I’ve decided to do something with the audio file I brought back from Haverfolk, in advance of all the youTube videos being processed and uploaded. So it’s going out as a further series of podcasts, starting with podcast #49 which is the first few songs from January 25th at Havering Folk Club Andy Roberts evening. It’s a lo fi recording, so just imagine it’s 1967 all over again and you are thrilled to bits to be the proud owner of  transistor radio AM band portable set with a fading clutch of cardboard batteries. Turn on your tranny and listen to the podcast: Here is the download podcast link, file details show notes and set list for podcast number 49: Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 42.5 Mb in size, playtime 29 minutes 30 seconds :- 49 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 49.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #49 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 49

Hold On Below  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWA6x9q4_5s When The Waters Rise  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDi_YOhqFsk Never Was To Be  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZtOdtwg_bU by Andy Roberts & Daryl P Hall Narrowboats  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRE_2szTHxo Clean Living Blues  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlWKgpnek_0 by Andy Roberts & Linda Hartley The Streets of Paris  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-HlLvEJRuU Winter in Andalucia  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC8wCm680VU

Last Wednesday, January 25th was the day of the Andy Roberts featured evening at Haverfolk, formerly known as Havering Folk Club. Why did they change the name? I don’t really get it, you’d have to ask Simon or Peter. Anyway, after a recent period of not playing guitar so much really, I managed to get in just about the right amount of rehearsal time in the days before and decided to go ahead with the plan of  doing three new songs and basing the rest of the entire setlist on my own material, much as I had done so for the guest night at Romford Folk Club, nearly a year earlier. The full set list for the night as actually played is viewable with links to each of the songs on my own wiki, here at :  January 2012 setlist   and any upcoming gigs are on the Main page, such as the one at Loughton on Thursday April 19th, 2012. Setting off for the venue was a bit traumatic, as an electrical fault had caused a series of cancellations on the main from Liverpool Street Station to Romford, so we went to see what the buses were looking like, just missed one, and saw that the traffic on the main road was choc a block. So we went back to the station and waited for the next train due, which should have been a half hour wait under the abnormal circumstances but then that one was cancelled too. There was nothing for it but to lug the two guitar cases and ourselves onto a busy number 86 bus and just sit it out as we chugged our way up along the occupied bus lanes and through the congested area around Ilford. We would arrive late for the start of the evening perhaps, but not late for my own appearance due around 9 O’clock which in the event we turned up well in time for. So that’s the transport news, then. A bit of a preoccupation with people who live in the London area I’m afraid. The gig itself went well, I thought, I was reasonably happy with the performances and the guitars stayed mostly in tune. The turn out was good, and people said they enjoyed the music, so that’s a big result, and one of the best things is that Linda’s front row video recording managed to capture the full setlist with no problems, so we have a decent audio and visual of all 21 original tunes. There’s a possibility of bringing that out as a DVD which will become the latest release from me to replace the few copies of the “Sampler” EP I’ve been carrying around for almost three years now! I think I ‘ll be turning the soundtrack into three episodes for the podcast series, and uploading a few songs to youTube as well, but the first one I’ve got processed is the finale song where I managed to get two violinists up on stage with me, namely John Foxen and Richie Barratt with Pep on Banjo and I think you can just hear Bernie on concertina and Mickie Brown on harmonica as well. Here’s Cajun Music Cajun Food live at Haverfolk

We went along to Romford Folk Club on Tuesday, and had a good old time of it as usual. I know the basement room is a bit of a dive but the conviviality or the regulars is always cheerful, and slightly edgy as the evening draws on due to the tradition of well humoured banter. It wasn’t a guest night, just an ordinary sing a long, and often these are the best. I’d hate to start recording a performers list but from memory there were at least the following: Kriss Pouch Smolowic Mick Brown and Richie Clive and Linda Rocking Bob Helen Andy Roberts Margaret Brown Len Reeder Mick and Nora Pam I took along my Archtop Guitar and played one of my own songs from The Andy Roberts Tapes: I Only Came For My Suitcase  

followed by my version of Chuck berry’s classic anthem for estranged fathers: Memphis Tennessee

Thanks to Linda for capturing these videos. On playing them back it’s unfortunate that balance between guitar and vocals isn’t right so either the archtop is just too loud for my voice or I simply wasn’t singing loudly enough myself, I wonder why? Right at the end I was honoured with the opportunity to wind up with one final song so I performed Bob Marley’s Redemption song but it wasn’t practical to record that one as the general merriment peaked.

