sidetracks & detours present PASS IT ON # 70  weekly supplement 6th October 2024

sidetracks & detours

present

PASS IT ON # 70 

weekly supplement 6th October 2024

WELCOME . LET´S INTRODUCE YOU TO THE TEAM Today´s contributors include the always interesting and always interested Claudie on of Lanzarote´s favourite artist. Manchester Folk Roots and Sound Roots take a look at the well-being of UK folk music, and Alfred Michael is still finding and following festivals on your behalf. Crusoe writes in from his favourite island of Lanzarote about beetles and bugs and prickly pears ! Jim Wade at Jazz In Reading reminds us of a couple of their exciting listings and Rob Adams must have driven all night to gather news from Inverness to London about the Jazz Music That´s Going Places. We also have Steve Bewick, presenting his Hot Biscuits Jazz On Air and our friends at North Sea String Quartet are delighted at the reception to their new album and remind you of their tour dates. London Sinfonettia also talk about live and recorded (and written about) classical music. Our chief Americana Reporter takes a reader´s perpective on the Nashville Cats that John Sebastian wrote a song about. We have also been told by I Love Manchester of a wonderful tribute being paid to Sarah Harding, formerly of Girls Aloud. So,…

…. Hear The Call 

COME FOLLOW YOUR  ART

by Akela

Hi, well done for finding these pages. I am confident you will find plenty of interesting reading here today. Many of our regular contributors have submitted pieces for today edition of PASS IT ON, and remember, too that you can find all last week´s publications of Sidetracks & Detours in our easy to negotiate archives of around 1,200 free-to-read arts related items. These included a look at the work of author Norman Mailer, and Vibe Provider, Emmett Cohen. We also featured singer writer Amy Allen for the first time, and we are sure you will want to hear more of her, We also reviewed some wonderful live Spanish folk-lore music and by the end of the week we didn´t know when is now and what was then ! It´s time to catch up, isn´t it?

CONTENTS

1 ) Art Exposition NEW STUFF AND IDEAS By Claudie via e mail

2 ) Folk Music UK CHARTS & NEWS by Sound Roots &Manchester Folk

3 ) Following Festivals RIBBLE VALLEY JAZZ AND BLUES

with Alfred Michael

4 ) Island Insights:

PRICKLY PEARS PASS AWAY by Crusoe

LANZAROTE LABORATORY by The First Man On The Moon

5 ) Live Jazz

JAZZ IN READING  by Jim Wade

MUSIC THAT´S GOING PLACES by Rob Adams

Jazz On Air:  HOT BISCUITS, a favourite feast by Steve Bewick

6 ) Live and Recorded Music NORTH SEA STRING QUARTET

promotional tour preview by newsletter

7 ) Live And Recorded Music

SCHOENBERG : reshaping tradition

preview by London Sinfonettia newsletter

8 ) Reader´s Perspective: All Points Forward

NASHVILLE CATS by Peter Pearson

9 ) Tribute: SARAH HARDING of GIRLS ALOUD news from I Love Manchester newsletter

1) Art Exposition

NEW STUFF AND IDEAS

By Claudie via e mail

dear PASS IT ON

Thank you so much for mentioning my Gallery At Home open day last week.

It was a very sweet Sunday.

Might I whisper in your ears that for the past three weeks I am showing at the Hotel Radisson Blu in Costa Teguise EVERY Thursday from 18:00-21.30 with a small expo and new stuff of mine. All this displayed in this very nice, adults only, hotel.

Come along and enjoy a cocktail in this gorgeous Hotel with mediterranean style and get a free hug from me!

2 ) Folk Music

UK CHARTS & NEWS

collated by Sound Roots & Manchester Folk

Newly announced is the third wave of artists performing at English Folk Expo 2025 and includes inspired new projects, exciting emerging talent and world class live performers:

Award-winning songwriter and member of The Young’uns, Sean Cooney, presents his Rochdale-made musical Peter’s Field, following a standing ovation at its FolkEast premiere this summer. He is joined for the performance by twice Mercury-nominated artist Eliza Carthy MBE and critically acclaimed guitarist and songwriter Sam Carter.

Elsewhere, Amelia Coburn transforms the unusual into timeless tales, spinning stories of vengeful widows and whimsical romance, while Stockport-born accordionist, clog dancer and composer Heather Ferrier will be challenging the perceptions of alt-folk on her own terms.

High-energy festival favourites 3 Daft Monkeys will be delivering their dynamic style of world folk music, reflecting the global village in which we now live, while RE:VULVA members Janice Burns, Holly Clarke, Cathy Geldard and Amy Thatcher will present their unwavering vision of the future, where the young women of tomorrow take their rightful place on stage alongside their male counterparts.

