there a lot of worthwhile cheer to be had at concerts in new surroundings, like the Goldmark Gallery in Uppingham, with old friends at The Ram in Claygate and at Lewes, where we’ve got a Harmony Workshop, Seminar on Winter customs and evening concert. There’s even a celebration at the Tudor Folk Club in Chesham, where the Members’ Soirée will include a fish and chip supper as good as you can get in Whitby (which does take some beating!) We’re also particularly looking forward to our concert at The Sage on the evening of the Private Peaceful gig. Jonny Kearney, who’s a recent graduate of the Traditional Music course at Newcastle will be in support and we’ve heard lots of very good things about him. So it should be well worthwhile to come to Gateshead for two performances and the full works!

Last of all - a highlight of our year – there’s the Christmas Tour. To start in the middle (well why not?) we got talking to musicians in Belgium about Flemish carols over a year ago. Were there any similarities or differences between them and English carols we knew? Then we began exchanging examples and trying music out and finally we began rehearsing and – rather to our surprise – found we were a whole new band! Bringing together outstanding Belgian musicians and an amazing line-up of instruments - lutes, viols, cello, shawm, there’s even a Theorbo (we had to look that one up) with Fi and Jo on clarinets, fiddle and saxes, we’re a ten piece group – who also sing. We’re really looking forward to “While Shepherds” sung to Pentonville complete with it’s original instrumental symphonies on period instruments and some lovely – and lively – Flemish carols. We’ve got a short tour at Belgian Cultural Centres this year, but hope we can find a way fit in some more Carols and Kerstliedjes in England as well as on the continent in 2009.

.Around all of this are some equally enjoyable – even newsworthy – events. To put us into the Christmas spirit right at the start, the six-piece acappella combination of Coope Boyes & Simpson, Fi Fraser, Jo Freya and Georgina Boyes is getting together again for Voices at the Door at two venues that are new to us – Helmsley Arts Centre and also at the Guildhall Arts Centre in Grantham, and another performance of Voice of the People (which ends with Vaughan Williams’ favourite carols) at Sutton Bonington. We always find carols are a great way of cheering up – one of the old definitions of a carol is that it’s ‘jocular’ and ‘popular’ – so we hope you’ll come along and join us to beat the midwinter gloom.

As you can see, we’ve also got a pretty special new album for this tour too. On Angel Wings is a dramatised version of Michael Morpurgo’s Christmas fable about the youngest shepherd who was left behind to look after the sheep when the others went to Bethlehem. Adapted by Simon Reade, it features actors who’ve been associated with other stagings of Morpurgo books, with Michael himself as Narrator, and newly recorded carols from the six-piece, including John Tams’ beautiful new “Devonshire Carol”. To give it a proper send off, we’re launching it with a performance at St George’s in Bristol, which is a great acoustic venue, at the beginning of December. On Angel Wings is also the last date of our tour this year, with a performance at St Paul’s Cathedral in London - which we’re told has a fairly decent acoustic too. For this one event, the readers are the thoroughly intriguing combination of Michael Morpurgo, Joanna Lumley and James Naughtie. It could be the concert of the year – we can’t wait

Tickets for On Angel Wings at St Paul’s are by donation, with proceeds to the charities Farms For City Children and St Paul’s Cathedral Education Department

www.stpauls.co.uk

After a brilliant start to the year with a sell-out concert in Brussels to mark Ralph Vaughan Williams’ fiftieth anniversary, and great singing times at Hitchin, Loughborough Festival, South Petherton, Cranleigh and Port Isaac, we began work on some new projects. During April and May we’ll be in the studio with Fi, Jo and Georgina, recording carols for an album version of ‘On Angel Wings’ – the readings and music adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s Christmas fable. There’ll be more news about the album and live performances in the Autumn-Winter Newsletter, but there are so many exciting plans tied in with it, that it’s worth an early mention – even though singing carols in April always feels a bit odd.

We really enjoy our visits to Suffolk, so a concert at the Fisher Theatre in Bungay seems like an ideal way to spend Midsummer’s night. As you can see from their website, the Theatre is a lovely old building – with excellent facilities. Expect some traditional songs as well as self-penned ones to match an evening at the height of an English summer.

