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COME AND EXPERIENCE THE UK’S FRIENDLIEST FAMILY FESTIVAL THE GENERATIONAL MAGIC OF FAIRPORT CONVENTIONS CROPREDY 2024 8th – 10th AUGUST

It’s that time of year again – when many of the farm fields of Cropredy in Oxfordshire get transformed in to a festival city!.. and many things start arriving….The catering stalls, the gift stalls the brilliant Cropredy Bar, the toilets, the showers, the magical stage, the lighting, the fences, the roadways, the walkway path lights, the generators, and most importantly the love .. and the huge family that are Fairport Conventions loyal fans – generations of them… all convening for what is for most, a yearly pilgrimage to the legendary Fairport Conventions Cropredy Festival.

This years Cropredy Festival falls on the 8-10th August.

But this year it is with great sadness we mourn the loss of Fairport’s drummer Gerry Conway, who sadly passed away after a spell of illness from Moto Neurone disease in March. Gerry served as Fairport’s drummer from 1998 until 2022. A man that I became to know from my very limited occasions of meeting and interviewing him to be a kind wonderful, gentle warm hearted beautiful soul and exceptional musician.

Our thoughts, love and condolences are with his partner Jacqui and his family from all of us at the folking.com team.

Cropredy 2024 – spanning the generations..

This year especially reminds us of the multi generational ethos of the festival with the amazing Rick Wakeman, playing his Journey to the centre of the earth album live. This year he will be joined by his son Adam Wakeman another hugely talented and successful musician, on stage playing keyboards alongside his father for this very special performance.

In addition and again in line with the generations of great musicians, Rick Wakeman will also be joined by the brilliant bass player Mr Matthew Pegg – son of none other than Mr Dave Pegg. Matthew is a hugely talented bass player just like his father. Who despite his father Dave Pegg telling me in our latest interview (below) that he tried to encourage Matthew to become a dentist or something similar!! he ignored his fathers advice and has forged a brilliant successful career in the music industry playing with many bands including The City Funk Orchestra and Jethro Tull to name just two often stepping in to deputize on bass for Dave Pegg when he has been injured!

So the generations roll on in that living tradition that now spreads across multiple generations of the band itself as well as their friends, musical acquaintances and the families of the Fairport fans who flock to this magical festival – where the Fairport’s song ‘Meet on the ledge’ so perfectly captures ‘It all comes round again’ really rings true for this years Cropredy festival.

From a personal point of view I like I’m sure thousands of others will be joined this year by my two daughters, who grew up coming to the Cropredy Festival and are now bringing their children… so the generations keep rolling on!

So…the line up.  So who can you see????

Fairport have have done it again!…what a fantastic line up for this year – and tickets are selling fast so ‘If you snooze you loose’ as they say so – visit www.fairportconvention.com to buy your tickets asap!

Other ‘generational legends’ performing this year are the brilliant time spanning entertainer Tony Christie.

You can hear me talking to Tony Christie about his appearance at the festival and other life matters including speed awareness courses! in my Pre – Cropredy Chat with Tony Christie here….

Also continuing Fairport’s constant commitment to championing new young bands at the festival there are several younger bands on the bill…among others a fiery, energetic  and extremely talented band of Blues Rockers from my neck of the woods (Medway Towns in Kent)

The Zack Shultze Gang

Hear my pre Cropredy chat with Zack Schultze here..

Another catalogue of generational hits from the 80’s 90’s  and beyond…will be played by the Brilliant Trevor Horn band!

If you have never been to the Cropredy Festival  I can’t express what a special friendly, safe and comfortable  festival this is, and always has an eclectic mix of music to suit all tastes, that Dave, Simon, Rick, Chris and Gareth the festival Manager / Director always bring. This is not just a folk or folk rock festival but a music festival that never ceases to amaze with its huge variety of music.

I only have to mention some of the past acts that have performed here over the years to give you an idea, past performances include The Buzzcocks, The levellers, The Proclaimers, The Water Boys, Petula Clarke,  Madness, Toyah and Robert Fripp, Alice Cooper , Beach Boys, Level 42, Mark King, Marilion, Robert Plant, Solstice, Nile Rogers..  to name but a few and always topped off with stunning performances  on Saturday night from those boys them selves Fairport Convention.

Cropredy will always surprise you, but never disappoint you !!!

So get those tickets booked August 8-10th  www.fairportconvention.com

The folking.com crew will also be there bringing you the vibe and the magical atmosphere of the festival via our social media and any further back stage interviews with artists and bands I can bring you…

See you in that magical field…. 8th  – 10th August

Paul Johnson
www.folking.com

www.fairportconvention.com

MORNINGBIRD – Echoes In The Meadow (own label)

Echoes In The MeadowMorningBird’s Echoes In The Meadow drinks from the unassuming northern Minnesota Lake Itasca trickle, which, once given momentum, pulses into the Mississippi River Americana mythical artery.  Years ago, while on a necessary pilgrimage to these Big Muddy headwaters, I found myself smack dab in the middle of nowhere. There was a small tourist hut with an old-fashioned slide show. My English setter, Ivy, out of canine boredom, snapped at flies that coursed the humid air. Even today, the memory begs for less sepia in the well-water-sourced drinking fountain. But that’s the beauty of America off the map: Amid any common vote and equally common geography, there’s always something with a quiet profundity.

And that’s this album’s cornmeal fried okra gist: It snaps at big flies and sings a melodic song in the humid air of dirt road Americana gothic mysticism.

The traditional song, ‘Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Buring’, begins the slideshow. The tune is gospel honest with Rob Wheeler and Jill Burkes sharing lead vocals. Jill’s violin slices wholewheat bread, an acoustic guitar churns melodic continuous butter, and Josh Palmi’s stand-up bass pulses with Mississippi River twain-marked time.

The same is true for ‘Thunder’, with blessed vocals, a bit of mandolin, and effective weather-echoed percussion.

‘Birds And Bees’ continues with an up-tempo Jill vocal that begs for any dancefloor quickstep approval.

Then things get delightfully weird with an almost reggae harmonica headwater sourced graveyard strutted ‘Reefer’.

As a reference, Echoes In The Meadow rides the same rails as the brilliant Dave Rawlings (and Gillian Welch) Machine.

That said, the folk music continues. With another Jill vocal, ‘Nights In July’ catches that common vote (and equally common geography!) that’s always part of quiet profundity. Ditto for the folk blues of ‘Cold Heart’, with its urgent tightrope acoustic guitar touch. Then, ‘The Wind’ is even better, with its dreamy dustbowl gospel truth and tough wisdom.

There’s more traditional stuff. The instrumental ‘Swallowtail’ skips an Appalachian stone across watery history and conjures the jagged fiddle jig of an Irish folk tune, that, indeed, cuts a “Mush-a ring dum a do dum a da”, dance step that makes it hard to keep that “whiskey in a jar”. It’s a nice change of pace. And, the (ironically!) joyous ‘Dig A Hole In The Meadow (Darlin Cory)’ is an infectious tune smithing, and (sort of) serves as a synopsis for all those big tomes that try to explain convoluted American frontier history.

The bouncy ‘Time For A Change’ is clever, catchy, and perhaps, obvious.  Sometimes, folk music has to be that, too.

The final song reprises ‘Thunder’, with an acoustic and caustic prayer to those pilgrimage moments smack dab in the middle of nowhere, where America is off the grid, with anyone’s dog snapping at flies, amid any common vote and equally common geography, where there’s always something to be heard with a huge expectant trickle and always quiet cornmeal fried okra profundity.

Bill Golembeski

Artists’ website: https://morningbirdsings.com/

‘Birds And Bees’ – live: