Today I’m dropping in on the Hilltop Hoolies at one of their regular rehearsals in Alston, where I took the opportunity to record them live as they ran through some of their repertoire.

The Hoolies were formed about 18 months ago by five musicians who were already familiar faces at local music venues. And they have all appeared on the podcast at some time: Fred Sheriff, Norm Emerson and Steve Sherris were in the episode about the Turks Head music session in October 2024 and Marshall Nattrass had an episode all to himself in July that same year. That leaves fiddle player Robin Moody as a podcast first-timer but we have heard him playing in one of the bands I’ve recorded at Alston festival.

The Hoolies’ unique take on Americana is due to their distinctive choice of instruments and their commitment to playing only original music. This has earned them a loyal – and growing - following in the north east, where they are recognised as an entertaining live band with a diverse set of finely crafted songs. You can find out what the Hoolies are up to by following them on Facebook and Instagram.

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Today’s episode takes a look at the harmonium in the setting where we are probably most likely to hear it: the parish church.

The harmonium is the largest instrument of its type – essentially, a keyboard mounted in a wooden box that contains the movements and reeds. It may be a plain, portable box the size of a suitcase or a large and elaborate organ-like structure that you could imagine in a Victorian concert hall, or anything in between.

It became common in small churches during a period when influential voices felt that the music in services was too rough and ready, particularly so in the case of fiddlers, and it was part of a movement to raise standards, as they saw it, by replacing musicians from the community. You’ll hear that two pillars that once supported the gallery in St John’s Church in Whitfield were removed and are now part of a cottage; this would have been the part of the church where musicians performed. The arrival of the harmonium seems like the introduction of AI these days. Vic Gammon has written a very interesting account of these events, which I will link in the show notes.

In this episode, I talk to Sarah Blackett-Ord about the harmonium in St John’s Church. Next, a lucky chance to chat with folk musician Janice Burns about the floor harmonium as the chairs are noisily packed away after their recent gig in Allendale Village Hall. Janice and Jon Doran played a lovely set of winter tunes and one of these, Dunston Lullaby, is a beautiful example of how the harmonium can augment a traditional song. Finally, I talk to Ros Ronaldson, who plays the harmonium during services in St Mark’s Church in Ninebanks. We then join the congregation for their Christmas service to hear the harmonium in its most familiar setting: supporting a rural community in song.

I’d like to thank Sarah, the Church Warden at Whitfield, and Ros for their help with this episode; Dorothy Summers and Marina Wallace, the Church Wardens at Ninebanks; and the Reverend Dr Martin Naylor and the congregation of St Mark’s Church for inviting me and my family to join their Christmas service and record the carols.

There is an excellent video about the history of the harmonium on YouTube:

You can find music by Janice Burns and Jon Doran on Bandcamp and the usual streaming platforms. Their website is www.janandjon.com and they are on Instagram and Facebook.

Vic Gammon’s essay The Rise and Fall of the West Gallery: popular religious music in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is in The Routledge Companion to English Folk Performance

https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-English-Folk-Performance/Harrop-Roud/p/book/9781032021966

‘The Catterwauling Scrapes of Thrashing Fidlers’: English and Welsh Vernacular Fiddle Players 1600-1900’ will be published by The Ballad Partners in 2026 in a book of essays.

You can watch the 2025 carol service at St Marks Church on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/live/8zd7FOVCxug?si=NF61ystzNhsALIhx

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Today my guests are SKX Funkanauts, a band of sonic kilohertz explorers from Aldermaran 4 who have chosen Northumberland as a base from which to transmit cosmic funky dance music back to their home planet. Our county has many admirable qualities but even its most ardent fans would struggle with the idea that it is the home of funk. So I met two band members, F2 and F3, at a secret location and, with translation by the AI entity Morley, I tried to find out more about their mission and their earthbound activities.

The Funkanauts have made their audio recordings accessible to earthlings on the usual streaming platforms and you can follow their mission on Instagram. There is a live data transmission of funkanautics at Hexham’s The Tannery pub on January 3rd, an event that I’m reliably informed will bring joy to all who attend.

I’ve added some links to other documented encounters with SKX Funkanauts so you know I’m not making all this up.

https://narcmagazine.com/focus-s-k-x/

https://narcmagazine.com/interview-s-k-x-funkanauts/

https://narcmagazine.com/my-inspiration-s-k-x-funkanauts-pale-blue-dot/

https://narcmagazine.com/track-review-s-k-x-funkanauts-murmurs-from-earth-feat-annie-j/

The audio data transmitted in this episode are: The Voyagers From Dynatron, Murmurs From Earth and Open Neural Pathways.

