The Dirt Road Band  – Albany Club 5 March 2022

Having sold out several weeks ago this was a hugely anticipated gig. Not quite the bands debut gig. Pre pandemic the Dirt Road Band played sporadically under name of Dirt Road Blues Band. But it was their first outing first since dropping the blues moniker. Not that they dropped the blues musically. The overall set was broader in selection than I remember from previous outings. Either way, blues or no blues, this was a powerhouse of a performance.

Individually the core trio need little introduction as they bring with them a wealth of experience. Well over 150 years worth if you combine it all. Not that that counted for much this evening. There was no doubt that these guys appeared to be on a mission. At times it appeared as though they had something to prove to themselves. That they were still able to achieve. A lot of pent up energy and emotion was being unleashed. That mix of drive and enjoyment was almost tangible. It filtered off stage and into the packed audience.

As it happened they had nothing to worry about. Steve Walwyn was frenetic and played with an intensity, Horace Panter, precise and punchy while Ted Duggan was solid and direct. Between them they played a comprehensive set that lasted for an hour and a half. Additionally, there were 20 minutes of encores.

Much has changed since this trio last performed. This topsy turvy world is now on a completely different axis to that it was on the last time DRB performed. But it is not all doom and gloom. One massive positive is the name Bob Jackson. Health wise, Bob has gone through the mill these last few years. Thankfully Bob has come out the other side. More than that, he was actually on stage guesting this evening. And his presence, in particular his soloing added an extra dynamic.

Another guest who has been recently shackled due to the recent events was vocalist Holly Hewitt. Her appearance immediately brought an extra dimension. Holly’s distinctive voice added grace, soul and a more jazzy feel to the tunes she contributed to. It was a very classy section.

Regardless of that though, this was a joyous and exciting prospect for those involved. Several of them hadn’t performed a whole set live in almost two years. They were once again free to enjoy their passions. For that alone it was so satisfying a performance. In fact Bob mentioned after the gig ‘I genuinely didn’t know if I could rise to the challenge of a live gig or not. Fortunately it went OK’.

Finally I have to mention Alan Joseph who, behind the scenes, has worked tirelessly. Not only did Alan ensure that this gig was a total success, but he has also been busy scheduling a tour. Immediately after the Albany club event, DRB are preparing to head south for a prestigious gig at the Half Moon in Putney. Further events are also being planned.

For me this was yet another gig. Albeit it an outstanding one. However, for those involved in presenting it, it was clear, it had meant so much more. Things are, at last, beginning to return to normal but it was another startling reminder of what we have missed the last couple of years. But one that, without a shadow of doubt, they came through with flying colours. If their had been any hesitations about it all then it was certainly laid to rest.

Set list included: Laundromat, Leaving Trunk, Chauffeur Blues, Little by Little, Going Down, Watching the River Flow, Rolling and Tumbling, Tulane, If My Baby Quits Me, Been Down So Long, Bullfrog Blues, Route 66, Sell My Monkey.

 T. Rex is born in Leeds Not Coventry

by Pete Clemons

For me it began with this comment: ‘I was lucky enough to be at the Lanch from 1966 to 1970 (Ted Little era) and went to many of the gigs. One of the most memorable was in about 68/ 69 when Marc Bolan in Tyrannosaurus Rex threw his acoustic guitar away, plugged in electric and I always thought this was the formation of T.Rex at least in Spirit with Steve Took leaving soon after. Amazing evening and, one of many, that included Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett, Ivor Cutler, Edwin Hawkins Singers in the Cathedral’.

Another comment was along the lines of ‘I remember they played, sat cross legged on the stage, in the middle, with the cathedral behind them’. I was more than intrigued.

Local legend has it that T.Rex was born here in Coventry as they went from an acoustic to an electric duo. It happened during a gig on 15 November 1969 at the Lanchester Polytechnic. It appears the duo had replaced Fairport Convention who had vacated the previously booked 15 November slot.

