New programme at Ropery Hall

Foghorn Stringband is the present-day gold standard for real-deal hard-hitting genuine old-time American string band music, with nine albums, thousands of shows, more than 15 years of touring under their belts, and an entirely new generation of roots musicians following their lead.

Old time dance tunes rub shoulders with Cajun waltzes, vintage honky-tonk country, and classic bluegrass….and it’s all rendered into a cohesive whole. Foghorn Stringband can often be found after a performance in a local pub or club continuing to play with equal energy and joy late into the night. They’re obsessed, and that obsession rings true with every note they play and every song they sing.

In performance, Foghorn Stringband gathers around one microphone, balancing their music on the fly, and playing with an intense, fiery abandon. To the band, this music is as relevant today as it was at its birth a century ago.

Foghorn Stringband comprises four master performers and historians: Caleb Klauder (vocals, mandolin, fiddle) from Orcas Island, Washington, Reeb Willms (vocals, guitar) from rural Farmer, Washington,  Nadine Landry (vocals, upright bass) from the Gaspé Coast, Eastern Quebec and Stephen ‘Sammy’ Lind (vocals, fiddle, banjo) from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“Portland’s Foghorn String Band stands at the top of today’s vibrant old-time music revival and a fine example of what an unending revival it is. Each album finds them deeper into the tradition, more familiar with the rich resources of roots music, and more focused, but still propelled by that undercurrent of punk energy.” – Art Menius, WMMT

Ruth Notman is a folk singer/songwriter from Nottingham who is, most notably, known for being one of the leading ‘nu-folk revivalists’ in the late 00s who bridged folk music into the 21st Century and plugged it into a mainstream audience.

Ruth first rocketed into the consciousness of the wider music scene in 2007 at 18 years old with her debut album, Threads. Notman’s unique voice coupled with her novel and vibrant interpretation of folk songs garnered her overnight national critical acclaim and media attention seldom seen by a small independent release. Threads also gained Notman support from luminaries such as BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris, Kate Rusby and Mike Harding to name a few.

Ruth further cemented her musical stature and identity with extensive touring and the release of her second album, The Life of Lilly (2009), which enjoyed similar accolades to her debut.

In 2015, Notman was invited to join the impressive collaborative artist roster of the Evamore project where her studio contributions and stunning vocal compositions attracted the late Sinead O’Connor. The song One More Yard was released in 2019 and featured Ronnie Wood, Nick Mason and Imelda May.

Notman teamed up with BBC Radio 2 Folk Award-winning artist Sam Kelly in 2019 to record their album Changeable Heart with Kate Rusby’s label, Pure Records.

Now, 16 years after her second album, Ruth is preparing to record, what must surely be, the most eagerly awaited album in British folk music.

Super-Deluxe Fiddle, Banjo, and Song

Through 25 years and thousands of shows together in bands such as The Foggy Hogtown Boys and The Lonesome Ace Stringband, John Showman and Chris Coole have developed a deep and instinctual musical bond.  Their music lurks in a truly unique space that is somewhere on the outskirts of old-time, bluegrass, and folk. The songs of John Hartford, Hank Williams, Dock Boggs, and The Band share space with the fiddle tunes of Eck Robertson and Ed Haley. The duo’s original songs and tunes take in all these vistas and paint something both personal and timely.

They have performed across North America and Europe at festivals such as Merlefest, Rockygrass, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Mariposa, Wintergrass, Gooikroots, and The John Hartford Memorial Festival. In 2022, the duo released two albums, “Afield” a collection of old-time fiddle tunes, and  “Much Further Out than Inevitable – A Tribute to Some Music of John Hartford.”

“John Showman has made his mark as one of the very best and most influential fiddle players in Canada”  (Steve Pritchard, CIUT 89.5 FM).

“Renowned for his clawhammer banjo picking, Coole now establishes himself as a gripping songwriter.”  (Roddy Campbell, Penguin Eggs Magazine)

Daliso Chaponda has been writing jokes about the news for over a decade – on Have I Got News For You, Radio 4′ News Quiz, Australia’s Good News Week and many more besides. (In fact he’s seen the news from both sides, having been in the tabloids himself.) But recently the news has been so absurd, chaotic and overwhelming that it more or less mocks itself. Where do we go from here?

Topical Storm is Daliso’s response. A show not about THE news but about news itself. Journalists, bloggers, fake news, satirical news: have we lost the thread of it all? Is the reporting of news endlessly polarising us as a society rather than educating us? Would we be better off going right back to the first ever news bulletin – the original caveman drawing on a wall – and starting from scratch? Daliso does just that in this explosive new standup show.

Age guidance: 14+

Merely Players present FAKESPEARE a deceptively truthful tale by Stuart Fortey

There are two problems with deception.
The first is being found out.
The second is not being found out.

In 1794, noted antiquarian Samuel Ireland is delighted when his son William brings him unknown documents in the hand of Shakespeare, obtained from an anonymous source. But scholars question their authenticity and denounce Samuel as a forger. The household is thrown into turmoil and family skeletons come tumbling out of cupboards …

In 2026, Samuel, William and their housekeeper Mrs Freeman meet again to sort out the truth of it all, if such a thing is possible …

A TRUE STORY

Fakespeare is about truth and lies, then and now. Although the events of the play – the Great Shakespeare Fraud – happened in the 1790s, the characters are actually telling us the story in the present day, fully aware of the audience. Lies, however well-intentioned, lead to the destruction of the family in the play, and even today the truth about what actually happened then is hard to pin down. Fakespeare is an object lesson in the timeless need for honesty and truthfulness in human interactions.

This performance is part of our Members’ 241 Offer. Please ask for details.

John Jones is best known as the powerful and charismatic singer with Oysterband, veterans of the folk and roots scene since the 1980s. They started as The Whitstable Oyster Company Ceilidh Band, one of the best ceilidh bands in the business, which then evolved into the folk/punk/rock group Oysterband, releasing over 20 albums and playing every major festival in the UK, Europe and Canada. They recorded and toured with some of the UK’s most revered folk artists, including acclaimed tours and two award-winning albums with singer June Tabor.

John’s solo work developed alongside his Oysterband duties. In 2009, he released his first solo album, Rising Road, and began walking between gigs with musicians and fans in a group he called The Reluctant Ramblers. In ten years, the Reluctant Ramblers walked over 1000 miles between shows and John released his second album, Never Stop Moving, in 2015.

Now, with Oysterband saying farewell to their armies of faithful fans across the UK and Europe with their hugely successful The Long Goodbye tour, John is about to embark on his next chapter, enlisting the help of his two long-standing friends and fellow musicians: Ray Cooper a.k.a. Chopper and Al Scott. Ray joined Oysterband in 1990 and brought in the cello sound alongside his bass and backing vocals before leaving in 2013 to go solo. Al has been associated with Oysterband for over 30 years as producer and stand-in guitarist. Al joined the band in 2013. Between them, the trio play a variety of instruments and will be performing a range of songs and tunes from over the years, from each of their back catalogues, alongside new songs and traditional numbers.