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Pete Ward is a musician, theologian and author of a new book on the meaning of religion in bluegrass music to everyone who plays it, regardless of their faith or lack of one.

In the book, Pete analyses the lyrics of bluegrass standards from the 1940s and 50s and interviews musicians about their response to the sentiments of the gospel bluegrass songs they enjoy playing. We talk about the history of bluegrass, the origin myth that has excluded the important contribution of African American musicians, and how religious experience can emerge through playing these familiar songs.

We mention several greats of the bluegrass movement in this episode. I’m sorry that I can’t include their music for copyright reasons but on YouTube there are many examples of bluegrass songs, both religious and secular, by Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, Flatt and Scruggs, Alison Krauss and many more.

Pete mentions the book Segregating Sound. Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow by Karl Hagstrom Miller. It was published in 2010 by Duke University Press. He also refers to the American singer Rhiannon Giddens; her website is https://rhiannongiddens.com/.

Pete’s book is called Bluegrass and Religion and it’s published by Bloomsbury Academic. Pete plays in the House Band of the Platform Bar in Hexham Railway Station and in Hexham Bluegrass. You can find information about bluegrass music locally on the Facebook page Bluegrass in Hexham and at the website bluegrassinhexham.uk. Among the tutors at Hexham’s Core Music, Tom Kimber and Rupert Hughes are accomplished bluegrass players. T​he next Hexham Bluegrass and Americana Festival will take place from July 24th to the 26th, 2026.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 3tynespodcast.substack.com

Today, I’m the guest of Music in Allendale, a small and warmly welcoming group of enthusiasts who arrange concerts of classical music in Allendale.

Music in Allendale aims to bring classical music to the intimate setting of St Cuthbert’s Church to perform a varied repertoire by familiar and less well known composers. In September, I went to a concert by the Silja Trio – I hope I pronounced that correctly – and enjoyed music by Debussy, Faure, Piazzolla and Shostakovich. I am no aficionado of classical music and I did not know any of these pieces. But listening to them played live by these talented young musicians was little short of a revelation.

If you feel hesitant about attending a live performance of classical music, or you think it’s not really your cup of tea, I urge you to give it a go: you will not be disappointed. And, at Allendale, you will be treated to a fine supper after the concert and have the chance to chat with other people in the audience and with the musicians themselves.

To find out more about Music in Allendale, and who makes that delicious supper, I dropped in on the Committee as they discussed the programme for 2026. First, I spoke to Noel Broome, the group’s guiding light, about the history of Music in Allendale, before discussing the practicalities of bringing classical music to Allendale with the rest of the Committee.

The music in this episode was composed by Debussy and Shostakovich and was played by the Silja Trio in St Cuthbert’s Church in Allendale. The trio comprises Georgie Bloomfield on violin, Cillian Hennessy on cello and Hanna Csermely.

Information about Music in Allendale and the 2026 programme of concerts will be available at https://musicinallendale.weebly.com/ and you can find more about the music and other events at St Cuthbert’s Church at https://allendalechurch.co.uk/.

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The Hive in Nenthead is a community centre and arts venue in a restored Methodist chapel. In this episode, I talk to Katja and Mandy, two of the venue's directors, about its history and its present roles, and to hear its pipe organ played by Brian Cottle in just one of the many contrasting events on offer here.

Nenthead is a former mining village in the valley of the River Nent, a tributary of the South Tyne, and high in the North Pennines at some 440m elevation. It is just inside Cumbria, very close to the borders of both Northumberland and County Durham.

The Hive has been beautifully restored and preserves the decorative ironwork and balcony of the original chapel. It is run entirely by volunteers for the benefit of the community and puts on a wide range of activities, including an eclectic repertoire of music. You can find out about the events on offer from The Hive’s Facebook page or on their website at www.hivenenthead.co.uk. I do encourage you to visit: you will be warmly welcomed.

One feature of The Hive that immediately strikes the visitor is its pipe organ, which occupies much of one wall of the venue. I was lucky to be there when the organist Brian Cottle arrived to play an evening’s concert. Brian is an accomplished musician whose unusual hobby is to play a pipe organ when he finds one that piques his interest. We talked about his life in music and the ins and outs – literally – of the workings of a pipe organ. This episode includes several familiar classical pieces that Brian played that evening to a very appreciative audience, concluding with a rousing rendition of Jerusalem. The organ, though in remarkably good condition, would benefit from some TLC but Brian overcame the challenges admirably.

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Based in Bellingham, Jason Arnup and his band are much in demand for shows, events and gigs where his lively blend of country, rock and roll and popular songs make many an evening a great success. But it’s country music that runs in his veins and that is guiding his development as a songwriter.

