The Folk at the Pitts club held a songwriting competition. Al Goodwin’s Always You was the winner and the music / tabs were published in Folks Issue 7 May / June 1979. According to Folks  – “Al Goodwin – a talented singer and writer of ballads, was a regular visitor to Folk at the Pitts. His most popular songs include Golden Fleece, Mr Watt and Humphrey the Spider – written to prevent children being scared of spiders.”

Another gem from Coventry’s Folks magazine of  1978. The Floorsinger’s Blues by Dave Parker. I remember seeing this one performed – I also remember doing a lot of floorspots – you got in free as the song says!!

Yet another from Coventry’s Folks magazine contributed by Dave Garelick – Robert Johnson classic

This article was written by Coventry folk singer DAVE COBURN (now living in Suffolk) but who, in the early 70’s, co-ran the Rude Bear Folk Club with Rod Felton, for FOLKS magazine issue No 4 Nov / Dec 1978 – the Coventry Folkies Magazine, put together by Pete Willow and Arol and others. I remember Dave Coburn telling me all about Jackson C. Franks when giving me a lift home to Willenhall sometimes after a session at the Rude Bear Folk Club.

JACKSON C. FRANKS – The Spirit of Soho ‘ 65 – by DAVE COBURN (From FOLKS magazine No 4 Nov / Dec 1978)

Les Cousins in Greek St. is now a disco; Paul Simon is now a millionaire, Al Stewart is far removed from his bedsitter images but Jackson C. Franks (Wiki link) seems to have realised his ultimate wish – he is alone.

For many people it was Paul Simon, the archetypal poet and one man band, for others the eclectic hybrid style of Bert Jansch or Davy Graham and for many more Al Stewart’s bedsitters, that epitomise Soho in 1965, but for me Jackson C. Frank IS Soho 1965.

I only have to pick up my guitar and play Frank’s Blues Run the Game and I’m back in those back-breaking Cousins’ seats, listening to this tortured young man cutting to the quick the neurosis that ran through those Soho nights in 65.

Les Cousins Folk Club, Greek Street,

1965 was a big year for Les Cousins; they opened its doors at 7.30pm every night of the week and there were late night sessions every Friday and Saturday until the early hours and sometimes even dawn. I’ve often stumbled out into the crisp and silent Sunday morning before London awoke, my heart pounding and my head still full of music. It’s an experience I’ve never been able to recapture and  that I can’t begin to describe here. The residents of the Cousins that year included Gerry Lockran and Noel Murphy and on Thursday evenings Jansch and Renbourn held court. So why was I so impressed with Jackson C Frank?

Jackson was so different from the rest of us. At a time when even the Jansch’s and  the Stewart’s were lucky to have one workable beaten up  piece of rubbish to play on, his collection of  guitars was legendary. I saw some of them in Twickenham; there were two old Gibson’s, a Martin and what seemed like half a dozen more. I remember someone saying something about one of his ‘boxes‘. Jackson looked more pained than usual and said “Look, your instrument  may be a box but these are guitars!“.

I still cringe when I hear people describing really good guitars such as the ones Rob Armstrong produces, as ‘boxes‘, and I still think of that Aladdin’s Cave of musical instruments down there in Twickenham.

I was never close enough to ask how he got scarred or why he limped. “No bottle of pill, babe, can kill the pain” he wrote in Here Comes the Blues, and looking at him you felt sympathy for a pain threshold long breached and passed, but he did not want sympathy, it was communication that he craved.

Prior to coming to London, he had been a journalist in the States and was obsessed with words. He said of one song ‘Don’t tell me whether you like the song, just tell me as one writer to another, does the imagery work?’  Actually he was probably at his best taking old clichés of the blues and splitting and twisting them into something new and exciting rather than spinning poetic images Paul Simon style.

