Andy Roberts » songs

Floor Spots Recorded

Andy Roberts — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:00:32 +0000

I think I’m going to document the occasional floor spots I’ve performed here, to build up a record of which songs have been sung where and when. That may be useful or not, but won’t take too much time anyway.

So last Wednesday May 2nd 2012 I went back to Haverfolk at the White Horse for one of the ordinary weekly sessions (no guest) and played two of my songs from the Spanish period.

Sitting On Top Of The World

Blue

Haverfolk January 25th

Andy Roberts — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:42:44 +0000

Last Wednesday, January 25th was the day of the Andy Roberts featured evening at Haverfolk, formerly known as Havering Folk Club. Why did they change the name? I don’t really get it, you’d have to ask Simon or Peter. Anyway, after a recent period of not playing guitar so much really, I managed to get in just about the right amount of rehearsal time in the days before and decided to go ahead with the plan of doing three new songs and basing the rest of the entire setlist on my own material, much as I had done so for the guest night at Romford Folk Club, nearly a year earlier.

Setting off for the venue was a bit traumatic, as an electrical fault had caused a series of cancellations on the main from Liverpool Street Station to Romford, so we went to see what the buses were looking like, just missed one, and saw that the traffic on the main road was choc a block. So we went back to the station and waited for the next train due, which should have been a half hour wait under the abnormal circumstances but then that one was cancelled too. There was nothing for it but to lug the two guitar cases and ourselves onto a busy number 86 bus and just sit it out as we chugged our way up along the occupied bus lanes and through the congested area around Ilford. We would arrive late for the start of the evening perhaps, but not late for my own appearance due around 9 O’clock which in the event we turned up well in time for. So that’s the transport news, then. A bit of a preoccupation with people who live in the London area I’m afraid.

The gig itself went well, I thought, I was reasonably happy with the performances and the guitars stayed mostly in tune. The turn out was good, and people said they enjoyed the music, so that’s a big result, and one of the best things is that Linda’s front row video recording managed to capture the full setlist with no problems, so we have a decent audio and visual of all 21 original tunes. There’s a possibility of bringing that out as a DVD which will become the latest release from me to replace the few copies of the “Sampler” EP I’ve been carrying around for almost three years now!

I think I ‘ll be turning the soundtrack into three episodes for the podcast series, and uploading a few songs to youTube as well, but the first one I’ve got processed is the finale song where I managed to get two violinists up on stage with me, namely John Foxen and Richie Barratt with Pep on Banjo and I think you can just hear Bernie on concertina and Mickie Brown on harmonica as well. Here’s Cajun Music Cajun Food live at Haverfolk

Romford Folk Club November 15th 2011

Andy Roberts — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:14:25 +0000

We went along to Romford Folk Club on Tuesday, and had a good old time of it as usual. I know the basement room is a bit of a dive but the conviviality or the regulars is always cheerful, and slightly edgy as the evening draws on due to the tradition of well humoured banter.

It wasn’t a guest night, just an ordinary sing a long, and often these are the best. I’d hate to start recording a performers list but from memory there were at least the following:

Kriss Pouch
Smolowic
Micky Brown & Richie Barratt
Clive and Linda – Ploughman’s Lunch
Rocking Bob Cash
Helen Islip
Andy Roberts
Margaret Brown
Len Reeder
MickaNora
Pam

I took along my Archtop Guitar and played one of my own songs from The Andy Roberts Tapes:

I Only Came For My Suitcase

followed by my version of Chuck berry’s classic anthem for estranged fathers:

Memphis Tennessee

Thanks to Linda for capturing these videos. On playing them back it’s unfortunate that balance between guitar and vocals isn’t right so either the archtop is just too loud for my voice or I simply wasn’t singing loudly enough myself, I wonder why?

Right at the end I was honoured with the opportunity to wind up with one final song so I performed Bob Marley’s Redemption song but it wasn’t practical to record that one as the general merriment peaked.