This was Tyrannosaurus Rex when they were a duo and, having not being able to find any evidence relating to the gig, despite searching all the usual, and unusual places, I was in no doubt that it happened. I had heard about the guitar incident several times. Additionally, far too many people mentioned that they had attended this gig for it not to have happened.

Other comments relating to the gig were around Steve Peregrin-Took. Steve Took had, apparently, been sacked from the duo during August 1969. But he still fulfilled Tyrannosaurus Rex’s debut American tour during September 1969. Despite that, several of the comments had mentioned he was in the band at the time of the gig.

T. Rex folklore has it that Mickey Finn’s first gig with the band was 21st November 1969 at the Free Trade Hall Manchester followed by a gig at Liverpool Philharmonic on the 22nd.

It is also recorded in T.Rex history that November 8th 1969 is credited as Mickey Finn’s first gig. And that gig was at Leeds University Refectory Hall where the duo had replaced Pink Floyd after the Floyd had cancelled. This Leeds gig is substantiated elsewhere by way of an interview with Marc for one of the major music publications.

Towards the end of November 1969 the music press began reporting that Fairport Convention had lost two key members. Sandy Denny and Ashley Hutchings. And that the band had not worked since November 2nd after a gig at Birmingham Mothers. So it does seem that November 15th was indeed a feasible date for when the event happened.

In the hope that Fairport Convention may have kept old diaries from 1969 I wrote to them. Kindly, ever present and founder band member Simon Nicol, replied: ‘I’m sure it’s no surprise to hear that I have absolutely no recollection of the gig (as it didn’t happen!)’.

Simon continued ‘When Sandy and Ashley chose to leave there was no question of the remaining members limping on – we did nothing that I can recall until Dave Pegg had been found, auditioned and rehearsed, so whatever gigs had been in the diary at that point would simply have been cancelled or rescheduled’.

Sadly I cannot nail down the 15 November 1969 date conclusively but all the pieces seem to fit the legend in terms of timescales . Previous to this activity, Tyrannosaurus Rex had toured infrequently during the previous 6 months. Just the odd date here and there.

The difficulty I have is that I was not at the gig but it is my conclusion that the gig did take place on the 15th November 1969. The hard evidence may not quite stack up but all the anecdotal evidence does. But surely it was Mickey Finn on percussion and not Steve Peregrin-Took. The interview with Marc Bolan about the Leeds gig the week before is fairly conclusive. Sadly it seems, T.Rex was not born in Coventry. But we came very close.

 Tyrannosaurus Rex in Coventry

by Pete Clemons

The time T.Rex played Coventry during 1971, just as the single ‘Hot Love’ hit the top, is widely remembered. But there was, I believe, another time when Marc Bolan visited the city. To my mind, too many people have mentioned it for it not to have happened.

Trev Teasdel is one who definitely remembers Tyrannosaurus Rex (the duo) playing the Lanchester Poly in Coventry somewhere between October 1969 and 1971 before the T Rex concert in march 1971. Trev thinks it was in 1970 but can’t evidence it other than from memory or say what date it was. If you can evidence it then let us know.

In pursuit of evidence to try and pin down a date for the concert I came across some Coventry newspaper reviews for Tyrannosaurus Rex’s early singles. After reading them, with much amusement, my conclusion is that they were something very different but, at the same time, very seductive.

April 1968
The guitar vocal duo of Tyrannosaurus Rex are a very different kettle of prehistoric reptile, ‘Deborah’ (Regal Zonophone) hasn’t much tune, no-one sweated blood over the lyric and its sung in a straining, wavering voice over a fast, unvaried guitar rhythm. All of which might not sound attractive. But it has an oddly compelling, uninhibited intensity that could take it far.

July 1968
I am in two minds about a long player with a title to match ‘My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair…But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows’ by Tyrannosaurus Rex (Regal Zonophone). The whining eccentric vocals, stirring words together like running water colours are intriguing at first, they pall over a whole LP. Similarly, the tunes air of spontaneous monotony and the limited accompaniment of flailing guitar and occasional Indian style drumming. Even Marc Bolan’s lyrics, often with vigorously exciting imagery, sometimes dissipate into effete pseudo poetry. Never the less its a record to hear and judge for yourself, by a highly original and adventurous duo.

