Listening Party for Done Different 2

https://peacocks-tale.bandcamp.com/merch/done-different-2-listening-party

All welcome Thursday November 30 at 7pm. Hear the album played in full in public for the first time- 15 tracks, exactly one hour - and join in the chat about how we made it.

 

The Vicar of Stiffkey

Another offering from Doin Different, our not so slim Poppyland volume of folk ballads published in 2015. The long-promised musical album of the book is approaching completion and is scheduled (fingers crossed) for release this Christmas.

Chronicling Norfolk ( and East of England) history from Boudicca and Fiddler's Hill - a haunted bronze age barrow in Binham -  to UEA and a contemporary carol at Lynn Minster, the book at this point reaches the (in)famous  tale of 'Little Jimmy', The Rector of Stiffkey, the 31st of 39 ballads, a story which gripped the nation at the time and is an emblem of the inter-war battle between the 'Victorian' establishment and the more permissive values of modern times. We hope you like our seaside postcard approach to the subject. 


PS 'Victorian' is in scare quotes because the period was actually one of the most progressive in history -  the abolition of slavery (its repression enforced by the royal navy), Married Women's Property Act, Universal Manhood suffrage, public sanitation, enormous advances in science and technology etc etc - but yes there was plenty to be progressive about.

Conversations with Writers: Interview _ Gareth Calway

Conversations with Writers: Interview _ Gareth Calway: Gareth Calway is a published poet, novelist, playwright, lyricist and member of folkband, the Penland Phezants . His works include Doin...

Bhas Allan's pic of my "Bollocks to Brexit" workbooks with European cheeses. Review of the anthology in the Journal, reproduced below:

Lancelot and the Grail maiden - Waywood's first album

LANCELOT AND THE GRAIL MAIDEN - click to hear the new Waywood album.

Hear our Soundcloud hit!

We are Waywood. A voice and a  harp telling stories. Here is our contribution to an ageless tradition. We hope you enjoy the new stories of Norfolk we tell.

Next gigs: Bourne, Lincs, 7 Sep.


Lynn Heritage Day, Hanse House, Lynn,  10 Sep

On 10 September, Waywood will be showcasing their new album of Norfolk stories as part of Heritage Day in Lynn.   These stories include homages to the extraordinary number of pioneers Lynn has produced through the ages. Characters like William Sawtrey one time priest of St Margaret's Church (now Lynn Minster) - and in 1401 the first man to be burned for his beliefs in England - and his famous parishioner, Margery Kempe, who combined marriage and fourteen children with a unique visionary life travelling as a pilgrim throughout the Hanseatic world and beyond and also famously wrote the first autobiography in English. Waywood also tell such strange ghost stories of ordinary Norfolk people in history as that of Susan Nobes, who was struck by lightning in Sedgeford Church in 1819 - a ballad that has now had nearly a thousand plays worldwide on Soundcloud - and of Norfolk gentlefolk like the Brown Lady reputed to haunt both Houghton and Raynham Hall.  "The Brown Lady", as the ballad explains, was Dorothy Walpole not just sister of first British Prime Minister (and Lynn MP for 40 years) Sir Robert Walpole but also the wife of 'Turnip' Townshend. The mysterious nature of her death and the assertion that she is the only ghost every to have been photographed (on the stairs of Raynham Hall in 1936!) all add to the crepuscular glamour of this tale. 

Gareth will also rap his "Ballad of Badass King John - As Seen On TV!" for the first time since he did so at the official ceremony unveiling King John's statue in Lynn last October, when the performance was shown on the BBC News. Vanessa will join him for only their second public performance of a ballad commissioned from them by the Borough of West Norfolk and King's Lynn about the other West Norfolk figure honoured last June with a statue - Henry LeStrange, the man who invented New Hunstanton.

Waywood will be introduced by town historian Dr Paul Richards at 1 pm in the Gallery at Hanse House on Heritage Day (Sunday September 10) and will perform for about an hour. The show is free. Audiences are welcome to drop in and stay for a song or two or for the entire concert, whichever they prefer. "We know that visitors have a lot of great things to see and hear in Lynn on that day," commented Gareth.

"It will be worth seeing us just for the costumes!" said Vanessa, who has been busy creating a fetching Robin Hood i' the Greenwood look for the duo's new Hereward material to add to the Lancelot and Grail Maiden chic Waywood enjoyed modelling on their recent album cover. "Not many realised Lancelot was wearing the standard of the Hanseatic League on his tabard for that cover shoot," (see above) Vanessa explained. "But with so much Lynn and Hanseatic material in our repertoire, why wouldn't you?"