Podcast #48 – Opening Night at Haverfolk

Andy Roberts — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:50:26 +0000

Andy Roberts Podcast episode #48 features six songs performed live at the opening night of the new renamed “Haverfolk” club at the new venue, the White Horse on London Road, Chadwell Heath. Full address is

The White Horse, 118 High Road, Chadwell Heath, Romford, Greater London RM6 6NU

I quite like The Stables Function Suite as a room, the acoustics are bright and loud unlike the previous venue The Moby Dick, which deadened everything. It could be a bit on the friendly and intimate (small) side if everybody turned up at once, but that’s better than shrinking the audience through having an unsympathetic atmosphere, which the White Horse doen’t by any means.

So Wednesday August 24st signified the first night for the old Havering Folk Club – Now Haverfolk at the White Horse, at which I can arrive promptly by taking the train to Chadwell Heath station and then walking around the corner for about ten minutes. No need to take an additional bus, which makes it less hassle to get from as well of course. Being August, several of the regulars were away including a contingent visiting the Whitby Folk Week, so there was enough time to do two sets, and I was invited to perform an extended 2nd set to end the evening, which is how I come to have enough material to make into a podcast episode, a collection of six songs in total, four of which are self compositions and two are traditional.

Here is the download podcast link, file details show notes and set list for podcast number 48:

Download MP3 to save – 33.8 Mb in size, playtime 23 minutes 29 seconds :- 48 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 48.mp3

Andy Roberts Podcast #48 Shownotes

Show Notes for Podcast 48

Cormorants - Andy Roberts original
Sitting On The Bank - Andy Roberts original
The Wreckers’ Prayer - Andy Roberts original
Captain Coulston – Traditional folk song
Truro Agricultural Show - Traditional folk song
Yellow Boat - Andy Roberts original

Andy Roberts Video Podcast Live from Haverfolk

Cormorants

Sitting On The Bank

The Wreckers’ Prayer

Captain Coulston

Truro Agricultural Show

Yellow Boat

Podcast 40

Andy Roberts — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 13:24:01 +0000

Podcast 40 is from part 2 of last Sunday’s afternoon session with more rehearsals of old songs as a trial for April 12th and a cover of Bob Dylan’s Hurricane – just because there’s time enough.

Here’s the download and play link etc:

Download MP3 to save – 32.1 Mb in size, playtime 22 minutes 15 seconds :- 40 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 40.mp3

Andy Roberts Podcast #40 Shownotes

Show Notes for Podcast 40

Orbit Tower

#39 – Rehearsals Part 1

Andy Roberts — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:05:57 +0000

Five songs from the Sunday afternoon session rehearsal for the Romford Folk Club date on April 12th 2011.

Here’s the download and play link etc:

Download MP3 to save – 32.85 Mb in size, playtime 23.54 Minutes :- 39 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 39.mp3

Andy Roberts Podcast #39 Shownotes

Show Notes for Podcast 39

The Dream is Over – Andy Roberts music and lyrics
Time for The Music – Andy Roberts music and lyrics
Hold On Below – Andy Roberts music and lyrics
Work is Done – Andy Roberts music and lyrics
Waiting – Andy Roberts music and lyrics

Podcast Episode 31 Re-recorded

Andy Roberts — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:08:24 +0000

Here’s another version of podcast episode 31 re-recorded on Wednesday morning with most of of the same songs roughly, as the one which went out live on Tuesday evening. So if you were there, online watching the show and chatting with Linda in one of the realtime boxes then you should notice this isn’t exactly the same performance. The instrumental guitar pieces for example, as improvisations will be will be very different. I’m sure one or two sings are missing too, and one or two added. That’s all part of the process. And the new strings will be over twelve hours old now as well, instead of being only 12 minutes since restringing. I had even thought of doing the restring live on the podcast itself, as a piece of performance a-r-t but Linda said it wouldn’t make a very good audio podcast and I came around to that point of view eventually.

Here’s the web player, download link, tracklist and show notes for Podcast Episode 31:

You can also download the MP3 from this link

31 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 31.mp3

Podcast Episode 31 Show Notes

Show notes and information for Andy Roberts Acoustic Guitar Podcast Episode 31:

Episode 31 broadcast on February 1st, published on February 2nd 2011.