His songs spoke for the whole crowd of already weary-eyed innocents. Most of us much younger than him, who gathered on those smoky nights at Cousins nd the Wednesday night sessions at the Marquee in Wardour St. His lifestyle of taking boats here and there and renting hotel rooms to drink away the blues was far in the future for us, but we understood the anguish and in Soho we had a common backdrop. Jackson’s songs were non political and it was this aspect that I had taken to heart. We expected Americans to be East Coast lefties or alternatively to write without bitterness (like Simon).

Jackson’s songs were bitter sweet and I found myself latering my own writing to eliminate the political elements, but to follow his pattern of cynicism rather than the purity of Paul Simon.

Jackson C Franks at Les Cousins 1965

I had one of my songs accepted by “Folk Scene” magazine and was  waiting for its publication when Blues Run the Game was published by the magazine in late 1965. My song Smoke in the Wind (which thankfully I have never performed since) was my last political effort and although it had strong lyrics they paled to insignificance besides Jackson’s song. I was changed forever and have never recovered, thank Christ!

I believe that Jackson had discovered the inner world has its conflicts every bit as shattering s the political imbalance of the real world, but whereas this was no new discovery, he was able to convey this lyrically in a way that his contempories could not. He sang for that whole generation of kids who crowded into Soho clubs and coffee cellars in 65, 66 and abandoned all hope before the flame was ever kindled. We were later to look on in amused cynicism at the naïve aspirations of the flower generation of the late 60’s who aped our life style but never came within miles of our state of mind.

Jackson once said “I want to share with you some of the incredible blinds I have seen myself walk into and crawl away from, more from knowing instinctively that each of us does the  same thing than for any particular pride in the manner I personally have or have not survived.

“To sing is a state of mind that can include all ‘ frames of mind’ and there lies the danger in communicating through song alone. I cannot defend and will not, your or my judgement of them, for they are only a passing opinion, statements given in absence.”

“To this end I write songs, to this end only they can stand. If my songs communicate to yu any measure of something valued, remembered or recognised in the streets that you have walked, then they are success within very limited qualifications. That is, you and I have met once more.”

The quotations above encapsulates my own feelings and my own motivations as a songwriter. The words belong to Jackson C. Frank but the spirit is also mine though I freely admit that it is easy to dismiss this type of commentary as pretentious hogwash, derivative of all the self-analysis stemming from the Beatnik fifties thorugh the intellectual atmosphere of Soho 65, because that is exactly what it is! But doesn’t the fact that the statement is true state a case for the pretensions to be excused or forgiven?

Many of us tried to become notable songwriters or poets but it was not our lot to become Ginsberg or Kerouac, for times had already changed and we had become labeled and bagged. Many self tortured souls were to arise and claim the position of singer-songwriter but the position as an outsider, dissecting his own psyche was already obsolescent and the inner working of the head was of interest only when the state of mind of the performer and the audience coincided. This is perhaps why the recorded work of singer songwriters has continued to sell whilst their live presence is treated now more often with politeness than enthusiasm.

Lacking media approval which would allow a Bob Dylan or Paul Simon to continue to sing without becoming the pet creature of his audience, Jackson C Frank took a more honest way out than the rest of us. Many struggled on with a sort of ‘cult’ status which allowed us to continue playing our own material, others moved into Rock, but Jackson cashed in all his chips and quit the game.

Jackson C Frank has stopped singing and has reportedly retreated into himself. There have been many attempts to get him to make a comeback over the years but so far he has refused. I hope that he is wise enough to stay in retirement. I loved what he did and am thankful for his influence, but the world has changed and it seems sometimes that the lyrics just don’t matter anymore. The re release of Jackson C Franks (first on Columbia 335X 1788 in November 1965) must be regarded with suspicion. What are the motives behind it? Jackson contributed more and deserves more than to be treated as an antique, a curiosity who represented that generation of children of Sigmund Freud. I hope that the  re release does more good than ill. I hope that people listen to the songs and don’t try to enter some sort of time warp. The songs are good enough to stand on their own.