Manchester’s Caoilfhionn Rose will conjure otherworldly soundscapes, beautifully blending together piano, synths, saxophone, a live rhythm section and dreamy ambient samples in an immersive set which will be a standout for many.

These artists join Manchester Folk Festival’s previously announced lineup: The Longest Johns, Katherine Priddy, Stornoway, Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings, Bernard Butler, Cara Dillon, Lisa Knapp & Gerry Diver, Ferocious Dog, The Magpies, Nick Hart & Tom Moore, Josienne Clarke, The Deep Blue, Nick Cope, Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, Memorial, Holly Clarke, Miranda Sykes & Jim Causley, John Kelly Music Oli Matthews Band, Jaywalkers, Honey & The Bear, Captain Of The Lost Waves and Hector Gannet.

English Folk Expo delegates have access to all performances, including all Manchester Folk Festival shows, plus additional private showcases, speed networking, the partner lunch, drinks receptions, the trade fair and the late night festival club. Passes are currently available at the Early Bird Rate of £170 + VAT. Don’t delay as passes did sell out in advance for our last EFEx

The Folk On Foot Official Folk Albums Chart Show announced the Official UK Folk Albums Chart for September 2024 on Tuesday, 1st October with a run down of current placings for albums released in the UK by UK and Irish folk, roots and acoustic artists.

Once again the extraordinary success of Myles Smith‘s EP You Promised Me A Lifetime (RCA) continues, reaching number 1 for the fourth non-consecutive month. Meanwhile the title track is currently sitting at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and interest is building worldwide.

As the lag of summer seeps into September artists have held back on releases and of the releases in the September ‘24 reporting period just two have broken into the top 40.

Landing in at number 26, is In The Dark We Grow (Sungazing) by the well-respected duo of Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage. At The Barrier kicks off its review of the album with the accolade, ‘Sanders & Savage. No longer just one of our best vocal duos, are they now our best?’, winding up with, ‘A glorious record with, potentially, the best vocal performance of the year.’ With that kind of recommendation, it must be time to track down a copy.

The second and final new entry this month, landing in at number 32, fifty year veterans of blurring the borders of folk and rock Gryphon bring their eclectic smorgasbord of acoustic and electric instruments to a double album Gryphon Live: A Sonic Tonic (Talking Elephant), recorded during their 2023 UK tour and released in set list order. Folking.com says, ‘the mix is just right: a few laughs, not too many of the serious pieces which dominated fifty years ago and, overall, a display of musical skill and dexterity that few bands can match.’

The Official Folk Albums Chart is compiled by The Official Chart Company and produced by English Folk Expo. The Official Folk Albums Chart Show is presented by Folk On Foot with the support of English Folk Expo.

3 ) Following Festivals

RIBBLE VALLEY JAZZ AND BLUES

with Alfred Michael

I might be a million miles away but the flutter of angel wings always announces when arts events are taking place around where you live and because up here, keeping our eye even on the sparrow, we do notice when preparations are beginning, I have seen and heard that Ribble Valley Jazz and Blues will soon be making some BIG announcements soon about their 2025 Festival. Save the dates 2nd to 5th May in your calendar and keep an eye out for our next email. In the meantime, there’s still plenty of great music to enjoy.

This Sunday, Julian Gregory, (right), a truly exceptional musician, will lead an equally outstanding quartet playing at The Spread Eagle Jazz Lunch.

Julian joined the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in 1982 and has been part of their first violin section ever since. This summer after Prom 26: Beethoven, Brahms and Sarah Gibson, Julian will be retiring after an incredible 43 years.

Julian has toured the world, gained an enviable reputation for being able to enjoy and play classical music, jazz, blue grass, electric rock! Beatles, to Brahms to Be bop!

 
We all have the chance this Sunday to hear him at The Spread Eagle.With just a few tables still available, telephone now to make your reservation.
It promises to be an outstanding afternoon of music.  £25 per person includes two course meal or £7.50 without the meal.
Ring 01200 441202 now to guarantee your table reservation.

International Women’s Day

EMMA RAWICZ AT THE GRAND

Saturday 8 March 2025

At 22 the extraordinarily talented saxophonist Emma Rawicz (left) has already achieved an enormous amount. Winner of the 2024 Parliamentary Jazz Award, finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician and Jazz FM Awards. She has toured over 15 countries, and one of the most important jazz labels in the world today – ACT – released her first album Chroma to huge international acclaim. Emma has a unique sound with her compositions engaging with Afro Cuban inspired grooves to funk and straight-ahead jazz.

Please come and celebrate our annual International Women’s Day Concert where Emma will follow the Ribble Valley Jazz and Blues Club’s own women’s band – Elbow Room – on stage.