1) Mozambique

Words and Music by Bob Dylan

2) Shifting Sands

Words and Music by Andy Roberts

3) Reason To Believe

Words and Music by Tim Hardin

4)Last Subway Home

Words and Music by Andy Roberts

5)The Wreckers Prayer

Words and Music by Andy Roberts

6)Nobody Knows You ( When you’re down and out)

Words and Music by Jimmy Cox

Episode 28 – From Andy Roberts Music on YouTube Most Viewed

Andy Roberts — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:37:55 +0000

For this week’s podcast because there couldn’t be a live show, so I’ve done something a bit different. Instead of recording the show and then maybe ending up with some songs for youTube, I’m making the podcast out of videos that I have already on there. It’s the best of my youTube channel from 2010, my pick of five from the most popular songs on there, strung together with a little bit of introduction.

Links, play, download

Download MP3 to save – 28.0 Mb in size, playtime 29 minutes 06 seconds :-

28 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 28.mp3

Episode 28 Shownotes

YouTube - andyrobertsmusic Channel

Watch the original YouTube Tracks Here:

Acoustic Guitar Podcasts: Episode #19

Andy Roberts — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:07:51 +0000

Episode #19 in Andy Roberts series of acoustic guitar podcasts was recorded on Tuesday 9th November 2011 and published today on the 10th.

Inspired by friends’ lists of 15 songwriters tagged and copied in Facebook, I played songs by Neil Diamond, Steve Tilston, Andy Roberts, Loudon Wainwright and a bonus track Roy Harper song at the start of which there’s an unfortunate inbound telephone ringtone but I didn’t let that faze me at all, oh no. If you do happen to be listening on an iphone or in a house then the effect could be unpredictable.

Here’s the stuff:

Download MP3 to save – 29.2 Mb in size, playtime 30 minutes 20 seconds :-

19 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 19.mp3

Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 19 Show Notes

“I’m a Believer” – by Neil Diamond
“One Man Band” – Music and lyrics by Steve Tilston
“The Rowan Tree” – Music and lyrics by Andy Roberts

“Samson and the Warden” – Music and lyrics by Loudon Wainwright
“Migration” – Music and lyrics by Andy Roberts
“I’ll See You Again” – Music and lyrics by Roy Harper

acoustic guitar podcasts

#16 on Livestream.com instead of Ustream.tv

Andy Roberts — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:14:19 +0000

The final straw for Ustream came when I couldn’t get the broadcasting service to begin recording anything for podcast episode 16 last night. I was logged in and broadcasting live, but when I pressed the record button after a few seconds it came u with a ‘failed recording’ message repeatedly. Clearly there was no choice, the time had come to switch over to an alternative service and the one I had lined up as most promising to try next is Livestream.com

andyroberts - live streaming video powered by Livestream

So here’s the new bookmark for the Andy Roberts Podcast Live Show every Tuesday at 7.00pm :

http://www.livestream.com/andyroberts

The multiple interfaces for broadcasting are a little more complicated than I had been used to ( but anyway, Ustream made it more difficult recently) so I’m not up to speed yet and was definitely a little thrown out last night, but it won’t take too long to get the hang of it.

If you only ever listen to the downloaded podcasts in your own time then you shouldn’t notice any difference at all really, but you may like to try turning up to the live event once in a while, to see what it’s like. Apparently you don’t even need to register an account in order to join in the text chat there.

On the performance itself, you will find a medley of Beatles songs and one Lennon solo sandwiched between a couple of original songs.
Here’s the links and shownotes for podcast episode 16 then:

Download MP3 to save – 25Mb in size, playtime 27 minutes 27 seconds :-

16 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 16.mp3

Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 16 Show Notes

Standing By – Andy Roberts original song
I feel Fine – Beatles
Every Little Thing – Beatles
Eleanor Rigby – Beatles
Working Class Hero – Lennon
Winter in Andalucia – Andy Roberts original

Live at Havering Folk Club

Andy Roberts — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 12:21:17 +0000

Mostly I’ve been documenting which songs I’ve played at Havering Folk Club on which dates over on the Andy Roberts Music blog on blogspot but I decided a short while ago that I’d start putting those posts here instead, I just haven’t stuck to it very well! The idea was that by tagging posts with song titles, I’d be able to look up very easily and keep track of which songs I’m playing mor often than others, and help me seek out those elusive numbers that I’ve forgotten about for long enough that they suddenly seem fresh and new all over again. But the tagging system never works out quite as tidily as you might imagine, and the dates become a bit blurry as the habit of reporting promptly wears off.