I leave you with the song Blues Run the Game itself, one of the great songs of Soho 65, if not the great song. Many people do fine versions of this, but this is the transcription of the original..(lyrics added later!)

SPOTLIGHT ON PETE AND SHEILA RIGG 
by PETE WILLOW – From FOLKS (Coventry Folk Magazine) No 8 Jul-Aug 1979

(I have no photos or audio of Pete and Sheila Rigg) 

Sheila Rigg’s dark secret is that she has been playing guitar for longer than  Pete. Having always been interested in singing, she borrowed a guitar about fifteen years ago, withdrew into her room for a month or so, and emerged with sore fingers and an ability to play the instrument. Pete is also self-taught and feels that as performing folk music is mainly a matter of your own style, this is the best way to learn, even though he was influenced by the many fine musicians around him at the time, including Mark Newman (Chris Newman’s brother) and, a little later Steve Tilston.

When Pete lived in Leicester, before going to University, he first performed music with Bob Calver. Their original aim was to form a rock band, which is why Pete’s earliest musical influences were Bob Dylan and the Who. They even attempted to build their own guitars and succeeded in producing a workable electric bass. Eventually they decided to play acoustic music and to learn a few folk songs. Throughout the summer holiday they sat down and learned about twenty standard folk songs from books and soon had a workable range of material to draw from, with such numbers as Wild Rover, Kilgary Mountain, mixed with early Dylan and Beatles songs.

One of Sheila’s earliest influences at the time was Joan Baez, and when she was roped into join Pete and Bob and form a trio, they found a great wealth of material between them. They were encouraged as a trio by a friend who organised a youth club and happened to be a great folk music fanatic. He organised regular folk concerts at the club and asked them to appear as residents. With so many songs under their belt, they found that they didn’t have the usual problems that this entails, having quickly to learn new numbers every week to keep the act varied.

They worked under the interesting name of CAERLIER, the Celtic name for Leicester, meaning literally the City of King Lear. For a year the trio worked hard and derived much enjoyment from their music finding that Sheila’s voice blended well with the guitar accompaniment that Pete and Bob had learned together. The moment of great decisions finally arrived when they had to decide whether to go to University or to continue with their music. They decided on University.

Bob eventually followed a career in advertising and after much travelling around, Pete and Sheila settled in Coventry, working musically as a duo as well as making the occasional solo appearances at a folk club. A couple of years ago, they worked briefly with Dave Herbert (of Incredibly Average fame and composer of Pogle’s Wood) and appeared under the name of Paracelsus. For these few weeks, Pete and Sheila  feel they learned much from Dave about how to present their material to a club audience, but sadly the venture was short lived as Dave lived 25 miles away and had many other commitments on his plate.

These days, you are most likely to see Pete and Sheila performing guest spots at the Three Crowns in Barwell, the Bulls Head in Brinklow and the Pitts Head. They do not go out looking for work and make on average half a dozen guest appearances a year. It’s possible that had Caerlier stayed together, they could have been fully professional folk musicians by now, but neither Pete or Sheila feel that this is what they wanted out of life. As Sheila explains “The thing about looking for work, we found that neither of us are too good at hustling. Secondly it is difficult to bring down into a very short space of time what we do. One of the things we do is variety – all sorts of things with different types of instruments, different types of music. You can’t do that in three songs. We seem to work better where people know us and that’s a long process.”

The variety of music that they play in considerable, and although there are always classic Pete and Sheila numbers that will always get requested when they appear, such as Sheila’s beautiful rendition of Joni Mitchell’s For Free, or Pete’s skilful handling of Steve Tilston’s Normandy Days, each guest spot that they give has its own uniqueness, with the choice of material depending much on how they feel at the time.