4 ) Island Insights

PRICKLY PEARS PASS AWAY

to be much missed on Lanzarote

by Crusoe

The Mealy Bug, says my wife, is a tiny white creature, bigger than an ant but not as big as a bluebottle. The pests seem to attack plants of all varieties in our garden and prevent them from flowering. Sometimes they get into the soil and attack the roots.

Their numbers are legion.

They cause havoc in our garden and my wife, Dee, reckons they are the same bug that is not only ruining our garden, in Playa Blanca in the South of the island but has even brought to an end to the island´s prickly pear industry.

The Mexican cochineal has destroyed the plantations of Mala and Guatiza, in the North,  leaving behind a huge vista of diseased and dead vegetation.

The once fertile and unique cultivation of prickly pears in Guatiza is today a vista of utter desolation. More scientifically known as The Dactylopius Opuntiae, the Mexican cochineal, first landed in the Canary Islands in the area of ​​Fuencaliente, in La Palma. Over the years the bug seems to have had its passport stamped as it has travelled to each of the islands and wreaked its havoc.

“The entire ecosystem of prickly pears in Guatiza and Mala has been destroyed because the Mexican cochineal has wiped out all the prickly pears,” explains Leandro Caraballo, an agricultural technician.

Caraballo points out that “it entered through La Palma, although it is difficult to know how it did so, whether it was mixed with other tropical fruits, but it was introduced in 2013, destroyed the prickly pear trees in La Palma, moved to Tenerife and from there, to Lanzarote.”

Dee and I remember spending a holiday on Lanzarote before coming to live here in 2015 and we saw  the devastation left behind by the swarms of locusts that had been blown off course and literally scythed through La Geria and other cultivated areas of the island.

It seems the Mexican Cochineal is similarly aggressive !

As Dee, the self-appointed Charlie Dimmock in our household, explains this type of insect is very difficult to combat.

Leandro Caraballo, the agricultural technician explains that it attacks both “the young shoots and the trunks and the root system, and ends up destroying the plant until it finishes off the crop.”

When the bug was first identified in Lanzarote, it was thought it had only just arrived, but experts then realised that it had already been on the island for some time. The Canary Islands Government initiated some action, washing the prickly pears with some products they felt might deter the bugs. However their action proved ineffective ´because of the pest’s great capacity for dispersion´.  

So quickly has this infestation devoured what seems to be its favourite source of nutrition that Lanzarote farmers and scientists alike now consider the prickly pear, and the industry it generated on Lanzarote, as dead.

“The cultivation is finished so now we have to find a viable alternative for the whole area where the prickly pears were and get farmers to cultivate the area,” Carabello has advised.

He says we have to forget about prickly pear cultivation, unless another predator, an insect, a virus or a fungus appears that eliminates the bug.

With the Lanzarote prickly pear, another symbol of our island has disappeared, and experts are saying that this has been the final blow to the cultivation of prickly pears.

TV wildlife presenter, David Attenborough, tells us regularly on his programmes that every change to habitat and climate forces symbiotic species to alter their travel paths and feeding patterns and the truth of what he says is writ large across the former prickly pear fields.

Not only has an important food source been lost but also a special habitat is being lost that served as a refuge for species such as rabbits and partridges, which fed and took shelter in this valuable natural space that has now disappeared.

Nor should it be ignored that this somehow changes the landscape of an entire region in the North of Lanzarote. A swathe of greenery now looks like a wild-west graveyard.

Of course, the cochineal was a couple of hundred years ago a source of the fabulously red coloured dye that earned Lanzarote so much trade and income over a long period before cheaper artificial dyes became prominent.

If the insect is what my wife says it is, then it seems we have just witnessed another savage chapter in the battle between Mealy Bug and Man.

Lanzarote, however, will adapt. Our rock hard landscape provide again, as it did after the volcanic eruptions of the seventeen-thirties and the occasional locust swarms.

As for our garden, who knows? only my wife.

Island Insights from Lanzarote:

European Space Agency ‘LABORATORY’

by The First Man On The Moon

Equipped with the latest technology, astronauts, astrobiologists and engineers from the European Space Agency returned to the work camp that has become certain spaces, mainly volcanic, on the island of Lanzarote. The Pangaea programme, in its seventh edition, returned in the recently finished month of September to prepare this elite corps for a week for future expeditions to other planets and to learn how to explore other worlds.

The training course provides basic and practical knowledge to help crew members find interesting rock samples and remains of life on other planets. The course has been stopping in Lanzarote since 2017 and is the result of collaboration between ESA, the island council and the Lanzarote and Chinijo Archipelago Geopark.

