Folk clubs, open mics and my birthday in The View from the Terrace

On Tuesday Hubby and I enjoyed a fantastic evening at a local folk club. It’s held at a pub in Longtown, a village a few miles from here. I used to love going to folk clubs in the 60s and 70s but got out of it when the children arrived. Then, a few years back, we sang at a friends house and he said we should get back into the folk scene. We decided he was right and found a really good club at Monmouth but after a few months it changed it’s venue and was too far away and we haven’t found another until recently.

We’ve been going to open mics in Abergavenny and do enjoy them but I think I fit better in the old fashioned folk clubs where they don’t have amplification and the music is more to my taste. I like what used to be called contempory folk in the 60s, Tom Paxton, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel that sort of thing, but I also enjoy some traditional.

The club had a great variety of musicians, as well as several guitars there were 2 violins, a mandolin, a flute, a piano accordian and a harp. Hubby and I each did 3 songs. I got some very complementry remarks. One man said my voice really carried so well that he could hear it in the next room which surprised me because the man who runs one of the open mics is always saying he can’t hear me and I have a very light voice, but then he is into rock music. I really shouldn’t let people get to me. I found him quite intimidationg. He also went on about my guitar which is an accoustic and I need a mic to amplify it, so I’ve been using Hubby’s guitar which is an accoustic electric but the tone is wrong for my style, it’s too jazzy. I prefer nylon strings, I’ve always played a nylon strung guitar and my fingers are getting a little weaker now.

It was my birthday yesterday. I am now 67. Cat sent me a beautiful necklace and a bracelet and a card with a photo of her and Billie Jean the dog. It is such a lovely photo I think I might frame it. Chris, my elder son bought me a sun lounger, now all I need is for the sun the return! Hubby bought me a table lamp to replace the one at my bedside, unfortunately I love the one on my bedside table, it belonged to my mother and I have found a shade for it that matches the duvet cover so I am not sure what I am going to do with the new one, maybe put it in the little room which used to be Cat’s and which I am turning into a den for me.

Last updated May 20, 2020