Pics below by Bhas Allan, Elaine Bird, David Maile, Joan Wall and Zariah Wood-Davies.

The newly unveiled statue of Henry LeStrange 

Waywood sing his praises

'He carved his vision from carrstone rocks"

"A holiday heaven from his hands"

Lovewood, her work done.

The sculptor and Loveway the poet suffering for their art after the ceremony. 

(This is the easy bit)

No, not REM, Waywood at the album launch.

Lovewood making the harp talk

Lovewood and harp as one

Just to show it wasn't easy making that album cover look easy

Mine's a pint, please, Grail maiden.

The real William Sawtrey, first man to be burned for his beliefs in England

Loveway playing Sawtrey in our Morality Play - "A Nice Guy: The Burning Of William Sawtrey" at the Lynn Fringe in 2015. Lovewood is just out of shot left playing Soul. Bhas Allan ( for once not taking the pics) is the devil telling Sawtrey he's toast.

Waywood harping tall histories (and looking vertically stretched) at the 2016 Heritage day in Lynn

Original press release

Poet Gareth Calway and Harpist Vanessa Wood-Davies, both of Sedgeford,  are releasing a 'craft' album of their Norfolk ballads at the Bury St Edmunds Festival on May 19. All but the title track of these harp-accompanied verse tales commemorate a real character from Norfolk's past - from national figures like William Sawtrey of Lynn, the first man to be burned for his beliefs in England, to unsung ones like Susan Nobes of Sedgeford, killed by lightning in Sedgeford Church in 1819. As Waywood (the artists previously known as Lovehearts and Redwine), the two have written, composed, performed, recorded and produced the album themselves and will be performing them on the opening night of the Festival. Andy Wall and Gareth will close the evening with their Ely Folk Festival commission, Bread or Blood, about the Littleport and Ely Riots of 1816 and singer Sharon Clifton will commemorate Ann Boleyn (executed May 19 1536) and Margery Kempe in song .   www.buryfestival.co.uk  

Bread or Blood is Back

First half: Doin different at the Milkmaid Folk Club, Bury St Edmunds. (singing a song of Freeborn John) Video here

Andy's set, which included The Ballad of St Edmund (video) and  also the wonderful Louisiana (video) which he does like no other.

Gareth's Badass King John rap (as seen on TV! - BBC Look East News) 
Grail maiden and harp as one
See video here
More live Waywood on the folk circuit here

 2nd half: The corrupt scales of British justice, 1816

Hear an extended excerpt from Bread or Blood - here

Andy Wall performs a solo set and then joins Gareth Calway to perform 'Bread or Blood', the story of the Littleport and Ely Riots of 1816' (commissioned by the Ely Folk Festival in 2016). In between, Andy, Gareth and harpist Vanessa Wood-Davies perform ballads from Gareth’s 2015 book ‘Doin different, 39 new ballads from the East of England.' This will include a complete performance of Gareth and Vanessa’s new album 'Lancelot and the Grail Maiden'. 

Starts: 8pm
Tickets: £10 (£8 for Milkmaid Members), £2 discount off top price band for Festival Friends 
Venue: Constitutional Club

This event is promoted by Bury Festival

Dates and times   Book tickets

  19 May 2017 - 20:00 (Fri)   

If you hold a membership subscription you may be eligible for discounts. Log in and these will be applied to your order automatically.

Doin different - the last waltz as the Titanic tour goes down singing in Lynn! (Hanse House 11 am, 1 pm, 3 pm)

Picture gallery by Pat Jones.

Lynn news story (trending on the Lynn news website!)

"These are songs from a book, doin different it's called

All about Norfolk heroes and heroines bold.

It's on sale over there at that Hanse House stall.

You can buy it at Waterstone's and at Jarrold's.

So we're here doin different as Norfolkers should,

Nor folk in the town singing songs from the wood.

We got Margery Kempe, Walpole, two of his kin;

Bad King John, Nelson, Cod Fishers, Sawtrey of Lynn..."

(The tour song in its final adaptation)

Where Doin different all began - on the last day and 5 years ago when composer Adrian Tebbutt (left) asked me to give him some lyrics about a Norfolk legend. The result was then sung by Roger Partridge (backside shown right!) Also pictured the lady who now sings it and lead singer on Heritage Day, Sharon Clifton.

The minstrel Lynn, lead singer of Waterline.