In this episode, Jason talks about what shaped his music, the joy of playing live and the importance of having band members you can depend on. We look at the necessary work that the audience never sees, the practical business of making a living as a musician, and consider some tips for developing musicians.

There are three of Jason’s songs in this episode. His new single Cowboy Run is out in early October and signals the direction Jason sees his music going in the future. Zoe is a deeply personal and moving song that he wrote for his sister. The last song, Girl I Know, does not have a release date at the time of recording. It’s sure to be a live favourite thanks to an epic chorus that will have the audience joining in with arms waving.

You can find Jason’s music on the usual streaming platforms and on YouTube. Information about his gigs is on his website, JasonArnupmusic.co.uk, and there you can buy his two CDs, It’s a Little Too Late and Jet to the Promised Land.

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We featured an interview with the band Central Arcade on the 26th of August but there was much more conversation than was included in that episode. So today we have the interview in full, including more about the dynamics of the band and the experience of being in a band as it begins to establish its reputation.

I talk to Connall, Ben and Joe from the band Central Arcade about life in an upcoming band, writing songs, gigging, marketing and balancing artistic ambition against income. It’s a hard, competitive environment and one that requires a complete commitment to the band and a realistic long term view of what constitutes success.

Central Arcade have had rave reviews for their energetic live performances and their original songs. We recorded this conversation on the day before they released their EP Master, which NARC Magazine described as ‘demonstrating vocal, instrumental and lyrical skill - and impressive diversity of each’… adding, ‘Central Arcade prove that good, classic indie rock is still very much alive and kicking in the North East’.

The band recorded two acoustic versions of songs from the EP for the podcast: Master and Liar in the Heart.

This episode of the podcast was produced and engineered by Dean Parker at Odobo Studios in the John Marley Centre in Scotswood, Newcastle. Dean also produced, mixed and mastered the two songs.

You can find out more about Central Arcade and listen to their music by following them on Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok and YouTube.

You can find information about Sixto Rodriguez on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixto_Rodriguez.

The YouTube video in which Chris Buck talks about the finances of touring is at

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Today, my guest is Hannah Fumoleau, a singing teacher who offers lessons at Hexham’s Core Music, in Newcastle and occasionally elsewhere.

Growing up in a household full of music, Hannah’s first paid performance was at the age of twelve and, following a career in arts administration, she became a full-time singer and teacher in 2024.

Hannah performs classical music but she is an enthusiastic teacher of all styles of music and of the art of singing itself, emphasising the value of fulfilment and personal goals for the student who is learning how to improve their singing, and the overriding importance of having fun.

We cover many aspects of tuition in this wide-ranging episode, including the process of teaching, the importance of community in shaping music preferences, vocal health, self confidence and the secrets of live performance by the pop greats.

Hannah sings three classical pieces in this episode accompanied by Len Young on the piano and recorded in the church of St James and St Basil in Fenham:

Du Bist Wie Eine Blume, by Schubert.

Rejoice Greatly, from The Messiah, by Handel

Spring, from Five Elizabethan Songs, by Ivor Gurney

You can find out more about Hannah from her website at hannahthesop.com and more about singing lessons at Core Music on their website at coremusic.co.uk.

The YouTube video of Rick Beato and his son that I refer to is titled ‘Next Level Perfect Pitch (8 Year Old)’.

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Today’s guest is a sociologist who has spent many years studying popular music. Simon Frith is Emeritus Professor of Music at Edinburgh University, the culmination of an illustrious academic career, and he has written several books on popular music culture. He was the Chair of the Mercury Prize for 14 years from its inception in 1992.

I first came across Simon’s work when he was a rock critic for the music papers and then the Sunday Times and Observer back in the 80s and 90s. When I discovered he lives in Tynedale, I couldn’t wait to ask him onto the podcast to learn of his views on the state of current music.

Our conversation covered the merits and otherwise of streaming, the ways we listen to music, the old days and new ways, and why these things are important. I’m not short of opinions myself so it was refreshing to hear a sociological perspective that challenged my underlying assumptions. I hope there will be something that makes you think or presents a view that’s not what you expect.

You can find more about some of the topics we discussed by following these links:

https://www.thebreaker.co.uk/algorithms-turn-consumers-into-a-kind-of-running-cliche/

https://www.bridgeratings.com/blog/2025/3/27/what-is-functional-music-and-why-are-we-listening-to-more-of-it

We mention the book Mood Machine by Liz Pelly. There are several interviews on YouTube in which she discusses the issues raised.

I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please subscribe and tell your friends about it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 3tynespodcast.substack.com