Andy Roberts Podcast episode #48 features six songs performed live at the opening night of the new renamed “Haverfolk” club at the new venue, the White Horse on London Road, Chadwell Heath.  Full address is The White Horse, 118 High Road, Chadwell Heath, Romford, Greater London  RM6 6NU I quite like The Stables Function Suite as a room, the acoustics are bright and loud unlike the previous venue The Moby Dick, which deadened everything. It could be a bit on the friendly and intimate (small) side if everybody turned up at once, but that’s better than shrinking the audience through having an unsympathetic atmosphere, which the White Horse doen’t by any means. So Wednesday August 24st signified the first night for the old Havering Folk Club – Now Haverfolk at the White Horse, at which I can arrive promptly by taking the train to Chadwell Heath station and then walking around the corner for about ten minutes. No need to take an additional bus, which makes it less hassle to get from as well of course. Being August, several of the regulars were away including a contingent visiting the Whitby Folk Week, so there was enough time to do two sets, and I was invited to perform an extended 2nd set to end the evening, which is how I come to have enough material to make into a podcast episode, a collection of six songs in total, four of which are self compositions and two are traditional. Here is the download podcast link, file details show notes and set list for podcast number 48: Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 33.8 Mb in size, playtime 23 minutes 29 seconds :- 48 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 48.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #48 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 48

Cormorants - Andy Roberts original Sitting On The Bank  - Andy Roberts original The Wreckers’ Prayer  - Andy Roberts original Captain Coulston – Traditional folk song Truro Agricultural Show - Traditional folk song Yellow Boat  - Andy Roberts original

  Andy Roberts Video Podcast Live from Haverfolk Cormorants

Sitting On The Bank

The Wreckers’ Prayer

Captain Coulston

Truro Agricultural Show

Yellow Boat

For this week’s podcast I wanted to experiment with using Google+ , a new(ish) social networking site which has a feature they call “hangout” for bringing groups of people together by video link. It’s kind of like a group video call with a text chat, so superficially not that disimilar really to the ustream and livestream systems that I’ve been using for the weekly Tuesday night broadcasts up until about April this year. Do you need a Google+ invitation? Click here The Google+ service as a whole is getting a lot of attention even though it only launched to the public this month, and even though the circles metaphor can be a bit cumbersome, there’s a tendency towards fuller conversations and better discovery that makes it interesting for musicians, I think. But all that could change as the new platform develops, we’ll have to see. What intrigues me though, is the way that Google is integrating many of their popular services together, and Google of course is behind youTube. I’ve been waiting for youTube “Live” to open up but for the time being that seems to be open only to a few international TV stations. There is some confusing talk about youTube live being available on Google+ hangouts but thsi always turns out to be about taking the existing youTube live streams and relaying them into a Hangout, rather than using the Hangout to generate a new livestream that can be relayed out into youTube live, and saved as youTube videos in a channel, which the direction I’m probably looking for. Google+ Hangout So we planned to try out the ‘Hangout’ feature within Google+, this Sunday afternoon just gone at 3.00pm, and the result has been incorporated into this Andy Roberts podcast episode #47. Google+ Hanging out If you wanted to take part in future Google+ events with me, or just listen in as it happens, then you would need to activate a Google+ Profile if you don’t already have one, and add me to a circle. Again, if  you need a Google+ invitation you can get one  here Sunday Afternoons, 3.00pm Oh yes, and the other thing that’s changed is that we’ve moved to Sunday afternoons for the regular weekly spot, at 3.00pm UK time, which is currently GMT+1 with daylight saving. That’s 10pm in Beijing. The Sunday afternoon 3.00pm time slot will continue throughout the month of August.  