The Fried Pirates warm up. (and another back view of Jolly Roger)

William Sawtrey of Lynn's life or death issues with the eucharistic bread and wine. Parrish priest of St Margaret's (the parish this Hanse House performance was staged in) and a Lollard martyr he was England's first burned heretic in 1401.

The Ballad of Badass King John, a Lynn Pride rap that went down well with children and adults alike.

Lynn singing about Lynn in Lynn!

Waterline's elegant music and costume perfectly suited to the occasion

Vanessa Wood-Davies (harp) and the minstrel Lynn rest between sets. Melanie Calway and Adrian Tebbutt manage to keep them both standing.

The maestro minstrel Terry Smith

Hullo, that's a bit of added woodwind on The Ballad of Sir Robert Walpole

The composer leads Waterline in the Ballad of Turnip Townshend

It's not all work. Some folk club regulars give their verdict.

"And now - Mr Lynn himself!" I introduce Dr Paul Richards, town historian of Lynn.

    Dr Paul is fascinating as always about how folk  ballads tell the social history of the town he loves.

 Vanessa and I borrow Waterline's impressive set up for this performance of Margery Kempe music.

All right lads - we knew they weren't really tights! 

I introduce the spooky 'Ballad of the Brown lady' - our ghost ballad about Dorothy Walpole, who is said to haunt both Houghton Hall (built by Sir Robert Walpole) and Raynham Hall (built by her husband and, some believe, her murderer Turnip Townshend) (we exonerate him in this ballad and in the spooky folk video we made of this ghost story)

"I rise up like a morning star of love and faith and hope..."

(Great idea of Pat's to photograph the "holy without smoke" of William Sawtrey of Lynn's burning!)

Waterline, doin different at 11 am, 1pm and 3 pm.

The Titanic 21 gig tour goes down singing into the September sunset this Sunday,the last four gigs flagged up and flying in the EDP, The Lynn News (including a page 3) and Lynn's 'Your Local Paper.'

Here's the last one - Lynn News WOW feature here.

Nine new folk ballads telling the long and colourful history of Lynn will be performed in the Blue Room of Hanse House as part of Heritage Day this Sunday.

All have been published by Poppyland publishing in a new book called 'Doin different - new ballads from the east of England' written by Sedgeford author and director of the Room at the Hanse theatre company Gareth Calway

The 'Doin different'  collection has been touring as a musical show since the premiere at Lynn's Hanse Festival last May - taking in Ely Folk festival, Folk in a Field, Lynn's Folk in the Town, the King and Queen in Foley St London W1 and the archaeological dig in Sedgeford- and on Sunday the 21 gig tour ends where it began - at Hanse House.

Twelve Norfolk-based composers have written for the project, a score of performers have participated and four new folk bands have been formed as a result. Three of these folk bands will be on show this Sunday.

One of the aims of the book is to celebrate Norfolk's often underestimated role in British history and another is to draw attention to Lynn's amazing contribution to that.

The Fried Pirates will perform ballads about the heroic and under-sung Cod Fishers of Lynn and the Siege of Lynn in 1643. Lovehearts & Redwine will offer homages to Lynn's religious pioneers Margery Kempe, who wrote the first autobiography in English, and William Sawtrey, parish priest of St Margaret's, the first man to be burned for his beliefs in England. And to not so Bad King John, who gave the port its first independence from Norwich. Waterline will sing the praises of Lynn's MP for 40 years - Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first prime minister - and of Lynn author Fanny Burney, the mother of the Jane Austen novel.  

Waterline will also take your breath away with an exquisitely sung ghost ballad about Walpole's sister, the Brown Lady, who is said to haunt Walpole's magnificent Houghton Hall, and the Fried Pirates will add a stirring shanty about Nelson, who said Norfolk volunteers were worth two of other men and whose crews included plenty of Lynn's sea-hardened men.

All three bands perform at 11 pm and 1 pm and will be introduced at 1pm by Dr Paul Richards, town historian. At 3 pm, Lovehearts & Redwine and Waterline will perform slightly longer sets from Doin different. The Fried Pirates will perform a different set at True's yard  from 2pm-3.30pm. Admission is free for all events.

'Doin different - new ballads from the east of England' (lyrics with musical scores, photographs and historical support) is on sale at Waterstones, True's Yard, Jarrolds and Hanse House or via www.poppyland.co.uk. You can find online links to audio and video performances of songs, scores and extensive historical resources and features at www.garethcalway.co.uk

The Fried Pirates at True's yard. They will be doin different in the Blue Room of Hanse House at 11am and 1pm 

DONE different. Tour's end and into the sunset!

Crossing off the last gig and putting Done! next to it.