Aug 1968
An ‘in’ duo who are busting out, Tyrannosaurus Rex, make their strongest chart bid yet with ‘One Inch Rock’ (Regal Zonophone). An inflexible beat, droning acoustic rhythm guitar and high pitched, trance like nasal singing, on paper it sounds like a mess. But the result has an off-beat hypnotic attraction which could rock it up the chart in rather more than inches.

Nov 1968
Having got all that off my chest let me say that none of the avant garde discs reviewed this week are bad, they all have something to offer but none has enough to make me leap about telling everyone not to miss a fresh, original and inventive talent. Messrs Marc Bolan and Steve Peregrin Took, better known, if you can believe it, as Tyrannosaurus Rex, are certainly fresh and original. But their invention flags on their second LP ‘Prophets Seers and Sages the Angels of the Ages’ (Regal Zonophone). They’re by no means as pretentious as the title suggests and I like the hypnotic quality of the high pitched wailing voice, droning guitar and cross talking drums and the quaintly wayward lyrics. But as with their first LP, after a few tracks it’s difficult to tell one track from another.

Jan 1969
I’d offer a prize to anyone who could tell the difference between one Tyrannosaurus Rex song and another, if I didn’t think John Peel might win it. Their latest, on Regal Zonophone, is again a mixture of droning guitar, frantic percussion and unintelligible nasal wailing. Only the title has been changed to avoid confusion – ‘Pewter Suitor’ and I don’t know why I like it so much.

June 1969
There are people who see in Tyrannosaurus Rex a new greatness, an originality that will render obsolete all who came before them. But their music to me is no more than a progression of inane burbling s. Their first track sounded novel, interesting. The second sounded just like the first, and I wondered. On ‘Unicorn’, Regal Zonophone, there are 16 tracks to confirm all of my doubts. The music content is practically nil and the words that read so well on the sleeve cannot be heard or do not exist in the singing form.

July 1969
Tyrannosaurus Rex have been cunning on their new single, ‘King of the Rumbling Spires’ (Regal Zonophone), they have added electric guitars, bass and organ to make their sound more interesting. What they have actually done is disguise the normal performance. The electronics give it the only appeal it has.

I am yet to confirm when the Tyrannosaurus Rex concert happened but have had an enjoyable time, so far, trying.

The following is an article from November 2012. It came about from an article I wrote about the Mercer’s Arms. It brought back memories for jazz musician PAUL BARNES who played trumpet at the pub in the 1950s as a member of two of the bands……..

WHEN I heard that they were knocking the Mercer’s Arms down indignation overtook me.

Far from demolishing this historic pub it should have been listed and protected, with a blue plaque attached by way of a salute to those who made music there. Including me.

I played trumpet in the Weary City Stompers, a Dixie-style band formed about 1957. Three of us were from the art college in Cope Street. Graham Slann was the trombonist and leader. He could emulate the great Slusher Treadwell, performing the useful trick of playing his instrument and speaking at the same time, giving musical guidance to the rest of us in the band. “Don’t forget the G seventh,” he would mutter out of the side of his mouthpiece, and none of us ever did.

On piano was Bob Hayward, who taught graphics, a man of few words but enough notes. The others in the band were “civilians”. The clarinetist was Jack Ashby who in later years became an authority on Coventry’s pubs, even writing a short history. Dapper Brian Thompson played a mean banjo, Jeff Routen was the drummer and Chris Holt plucked the bass. Now there was devotion. Chris, knowing that we needed a bass player, went and bought one and learned to play from scratch, taking the view that bum notes would go unnoticed because the rest of the band was loud enough to drown them.

I got the sack from the WC Stompers eventually because my playing was tainted by what

was construed as “modernism”.

I was absorbing the music of such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Woody Herman.

I found kindred spirits, enough to form a nine-piece band, which played at the Mercer’s and also at the Queen’s in Primrose Hill Street. We called it the Idaho, that being the title of our theme tune. There were two trumpets, trombone, tenor and alto saxophones, piano, guitar, bass and drums.