So one date that was remarkable was the date when the Australian duo Cloudstreet came to the Golden Lion to do a long awaited guest spot for Havering Folk Club. Wednesday 15th September. They didn’t disappoint, it was one of the most enjoyable evenings we’ve had there over the years, and I even managed to track down their own blog afterwards so I can keep up with where they are touring, ready for next time they are in the local area.

cloudstreet

As one of only a small number of floor spot artists I had the chance to play two songs, and these were:

Joan of Arc

Sometimes this happens, and my voice hadn’t warmed up in time for the first song, so I’ve trashed the video and instead here is the song as performed for podcast episode 10. I think I’ll leave this one for a while now.

Followed by The Cajun Cooking Cajun Music song.

There’s a nice bright image on that video, thanks to Linda innovating with the video settings on her relatively new stills camera.

Over 100 downloads for #12 in one week

Andy Roberts — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:46:23 +0000

Podcast Episode 12 has been the first episode to achieve over 100 downloads within a week, before the next episode is even recorded. Now 100 may seem like a very small number compared to some of the big multi-artist curated podcasts out there, but for me it’s a milestone which represents a steady growth in the reach of the music over the weeks and now months that I’ve been keeping going at this, every week without fail.

Of course without much tangible feedback, there’s no way of telling how many people actually listen, whether multiple listens to one download or some who collect files and never get around to listening at all, it’s all a bit of a mystery so all we have to go on for now are the numbers.

I’ve noticed that youTube are now allowing uploads more than 10 minutes long, which means that the version of The Same Old Rock which is on podcast 12 can be put up there, whereas before it would have been just a little to long to scrape in. So tonight for Episode 13 I think I may do two more longer songs, both my own.

See you on Ustream at 7.00pm Tuesdays

11 : Podcasting Andy Roberts Music

Andy Roberts — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 13:35:01 +0000

Podcasting a day early with the Andy Roberts music podcast Episode 11

So this week’s podcast was recorded a day early, on the Monday instead of Tuesday, not that that will make much difference to podcast subscribers, who mostly seem to like to download the show about one week after it’s been published, but for those of you who might on occasion turn up for the live show at 7.00pm, I won’t be there at all some Tuesdays, and this was one of them.

Knowing that I was effectively playing to an absent live audience had a curious effect on the performance, which I would describe as slightly more random in a creative sort of way, but Linda described as “less in the flow”. I was worried that it wouldn’t be good enough for me to want to put out at all, so I carried on after the half hour but in the end that just made it a bit more difficult to edit down to size, something I’d prefer not to do really.

So the original full length video file saved over on Ustream is not worth keeping really, due to the failing daylight at this time of year on a cloudy September evening, and me not having bothered to find the lamp. I kind of like lurking in the dark though

Andy Roberts is being kept in the dark

Here is the tracklist of links and show notes for Podcast Episode 11:

You can also download the MP3 audio file which is 28.8Mb in size and 29 minutes 57 seconds in duration from this link

10 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 11.mp3

Podcast Episode 11 Show Notes

Show notes and information for Podcast Episode 11 broadcast on September 13th, published on September 14th 2010.

1) Century

A Millenium song written by Andy Roberts around 1980

“Century is my song for the Millennium, written in the early eighties looking forward to the year 2000. It’s called “Century” because the term Millennium wasn’t so much in use then, nobody much had started thinking about it yet, and I was still writing COBOL computer programs with 2 digit years”

2) I Am The Way

Song by Loudon Wainwright after Woodie Guthrie’s “Standing Down in New York Town”. Just noticed I played this not long ago, in podcast 7 oh well.