As with their songs, the number of musical instruments that they have collected is vast; some are totlaly unique and were built by Rob Armstrong. Apart from their six string acoustic guitars (Pete’s Armstrong and Sheila’s Yamaha I80) they have an armstrong seven string, ten string (Quindola) and Mandolin, a double bass, Appalachian Dulicmer, bowed Psaltery, assorted recorders, tablas, zither, harmonium and piano. (The latter, understandably is not taken to gigs). The keyboards are played by Sheila and the seven-string guitar is exclusively Pete’s.

Sheil’s interest in musical instrument other than guitar goes back to the days of Caerlier. She explains; “I found that what I was playing did not necessarily match with what Pete and Bob were doing on guitar. Because there were two of them (and they were bigger than me!) there was the implication that what I was doing was wrong, so I stopped playing guitar for quite a while. Then after a time I started playing again, not drastically successfully, and then got to the stage of saying, “Ok I shall never be a guitarist. Blow it, I shall be a multi-instrumentalist” and started playing around with other instruments.”

Her first departure from guitar was learning to paly double bass. At the time, there were two female bass players working in Leicester and Sheila decided there was no reason why she shouldn’t be the third. She managed to borrow a double bass shortly before the trio wer booked to appear at a club organised by Toni Savage in Leicester. After what could have only been five hours practice, they thought it would be nice for Sheila to play bass at this booking. So she did. As she recalls, the evening was fun and the only adverse comment was “You can’t really hear bum notes on a bass, anyway” That came from the person who lent her the bass in the first place.

The Quindola is also played mainly by Sheila and the creation of that was almost by accident. Pete and Sheila had considered using a mandolin and exploring possibilities with four string tunings. Pete had shown interest in an old Harmony four string that was for sale at the time but decided, having seen a small guitar body that Rob Armstrong had built, that it would be worthwhile asking him to create something along the line and lo and behold! Rob had produced a Quindola.

The history of Pete’s seven string guitar is a little more complex. Pete had developed his guitar playing through studying various styles. He had missed out on the Blues Revival, although he had learned a few numbers note for note from Paul Oliver recordings, and by the time he’s started studying at Warwick University, Ragtime was becoming popular, with the arrival of Stefan Grossman tablature books and records. During this time, Pete lived with Dave Bennett who contributed much to Pete’s interest in Ragtime playing. It got to the stage when people were asking Pete for guitar lessons and so he started to give them. Pete recalls one pupil who had been to the other teachers and yet, despite his desire to learn guitar, had for some reason been totally unable to do so. Pete taught him note for note pieces he played he played himself, with some degree of success, but realised that after nine months the pupil was still unable to play the music that he wanted to learn. For Pete it was a little unnerving to watch somebody play exclusively what he played himself, as well as Pete could play it, and through his pupil he saw himself playing guitar from the outside. Pete became critical of his own guitar playing and wanted to learn something different. It was about this time that he started to think about multiple guitar strings.

Originally he asked Rob Armstrong for an eight string guitar, which is what Rob built. Pete used the instrument to try out new ideas with lute music and spent about a year developing this new style. But, as with most prototypes, the guitar had one or two design faults. Rob had used a 12 string guitar neck which proved to be too narrow for eight equally spaced strings. Also the length of the neck caused problems with the high tuning of the top strings. So Rob converted the guitar to a seven string which Pete uses more now to work with open tunings. For Pete, the instrument has yet to reach its full potential; “I haven’t learnt what the instrument’s about yet. I will do, but it’s a long term project. It will be years before I’ve fully figured out what can be done on it.

As far as performing music in public is concerned, Pete and Sheila Rigg have perhaps already achieved most of what they set out to do; playing a small and select number of gigs in front of audiences with whom they can readily communicate. Their aim to learn more of different individual musical styles with overall effect of becoming more free and spontaneous in the presentation of their music, which explains a little of their interest in instruments other than six string guitar and in musical theory generally.