For Jim, Fi and Jo there’s a busy week of touring in August with the Lal Waterson Project. They’re taking this celebration of the songs of Lal Waterson to Dranouter in Belgium, down to Devon for Sidmouth Folk Week and then to the first Pickering Folk Festival. Pickering is home ground for Jim – and not too far away from the Yorkshire scenery and experiences that inspired so many of Lal’s songs. Bringing together a rare combination of musicians – the Jo and the LWP just have to be heard live. If you can’t manage to get to any of the gigs, though, Ken Hunt’s review of the album here http://en.world.freemusic.cz/index.php/jo-freyas-lal-waterson-project-lal/ gives a remarkable insight into Lal and her work.

In fact, it’s Yorkshire all the way for the rest of the Summer dates – and what could be better? Coope Boyes and Simpson are at the new Pickering Folk Festival for an evening concert too and then in September, will be at the fine, well-established festival in Otley. We’re really looking forward to catching up with lots of old friends – and making some new ones - at both.

The first of our Yorkshire dates is particularly special. As part of Rotherham Arts ‘Spring into Summer’ season, we’re joining up with Jo, Fi and Georgina again for a new words and music piece to mark Ralph Vaughan Williams’ fiftieth anniversary. As some of you may know from our Triple Echo album, in the early twentieth century, Vaughan Williams spent summer’s collecting traditional songs and information about local customs in villages near Rotherham - so Wentworth is a really appropriate venue for this first performance of Voice of the People: Ralph Vaughan Williams and Folksong. During summers spent with the Gatty family at Hooton Roberts Rectory near Rotherham and in visits to village pubs, cottages and gypsy camps from Essex and Surrey to North Yorkshire and Herefordshire, Vaughan Williams recorded around eight hundred songs and tunes that underlie orchestral works like Norfolk Rhapsody, Fantasia on Greensleeves and the English Folk Song Suite and were the sources of tunes in Hymns Ancient and Modern and The Oxford Book of Carols. Folksong was, he wrote, “the voice of the people… beautiful in itself and which has in it the germs of great art.”

Songs Vaughan Williams noted from the countryside are interlinked with his characteristically perceptive descriptions to give a first-hand account of this exciting period in English music. It’s a rare chance to hear the original sources of some of the composer’s best-loved music for concert hall and church, as well as lesser known songs and carols he collected in Yorkshire.

On a less high-minded note, Wentworth Brewery are also producing a special beer, ‘Lark Ascending’ to mark the occasion. We think Vaughan Williams would have approved.

NEWSLETTER – MIDWINTER 2007

The end of the year is always a busy time for us – and this time, there’s a real mixture of words and music productions and concerts in different kinds of venues to look forward to, as well as a particularly seasonal highlight to round off the Christmas tour.

To start though, we’ve got a series of themed concerts in November, including a small tour of ‘In Flanders Fields’, our combination of eye-witness accounts, contemporary poetry and songs about the First War – with some of the best bits coming from soldiers’ own writing for the Trench newspaper, The Wipers’ Times. Venues represent a world tour of Yorkshire – with returns to the beautiful setting of St Michael’s in Coxwold, an afternoon performance at The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds as part of their “Words at War” season of events about writing, war and peace and a first visit to The Spotlight Theatre in Bridlington. With its Art Galleries, new Spa and the arrival of Musicport next year, Brid – they tell us - is definitely a happening place, so come along and beat fRoots to the trend.

