23 December 2020
St Harmonica's Blues Club is locked down again, but it hasn't stopped regular club attendees writing to Santa requesting their favourite Christmas records. You can hear them all in the St Harmonica's Christmas Playlist.
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18 November 2020
Thanks to the filming and editing skills of Mark and Katie Hawkins, it's now possible to relive the Blues Chapter mini residency at St Harmonicas supported by Big Alan Craig with Lindsay Fraser Craig, or catch it for the first time.
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04 November 2020
Fortunately, St Harmonica's didn't waste the few weeks that live music was able to return to the Southgate Club. Thanks to the filming skills of Mark and Katie Hawkins, edited footage from the September and October gigs is gradually being uploaded to the St Harmonica's YouTube Channel. Plus, download a recording from Lockdown Part 1 by local musician Tig Trafford.
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16 September 2020
This is possibly our final playlist in this series, as we plan to return to live music at St Harmonica's on Friday 25 September 2020 (sorry - already sold out!), regulations permitting. It features some of our regular performers, hopefully coming to play for us again soon. We hope you have enjoyed the playlists over the past six months.
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08 September 2020
Only two weeks until St Harmonica's restarts at the Southgate Club - reserve your seat now. In the meantime, we have another fine selection - Unplugged and Mellow - chosen by Simon Bennett.
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12 August 2020
The songs for the 20th virtual St Harmonica's have been compiled by a couple of Low Down Dogs. The theme is (loosely) 'Here's one I didn';t write myself'; the sub-title could be: 'Did you realise this wasn't the original?
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05 August 2020
This week's playlist was selected by Dave Thomas and is described by John Crowther as 'foot-tappingly fine'. Can't argue with that..
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29 July 2020
This week's playlist reflects the rich and varied musical tastes of Ruth & Dave Buckwell, otherwise known as That Blue Patch. We start with a fitting tribute to recently departed Peter Green, one of the greatest UK blues musicians of all time..
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22 July 2020
'What is the connection?' asks Simon Bennett, compiler of this week's playlist.
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15 July 2020
This week we return, at long last, to a line-up full of people who play at St Harmonica's Blues Club. Like what you hear? Come and find us in Southgate on a Friday night when we are eventually able to re-open. In the meantime, find some more of their YouTube videos, and visit their websites to see what else they've been up to!
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08 July 2020
Greetings, and welcome to another weekly playlist from St Harmonica's Blues Club. Last time we did an Ask the Audience playlist we received so many requests and recommendations we couldn't fit them all into one list. So here comes Part 2. Many, many thanks to all the contributors..
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30 June 2020
This week's St Harmonica's playlist was compiled and annotatedby 'Little Paul' Besterman. From the honking and wailing of Gatortail Jackson through the downhome of Dr.Ross Sonny Boy Son House Willie Mctell stopping off in Chicago for Muddy Junior Wells, to the Screaming of Jay Hawkins, a trip of various styles possibly driven by Memphis Minnie's chauffeur. Listen, bop, or weep - it's all Blues.
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24 June 2020
This week's virtual St Harmonica's features music selected by John Crowther: 'When I started getting seriously into music as a spotty teenager with an acoustic guitar in the early 1970s, there were two distinct strands. On one hand, contemporary folk music; on the other, hard rock. Eventually I realised both strands had at least some elements (and in some cases, complete songs!) that led directly back to much earlier American blues, often via 1960s bands and musicians. They are the theme of this playlist. I hope you enjoy it.'
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17 June 2020
This week's playlist features songs nominated by members of the St Harmonica's virtual audience.
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09 June 2020
This week's recordings have been chosen by Simon Bennett, who asks: 'Which British band borrowed heavily from these numbers?'
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03 June 2020
This week's playlist, selected by Chrissie and Dave Thomas, gives you a flavour of what would have been at St Harmonica's over the last few weeks, and finishes with a train set for you to play with. Is there light at the end of the tunnel or is it just one of those on coming trains? We live in hope; enjoy the offering..
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26 May 2020
This week's St Harmonica's playlist was compiled by local musicologist Nick Wall. In his own words: 'Here's my selection of blues and some of its neighbouring musical areas, with music from the 1920s to the beginning of the 1960s. There's a core of Louisiana music, but it strays up to the Appalachians and down around the Gulf Coast. It embraces the contradiction at the heart of the blues - an expression of pain or an exuberant music for enjoying the good times.'
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20 May 2020
This week's playlist was compiled by David Sinclair: singer, songwriter, guitarist and bandleader of the David Sinclair Four (DS4) and a sometime music journalist. He says: 'I was looking forward to bringing the DS4 to St Harmonica's on Friday May 22. We have had to put the gig on hold, but we'll be there as soon as we can. Meanwhile, here are some of my favourite performances by great musicians I've met over the years.'
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and forum comments
12 May 2020
This week's blues playlist was compiled by regular St Harmonica's attendee and locked-down percussion maestro, Pete Abernethy. He describes it as 'an attempt at charting the changes of the sound, techniques, and styles of drummers/percussionists and bass players over time'. It definitely has rhythm ...
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