3tynespodcast

Today’s guest is Laura Tindall, Head of Music at the Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham.

When we recorded this episode in the autumn of 2024, Laura had been in post for about 6 weeks. We talked about how music is taught in schools and in particular about what is included in the GSCE and B Tech music courses, including how both modern and classical music are covered and the importance of performance. We also considered the very important issue of what resources are available to students to support their studies.

I hope this episode will prove interesting for everyone but especially for parents and potential students who are thinking about their future course options and wondering what it means to study music at school.

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’s guest is Calum Tordoff, a singer songwriter from the Tyne Valley who’s very familiar to audiences in the North East. His distinctive music deals with a disparate range of topics that incudes love, relationships, friends falling out of taxis and mates going off to sea. Calum’s influences lie in 60s pop as much as in the alternative folk scene and this is evident in his melodic style and authentic delivery.

In this episode, Calum talks about his musical development, his inspirations and his enthusiasm for performing, and he offers some useful tips for aspiring musicians who are thinking about going to an open mic night.

Calum performs two songs in this episode. Frankie’s Gone To Sea, which is on his album Here Come The Belgians, and The Most Beautiful Girl On The Planet, for which the only recording currently available is on YouTube ().

Calum is preparing to record a new album and he has released two so far: 2017’s Sistership’s and 2019’s Here Come The Belgians, both of which are available as CDs and are on Spotify. His Facebook page is Calum David Tordoff.

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

My guest today is producer, sound engineer and composer Julie Bartley.

Julie is one of the few women successfully working in the male-dominated recording industry in the North East. She advocates to strengthen the role of women in music generally and has formed a network to support women in their careers.

In this episode, Julie describes how a lifelong fascination with sound technology led her to switch from a successful career in nursing to retrain as an engineer. She has recorded her own songs and sound compositions – which you can hear in this episode - and produced prominent artists in the North East, including her ongoing work with the all-female music collective Beccy Owen and the Refuge.

Julie has a passion for supporting and empowering those who may have previously experienced exclusion from or discomfort within traditional studio and performance settings, in particular: women, gender minorities, members of the Global majority, disabled and neurodivergent people and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Julie is based in the Cupola Studios collective in Newcastle. You can find out more about her music production at Rolling Audio (https://www.rollingaudio.co.uk/) and listen to her music on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/rollingaudio).

Julie produced Beccy Owen and the Refuge’s album Chaotica, which you can hear at  https://beccyowen.bandcamp.com/ and other streaming platforms.

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

Happy Christmas everyone! And my best wishes for a peaceful New Year.

In this episode I encourage you to use Bandcamp as a way to help musicians make a living from their work. The link to the site is https://bandcamp.com/ And I am pleased once again to be able to thank the people who have helped me upload nearly 40 episodes since the first one was published in May 2023. They are:

Mike Coleman

Paul Frear (aka Uncle PAF)

Craig Atkinson (Allen Valleys Folk Festival)

Ian K Brown

Penny Grennan

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

My guest today is Ray Taylor, Musical Director of the Hexham Male Voice Choir.

The Choir has been singing for well over 70 years, covering a large catalogue of secular and choral music that includes popular modern song and familiar classics. It performs live several times each year, often together with other music groups and choirs. The current membership numbers just over 20.

Ray became Musical Director in 2024, having been a member for about two years. He has a long track record as a member of several prestigious choirs and his vision for the Hexham Male Voice Choir promises to raise its ambition and its profile, including more collaborations with other choirs in the area.

The Choir’s next concert is called The Magic of Music and will be held in Hexham Trinity Methodist Church on Saturday December the 14th. In this episode, the Choir performs two specially recorded classics that will feature in the concert: The Rose and Bridge Over Troubled Water. The accompanist was Zoe Solomon.

Today’s episode also features guest appearances from Ray’s dogs. Perhaps they were auditioning for a choir of their own, or maybe they knew that the podcast is pet-friendly and wanted to get in on the interview. Their hopes on this occasion were dashed. Better luck next time.

Hexham Male Voice Choir rehearses every Thursday evening at the West End Methodist Church. Newcomers are guaranteed a warm welcome and anyone who is wondering if choir singing is for them is encouraged to go along and find out. Information about the choir and its concerts is available on its Facebook page and on its website, https://www.hexhammalevoicechoir.co.uk/.

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

If you’ve been to a gig, play or creative event in your local community hall, chances are that it was made possible by Highlights North. In this episode, Kate Lynch, Director of Highlights Rural Touring Scheme, describes the challenges faced by venues and performers in putting on gigs in rural areas, and how Highlights works to overcome them.

Highlights is a charity that supports events in rural venues by connecting local people with musicians, actors and artists and removing much of the financial risk that comes with booking a performer. It is also very active in supporting creative events in schools.

Working across Northumberland, County Durham and Cumbria, it is funded by and partners with Arts Council England, Arts Out West, Durham County Council, Cumberland Council, National Rural Touring Forum, Northumberland County Council and Westmorland and Furness Council.

You can find more information about Highlights at https://highlightsnorth.co.uk and https://www.facebook.com/highlightsrural, https://www.instagram.com/highlightsrural and https://twitter.com/highlightsrural.

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’s guest is luthier Gary Southwell.

Gary makes fine classical guitars in his workshop in Redesdale. His instruments have been commissioned by, among many other eminent musicians, Julian Bream, John Williams and Paul Simon.