It should be noted that, in this edition, the expedition was led by the British astronaut of the European Agency, Rosemary Coogan, the Frenchman Arnaud Prost, who is a member of the ESA astronaut reserve, and Norishige Karai of the Japanese space agency.

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5) Live Jazz Sunday 6 October  7:30pm

VASILIS XENOPOULOS  (saxophone) (right)

plus Pangbourne Jazz Club rhythm section:
Jim Pollard (piano)

Terry Hutchins (guitar)
Andy Crowdy (double bass)

Brian Greene (drums)

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Live Jazz

MUSIC THAT´S GOING PLACES

listings and news from Rob Adams

The Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra (right) begins a new season with a fresh intake of young talents. With previous orchestra members now making an impression internationally, the new arrivals will have plenty of role models and inspiration as they play the music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and other jazz legends at the Dumfries Arms Hotel in Cumnock on Saturday 5th and the St Bride’s Centre in Edinburgh on Sunday 6th.

Alto saxophonist Laura Macdonald has a long list of impressive associations, including saxophonist Donny McCaslin and drummer Antonio Sanchez, who played in Laura’s sextet before going on to work with David Bowie and Pat Metheny respectively. Laura and guitarist Kevin Mackenzie also share a considerable history and they bring this to their duo gigs, the latest of which sees them exploring original compositions and favourite standards in the intimate space at St Peter’s Church in Linlithgow on Friday 25th. Saxophonist Tommy Smith and pianist Peter Johnstone represent two generations of Scottish jazz mastery. They have also worked in each other’s groups – Pete with Tommy’s Coltrane quartet and Tommy in Pete’s international organ quartet. As a duo they inspire each other to play with energy and spontaneous creativity. They bring jazz classics and original music played with vitality to the impressive Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock on Thursday 31st.

Among Tommy’s other partnerships, his duo with the late, great pianist John Taylor created a particular magic. Their musical adventures together began when Tommy led a quartet featuring JT (as he’s generally known across the jazz community), bass master Arild Andersen and drummer John Marshall in 1988. Fifteen years later, while in New York to record Tommy’s Evolution album, they recorded an intimate session that has just been released on Bandcamp. Love Unrequited is reflective, conversational and special.

Over the past ten years Thursday nights in Edinburgh have been synonymous with Playtime, the sessions begun by saxophonist Martin Kershaw, guitarist Graeme Stephen, bassist Mario Caribe and drummer Tom Bancroft. From the start there was a spirit of adventure that, during the Covid pandemic, blossomed internationally as the sessions, held via Zoom, drew musicians from the Netherlands, Japan and elsewhere. Some of the best of these are captured on a new album, Morse Code Through the Lights, which is gaining global attention.

Following the recent release of the previously unheard live album by Louis Stewart and Jim Hall, the reactivated Livia Records is reissuing the 1986 release featuring Stewart in another classic guitar duo, this time with Martin Taylor. The two met while playing with legendary French violinist Stephane Grappelli and continued to play the acoustic guitars they used in Grappelli’s Hot Club-style group when touring as a duo. Acoustic Guitar Duets features effervescent readings of jazz standards and bebop classics plus two folk tunes. It’s due in early November.

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JAZZ IN OCTOBER

Aberdeen Blue Lamp Sun 6: Mary May Band + ACMS Jazz Combo (2pm) Thu 10: Ariane Mamon Qnt Thu 17: Aadal Thu 24: Sekoya Thu 31: Andrea Bonioli Trio Edinburgh The Outhouse Thu 17, Thu 31: Playtime (tbc) St Bride’s Sun 6: Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra (2pm) Traverse Mon 7: Sam Braysher Fri 18: Aadal Glasgow Glad Cafe Tue 8: Sam Braysher Thu 31: Graeme Stephen – Nosferatu Merchants House Sun 20: Mark Lockett Linlithgow St Peter’s Church Fri 25: Laura Macdonald & Kevin Mackenzie London 606 Club Sun 6: Elaine Delmar (1:30pm) Sat 12: Binker Golding Sat 19: Benn Clatworthy Tue 22: Tori Freestone-Alcyona Mick Qrt Thu 24: Paul Booth Wed 30: Arnie Somogyi Ronnie Scott’s Sun 6: John Horler Trio (12 noon) Mon 7 – Sat 12: Booker T Jones Sun 13: Ronnie Foster Wed 16, Thu 17: Dexter Wansel Fri 25: Donny McCaslin Tue 29: Joe Locke This list isn’t intended to be comprehensive; other gigs are available

Jazz On Air

HOT BISCUITS

previewed by radio presenter Steve Bewick

Matan Klein´s latest CD is reviewed by my colleague, Gary Heywood-Everett  on this week´s edition of HOT BISCUITS. You can enjoy his flute playing and hear why Martin´s work is described as both both melodically and rhythmically rich..