Podcast 47 Here’s the download and play link etc: Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 39.69 Mb in size, playtime 28 minutes 49 seconds :- 47 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 47.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #47 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 47

Mondura Dam Work is Done Shifting Sands Hesitation Blues (trad?) Home – Roy Harper (Part Song) Mozambique – Bob Dylan The Same Old Rock – Roy Harper (Part Song) Narrow Boats

It was around the first week of May on a Sunday evening when Gemma Salter and Stephen Lloyd held another of their excellent “Royal Knees Up” cabaret evenings at the Theatre Royal bar in Stratford. I had been immobilised for weeks beforehand but reckoned I could make it along by getting a minicab there and then just taking it as it comes. I’d signed up through the Facebook group and arranged with Gemma to do a couple of my acoustic Captain Beefheart covers, but when we arrived I was asked to do a longer set than that, as the theme for the evening was going to be acoustic / folky anyway. By Cabaret, it means there are some standup comedy acts on the bill as well, and sometimes weird and wacky stuff. I’ve seen musicians playing to the theatre bar crowd when I’ve been out to see a show at the Theatre Royal – “Reasons to be Cheerful”, “Takeaway”, “Come Dancing” and others, and I must admit to being intrigued by the prospect of playing on that little stage in the corner of the not insubstantial theatre bar area now, with the exterior terrace and carribean food. Theatre Royal Bar Stage My allocated time slot was to be either side of the break, so that meant two or three songs, then the break, then come back on and do a few more if I like. A cool way to organise proceeding, I thought fetching a bottle of Becks and choosing a seat with a table and a good view of the stage, so Linda could preserve my set on video with a view to putting it on the podcast later. And here it is:

Download MP3 to save – 40Mb in size, playtime 30 minutes :- 46 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 46.mp3 Podcast #46 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 45

Waiting Mazet Yellow Boat Grow Fins Now that I’m Living Here Winter in Andalucia The Last Subway Home

After a year and a half of playing regularly at the Golden Lion Romford, totally unplugged, I’m not so well used to singing miked up these days, but the sound check seemed to work fine. Of course things always sound different when there are lots of bodies in a room, to when it is empty and you can never be sure how much noise they are going to make themselves, but Gemma was at the back of the room operating a mixing desk so I could be confident that what was going out through the PA into the room would be at the right levels. So the source for this podcast’s songs comes from Linda’s stills/video camera which does record in pretty good quality stereo sound in theory, but seated as we were amongst a large group at the tables, it does pick up a lot of background noise which is a little unfortunate and gives a slightly false impression of how the audience behaved on the night. If we’d sat right next to the speakers though, we might not have obtained a good line of sight for the video on youTube, so you can’t have everything. Well, you can but need an external directional microphone of access to the PA soundboard, or a team of engineers…. I played mostly my own songs again, having recently done a whole evening of self-penned material and iIn the event, I only did one Captain Beefheart song, Grow Fins. That went down well so I added in “The Last Subway Home” which can have a similar feel form a performers point of view.

Gemma and Steve are busy starring in 188 , the Jack The Ripper musical in the West End at present so there may not be a Knees Up this month, or last due to rehearsals, but when they do resume it’s a fun evening in Stratford and with free entrance too. As for my own podcasts, well I’ve taken a bit of a break due to several factors but I’m hoping to resume the regular webcasts soon, either on Bambuser or Google+ Hangouts, which would be very experimental. If you need a Google+ invitation just let me know your email address by one means or another and I’ll send one over and if you’re already on Plus then please circle me at +Andy Roberts Don’t break any strings unless you have spares, Andy Roberts Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes  

Andy Roberts podcast episode 45 presents the final set of original songs from the guest night at Romford Folk Club back in April 2011. The audio is taken with thanks from Johnnie Durrant’s digital audio recorder, placed strategically on a mic stand in front of the performance space. Here’s the download and play link etc: Download podcast 45 Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 38.25 Mb in size, playtime 27 minutes 50 seconds :- 45 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 45.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #45 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 45

The Rowan Tree The Last Nail The Wreckers Prayer Cajun Cooking Song with Ritchie on violin The Last Subway Home

Andy Roberts Podcast 44 Episode 44 of the Andy Roberts Podcast continues the soundtrack from the Romford Folk Club guest night of April 12th with six more self written songs performed live. Here’s the download and play link etc: Download podcast 44 Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 38 Mb in size, playtime 26 minutes 20 seconds :- 44 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 44.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #44 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 44

Yellow Boat Gernika Doing it all alone Migration Joan of Arc The Dream is Over

Podcast 43 is made from the first part of the soundtrack of the April 12th gig at Romford Folk Club Here’s the download and play link etc: Download podcast 43 Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 37.6. Mb in size, playtime 26 minutes 4 seconds :- 43 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 43.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #43 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 43