After a sell-out concert at Cheltenham Literature Festival – and live performance of ‘Little Man You’ve Had a Busy Day’ on BBC News 24 – we’re really looking forward to our next two dates with “Private Peaceful”. Oundle will be on Armistice Day itself – the first Remembrance Sunday when all the soldiers shot at dawn will be fully included. Then finally for this year, we’re on home ground at Derby Assembly Rooms, where we hope to see lots of old and new friends. “Private Peaceful” is always an emotive performance, but we were particularly struck by the response of Oliver King, a young member of the audience from October’s performance in Norwich, who sent us a video of images he’d put to “Lay Me Low”. It’s a beautiful piece of work – you can watch it here - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Gx27jRbYo

Just so we don’t get too sombre, however, between all these there’s the promise of a great evening of harmony and family repartee in Bury, with another outing for Blue Murder. It will be another first too - in place of Eliza, Marry Gilhooley (Lal Waterson’s daughter) will be joining Norma and Mike Waterson, Martin Carthy and Coope Boyes & Simpson for her initial concert with the band. Marry sang on our first album, so it’s a real pleasure to have another chance to get together.

And then, of course, there’s the midwinter tour bringing together the acappella six-piece of Coope Boyes & Simpson, Fi Fraser, Jo Freya and Georgina Boyes. This year, we’re involved in three different words and music productions in fifteen different venues – ranging from village halls to a cathedral - with a chance to hear lots of established favourites from A Garland of Carols as well as newer pieces from Voices at the Door. Full details are on the Concerts and Dates section of the website – including the latest information on the contact details for tickets and information for the performance at Holy Trinity Church in Guildford on the 18^th December and a new venue, Music @ The Crossing for Voices at the Door in Worksop on the 21^st December. Singing carols with generous enthusiasm is an important part of our local traditions in Yorkshire and Derbyshire. There’s a warmth about them which is extra special and makes the tour the best possible build-up to Christmas for us – and we hope for you too.

Finally – the most splendid plum in the Christmas pudding – is a performance of Michael Morpurgo’s Christmas fable, On Angel Wings at Exeter Cathedral with Michael himself, Juliet Stevenson (outstanding in ‘Bend It Like Beckham’, ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ and lots of other films, stage plays and television series), special appearances by George and Jonathan Meyrick and the six piece adding carols – and remarkably lifelike sound effects. Exeter is a particularly apt setting for On Angel Wings, as you can see here - http://www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk/Tour/Tour07.html And as the performance is also a fund raiser for Farms for City Children, we’re delighted to say that tickets are selling out fast.

But though this is our final live date for 2007, you may be hearing more of us even later in the month on Classic FM, we’ll put more information on the website front page when we have it. Until then, very best wishes for the whole of the Midwinter season and into the New Year.

There’s a lot to look forward to over the next few months and quite a few new places to visit, so we’ve got a really enjoyable start to the year.

CONCERTS

It’s always welcome to discover new places, so in a busy few weeks in February, we’re looking forward first concerts at the Compass Theatre in Ickenham and the Little Theatre in Sherringham, as well as first visits to Forest Folk at North Boarhunt in Hampshire and, in April to Twickenham Folk Club. Then later in the year, there’s a return trip to the aptly named Great kNight Folk Club in Northampton , famed for its excellent singing and fine local beer. More detail about the venues are available on the website here - http://www.coopeboyesandsimpson.co.uk/concerts_and_dates.htm

FESTIVALS

The summer will see us at festivals in Chester , Dent and Bromyard – all of them combining good music with lovely settings and therefore doubly worth a visit. Setting the season off, however, is Cheltenham Folk Festival with a concert in mid-February featuring the dazzling massed vocals and inimitable song introductions of Blue Murder (Norma and Mike Waterson, Martin and Eliza Carthy and Coope Boyes & Simpson) in an extra-special harmony celebration of the Festival’s 11^th birthday – it should be quite an event.

TOURS

We’re off to

Belgium

in early March for a short tour with the six-piece combination of Coope Boyes & Simpson, Fi Fraser, Jo Freya and Georgina Boyes . The tour includes concerts in Brussels for the Friends of Brosella and at an exciting new venue in Aarschot near Leuven , as well as harmony workshops and a unique outing with the great musicians of Brabants Volksorkest – we’re joining them in a daring combination of Bal and English Ceilidh. We’re hoping to meet up with lots of old friends from

Belgium

who’ve come along to hear the instrumental as well as the vocal side of the six-piece – and to get the chance to try some Flemish dances.