In this episode I shall also play  vocalist Rosetta Howard and Hamfoot Ham with The Harlem Hamfats delivering You´re A Viper.`

Martin Pyne‘s Small Blue Trio, play The Stealthy Moon and Tom Thorp,- Saxophonist/Composer, with the Eluminetris Band, has an Axel Problem.

Binx   is also on our playlist with If Only. asis the Czesław Kazimierek Project with `Eyes For Love.

 Last but not least is the Nigel Price Organ Trio, with Kids Groves. If this looks interesting follow the link below and PASS IT ON  to your like-minded jazz-loving friends. www.mixcloud.com/stevebewick/ 24/07

xxxxx

6 ) Live and Recorded Music

NORTH SEA  STRING QUARTET

promotional tour preview by newsletter

We hope you all had a joyful summer! We are still overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response to our album Splunge. If you haven’t had the chance to listen to it yet, please check it out.

Splunge goes international

We’re thrilled to bring the music of Splunge outside of the Netherlands. We were in Romania for an extensive tour (our very own George Dumitriu hails from there and guided the quartet to some beautiful spots along the way) and in October we will also be playing in Berlin.

We also enjoyed our reunion with singer songwriter Samora Pinderhughes after our successful collaboration at North Sea Jazz Festival. His soulful and honest music is a collaboration we love.

At the time of Sidetracks & Detours going to press there are still a few dates left on the NSSQ promotional tour.

09 Nov 2024 | Rockit Festival, Groningen

11 Nov 2024 | Ateneu, Bucuresti

12 Nov 2024 | Biblioteca Astra, Sibiu

14 Nov 2024 | November Music, Den Bosch

16 Nov 2024 | Bimhuis, Amsterdam

Tim Conley (aka MAST) ft. North Sea String Quartet, Betamax e.a.

Lastly we want to point your attention to an exciting project we’re doing called MAST, a project with music by guitarist Tim Conley (USA). Expect music that hovers between electronic music, hiphop, pop and jazz.

The NSSQ will be performing MAST’s recent album “Battle Hymns of the Republic” along with a stellar line-up!

7 ) Live And Recorded Music

Forthcoming Events

LONDON SINFONETTIA

SCHOENBERG : reshaping tradition

preview by London Sinfonettia newsletter

Sunday 20 October
Pre-concert discussion 6.15 – 7pm 
Concert 7.30 – 9.30pm
Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall

Celebrate the 150th year of Arnold Schoenberg with a tribute to the early 20th-century avant-garde’s pioneering figure. Schoenberg’s early works expanded the lush harmonies of late Romanticism to the extent that it scandalised audiences and incited them to riot at the strange physicality of the sounds they were hearing. 

To create a seamless and immersive experience, award-winning Theatre of Sound joins forces with London Sinfonietta, ensuring every detail complements the reshaping of tradition. Delve into all things Schoenberg, with foyer installations and a pre-concert discussion with conductor Jonathan Berman, musicologist Jonathan Cross, and a special guest, before taking your seat in the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

REFRACTED SOUND

Friday 29 November
Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall

Written shortly before the composer’s death, Morton Feldman’s expansive For Samuel Beckett is a meditatively shifting work, in which tiny differences between endless rhythmic and harmonic permutations suspend space and time. This concert will also include Quad, an intricately choregraphed movement sequence devised by Samuel Beckett.

LOVE LINES

Friday 6 December, Hall Two, Kings Place

We return to Kings Place, presenting an evening of music by Scottish composers exploring the idea of love and our deepest human need for connection.

Enhanced by the use of the d&b Soundscape system, this concert is an opportunity to hear rarely performed works by Peter Maxwell Davies, and hear the world public premiere of James MacMillan’s Love Bade me Welcome. 

PARAM VIR:

Snatched by the Gods & Broken Strings – An Opera Double Bill

Experience the powerful storytelling and exquisite music of Param Vir with this landmark release, a testament to the enduring impact and creativity of contemporary opera. 

London Sinfonietta and Almeida Opera, directed by Markus Stenz, gave the British premiere of Param Vir’s opera double bill Snatched by the Gods and Broken Strings in 1996 and recorded them for BBC Radio 3’s Hear and Now. Both operas are released on the Métier label on 18 October 2024.

Nonclassical at 20 present: Nonclaxxical with London Symphony Orchestra

Nonclassical celebrate their 20th birthday with an orchestral concert, London Symphony Orchestra and DJ sets from Matthew Herbert. 

