Bromyard : The Place To Be For Live Music!
What a month Bromyard has had for live music! Great acoustic pub sessions at the Rose & Lion, Falcon, Hop Pole and Green Dragon (Bishop’s Frome); one of the best attended Bromyard Folk Festivals for years and “Bromyard Sessions in Concert” in the Falcon Mews. Add to that the fund-raising concert at the Conquest that several of us are playing at tonight and that makes for a very full September.
The hub of our community of musicians remains the Rose and Lion. Every Sunday several local musicians gather for an impromptu session of acoustic music in several styles. You can expect traditional folk, Cajun, blues, 60’s music, Gypsy Jazz, in fact anything that doesn’t need an array of electronics! These sessions start around 8.30 and finish when George and Anthony have had enough of us. Expect quiet, folky music early on but livelier louder stuff later. Not for folk purists maybe but great fun!
We are complementing these Sunday sessions with further sessions on Tuesday evenings. These take place at the Hop Pole on the 1st Tuesday of every month; the Green Dragon in Bishop’s Frome on the 2nd Tuesday and the Falcon on the 3rd Tuesday. Discussions are well advanced to starting a new session at the Bay Horse on the 4th Tuesday and I hope would hope this will be up and running in October. The Tuesday sessions tend to be less raucous and more musical than the Rosie sessions although they still offer many styles of music, all of them in acoustic form.
The main purpose of these sessions is for musicians and listeners alike to have a fun time! However there is a benefit to the town also because visitors to the sessions from outside the town buy food and drink; fill up with petrol; use cash machines, visit the takeaways and hopefully enjoy themselves, come back at other times and tell their friends what a great place Bromyard is. Our intention is to make Bromyard as well known for great free music as Hay is for books and Ludlow for gourmet food. Everyone who reads this article can help by making others aware of these sessions and at least giving them a try. Go on! Spread the word!
The biggest event to promote the Bromyard Sessions was the concert we held at the Falcon Mews on 12th September, the opening night of the Folk Festival. Several of the regular performers at the sessions presented their music “in concert” on the stage of the Falcon Mews to a large audience of townsfolk and festival goers alike. Upwards of 150 people heard Typsy Jazz, Foxtail Soup, Dave Haigh and many more to prove that Bromyard can offer great music 52 weeks of the year, not just when the Folk Festival in on. Who knows? Maybe next year Bromyard Festival itself may even feature Bromyard musicians?
This concert was recorded and a CD with highlights will soon be on sale. Thanks to musicians, all who helped and in particular to John and Sylvia for the venue, John Taylor for exceptional support in several ways and Chris Barltrop for taking care of publicity. Not forgetting the many locals who came along for proving Bromyard folk are not all welded to their sofas.
As for the Folk Festival itself it was a great success. Friday’s downpour turned the Festival Field into a quagmire but happily the weather was fine the rest of the weekend. I enjoyed some fine music down on the Field but it was also clear that the town itself was much busier than recent years. The Rosie was the hub for Morris dancers as usual; Saturday’s best session as always was at the Kings Arms – I got there at 2.00, meaning to leave at 3.00, but ended up staying till 6.30! To me the big difference this year was that more pubs seemed busier with singers for longer and the shops were trading well too. It’s hard to estimate accurately but I can’t see how the town didn’t benefit by at least £25,000 in extra trade, maybe much more!
So remember to spread the word about Bromyard’s music and come along yourself to listen or play. Full details are always viewable at www.bromyardsessions.co.uk or email info@bromyardsessions.co.uk.
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