WORDS and MUSIC

“Private Peaceful: The Concert” at Bristol Old Vic is the first performance in the South West for a story which has its beginning in a Devon village. It has turned out to be so popular that the theatre have had to add a matinée to make to make sure everyone who wanted to see it could fit in. Hearing Michael Morpurgo’s compelling storytelling in the remarkable surroundings of the Old Vic look set to make this a particularly atmospheric evening.

AND the REST

Voices at the Door (NMCD25) became our first Christmas Number One! Well it was Number 1 in the Amazon Chart of Traditional Carol Albums for part of December and into January which near enough. Better still, we had lots of appreciative messages from listeners to Classic FM and Late Junction - and are now also getting some lovely album reviews. We had a great time on the tour of the words and music performance that goes with it and overall are very relieved and glad that everything worked out so well. We’re hoping to tour again next year and will put details on the website as they become available.

‘On Angel Wings’ with Michael Morpurgo as the Angel Gabriel, Quentin Blake as the grandfather and Jo anna Lumley as everyone else (little boy, various shepherds, Jo seph and Mary) was outstanding. There’s talk of trying to fit in another performance of this next year too, so keep an eye on the website for early information.

NEWS – WINTER 2006

COOPE BOYES & SIMPSON FI FRASER JO FREYA GEORGINA BOYES

www.nomasters.co.uk

We’re really looking forward to this year’s Christmas tour. It’s always enjoyable to take part and meet everyone at the Christmas shows, but this year the combination of a new album and a new words and music production makes the tour extra special.

As you can see from the listings on the Concerts and Dates section of the website, we’re getting out and about quite widely. The album launch and first performance of the words and music version of Voices at the Door is at The Sage in Gateshead . It’s the first time we’ve been to the North East with a words and music show and this specially designed acoustic venue will make a wonderful place to start. Then it’s down to the Midlands for a first visit to Sutton Bonington Village Hall (village halls are always a treat) and Christchurch at Belper for a performance with old friends, The Rolling Stock Company community choir and plenty of chance for everyone to join in the singing. After that, there’s a new date in the brilliant acoustic and evocative setting of St Michael’s Church at Coxwold in North Yorkshire . This the church where the eighteenth century novelist, Lawrence Sterne was Rector, and if you’re anywhere in the area, it will be the place to appreciate the eighteenth century Christmas carols and stories in Voices at the Door to the full.

We’ve been involved in several different productions in Chelmsford over the past few years, so although The Cramphorn Theatre is a new venue for us, we know that there’s likely to be a warm welcome there. Next is the most unusual event the tour, as we provide the carols to accompany readings from Michael Morpurgo’s new book, On Angel’s Wings at The Grosvenor Chapel in Mayfair . This performance will raise funds for Michael and Clare Morpurgo’s Charity, Farms for City Children, and includes readings from the illustrator, Quentin Blake, Joanna Lumley (who probably needs no introduction) and master story-teller, Michael himself. It will be a unique and - we suspect – unforgettable experience, so please come along and support it if you can.

From the 14^th December, we’ve got a wonderful run of venues – in amazing variety! It’s really welcome to have been invited back to the Turner-Sims Concert Hall at Southampton University - the Hall is specially designed for acoustic performance and is a joy to sing in. (Lester always looks forward to the view of the Solent when we go to Southampton too!) Cheltenham Folk Club are moving their base and they tell us - quantities of Jouster Real Ale for Fi and Jo - to Postlip Hall for Friday’s performance. If last year is anything to go by, it will be a night with a great singing audience - and of course, it’s a brilliant setting for carols. We’ve heard lots of good reports about New Cut Arts, so we’ve got high expectations of our first visit there. As you can see from their website (address on ‘Concerts and Dates), it’s a really attractive, community-run venue - and Suffolk is just the place to appreciate the village traditions of Christmas. They love a good sing there as well. The last date is at The Sun at Hitchin where the combination of history (it’s an old coaching inn) and one of the best folk clubs in

England

(voted Folk Club of the Year in 2005) will make for a memorable finale.

Please come along and say hello if you manage to get to one of the performances, it’s always welcome to put faces and personalities to Newsletter list names.