The line-up includes the first orchestral work from acclaimed sound artist Beatrice Dillon, plus tracks from some of the leading musical crossover artists of today including Mica Levi, Sasha Scott and Tansy Davies.

 

8 ) Reader´s Perspective: All Points Forward

NASHVILLE CATS

by Peter Pearson

 

John Sebastian wrote the song Nashville Cats in 1966 as an ode to the Nashville A-Team, a loose group of session musicians based in Nashville Tennessee. The song was made popular by his group The Lovin’ Spoonful in 1966 but I have to say my favourite version is by the Del McCoury Band, who always include it in their live set.

The Nashville A-Team are, in some ways, broadly equivalent to the Wrecking Crew of studio musicians based in Los Angeles but whereas the Wrecking Crew as a named collective were most active for a decade between 1960 and 1970, the name the Nashville A-Team is used to cover several generations of Nashville studio musicians from the mid 1940’s through to the early eighties. Across these generations, the Nashville A Team developed a distinctive style of playing and studio work that distinguished them from other session musicians, especially those in New York and Los Angeles.

In New York and Los Angeles, staff arrangers, working primarily from written notation, called upon session musicians to play their scores faithfully. As a consequence, New York and Los Angeles session musicians were widely renowned for their ability to sight-read written notation and to play even the most complicated arrangements accurately and confidently without prior rehearsal. The Nashville A Team, on the other hand, largely did not follow standard arranging practices  and instead adopted a method in which arrangements were developed during the recording session itself. That is the A Team musicians arrived at a session with little to no prior knowledge of the songs that were going to be recorded that day, and they often heard the songs for the first time as the session began. Other than their instruments, the main things they carried into the recording studio were a sharpie and legal pad. They constructed their own arrangements.

Here is a vivid example of the contrast between New York and Nashville experienced by Jim Foglesong a New York based producer for Columbia Records when he was a guest at one of Nashville producer Owen Bradley’s Quonset Hut studio recording sessions:

Foglesong flew in to Nashville and was introduced to to Owen Bradley, just before a session.” Owen Bradley said, I’m just doing this little square dance album right now, but if you wanna come over, you’re welcome. We don’t sell a whole lot but we make money on these. So that was the very first Nashville session I observed, and the second session was a Johnny Horton session. I was totally taken and surprised by the much more relaxed attitude of Nashville, coming from New York and having done some work in L.A., where the union was so much more strict about its regulations. The Johnny Horton session, which was supposed to start at two o’clock in the afternoon I think, got under way around two thirty.

Well, in New York the clock would have started right on time, but at the Johnny Horton session there wasn’t a musician in the room at two o’clock. They’d gone overtime at RCA, I think. It was the A-team—Buddy Harman, Grady Martin, Harold Bradley, Ray Edenton, Floyd Cramer, and those people—so they finished at RCA and came running over to the Quonset Hut. But they were quick to explain to me that here the clock wasn’t running until everybody’s in the room ready to go. The other thing that scared me to death was that there wasn’t a piece of sheet music on the session. By now I was a full-fledged producer with an artist roster to take care of, and I’m a pretty good musician, I read music, and in New York everything was written out. To go in there with nothing but a lyric sheet—I’ll never forget, particularly Johnny Horton. This was right after ‘The Battle of New Orleans.’(a major hit record) The musicians are sauntering in and talking, and start doodling with their instruments. Finally, Grady Martin (guitarist) says, Johnny, what are we doin’ today? At which point Johnny picks up a guitar and sings them a song, and they all write down the chords. This was so foreign to me my mouth was gaping. I’m pretty sure the Jordanaires were on that date. After three hours, they had four songs done. Just like in New York, we tried to get four songs in three hours, and we almost always did, but there it was written out, and people knew where to go right from the word go”.

The chords they were all writing down would have been based on the famous “Nashville Number System”.

The Number System was developed in the 1950’s by Neil Matthews a member of the Jordanaires, a vocal quartet famous for their work with Elvis Presley in the late 50’s.It assigned numbers to chords and allowed musicians to transpose keys and learn new songs quickly. While it was the A Team players who first utilized the system, it quickly spread throughout Nashville and beyond.It is still used extensively today around the musical world.

The A-Team began assembling  in 1947 when Castle Studios became Nashville’s first established recording studio.

Castle had been set up by WSM Radio engineers primarily for their radio sessions.Owen (piano) and Harold (guitarist) Bradley were studio session men there and when WSM pulled out, they established their own studio for record production work. It was primitive and replaced when Owen struck a deal with Decca to establish a modern studio in an area which would soon become known as Music Row. Owen was established as studio manager/producer and session player.