Pete uses an analogy to explain how he sees different musical styles and how different musicians approach them, in terms of four alleyways that converge at a central point. One is the simple ‘folk approach’, where the music provides a basis for the telling of a story and can be adapted and developed to suit its purpose. One is an ‘image’ approach where music is presented to the listener as a fully arranged ‘Fait accompli’, as with pop music, one is the classical approach in which standard musical theory comes to the fore to create a fully arranged piece; and the other is the jazz or improvised approach, in which music is a form of free expression albeit within certain guidelines. A musician may start by travelling up one of these alleyways until he’s achieved much of what he wants to at which point he meets up with the other three approaches and may, if he wishes, learn more by travelling down any one of them. For Pete, the initial approach was through folk music and he would like to explore the other three.

With a wide variety of songs, tunes and instruments at their disposal, Pete and Sheila could if they wanted walk on stage and present a total kaleidoscope of musical styles in any one booking. Instead they generally bring about four instruments with them and use them to the full extent, or they may not use any instruments at all and give just as enjoyable a set by singing unaccompanied and using skillful harmonies. In this way, whenever they perform a booking, they are able to present an overall sound that is uniquely theirs as opposed to an uncompromising mixture of different styles that follow no pattern.
……………………

ST.JAMES INFIRMARY BLUES – tabs from Pete Rigg

from Coventry’s folk magazine  – Folks – 1978 / 9.

Toadstool was a Coventry folk duo led by John Brown who were based at the Coventry Arts Umbrella c  – 71 and played the Umbrella Folk Club. John Brown also gave guitar lessons there.

From the Coventry Arts Umbrella Club Newsheet Calendar – April 1971 –

13th April 1971 8,30pm 10p
Poetry and Folk – A folk biased session featuring a guest folk group from Coventry called Toadstool – whose members include John Brown who is no stranger tot he club. There will be other singers, musicians and poets present at what should be a very enjoyable evening of poetry and folk. Look out next month for an event featuring a well-known poet. (Could it be Roger McGough?).”

There is a lot more about Roger Williamson on his site, Art, music, biography etc. http://rogerwilliamsonart.com/

Roger Williamson is a Coventry singer songwriter, musician and band leader, artist, author and occult Bookshop proprietor now living in Minneapolis.

Prominent both on the Coventry folk scene and band scene in the 1960’s and 70’s Roger now lives in Minneapolis and runs the Magus Book store. We first blogged about Roger on the former Hobo Vox site and Roger got in touch with us and sent us half a dozen tracks which were published both on the site and via The Broadgate Gnome‘s Gnome Label.

My first recollections of Roger Williamson was at the Coventry Arts Umbrella Club where he used to hang and often play, both in performance and informally in the coffee bar area. I was introduced to him by Esther Breakwell in 1970. In 1970 Roger’s band East Light played Pete Waterman’s progressive music Venue at the Walsgrave in Coventry. I used to do the door duty and help the bands set up for Pete at the Walsgrave and still have ticket for that gig with East Light. However Roger’s musical journey began long before that as we hear in his biography –

Once Upon a Time 6 tracks by Roger Williamson from Coventry Music Scene on Vimeo.

ROGER WILLIAMSON – BIO
My first adventures into playing music were inspired by listening to rock and roll transmitted on Radio

East Light

Luxemburg late at night.  I would pick up this station on a home made crystal set when I was supposed to be asleep.   A couple of years later, probably around 1963, I would go and listen to bands on Wednesday nights at the Orchid Ballroom on Primrose Hill Street.  This was about the time of the Beatles release “With the Beatles” album.  I remember there was a large copy of the cover projected on the back of the stage.

There was also the Sombrero coffee bar next to Pool Meadow bus station which had the most amazing juke box.  This juke box was fabulous and I’ll never forget hearing Bo Diddly singing Pretty Thing.  This would have been around 1962.   I discovered a whole other world different from my upbringing.

In 1964 I played bass in a band called the Elements which included Paul Saunders on lead guitar and John Underwood on guitar.  After the Elements I played Bass for the Red White and Blues and then in 1966/67 left them to play bass for the Darkness.  The Darkness was originally going to be Alex Sun and the Darkness but Alex the singer dropped out.