3) You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere

Bob Dylan Song from Greatest Hits Vol 2

4) Mondura Dam – Andy Roberts song

I may have played this recently, not sure now, but anyway here it is again but this time on the 12 string guitar. Music and Lyrics by Andy Roberts.

5) Norwegian Wood – Beatles

I kind of love/hate this song, so I’m trying to reinterpret it. The video below will be from a live performance at Havering Folk Club

6) Me and my Friend the Cat

One of the early songs by Loudon Wainwright – performed on his birthday. Happy birthday Loudon. Next time I’ll remember the lyrics, OK.

Cricketer, San Francisco and Mazet

Andy Roberts — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:47:10 +0000

Three songs performed live at Havering Folk Club last Wednesday with the 12 string guitar.

When an Old Cricketer

Cricket has been in the news recently, not in a good way, with allegations of match fixing but sometimes any association is enough to prompt a vaguely relevant song or song title. Or sometimes just because of one lyric within a song, it doesn’t matter if anybody else gets it or not. Any excuse to break the agony of having to make a decision as to what to play next!

So this is When an Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease written by Roy Harper adapted by Andy Roberts

I do have another version of Old Cricketer online here but that’s played on the six string, I don’t really know which is the best performance from myself, perhaps you would be so kind as to “like”, “favourite” “rate” or whichever is appropriate on any of these videos to give an indication of relative quality, that might then help me choose, thanks.

San Francisco

This song is San Francisco by Maxime le Forestier, Andy Roberts version with his funny English accent.

Other performances of the same song 1) San Francisco

Mazet

Not just because I just got back from France but also having met an old friend from the Mazet last week.

Alternative takes:

Havering Folk Club

Andy Roberts — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:21:10 +0000

Havering Folk Club continues to meet weekly during the summer months at the Golden Lion pub in Romford even if there are less people able to attend due to being away on holidays or at festivals. With fewer performers turning up on a Wednesday, in that case, it means a bit more time for each and so I ended up singing four songs last week.

The first was to align with the previous night’s podcast episode 6 which was loosely themed around the fingerpicking blues style and I’ve been having the tune of Hesitation Blues going through my head ever since so that’s what I played.

Secondly, I’d been corresponding about The Wreckers Prayer so that got another airing. Linda wasn’t there to shoot any video so I’ll include some alternatives takes from the Andy Roberts Music youtube account in due course.

After the break or rather just before the break, I got called up again and decided on the spur of the moment to do two Beatles songs. I Feel Fine and Norwegian Wood

Episode 5 Andy Roberts Folk Music Podcast

Andy Roberts — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:13:38 +0000

Episode 5 of the weekly podcast series features 6 acoustic songs with more of a traditional folk music feel to them. Four are my own compositions written in a way that harks back to the traditional English folk song, or maybe British in some cases. It used to be a bit of joke to to an introduction long the lines of “This is a traditional song that I wrote” as if that is such a fake thing to do but these days it’s become more normal thanks to the efforts of folk singers such as Kate Rusby, Tom Bliss and many others brought up in the traditional scene for whom its natural to write songs in that style.

The rest of my songs would need be described as “Contemporary Folk” which probably means they sound like they were written in the 1970s, and some of them were…

Anyway, here is the podcast player and download link followed by this week’s show notes

You can also download the MP3 audio file which is 23.8Mb in size and 25 minutes 40 seconds in duration from this link

05 Andy Roberts Podcast Episode 5.mp3

There’s also a stored video file from the live broadcast over at Ustream.tv where the podcasting event takes place on Tuesdays at 7.00pm UK time

Video Podcast Episode No 5

Podcast Episode 5 Show Notes

Show notes and information for Podcast Episode 5 published on August 4th 2010. All songs performed with the six string Ibanez acoustic guitar

Sitting on top of the World – by Andy Roberts
The Wreckers’ Prayer – by Andy Roberts
The Rowan Tree – by Andy Roberts
Captain Coulston – Traditional / Steeleye Span
Cajun Cooking Music – by Andy Roberts
Old Paint - Traditional

25 Minutes 40 seconds 23.8Mb