To the amazement of audiences we actually read music! Malcolm Francis, the pianist, wrote some nifty arrangements that gave us an agreeable sound. Jock Falloon was the other trumpet, and his brother Rab played guitar; Bob Caldwell was the alto player, Arthur “Arpeggio Art” Griffiths was on tenor. Alas, I can’t recall the names of the trombonist and drummer.

We played more for love than for money, though we did make a few pennies from the takings on the door. And there was extra to be made from playing as the supporting band for various visitors to the Mercer’s, such as the Jazz Messengers, gigs promoted by Harry Flick who lived on Kenpas Highway.

My own musical income got a boost when the landlord of the Mercer’s asked me to teach his son how to play the trumpet, which was rather flattering. I’ve still got an acetate recording of that band playing Idaho and Take the A Train. On the evidence it had a certain unpolished zest, and we were clearly enjoying ourselves paying homage to our heroes: Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Buck Clayton, Johnny Hodges, Ben Webster, and so on.

I was so immersed in playing and listening that I was summoned to the office of Hugh Hosking, principal of the art college. He was concerned at the potential neglect of my art studies. “You must choose,” he said, “between your wife and your mistress.” I considered the ultimatum.

“What’s wrong with having both?” In 1960 I left Coventry for London to take a job in advertising, then as a film director, ultimately as a writer and broadcaster. I played trumpet for a while, until it gave me up. But then I took up the tenor sax, reckoned to be the musical equivalent of the E-type Jaguar when it came to impressing girls. “Ooooh, I love a saxophone!” Norfolk is home now, and I’m still playing jazz: other people’s, presiding over a weekly two-hour jazz programme, eleven o’clock Saturday nights on seven BBC radio stations across East Anglia, and worldwide on the iPlayer. You may remember me. In any event, do join me. Your company will be welcome.

Paul Barnes

Born July, 1939 in Coventry – Paul took up the trumpet at the age of 11. The neighbours were so enchanted by his repeat playing of My Bonny Lies Over The Ocean, they slammed doors and windows in rhythmic encouragement.

The trumpet might have been Paul’s introduction to music, but we reckon the people living within ear-shot must have been overjoyed when he bought his first record – The Champ by the Ted Heath Orchestra.

There was no TV when Paul was growing up, but he enjoyed listening to Children’s Hour on the radio.

His early affair with the trumpet served him well as Paul played in art school jazz band, The Weary City Stompers – WC for short.

His first job was as an assistant in a photographic shop, but the media soon called as Paul grew up to enjoy a life working in publishing, advertising, documentary films, radio and television.

That job in the photographic shop did earn him enough money though to buy his first car, a 1933 Austin Seven.

All-rounder
Paul has worked on Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4, in addition to the BBC World Service and BBC Local Radio for the Eastern Counties – he was also the first reporter on Radio 1’s Newsbeat. TV credits include The Village Show, Anything Goes and Folio, all for Anglia.

Paul also worked for Granada, Central and BBC TV and has written for many newspapers including the Observer, the Guardian, Punch and various regional papers.

These days he claims that there are too many films, TV shows and songs for him to pick a favourite, but he does draw the line somewhere – the worst present he ever received was a Celine Dion CD.

Perhaps this underlines his worst habit – candour!

Romance
A romantic at heart, Paul’s favourite colour is the pearly blue of a dawn sky – although he claims he’s still waiting for his first snog!

An easy man to please, Paul’s his favourite place in the world is anywhere without mobile phones.

Obviously very fit, Paul reveals his favourite meal is sea food and that he always takes the stairs!

Fact file
Starsign: Leo

Grew up in: Coventry

First ever record: The Champ, Ted Heath’s Orchestra (78 rpm)

Favourite things
There are too many rich and wonderful elements, so it’s impossible to single out one in any category, including best and worst moments on air (I have been in this business for 38 years!) Photo of Paul (above) by Wesley Duke.