There were great venues we played at, Chesford Grange on Saturdays, Plough on the London Road the Avonside Country Club and The Navigation Inn.  Chesford Grange was great on Saturday nights.  It had two stages, as one band took a break the second band came on.  This was all going on while ballroom dancing took place upstairs, all very bazaar.  After finishing at Chesford Grange around 11pm we would often move to the Avonside Country Club and play there until the early hours.

Began singing on the Coventry folk scene in 1967.  In 1969 I formed East Light with Paul Saunders  and we moved to London.  We played as East Light for a few months before Paul emigrated to Canada.  I continued to play in and around London folk clubs for the next few years until I joined a reformed Dando Shaft in the early 70’s with Martin Jenkins, Ted Kay and Bill Bones.  Martin Jenkins and I busked in the London underground to rehearse each others songs and earn a few bob.  This lasted for about six months until Martin Jenkins and Ted Kay moved back to Coventry.  I went back to the folk scene performing on my own until forming the Roger Williamson Band in 1974.

I moved to the USA in 1985.  I wrote The Sun at Night which was released in 1989 it was reprinted in Labyrinth: Tales of a Rite of Passage about a year later, Lucifer’s a Basic Handbook of Lucierian Sorcery in 1994 reprinted in 2002, Black Book of the Jackal in 2000 as a limited signed and handbound edition, this was released in soft cover in 2006, Calling up the Spirits was released a couple of years later, Howling at the Sky in 2002 and Lucifer Diaries in 2004.  Lucifer Diaries was released as a limited edition signed and numbered hardcover and as a softcover.  I released a limited edition compact disc “On the Arrival of the Machine and its Mode of Operation” in 2003 for which my son Luke provided the music.   Tarot of the Morning Star deck of 22 cards due to be released October 2007

1997 followed by

Opened Magus Books in September of 1992.

Broadgate Gnome (Comment from the former Hobo website on Vox 2007)

Ooo, I had forgotten all about the Sombrero, slightly more pop,,p,y crowd than the Ship’s wheel and a Stoke Park annex around 4.00.  Tried to be a bit like the London coffee bars and more or less succeeded. Chesford Grange was good music ,,very much a couples type of place though, mainly for those with transport as it was awful to get to and a sod to get back from if you couldnt get a lift,,,,no street lights, or pavements and having to walk past   cows.

In 2007 Roger Williamson contacted us via e mail after we had put up an initial post on his band East Light – and he sent us half a dozen tracks which will be uploaded here via You Tube. Roger Says in his e mail…

“I remember it being a wonderful and exciting time but then of course it was the 60’s.  There were so many small folk clubs in the back rooms of pubs, The Fox and Vivian in Leamington, others in Warwick and Stratford and so many in Coventry.  Such a lot of talent as well June Tabor, Rod Felton, Martin Jenkins just to name a few.  It was a great time to grow up in. I have lived in Minneapolis for about the last 23 years and started Magus Books 15 years ago.  Magus is in Dinkytown next to the University Of Minnesota, Minneapolis on 4th Street SE, which is immortalized in BobDylan‘s Positively 4th Street.  He used to live across the street from the store.  I have written several books since moving here, The Sun at Night, set in London, The Black Book of the Jackal, Lucifer Diaries and Howling at the Sky.  These are all available from Magus or Amazon USA.  I recorded a limited edition CD, “On the Arrival of the Machine” a couple of years back which is myself reading some of my short stories set to music by my son
Luke.”

Roger Williamson – The Artist – Roger’s Art Website http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/r/roger/

Roger Williamson – Book Shop Owner
About Magus Books http://www.magusbooks.com/main/links.htm
Magus Books began business at high noon on September 1st, 1992 with the commitment of supplying new and used religious, metaphysical and thought-provoking books to the community at large.