Voices echoing in the cold air have long sounded the Christmas season in

England

. In town and countryside, carollers, waits and wassailers of all kinds sang and played at the door throughout midwinter nights and into the dawn – it’s not by accident that so many eighteenth and nineteenth century carols begin ‘Awake’, ‘Arise’. Broadside sellers hawking sheets of carols printed specially for the local market, bawled their wares in the street, offering texts that were sung at home or set as ‘Christmas Hymns’ by local composers and choir leaders. And children everywhere made a few coppers from the neighbourhood to add to their Christmas cheer. Although some of the carols here are no longer current, many can still be heard in vibrant life sung in Yorkshire pubs and cathedrals, by Bodmin Wassailers and West Gallery Choirs, in the street, round the fire and of course, by voices at the door.

EARLIER IN 2006

There’s a lot happening over the coming months, so this is a longer Newsletter than usual. We spent quite a bit of time in the studio towards the end of last year and now the results are starting to become available. In Spring we hope to be launching a live album of Private Peaceful, the performance that brings together Michael Morpurgo’s readings of his award-winning book and Coope Boyes & Simpson’s songs and music. Keep an eye on the website for further news about this and details of the live performances in Lincolnshire and at Hay-on-Wye Literature Festival. As you can also see from the website, the English version of Seeds of Peace: Passchendaele Suite II, the epic double album of Peace Concerts Passendale’s Tenth Anniversary performance, has now arrived. Combining songs and music specially composed for Peace Concerts with older traditional and existing material, it’s a work of rare breadth and scale – and a fitting tribute to the extraordinary vision that underlies Peace Concerts Passendale. Outline plans are also coming through for a possible CD version of the special Mike Harding Show which featured new recordings of track’s from The Beatles’ Rubber Soul and included our version of George Harrison’s ‘Think for Yourself’. We’ll put a note on ‘Latest News’ as soon as we have firm information about this. First of all, though, at the beginning of February, there’s a celebration - and perhaps even a surprise or two - as we get together with Chumbawamba and John Jones of The Oyster Band for the launch of the Chumba’s new album, A Singsong and a Scrap (No Masters NMCD23) at Leeds City Varieties. With songs about Fundamentalism, the 1932 Mass Trespass Campaign, war, peace, punks found and navvies lost, it promises to be a stirring and unmissable night.

Other early dates for 2006 see welcome return visits to old friends as well as the chance to meet new ones. There’s an excellent start to the year at the award-winning Davy Lamp at Washington Arts Centre – an evening guaranteed to combine good craic and great singing from residents and audience. We know we can also expect an equally fine night at the other end of England, at the Ram Club in Claygate, where again they prove that Folk Clubs are unique in the range of good music and atmosphere they provide. Then it’s off to Lewes for a day of workshops on different aspects of harmony singing and a concert in the evening. It’s a real opportunity to talk about and work through practical ways of getting into unaccompanied singing in groups – as well as learning some new songs. For anyone with an interest in folklore, in the afternoon, Georgina will also be looking at the history of folksong collecting in Sussex. “Sussex is not a distinguished singing county,” wrote Cecil Sharp, come along and see if you agree. Then we’re close to home ground later in April, with a visit to The Attic in Chesterfield which has a new venue, but an earlier northern date sees us in entirely new territory, with a first chance to sing at The Ring o’ Bells in Warrington. We start the Festival Season with a first visit too – this time to Chipping Norton Folk Festival in Februrary – only in it’s second year, but already developing the welcoming approach to audiences and lively programming that makes for growing success.

We’ve got quite a few special concerts lined up through the year. In March, we’re at Worden Arts Centre for a night with Mr Kite – it’s a lovely venue which has the added advantage of raising money for charity with each performance, and you get to hear Rachel Unthank too! In June, we’re at Chelsea Festival with a specially devised programme of “Soldiers Songs” and the same weekend will be including some of the songs from Where You Belong, the song cycle written about the past, present and future of the people of Belper in a concert at Belper Folk Moot. We’re also working with Broadstairs Folk Week, Sedbergh Book Town Festival and the Victor Hugo Festival in Guernsey on a range of projects and will pass on news about these as they develop.