Hold On Below Time For The Music Waiting Work Is Done Cormorants Narrowboats

i’ve made this podcast episode 42 out of the remaining recordings from the Sunday afternoon session with more rehearsals of old songs as a trial for April 12th. Here’s the download and play link etc: Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 42.6. Mb in size, playtime 29 minutes 31 seconds :- 42 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 42.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #42 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 42

Gernika – Andy Roberts Streets of Paris – Andy Roberts Clean Living Blues – Andy Robert /Linda Hartley Never Was to Be – Andy Roberts / Daryl P Hall Winter in Andalucia – Andy Roberts

Podcast 41 is from part 1 of a Sunday afternoon session with more rehearsals of old songs as a trial for April 12th. Here’s the download and play link etc: Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 32.6. Mb in size, playtime 22 minutes 35 seconds :- 41 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 41.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #41 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 41

Cormorants Doing it all alone Migration The Last Subway Home Joan of Arc

Podcast 40 is from part 2 of last Sunday’s afternoon session with more rehearsals of old songs as a trial for April 12th and a cover of Bob Dylan’s Hurricane – just because there’s time enough. Here’s the download and play link etc: Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 32.1 Mb in size, playtime 22 minutes 15 seconds :- 40 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 40.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #40 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 40

Hurricane – Bob Dylan Living Here – Andy Roberts Joan of Arc – Andy Roberts Mazet – Andy Roberts Cajun Cooking – Andy Roberts

Orbit Tower

Five songs from the Sunday afternoon session rehearsal for the Romford Folk Club date on April 12th 2011.
Here’s the download and play link etc:
Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 32.85 Mb in size, playtime 23.54 Minutes :- 39 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 39.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #39 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 39

The Dream is Over – Andy Roberts music and lyrics Time for The Music – Andy Roberts music and lyrics Hold On Below – Andy Roberts music and lyrics Work is Done – Andy Roberts music and lyrics Waiting – Andy Roberts music and lyrics

Andy Roberts Podcast Episode #38 comes out a day late, sorry about that. Here’s the download and play link etc:
Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 40.00 Mb in size, playtime 30 minutes 0 seconds :- 38 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 38.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #38 Shownotes Show Notes for Podcast 38

The Streets of Paris – Andy Roberts Clean Living Blues – by Linda Hartley and Andy Roberts Winter in Andalusia – Andy Roberts (abridged version) Now that I’m Living Here – Andy Roberts Cajun Cooking Song – Andy Roberts Just Like A Woman – Bob Dylan Song

Andy Roberts Podcast Episode #37 was put together from tracks which are hosted on my Andy Roberts Soundcloud account, and one extra song ( Work is Done) recorded live for you on Wednesday morning. The live show had to be canceled this week due to an unfortunate throat incident on the Tuesday evening. Here’s the download and play link etc:

Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 39.26 Mb in size, playtime 28 minutes 32 seconds :- 37 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 37.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #37 Shownotes 25:42 37.1Mb Show Notes for Podcast 37

Clean Living Blues – by Linda Hartley and Andy Roberts Hold On Below -  Andy Roberts as featured on The Lost Folk Tapes Work is Done – Andy Roberts Never was to be – Daryl P Hall Andy Roberts Highway Blues – Roy Harper

Andy Roberts Podcast Episode #36 contains fragments of tunes, instrumentals and a few complete songs as well. I was going to do the new 12 bar blues completed for the Songwriters Circle weekly task but it’s so new I forgot the rhythm! Here’s the download and play link etc:

Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 39.26 Mb in size, playtime 28 minutes 32 seconds :- 36 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 36.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #36 Shownotes 28:32   39.26Mb Show Notes for Podcast 36

Yellow is the Colour – Donovan arranged Andy Roberts Winter in Andalusia – Andy Roberts Narrowboats – Instrumental by Andy Roberts The Biggleswade Stomp – Instrumental by Andy Roberts Joan of Arc – Andy Roberts

The Live Session from Lizzy B’s acoustic night at the Essex Arms Brentwood takes up most of podcast #35 with one new song written for the Songwriters Circle challenge appended. There wasn’t a live podcast on livestream this week, so it was handy that I had these tracks almost ready to go. Here’s the player, link and download :

Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 28.8 Mb in size, playtime 29 minutes 54 seconds :- 35 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 35.mp3 Andy Roberts Podcast #35 Shownotes The first 4 songs were recorded at Lizzy B’s Acoustic Sessions in Brentwood, Essex I also mentioned the Andy Roberts interview for The Lost Folk Tapes The last song, was a contribution to the Songwriters Circle WK 2 Challenge

Mazet – Andy Roberts Migration – Andy Roberts The Last Subway Home – Andy Roberts Grow Fins – Captain Beefheart The Streets of Paris – Andy Roberts

The Streets of Paris The Streets of Paris by andyroberts

This week’s podcast full length (29:54) episode 34 started off quietly due a blistered chord finger, which meant abandoning any possibility of trying out one particular new song. Instead I decided to try a few more Loudon Wainwright songs I haven’t recorded before. There are a couple of my own in there as usual, and also an extended improvised version of All Along The Watchtower. This is what the live shows and podcasts were always meant to be for really, to capture some of the unusual stuff that otherwise would have been lost in the moment or performed to an audience of one. Here’s the link and stuff:

Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 28.8 Mb in size, playtime 29 minutes 54 seconds :- 34 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 34.mp3 Shownotes for the Episode 34

Standing By – Andy Roberts Come a Long Way – Kate McGarrigle Puddles – Andy Roberts Dreaming – Loudon Wainwright New Paint  – Loudon Wainwright The Dream Is Over – Andy Roberts All Along The Watchtower – Bob Dylan Arranged Andy Roberts

The last time I did a Loudon Wainwright Special was back on Podcast Episode 4 All Along The Watchtower was last covered more recently on Episode 24 There’s a couple of lines missing from The Dream is Over. I need to brush up on the lyrics to that one.

There are two new songs in Andy Roberts acoustic guitar podcast episode 33, one of which is a collaboration with fellow Songwriters Circle member Daryl P Hall. Here’s the link and stuff:

Subscribe to the podcast RSS or get it from iTunes Download MP3 to save – 24.4 Mb in size, playtime 25 minutes 24 seconds :- 33 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 33.mp3 Shownotes for the Episode 33

Time for the music – Andy Roberts The Nutmeg Tree – Andy Roberts When The Waters Rise – Andy Roberts Never Was To Be – Daryl Hall & Andy Roberts Blue – Andy Roberts Work Is Done – Andy Roberts

Work is Done appears here as the first ever recording of the song. The lyrics were originally written as text messages saved on a mobile phone while out walking in the French Pyrenees.

For Andy Roberts Podcast #32 we have the full set of songs performed live in front of an audience at the Four Seasons Folk Club, in West London on Saturday February 5th, 2011. This was the billing: Four Seasons Folk Club, Polska YMCA, 20 Gunnersbury Ave., London, W5 3QL. Nearest underground Ealing Common, District & Piccadilly lines. Saturday, 5th February. Concert begins at 7pm sharp and finishes at 10pm. Featured artists will be Ian Martin, Andy Roberts, Smolowik, Smolen (with P. Smolen and A Kotowicz). 4 Seasons Folk Club So the soundtrack on the podcast features six songs, all written by Andy Roberts and played on the siz string Ibanez acoustic guitar, this time tuned to concert pitch which made for some different interpretatios of the songs. Some are played with a capo on the fifth fret, others open. Here’s the web player, download link, tracklist and show notes for Podcast Episode 31:

Subscribe to the podcast RSS feed using the url: http://andyroberts.me/?feed=podcast Subscribe in iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/andy-roberts/id378470885 You can also download the MP3 from this link 32 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 32.mp3 Podcast Episode 32 Show Notes Show notes and information for Andy Roberts Acoustic Guitar Podcast Episode 32: Episode 32 Recorded live at 4 Seasons Folk Club on February 5st, published on February 8th 2011. 1) Cormorants Words and Music by Andy Roberts 2) Yellow Boat Words and Music by Andy Roberts 3) The Rowan Tree Words and Music by Andy Roberts 4) The Last Nail Words and Music by Andy Roberts 5) The Last Subway Home Words and Music by Andy Roberts 6) The Wreckers Prayer Words and Music by Andy Roberts