You will discover upon inspecting our inventory that we do not subscribe to any one belief system, as we realize that what is right for one person’s quest of self-discovery is not necessarily right for the next person. Therefore our selection of titles covers a wide range of material including Wicca, Buddhism, Hindu, Christianity, Islam, Alchemy, Voodoo, Santeria, Magic, Freemasonry, Tarot, Astrology, Palmistry, Dowsing, Mythology, Herbalism, Alternative Healing, Celtic Mythology, Norse Mythology, Native American, Psychedelic, UFO’S, Lost Civilizations, Martial Arts and other subjects.  We supply herbs, candles, oils, incense, tapes, compact discs and jewelry. Our focus has always been to develop individuality, to encourage interested parties to explore themselves and the environment, and to seek out our own untapped potentials.

Roger Williamson CD Once Upon a Time in the Seventies
Cover Art – A Strange Guitar by Roger Williamson
1.Shadows 2.End of the Night 3.Maybe 4. Big G 5.Shadows and the Urban Exile 6.Spellbound – Copyright Roger Williamson

Roger Williamson – Acoustic guitar and vocals
Delta McCloud – Lead guit. / backing vocals
Peter Locket  – Lead guitar
Danny Wilding – Flute

This version of Shadows in the Night by Roger Williamson was already on YouTube uploaded by Kathmandu56 and recorded 1980 “A Roger Williamson song we recorded in about 1980.  Roger singing with Vic on piano and Bryson playing far too much on the drums as usual, but ya gotta love him. Dead now of course as well as Vic.“

This is another version of Shadows in the Night which Roger sent us in 2007 for the original Hobo site and which featured on his CD. Roger called the song just ‘Shadows’

The End to the Night – Roger Williamson

Maybe by Roger Williamson

On The Arrival Of The Machine And Its Mode Of Operation: An Occult Adventure

http://www.britishmusicarchive.com/W/208-roger-williamson

Thanks to Dave Cooper and Ted Kay‘s son for this photo of Roger with the reformed Dando Shaft c
1972

Dando Shaft 1972 version with Billy Bones, Roger Williamson, Ted Kay and Martin Jenkins.

Roger Williamson’s earliest band from the early 60’s – The Tears. From left to right John Wright drums, Paul Saunders lead guitar, Roger Williamson bass.

ONE DAY THOMAS c 1973

This was Martin Jenkins new band after Dando Shaft. Martin had played with Mathew’s Southern Comfort – From Hobo Magazine 1973

“Mathew’s Southern Comfort has, I’m told, been graced with the talents of Coventry’s Martin Jenkins, late of the Coventry band Dando Shaft. Martin, who has written some incredible songs including Whispering Ned, Waves Across the Ether) and plays Mandolin, flute and fiddle (etc.). Martin has been featured as a guest on a previous Southern Comfort tracks” 

Martin Jenkins. Photo Copyright of Dave Trinder

Martin Jenkins (ex Dando Shaft) – Mandolin / guitar / fiddle / flute / banjo / vocals

Barry Skinner – guitar / vocals (A leading professional folk singer and pioneer of the Coventry folk scene in the 60’s / 70’s)

John Mackintosh – double bass (Member of assorted groups including the Coventry Mummers and Sneaks Noise / Earlsdon Morrismen / Phoenix Jazz band)


I met Martin Jenkins in Broadgate, Coventry while doing Hobo magazine not long after Dando Shaft had split up and he told me about his new electric folk band – One Day Thomas. Below are some pieces from the Coventry Evening Telegraph and Hobo Magazine.


From Hobo Magazine

One day Thomas – Martin Jenkins

ONE DAY THOMAS is the name of Martin Jenkin’s new band (formerly of Dando Shaft)
“The new band features other established personalities such as Barry Skinner on guitar and vocals / John Mckintosh on double bass and John Astle on drums. Martin plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin and flute. They are of course an electric band and most of the material is far removed from that of Dando Shaft. They play mostly jigs and reels and electrified folk songs.”

