Mud Morganfield Band
Monday 26 November : 8pm
£14.00 : £12.00 concessions

*Please note- This is a standing show*

Mud Morganfield (Eldest Son of Muddy Waters)

“They say “like father like son” and in the case of Mud Morganfield the veracity of that phrase is unquestionable. Morganfield has his father’s looks, his voice and his intensity – and his backing band on this set, Rick Kreher and Billy Flynn (guitars), Barrelhouse Chuck (piano/organ), Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith (drums), and Harmonica Hinds and Bob Corritore (harmonica) have the authenticity and talent to recreate the classic Chi-Town sounds of the 50s and early 60s at their very best. In fact songs like “Short Dress Woman”, “Midnight Lover” and “Leave Me Alone” could almost be unreleased treasures from Muddy’s Chess catalogue – they are that good.

As a songwriter, Morganfield also demonstrates the influence of his father – the brash sexual machismo and posturing of “Love to Flirt”, a brooding shuffle with harp and piano crawling all over the mix; whilst Bob Corritore’s “Go Ahead And Blame Me” also falls into that category with it’s rolling Spann-esque piano, Cotton influenced harp and biting Hare inflected guitar.

Despite highlighting the influences Muddy had on his son, it has to be said that Morganfield is his own man, and only uses his father’s work as a springboard for his own talent. Just listen to the brooding title track with its Little Walter styled harp and cascading piano, and the moody “Health”, where Morganfield’s voice has a more plaintive feel to see exactly what I mean.

Inevitably there has to be one of the great man’s songs on this set, and in this case it’s “You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had” which is a fitting tribute to one of the genre’s all-time greats”.(Words by Mick Rainsford. 9 out of 10 in April 2012′s BLUES IN BRITAIN magazine)

Mud will be touring with a full band.

West Weston – harp
Ronni Buysack-Boysen – guitar
Ian Jennings – double bass
Mike Hellier – drums

Mud Morganfield website

Mud Morganfield Myspace

Willy Mason
+ support
Tuesday 7 August : 8pm
£7.00 adv : £9.00 door

Willy Mason website

Music & Ale
Saturday 2 June : 1- 11pm
FREE

In conjunction with The Plough and part of the City of Ale Festival, NAC is proud to present a day of great music, fine local ale and a BBQ.

Our Darling Punch
1pm The Plough
4pm NAC

Pat Falgate
3pm The Plough
8pm NAC

Ian Elson Duo
2pm NAC
5pm The Plough

Nobodaddies
6pm NAC
9pm The Plough

plus TBC
7pm The Plough
10pm NAC

Claudia Aurora
Monday 24 September : 8pm
£12.00 : £10.00 concessions : seated

With a following to rival flamenco, the haunting melodies of Portuguese fado have always held listeners spellbound; Claudia Aurora is its powerful new voice. Claudia Aurora sings fado – traditional Portuguese folk-blues – like no one else. The singer-songwriter’s debut album, “Silêncio” (released in the UK by World Village/Harmonia Mundi on 31 October 2011), is the first collection of original fado songs to be recorded in the UK since the great Portuguese Fado diva Amália Rodrigues recorded at Abbey Road Studios in 1952.

Claudia Aurora is a fadista and songwriter from Oporto, Portugal. She is based in Bristol, UK since 2003 and has built a reputation as a stunning live performer. Claudia has sung fado at numerous venues in the UK, including the prestigious Kings Place, Queen Elizabeth Hall (Southbank Centre), Momo and Heaven, in London, Royal Theatre in Norwich, and St George’s in Bristol. Her shows have been recorded and broadcasted by BBC Radio 3.