Finally - what will always be a highlight of our year - the unique experience that is Blue Murder is back in action this summer. We’re already confirmed for a concert at Sidmouth, a first appearance at Towersey and a trip to Brosella Folk and Jazz Festival in Brussels (where the band first appeared in 1988, trying out the sound system that Prince was due to use on his European tour). It’s Brosella’s Thirtieth Birthday this year, so we’re looking forward to a double celebration there and taking part in some great singing in rare company here.

We hope you’ll be able to get to one or more of the concerts. Please come and say hello if you do – it’s always welcome to put faces to names on the Newsletter List.

Mordant, powerful and funny, the album features ten new songs from Lester and Jim. It's Coope Boyes & Simpson in classic form - taking on the state of the nation, ecology, America past and present - there's even a lullaby. Chiming with these is some darkly resonant traditional material and two stunning songs written by fellow No Masters member and Blue Murderer Mike Waterson.

“Their charged vocal harmonies are so much in demand on other projects, Coope Boyes & Simpson rarely get the chance to air their lungs on their own behalf these days. That all changes with their terrific new album Twenty-four Seven, as passionate a tour de force of unaccompanied singing as you can imagine. Lester Simpson also proves himself an exceptional songwriter in a well-judged mix of trad and contemporary with a strong political edge.”

Look up any review of Coope Boyes & Simpson and you'll find words like inspiring, powerful, sensitive, spine-chilling, ear-boggling. Apply them equally to the trio's singing and songwriting - they're all of these and more: songs embodying strong stories and telling messages come wrapped in harmonies that make the skin prickle and the voice long to join in. In the wake of Hindsight, CBS's 1998 traditional album and 1996's self-penned Falling Slowly (not to mention several project albums and a retrospective), Twenty-four Seven comprises thirteen songs primarily from Lester Simpson and Jim Boyes plus several well-chosen trads and a stunning contribution from fellow member of No Masters and Blue Murder, Mike Waterson. Of the traditional songs here, Uttoxeter Souling Song and Chris Wood's adaptation of Man Of Double Deed are killers, but the real standout tracks are all contemporary - these boys can write. The hymn-like melody and tender words of Lester's January Lullaby are achingly beautiful, while his title track and Waiting By The Road tartly satirise the status quo in melodious uptempo fashion. Ditto Jim's magnificent Privatise, a stylistic contrast with the whimsical and compelling Heaven's Waiting Room, full of poetic imagery and odd harmonies. There are more highlights than space to mention them but vying for supremacy are Mike Waterson's Cold Coast Of Iceland and Three Ships, segued together in a combination of from-the-heart writing and interpretation that fills the eyes. The No Masters ethos of songwriting that draws on tradition and carries it forward is superbly promoted here.

Blue Murder’s debut album, “Where No One Stands Alone” (Topic Records TSCD537) was released on 4th June 2002.

Coope Boyes & Simpson’s much requested “Jerusalem Revisited” also features on Topic Records four album compilation The Acoustic Box: Four decades of the very best acoustic folk music from the British Isles (TSFCD4001).

See the Radio 2 Folk website www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/folk Artists Database for additional views of Coope Boyes and Simpson.

COOPE, BOYES & SIMPSON at Northwich Folk Club, Harlequin Theatre, Northwich - Friday, 5 October 2001

The term ‘unplugged’ has become a fashionable way to describe artists who have rediscovered the existence of acoustic guitars. Coope, Boyes and Simpson (CB&S), however, have nothing to unplug but their microphones! The group got together as an acapella trio in 1993 and, about eight albums down the line, have received an abundance of plaudits. They’ve won over many a doubting folk audience who might have found it hard to come to terms with a whole evening of song delivered without even the safety net of a bodhran.

As a warm up, we were treated to songs from residents John and Ailsa Booth, and then Barry who, although very nervous, performed bravely and with panache in delivering a range of lively tunes on the whistle.