Not long after Martin was back with Dando Shaft version 2 including Baz Andruszcko and Rod Felton for a play at the Belgrade Theatre c1974

Colin Armstrong in the 70’s

Colin Armstrong – one of the Top Coventry singer songwriters and artists to come out of Coventry.
I met Colin in 1971 when he was playing in Music Box with Rob Armstrong (the renowned Coventry guitar maker and musician) who made the album Songs of Sunshine in 1971. They were playing the Plough Club (London Road) with Dando Shaft and i tried to book them for the Umbrella club only I think they split up not long after.

HOBO MAGAZINE AND WORKSHOP –
Colin featured a few times in HOBO magazine and the local press (which can be seen below). I had a lot of respect for Colin as a singer songwriter, artist and a friend. Colin was well involved with the Hobo Workshop at the Holyhead Youth Centre in 1974 / 5 where we encouraged new bands and artists who were struggling to get first gigs. Colin often performed for us in between the bands and took an active and advisory role on the Workshop’s management committee and was indeed a great advocate for it. It’s thanks to Colin that Hobo was mentioned on the original Broadgate Gnome Music Directory site initiated by Ian Green and Paul Leather – and through that mentioned in the book Godiva Rocks – Pete Chambers – a comprehensive guide to Coventry music new and old. (Thanks for that Colin – if you read this).

Colin Armstrong in his bookshop

FORGING HIS CAREER AS A SINGER SONGWRITER AND ARTIST
Colin was making great leaps forward towards developing his career in songwriting and art during the Hobo period as the press cuttings show. He won the Midlands are heat of the National folk / rock contest and was entered into the semi-finals. The top prize was a recording contract with EMI. He was judged the best soloist act from all over the West Midlands. He was the only one from the area chosen to go through to the national semi finals. He did 10 minutes with three of his own compositions –  Country Boy, Country Bound; Blues for Glenda; Heaven and Hell.

Colin Armstrong

He described his music at the time as Funky Folk. Like many, he’d made the trek to London to try and get a contract and sell some songs but without success. Colin was an engineer by trade and also an Abstract Artist. His work had been displayed at the Minster Gallery, the Kongoni Cafe and Methodist Central Hall and Warwick University, Herbert Art Gallery and Belgrade Theatre. Colin did a certain amount of recording, radio and television work. (See the press cutting was from Coventry Evening Telegraph c 1978 / 9.)

From Hobo issue 1 June 1973) –
“Congrats to Colin Armstrong in reaching the Semi-finals in the Melody Maker National Rock/Folk contest and also to Just Jake, Willow, Naked Light, Just Before Dawn, Bumble and all the other Coventry bands / artists that took part. More on them if poss – later.”

From Hobo Issue 4 (Unpublished version)
“Coventry singer – songwriter COLIN ARMSTRONG, who reached the semi-final in the Melody Maker contest last year, is to entre again this year…Lotza luck Colin...”

While involved with the Hobo Workshop – Colin formed a little band with  Bob Rhodes (the detached youth worker involved with the Hobo Workshop) and Myself – Trev Teasdel. The band didn’t get beyond a few rehearsals at the Canal Basin and Holyhead Youth Centre but the material involved covered some of Colin’s and my songs and a few standards favoured by Bob Rhodes such as Summertime; a Peter Paul and Mary song and Jerry Lee Lewis song and the current I Hear you Knockin’. I don’t think we got as far as naming the band but finding time for rehearsals was difficult with Bob’s work commitments and I was full time at Henley College on a Social Studies Course and the band split before it had got off the ground but the sessions were fun and I learnt a lot from Colin’s approach to writing and playing.

We were in admiration of Colin’s Gibson Acoustic which we figured had set him back a bit but Colin explained that he saw it in a second hand shop in Cov going very cheaply (because the shop keeper didn’t know the value of Gibson guitars!), so Colin used his rent money to buy it. He obviously made great use of it through his performances and writing.

More recently Colin ran his own shop – Armstrong Books and Collectables in Albany Rd.