He has pioneered the use of Fenland Black Oak (also known as Bog Oak), a type of dark, almost black wood that has been buried for thousands of years and is found in only a few locations in the country. The secret of drying it out in pieces large enough to use in guitar-making is known to a select few.

In this episode, you can hear several examples of music played on one of Gary’s Fenland Black Oak A Series guitars: Shining Morn, written and performed by Gordon Giltrap; London Blues No. 4, written by Graham Lynch and performed by Tom Kerstens; and Bog Oak Bouree, written and performed by Richard Durrant.

Gary’s website (https://www.southwellguitars.co.uk/) includes a wealth of information about the instruments he makes, including videos of musicians playing his guitars and background about his approach to making his instruments. The link to the Heartwood CD is https://www.southwellguitars.co.uk/heartwood/.

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

Come on down and enjoy the rowdy atmosphere of a session at the Turks Head pub in Alston!

The Turks Head is a pub in Alston, Cumbria, in the upper South Tyne valley (https://www.facebook.com/Turksheadalston). Run by Tom and Lesley Mearns, it is a friendly, traditional pub that is popular with visitors and locals alike. Informal music sessions happen in the bar on Sunday afternoons on a semi-regular basis – check on the Facebook page for information.

On the day 3tynespodcast visited, four musicians arrived to entertain the customers: Paul Frear (Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/737797032914454), Fred Sherrif, Norm Everson and Steve Sherris. There was a great atmosphere in the bar as they ran through an impromptu set of self-penned songs and covers on acoustic guitars with Steve adding fills on his Stratocaster.

The songs featured in this episode are 50% Of Something, Losing and Men of Steel by Fred Sheriff, Miles and Miles by Paul Frear, and Dancing in the Sun by Norm Everson.

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

Wark is a small village in Northumberland, and one of only four places where vehicles can cross the North Tyne upstream of Hexham. Its Mechanics Institute and Town Hall is the venue for some remarkable gigs organised by folk singer and songwriter Ian K Brown (who is a guest in another episode of the podcast).

Musicians are drawn from across the North of England and the Borders to perform an informal concert to an audience that ranks as one of the friendliest you could hope to meet. Ian puts in a tremendous amount of work as promoter, organiser of seating, host and support act, playing his own songs and covers accompanied by singer Louise Ainsley, whose partner Dave Ainsley does the sound.

The Celia Bryce Band is based in Tynemouth and includes a member from Allenheads. Led by singer Celia Bryce, whose compositions with bassist Colin Bradshaw make up most of their repertoire, the band play carefully crafted songs featuring close harmonies. Though loosely falling within the genre of Americana, that term does not do justice to the range and melodic scope of their material.

The songs featured in this episode are: Nome, Hexham Tan and Here Before by The Celia Bryce Band, and Home Time and the traditional song Byker Hill, by Ian Brown. (We were unable to record Celia’s band well enough for the podcast, so we have included the published songs courtesy of The Celia Bryce Band and Country Music Social Media.)

Here Before, by The Celia Bryce Band, is featured on the 3tynespodcast jukebox on YouTube – go to https://youtu.be/8ZT9MvfEEFw.

You can find out about the Wark gigs by following Ian Brown on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BrownIanK.

There is more information about The Celia Bryce Band on their website at https://www.theceliabryceband.com/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/theceliabband. You can listen find their music on Bandcamp at https://theceliabryceband.bandcamp.com/, YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@theceliabryceband5661 and Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/artist/4mO4k9DK60WTvQyAo9CNCa?si=EJ-U7TGAQnWOd4W9534gZg. Please contact Country Music Social Media for more information (https://countrymusicsocialmedia.com/).

As well as being a songwriter, Celia is also a talented fiction writer. You can find out more about her work at https://www.celiabryce.co.uk/.

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

The North’s premier small folk festival was another triumph this year. Sold out well in advance, the three-day event hosted an eclectic range of musicians, dancers and poets, with plenty of opportunities for people attending the festival to join in at sessions and workshops - some of which were open to the public, like the family ceilidh on Saturday afternoon and the customary burning of the wolf in the town square. Music continued well into the night with dancing in the Village Hall with Panther Panther (https://www.pantherpantherav.com/music) and Turfu (https://www.youtube.com/@TURFUINSPACE) followed by pub sessions until long after  my bedtime.

I did my best to see and talk to as many bands as I could but there is so much going on at this festival that it’s not possible to see it all. So my apologies for not including in the podcast the open mic session, Hadrian Clog, Crook Morris, Cash Cows, Kev Moore, Peter Tickell and Andrew Reed, the dance bands and the Brothers Gillespie. I was briefly visited by technology gremlins and a couple of very interesting interviews were lost to the ether; my apologies to the people whose conversation has gone awol.

One of the aspects of the festival that make it so special is that it involves the whole town. I would like to thank everyone involved for their cheerful help, especially the volunteers manning the desk and doors and the cooks serving delicious food in the Village Hall. And special thanks to Craig Atkinson for making it all possible.

I would have liked to include more of the music but rights issues limit what I can do. The musicians you’ll hear in the podcast are (in order of appearance):

Watersmeet

Kathryn Tickell and The Darkening

Fred Sheriff and Robin Moody

Wayward Jane

The Rheingans Sisters

Johnny Campbell

Mishra

Suntou Susso

Johnny Flynn and Howay The Lasses

The thumbnail image is of The Rheingans Sisters.

I hope you enjoy this episode. Please subscribe and tell you 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