“Silêncio” is a showcase of both her powerful voice and her unique original songs. The first fados to be written in the UK, these songs deal with the traditional Fado themes of life, destiny, longing and despair.
“A beguiling voice! And her instrumentalists are superb!” Michael Church, The Scotsman

“An exquisite foray into jazz-inflected contemporary fado” fRoots

“Haunting Portuguese fado from this rising star of the scene here performing heartbreakingly poignant material from her widely acclaimed 2011 album ‘Silêncio’” Time Out London

“Spine-tingling” Alex Denney, NME

“Drenched in emotion and drama” Lucy Duran, BBC Radio 3

Claudia Aurora website

We Are Scientists
Monday 30 July : 8pm
£13.50 adv : £16.00 door

We Are Scientists website

The Travelling Band
+ support
Thursday 27 September : 8pm
£7.50 adv : £9.00 door

The Travelling Band embark on their 22 date ‘Hands Up’ UK Tour starting in Norwich on 27th September and finishing in London 21st October.
They are busy over the summer months at numerous UK & European festivals and recording their new album.
The ‘Hands Up’ UK Tour will feature all the fan favourites and plenty of new songs from the soon to be released album.

The Travelling Band’s shimmering blend of cosmic-country-pop, understated psychedelia, vocal harmonies and nu-folk has made them one of the most talked about artists to emerge from the Manchester music scene – “If you consider the term Mancunian Americana to be an oxymoron try listening to The Travelling Band. Brilliant.” Marc Riley BBC 6 Music.

A recording project in New York City in 2006 led a collective of like minded souls to record what was to become ‘Under The Pavement’, their debut studio album. Released two years later, the record was very well received by the UK media, gaining BBC Radio 6 ‘Album of The Day’, BBC Radio 2’s ‘Single of The Week’ and a featured song in the Ian Dury biopic ‘Sex Drugs & Rock n Roll’.

Although, as The Sun says, “This debut blurs the folk/rock boundaries, delicately intertwining sensitive lyrics with accomplished folk vocals and jangly instrumental accompaniments to form a tapestry of glittering whimsy”, their 10 track second album demonstrates a giant leap forward for the band. Set for a 30 May UK release, ‘Screaming Is Something’, which isn’t quite soul music, isn’t quite folk, isn’t quite pop, country or rock, is being supported by a May / June UK Tour.

“The sounds they generate took me back to my musical roots… Marvellous music to savour and enjoy” – Michael Eavis, Glastonbury Festival

“Sparkling harmonies and bright chirpy guitars pepper this album full of bright-eyed optimism” – Jerome Blakeney, BBC 6Music

“They produce an inventive brand of guitar-laden country folk pop with a cosmic aesthetic and sprinkles of trademark Manchester’s musical lineage” – Clash Magazine

“Their harmonies are tight, guitar picking deft and tunes melodic” – Q Magazine

Travelling Band website

Food Lover’s Fayre
Saturday 29 September : 11am- 4pm
FREE

Come and support your local food traders at our new farmers market. Featuring tasty produce such as ales, cakes, chutneys, coffee, pies and more. Yum!

With DJ’s in the The Barn Cafe.

Hat Fitz & Cara Robinson
Tuesday 31 July : 8pm
£10.00 : £8.00 concessions : seated

Hat Fitz & Cara Robinson website

Warsaw Village Band
Saturday 23 June : 8.30pm
£12.00 : £10.00 concessions

NORD is a meeting of musicians in search of  common elements between  the Slavs, the Scandinavians and the aboriginal peoples of the North.
The Warsaw Village Band hosts this musical summit as a tribute to the heroes and mystics, the Viking warriors, and the poets of the Saami and Inuit peoples.

Music strangely familiar; harsh, but dignified, cold, rough – deep and strong, with a hint of nostalgia and with a piercing thrill of truth.

The relationships of the countries of the North have a long history. The Vikings invaded Polish lands in the Middle Ages and had considerable influence on the Polish state. They also explored deeply into the continent of North America, establishing settlements in present-day Canada.

During the Polish – Swedish wars of the 17th century, along with other spoils, Sweden also imported the Polish dance  Kujawiak, which to this day, is known in Sweden by the name Polska.

All of these diverse but related musical influences meet for the first time ever in the Warsaw Village Band Nord project.