Ultimately he became a Nashville legend and key in Nashville becoming known as Music City. The studio became known as the Quonset Hut, because the Bradley brothers used the prefabricated structure as an extension to the main studio.

As with the Wrecking Crew, particularly in the early days, studio time was expensive.

Producers wanted minimal takes and were in search of perfection. A record has to stand up to years of analytical playback whereas a concert is a one-time experience and slight mistakes in timing and intonation are easily forgotten.

The first generation of the A-Team in the late forties included guitarists Chet Atkins and Harold Bradley in their number. Owen Bradley was a studio pianist, led a dance band and was an accomplished record producer.

Chet Atkins later became a prolific producer at RCA records. He and Owen Bradley were highly influential in developing the Nashville Sound. It was a sound created by replacing some elements of the popular honky tonk fiddles, steel guitar and nasal vocals (hitherto the bedrock of country music) with smooth elements of 1950’s pop music, smooth strings and choruses, sophisticated background vocals and smooth tempos associated with traditional pop. It was an attempt to revive country sales, which had been devastated by the rise of rock ‘n’ roll. It was personified in the music of Jim Reeves and was prevalent in the late 1950’s and early 60’s before it fell out of favour soon after the deaths of Patsy Cline in 1963 and Jim Reeves in 1964.

Famous names in the 1950’s included pianist Floyd Cramer, guitarist Grady Martin and vocal quartet The Jordanaires,  famous for their work with Elvis Presley. In the mid sixties a third generation included multi instrumentalist Charlie McCoy, guitarists Fred Carter Jr and Jerry Reed and blind pianist Hargus “Pig” Robbins (right) – so called because when he was a schoolboy, a teacher branded him filthy as a pig from playing at school. That school was Tennessee School for the Blind, where he learned to play piano. They were joined later by pianist David Briggs, Norbert Putman, a sometime songwriter, on bass and Reggie Young on guitar.

Collectively these A-Team musicians made a huge contribution to Nashville becoming known as “music city”. Their backgrounds came from a mix of country, pop, blues, rock and roll and classical. Many were trained musicians able to sight read and, like the Wrecking Crew, they were on the clock.

Over the years the A-Team have performed in sessions for Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Roy Orbison, Jim Reeves, Bob Dylan (Nashville Skyline) and many, many more.

As with the Wrecking Crew it was a long time before these musicians started to receive album credits. Elvis Presley insisted on The Jordanaires receiving credit on his albums. When John Stewart cut California Bloodlines in Nashville with the A-Team in 1969 the musicians included Fred Carter Jr, Charley McCoy, Norbert Putman, Lloyd Green and Hargus Robbins.

Stewart was never fond of Nashville for commercial reasons but he was in awe of the musicians and, because of their failure to receive album credit, he gave a roll call of all the musicians at the end of the final track on the album – Never Goin’ Back, giving Hargus Robbins the moniker “first take Hargus Robbins”. According to producer, Nik Venet, he was aware of John’s intentions and told the musicians to keep playing at the end of the song until he (Venet) came out of the recording booth. They thought it was because of a long fade and were astounded when John started the roll call and were as pleased as punch.

Stewart returned to Nashville for his 1973 Cannons in The Rain album and was joined by the A-Team again and The Nashville Edition.

By the mid 1970’s Nashville had established itself as the leader in country music record production but, as with the Wrecking Crew, technology started to change and country music spawned the sub genres of outlaw country rock, followed by Americana and a new wave of studio musicians entered the scene.

A prime example of the modern Nashville based sideman is Jerry Douglas, dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. In addition to a massive amount of session work he has been a soloist, member of Alison Krauss’s touring and recording band Union Station, his own Earls of Leicester ensemble and co-leader of touring band the Transatlantic Sessions. As a sideman, he has recorded with artists as diverse as Garth Brooks, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Phish, Dolly Parton, Paul Simon, John Hiatt, Guy Clark, Ricky Skaggs, Elvis Costello, Tommy Emmanuel, James Taylor and Johnny Mathis. He performed on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and the follow-up “Down From the Mountain” tour.

The Transatlantic Sessions started as a BBC television production comprising collaborative live performances by various leading folk, bluegrass and country musicians from both sides of the North Atlantic, playing music from Scotland, Ireland, England and America. It featured a collection of guest soloists. Over the six series guests have included such artists as Emmylou Harris, James Taylor, Alison Krauss, Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark and Iris Dement. In effect it was like a live studio session against the backdrop of the beautiful Scottish Highlands. They also tour the UK on an annual basis. Their members are in many cases themselves sidemen. For example, UK multi instrumentalists John McCusker and Michael McGoldrick tour and record with Mark Knopfler as well as on their own account.

