I have been specifically asked to pen a few words about last Thursday night, without being sycophantic, oily, ingratiating or self-aggrandising. So that has saved everyone a long waffly read!
Suffice to say that none other than a former guitarist in Steve Rice's band sat in and gave us a couple of songs - a gentleman known worldwide as Billy Bragg. With Steve tinkling the ivories, Billy gave us "Me & Bobby McGhee" and finished with one of his greatest hits, Essex Man's answer to Route 66, an epic road song that starts in Wapping and ends up in Shoeburyness, unsurprisingly called "A13" (he couldn't get anything to scan with A12, but included the heckler's suggestion of 'shelve' as he closed the song). I managed to get a phone recording, which is pretty poor, but a great memento of playing with the big boys. Thanks to Chrissie for the pics.
It was a great evening all round, as Billy's presence raised all of our games, and we hope our reputation as the rockingest session in Essex will pull in a few more muso celebs as a 'must play' gig.
Hopefully, a few of the pub audience will chip in here with their account of the evening by leaving a comment. Here's hoping, anyway.......
All photos © Chrissie Gamble .
[NB - owing to some technical glitch, this entry has come up as having been posted by Juliet (who wasn't there) but in fact it was written by Greg (who most emphatically was)!]
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1 comment:
Billy Bragg jammed with our band Cross Stitch UK for a while before nipping into the Coast Inn next door for a pint with Stephen Rice and Mark Sharpley. He had some extremely helpful tips for our upcoming album 'Folks Rocking!' and worked extensively with Sean Ellis on how to play freestyle Blues on the guitar. It was a fabulous session and his influence will be noticable when our album comes out later this year.
cheers,
Rhonda Taylor
www.CrossStitchUKband.com
www.MerseaArtsSociety.co.uk
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