Guests in Warsaw Village Band´s Nord include the Swedish cult band “Hedningarna”, considered a seminal precursor of world music.  “Hedningarna”, whose music has long been admired by Warsaw Village Band, come to return the stolen Kujawiak!

The Nord project is also graced by the presence of Sandy Scofield – one of the greatest Canadian singer/songwriters, with roots deep in her Indian past.

Nord is the collective result of this unique encounter between artistes;  a return to the wild, tribal trance notes, as well as lyrical songs and pulsating dance.

In between the band performs at Vancouvers Chutspah Fesitval „ The Blessing on the Moon“ a new operatic/theatre production based on the book of the same name by Joseph Skirbell with music composed by Andy Terstein at the Norman& Annette Rothstein Theatre.

The band will present their new album Live May 2012 in Poland, England, Netherlands, Germany and Turkey!

Warsaw Village Band website

Ned Evett Band
Thursday 2 August : 8.30pm
£8.00 : £6.00 concessions

Ned Evett is one of the world’s foremost fretless guitarists, creating music that both celebrates and transcends the novelty of his instrument.

“The world’s first fretless guitar rockstar “ -Guitar Player Magazine

At age 11, Ned started playing ukelele, graduating to his first guitar at 15. At 16, Ned got his first classical guitar and gave his first professional performance as a guitarist. Around that time, Ned saw King Crimson Live in Japan, and was mesmerized by the fretless guitar wielded by Adrian Belew.

Ned won a full college scholarship to study classical guitar, but a Michael Hedges performance changed the course of his life; he dropped out of college to pursue songwriting and electric guitar full time. He spent the next five years traveling across the US playing six nights a week with numerous bands.

New years eve 1990, Ned had had enough of cover bands. He smashed his strat onstage and built his first fretless guitar from the neck which survived intact. Ned hasn’t looked back since. The first Ned Evett fretless guitar had a wood/epoxy fingerboard. He appeared with his fretless acoustic in the May 1993 issue of Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine, then on record with Warner recording artists Built To Spill in 1994.

Prior to his first European tour in 1997 backing Austin Singer/Songwriter Dirk Hamilton, he switched to a glass fingerboard; in part to him wearing out numerous ebony fingerboards. Ned has used glass and aluminum fingerboards ever since.

Ned has drawn a catalogue of critical acclaim from such major national publications as USA Today, writing, “Ned Evett is the perfectly sane, and vastly entertaining master of the fretless glass-necked guitar.”

Ned made waves in 2000 with the groundbreaking release, An Introduction to Fretless Guitar. That album, along with successful albums Circus Liquor (2003), iStole (2004), Middle of the Middle (2007), and Afraid4U (2010) led to his widespread success in Europe, while also kick-starting the beginning of a loyal fan following in the U.S.
His touring history includes concerts performed in the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Mexico, and Australia as well as most of the countries in western Europe.

In 2003, Ned entered and won the North American Rock Guitar Competition. In 2004 PBS Television broadcast the documentary “Driven To Play “, a film about the event which aired in all US states and parts of Canada.

Following the film’s premier, Ned began a series of tours with artists such as Jonny Lang, Eric Johnson, George Thorogood, and Robert Cray. From October 2010 through January 2011, Ned embarked on a world tour with Grammy nominated artist Joe Satriani who says, “Ned Evett is a monster player/writer/performer. I’ve had him on tour as a solo act, as well as with his different band lineups, and he always puts on a great performance. He has a good time with the audience, as he uses his unique personality to guide them through his music and his one-of-a-kind guitar style.”

Ned’s five solo releases run the gamut from instrumental beauties to hard-rocking blues, and everything in between. Ned’s upcoming sixth solo album, “Treehouse” is a 14 song diary of love, loss, redemption, and the future told in Ned’s mesmerizing voice, accompanied by Ned’s trademark fretless mirrored glass and steel resonator, the “Globro” and his glass-necked electrics. The album, produced by legendary musician Adrian Belew, is scheduled for an Autumn release

Ned Evett website