The modern day sideman is a totally different beast from the days of the Wrecking Crew.

9 ) Tribute:

SARAH HARDING of GIRLS ALOUD

news from I Love Manchester newsletter

Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding to be honoured with special plaque and walking tour.

Stockport will commemorate the life and legacy of Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding with a special tribute event, including a plaque unveiling, and charity fundraiser to support breast cancer research.

The event, part of The Stockport Music Story Walking Tours, promises to be a day filled with music, memories, and a shared mission: raising funds for The Christie Charity and the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal.

Sarah’s story is one of determination, talent, and resilience.

Born and raised in Stockport, she attended Hazel Grove High School and later studied hair and beauty at Stockport College. However, her dreams of the spotlight led her to pursue dance and drama at The North Cheshire Theatre School.

Before long, she was working in Stockport’s Grand Central leisure complex—an ordinary start for a woman destined for extraordinary things. In 2002, Sarah’s life changed forever when she auditioned for Pop Stars: The Rivals, where she would meet the women who would become her bandmates in Girls Aloud. Together, they took the music world by storm, becoming one of the UK’s most successful girl groups. Sarah’s powerful voice, magnetic presence, and unmistakable energy made her an unforgettable part of the band.

But Sarah’s story took a heartbreaking turn when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. Treated at The Christie Hospital in Manchester, Sarah used her platform to raise awareness about the importance of early detection in young women. Her final wish was to support research into why young women without a family history of the disease are diagnosed with breast cancer. This wish lives on through the BCAN-RAY study, a groundbreaking project Sarah’s family and bandmates continue to champion.

In honour of Sarah’s legacy, a special plaque will be unveiled on Stockport’s High Street, near the Sarah Harding mural (left) created by local street artist Degsy. The mural, painted earlier this year, captures Sarah’s spirit, and the new plaque will serve as a permanent reminder of the incredible impact she had, both in her hometown and across the globe.This unveiling will be a focal point of the Stockport Music Map Tour, led by John Barratt, a local champion of the town’s rich musical heritage.

John Barratt, who has dedicated himself to preserving Stockport’s music history, said: “Sarah was such a huge part of Stockport’s story, and her journey from here to the global stage is truly inspiring. We’re honoured to celebrate her legacy while supporting The Christie Charity and the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal.”

The walking tour will offer a unique opportunity for attendees to visit other important musical landmarks in Stockport, as John shares insights into the town’s vibrant cultural past. The event will culminate in a Girls Aloud-themed celebration at Thread Bar, where fans can watch iconic performances by the band.

Thread Bar will also donate 20% of their proceeds from the day to The Christie Charity and the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal. For John, this event is deeply personal. “The Christie is particularly close to my heart, as my wife, Rosemary, was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago.“Luckily, her cancer was caught early, and thanks to the incredible care at The Christie, she has made a good recovery. This event is all about keeping Sarah’s memory alive and continuing her mission to promote early detection of breast cancer in young women.”

Dr. Sacha Howell, Sarah’s consultant and a leader of the BCAN-RAY study, added, “Sarah was passionate about breast cancer research and was determined to help young women understand their risk. I’m sure she’d be thrilled about this event and the plaque being unveiled in her name.”

This event isn’t just a tribute to Sarah’s life; it’s a call to action, a chance to remember the unstoppable force she was, while also supporting a cause that was so close to her heart. As Stockport comes together to celebrate one of its own, Sarah’s memory will continue to shine, inspiring others to fight for early detection and the hope of a future where fewer lives are cut short by breast cancer.

Tickets for the event are priced at £15 and include a Christie wristband, a guided tour, and access to the Girls Aloud party at Thread Bar. All proceeds will benefit The Christie Charity and the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal, ensuring that Sarah’s legacy of hope and awareness continues to make a difference.

Check out I Love Manchester on line for full details of this and similar events.

We return tomorrow with our Monday to Friday daily postings on our sidetracks & detours daily blogs.. You might find us dropping into Woodland to hear Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings with their new album. We also find the answer to my search of everywhere but the obvious. In paying tribute to the great JD Souther who passed away last month, I stumbled across the black roses and the white rhythm and blues. We then took part in a question and answer and mutual praise session with one of my favourite writers, Larry Yaskiel and his wife Liz. The following day we will deliver a master-pop piece and a playlist, of names that fell out in our conversation. We close the week on Friday by recommending two of Larry´s books and magazine publications, for which you will, of course, have to build a bigger bookshelf. We take next Saturday off for the international football break and return with our PASS IT ON Sunday Supplement on Sunday 13^th October. Don´t forget, that if you think that might not be enough reading for you, there are around 1,200 free-to-read arts related items in our easy to negotiate archives