CB&S have their roots firmly embedded in a folk tradition that reflects traditional struggles and song of ordinary people. There is a welcome undercurrent of subversion, humanity and anti-authoritarianism present through their music, reflecting the extraordinary contribution of working people to our history - be it on land, sea or at war.

“Levelution” was an appropriate song to set the tone for the evening. Written by Jim Boyes, to the tune of “Over the Hills and Far Away”, set in the early 19th century Derbyshire town of Belper, it’s a seditious song with a strong anti-monarchy and anti-aristocratic theme that still strikes a chord in modern society.

The audience joined in with relish on the ever changing chorus of “Pleasant and delightful” and “Bound for Van Diemen’s Land”; the latter was written by North Easterner, Jock Purdon at the height of the 1972 Miners’ Strike, and has recently been adapted by Chumbawamba.

The plight of refugees, and their mass migration, is not a modern phenomenon but perhaps the scale now is much greater. “Acres of Gladness” was written at the time of a mass movement of displaced people from places like Eastern Europe and South East Asia. “I thought I’d find acres of gladness/All I found was the isle of despair” resounds with relevance and poignancy in the current climate as tens of thousands continue to flee oppression, war and poverty.

Prisons seem to contain more than their unfair share of miscarriage of justice victims, and those that should be in prison tend to walk free. “Funny Old World” encompasses these issues and illustrates that justice has little to do with the law! - “all stitched up; didn’t he go like a lamb to the slaughter…. And the rich go free for bigger crimes/Money talks if you read between the lines.”

To bring down the metaphorical curtain on the first set, CB&S sang two of their finest recordings. It’s surprising that “Unison in harmony” hasn’t yet been adopted as the anthem of Britain’s largest public sector trade union. It certainly had the audience joining in with gusto. While “10,000 miles” is a more reflective song. Rediscovered as long ago as 1916 by Cecil Sharp in the Appalachians, the current arrangement of the song derives from the revitalised Nic Jones version from the mid 1970s. CB&S do it complete justice.

Another great collector, Percy Grainger, discovered “Rufford Park Poachers” amongst a collection of Joseph Taylor songs. Grainger recorded it for preservation on a very crackly wax cylinder - authentically demonstrated by the trio.

Sea shanties have earned a stereotypical reputation but in the hands of CB&S most songs become palatable and sea worthy. We were treated to a trilogy of the watery genre - two of which are American derivatives, - “Wild Goose Shanty” and the ever popular “Shallow Brown”, - sandwiched around the pump shanty, “Bound for South Australia”.

Along with Roy Bailey and Robb Johnson, CB&S have been at the forefront in developing several musical projects about our ancestors who fought and died in France and Belgium in the 1914-1918 war. Three songs addressed this theme. “May ‘40” was never recorded by Jacques Brel but has been rescued by CB&S. Brel wrote the song about his youth in Belgium; it warns against the dangers of burgeoning nationalism, and is still apposite. Secondly, “Do you want us to lose the war” is a light hearted music hall song, popular at the outbreak of the first world war. The mood of the song was is in stark contrast to the horror and carnage the soldiers faced on the battlefield. Finally, “Hill 60” pays tribute to those who died defending a 60 metre hill near Ypres.

“Polly on the shore” returned to the sea faring theme. This song concentrates more on the plight of Polly who, having had an abusive childhood and womanhood, now turns tricks and tables on sailors during their shore leave. In this song every one is a victim.

Nearing the end of the evening we were shown two different perspectives of fairground tradition. The first, Fairground Attraction”, reminisced about growing up in Belper in the 1950s and having fun at the fair. In contrast, the John Tams composition, “Pulling Down Song”, deals with the seasonal migratory existence of the fairground workers - “often scorned but seldom mourned.”

All that remained was the obligatory encore with tongues firmly implanted in cheeks. Bill Caddick co-wrote “One hand on the radio, one on the wheel” which is described as a Country and West Bromwich song about travelling home along the lonely motorway late at night with only the radio DJ for company. Only the cowboy hat and boots were missing. And another great evening of music came to an end. This trio showed once again that when you have three fine voices the instruments can stay in their cases. With Coope, Boyes and Simpson, what they sing is what they are and who could ask for more.

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