Fairport Convention http://www.fairportconvention.

**Bobbie Dier** · Sep-26-2004, 9:24am

Fairport Convention will be playing at the LEAF Festival in Black Mountain NC Oct 15th at 7pm. They have a awesome mandolin player,Chris Leslie. http://www.fairportconvention.co.uk/fairg_fr.htm. They are making their US tour starting soon. See link for dates in your area.

See Leaf Festival too. http://www.theleaf.com/

**Richard Singleton** · Sep-27-2004, 6:41pm

Hi, I'll be going to see them at the Towne Crier Cafe in Pawling NY on Friday Oct. 1st. Any other Mandolin Cafe folk going there? Rich Singleton

**Bobbie Dier** · Sep-28-2004, 4:01pm

Richard Singleton,

Have a wonderful time.These guys are just awesome! I have to wait till they get a little further south. I'll be seeing them in Black Mtn, NC. It is an outdoor festival and NC has been having a lot of flooding due to the hurricanes(one right after the other). I hope the weather is good by then.
ima

**Richard Singleton** · Oct-02-2004, 3:30pm

Fairport was great last night at the Towne Crier! Chris Leslie played some terrific mando on many of the songs and tunes, especially "Woodworm Swing", "the Hiring Fair",and some high powered electric jigs and reels. He was playing a plugged in Ozark F5 and also played the Fylde OM a lot. At one point Dave Pegg played the Ozark, (slipped on while still wearing his bass) while Chris played fiddle and OM. Rick Sanders and Chris played some awesome twin fiddles on "John Gaude". Gerry Conway was great as usual on the drums and Simon Nicol was in great voice on "Hiring Fair" and "Matty Groves", and also played his usual excellent guitar.Chris seems to be singing more than when I last saw them. They did a lot of songs from their new CD Over the Next Hill, but also did "Walk Awhile" and encored of course with "Meet on the Ledge". On a poignant note they played "Now Be Thankful" with hopeful wishes for Dave Swarbrick, who they noted was in hospital waiting for a lung transplant. I highly recommend catching them if you can!

**Bobbie Dier** · Oct-04-2004, 3:59am

Thanks for the review Richard!

I don't know if the guys know it yet, but Swarb has had his transplant and it was a success. That was the news Saturday. Hope he is still doing well.
ima

**steve V. johnson** · Oct-05-2004, 3:10pm

I heard FC in Cincinnati on 9.24 and they were fantstic.

Enjoy!

stv

**Bobbie Dier** · Oct-05-2004, 6:39pm

sliabhstv,

I saw them in Cinncinnati last June. The venue was cool. The sound system wasn't all that great. Hope it was better this year. Those guys still put on a great show anyway that night. Was the show put on by Steve Carlson? He is a good friend of Fairport.
ima

**OdnamNool** · Oct-06-2004, 6:08am

Hiya Ima.

Just saw you on the board there and thought I'd check in to say that I hope all is well...

**Bobbie Dier** · Oct-06-2004, 12:31pm

Hi OdnamNool!
All is fine here!! Just a bit busy. Trying to get ready for the (maybe) last camping trip of the year. Hope you are fine too.
ima

**Martin Jonas** · Oct-12-2004, 8:00am

Originally Posted by (Richard Singleton @ Oct. 02 2004, 16:30)

He was playing a plugged in Ozark F5 and also played the Fylde OM a lot.

I've been curious about Chris Leslie's Ozark since I saw him with it at Cropredy and admired the wonderful tone he got out of it. I've just found this link which has the full details of his mandolin. It's Ozark's lowest spec F-style (model 2255), which sells in the UK at around 400 Pounds; one of the cheapest solid-wood pacrim F-styles you can buy. Clearly, it's the player that makes the tone...

Martin

**mandocrucian** · Oct-12-2004, 8:05am

Went to see Fairport last night for a "barn concert" outside of Shepherdstown WV. It an addition to a concert series of I'd been completely unaware despite that it was only 30 miles or so from where I live. Thanks to Imapickn's initial post, I heard about the show (and concert series) before, not after, the fact. Thanks!

I'll second Richard Singleton's review. #There wasn't a drum kit at the venue, so Gerry Conway played various hand drums and percussion (tambourine, shakers, djembe etc) and the overall show had a slightly more acoustic sound. #Chris Leslie played some really nice stuff on mando on "Hiring Fair" and effectively used RH palm muting.

I asked Ric Sanders about the Django quote he tossed into "Woodworm Swing", and he said it was "Stompin At Decca", which also provided the chord structure for the verse, while "HCQ Strut" was the source for the chorus.

They said that Swarbrick did have the lung transplant and was doing OK, and then did "Now Be Thankful", which was always one of my favorites from the Thompson/Swarb era despite not being on one of the regular LPs (but is now on the Full House reissue with the bonus tracks of "Now Be Thankful", its (45 single) B side "Sir B McKenzie's" fiddle tune medley, the original version of "Poor Will And The Jolly Hangman" and "Bonny Bunch Of Roses").

Niles Hokkanen

**Eugene** · Oct-12-2004, 8:25am

This topic pains me. I discovered it a couple days after they had played within driving distance of me back in late September! I am a great fan of Fairport Convention, have seen them several times, and am weeping in missing them this time. I love "Now Be Thankful" too. Sounds like I'll have to do some shopping for the old stuff in reissue.

PS: There was a Sandy Denny question on Jeopardy last night asking after the backing vocals for Led Zeppelin's "Battle of Evermore." Could have been my night to dethrone Ken!

**Martin Jonas** · Oct-12-2004, 9:12am

For those who want to learn Fairport tunes, both volumes of the tunebook (written by Martin Allcock) are now back in print, with the first volume having been expanded and updated from the original edition. Volume One is available directly from Allcock here for £27.50/Euro 45/US$60 including shipping. Volume Two was available at Cropredy, but I'm not sure whether it can currently be bought online. There is also a great tunebook included in the Swarbrick 4CD box set, also prepared by Allcock (which makes the box set very good value, compared to the tunebooks on their own) and Allcock is currently finalising the Complete Sandy Denny tunebook, which would make a good companion to the just-released 5CD Sandy box set.

Songbook One includes Now Be Thankful, and Allcock has put a free taster of "Crazy Man Michael" here. Great tune to play on mandolin (as are most Swarbrick tunes).

Martin

**Bobbie Dier** · Oct-12-2004, 5:18pm

It's still not too late to see Fairport in the US.

Carrboro N.C.- Arts Center Wed 13th--TOMORROW
Carlotte N.C.-Neighborhood Theater-Thurs 14th
Black Mtn N.C.-LEAF Festival Fri 15th
Charleston W.V.-WV State Theater Footmad Series Sat 16th

See them while they are here!