Ghosts from the Basement

Concerts * Sessions * Author Slam!

Among the artists who will be appearing:
From Village Thing’s basement: Wizz Jones (and Pete Berryman), Steve Tilston, Tucker Zimmerman, Ian A. Anderson, Dave Evans, Ian Hunt, Maggie Holland, Keith Christmas and Keith Warmington.


From up yonder Rif Mountain and beyond: Nancy Wallace, Jason Steel, The Owl Service, The Straw Bear Band, Pamela Wyn Shannon, Adam Leonard, Ellen Mary McGee, The A. Lords with Mark Fry and special guests including Alison O’Donnell (Mellow Candle), Dennis Holmes (Synanthesia) and Katie Rose.

In the literature lounge: Rob Young (Electric Eden), Jeanette Leech (Seasons They Change), Mark Jones (Bristol Folk), Will Hodgkinson (The Ballad Of Britain), Richard Morton Jack (Galactic Ramble) and Colin Irwin (In Search Of Albion) will perhaps illuminate the answer to that troubling philosophical question “what the f*** is psych folk anyway?”

2010 marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of one of the pionering UK independent labels, The Village Thing, now a cult and very expensively collectable imprint for its two dozen album releases from 1970-74. With the big revival of interest in what now gets called ‘psych folk’, ‘strange folk’, ‘acid folk’ - and all sorts of other -folk genre-tags that hadn’t been invented back then - Village Thing is suddenly back in the spotlight. At the same time, notable new labels are springing up with a similar cottage industry, family of musicians ambience, of which Rif Mountain is easily the closest in spirit to Village Thing in its heyday.

Village Thing’s veterans who will be appearing include the legendary Wizz Jones, the acoustic guitar hero who was an influential contemporary of the late Davey Graham and much admired by the likes of John Renbourn and Eric Clapton; songwriter Steve Tilston who, while celebrating his own 40th anniversary as a performer, has recently been all over the media after a collector unearthed a letter written to Steve by John Lennon; and acoustic guitar genius Dave Evans who can still be seen on YouTube in a mind-boggling performance from a ’70s Old Grey Whistle Test. Meanwhile, Rif Mountain’s gang include the sublime Nancy Wallace, a 2010 BBC Folk Award nominee; fast rising new electric folk outfit The Owl Service; and notable guitarist & banjo player Jason Steel. Making cameo appearances will be ’70s survivors Dennis Holmes (Synanthesia) and Alison O’Donnell (Mellow Candle)

Weekend Beatnik have just released Ghosts From The Basement, a 20-track trawl through Village Thing’s amazing vaults, and Rif Mountain will release the 15-track Echoes From Mountain, a specially recorded Village Thing tribute album to coincide with the event. Cementing the bond, Tucker Zimmerman, the US exile whose first album was produced for EMI by Tony Visconti before he moved to the friendlier independent climes of Village Thing, will be coming over specially from Belgium for the first time in 40 years, to record a specially commissioned session with Rif Mountain’s Jason Steel for BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction.

http://www.myspace.com/villagething
http://www.weekendbeatnik.com
http://www.rifmountain.com