About Room At The Top/Penarth Acoustic Club
Penarth Acoustic Club is a venue for live acoustic music, poetry, etc.
Room At The Top/Penarth Acoustic Club Description
We meet once a month, normally the third Friday, in the Prince William Suite of Penarth Cons Club. We used to be on the top floor of Penarth Legion, hence the "Room at the Top", but sadly the venue has closed, although our name lives on! It's a venue for live acoustic music, poetry, or any performance suitable for a small stage. We have a PA system, so we're not totally "unplugged", but it's not the Shea stadium and your ears won't be ringing when you leave. Audience capacity is limited, so if you'd like to come along, it's definitely advisable to buy a ticket beforehand from Pencerdd music shop, which is just nearby in Station Approach. Entry varies according to the artists booked but is normally £5 - £10, all of which goes towards paying for guests as funds allow. Proceeds of our raffles go to charity. In February this year, we donated £350-worth of musical instruments to MIND in the Vale.
We plan the night's entertainment beforehand, so it's not so much an "open mic" evening, more of an "acoustic cabaret", where invited performers do a 35-40 minute spot, although it's also fairly informal, so anything might end up happening, within limits! Doors open at 7: 30 pm, and we aim to be finished by 11pm. Every so often there will be featured guest performer nights, where the format, and even the venue, may be different.
Reviews
A brief selection of highlights from April's gig with Kitwhistle, Mark Blayney, and Dexter Selboy & The Shonky Trio.
Remember that we're back next week, Friday 17th May, when Keith & Julie Richards, Stephen Payne and John Lewis provide the evening's fun. Full details are on our website (www.penarthacoustic.club) and here in our "Events" section
Detholiad byr o uchafbwyntiau gig mis Ebrill, gyda Kitwhistle, Mark Blayney, a Dexter Selboy & The Shonky Trio.
... Cofiwch bod ni 'n ôl dydd Gwener nesaf, Mai 17eg, pan fydd Keith & Julie Richards, Stephen Payne a John Lewis yno i'ch diddanu! Gweler ein gwefan am fanylion llawn (www.penarthacoustic.club) neu ein "Digwyddiadau" fan hyn.
Welwn ni chi 'r wythnos nesaf/ See you next week!
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Hailing from Blackwood in the Welsh valleys, the duo Keith & Julie Richards features earthy vocals and harmonica playing from Julie, driven by Keith’s solid blues picking and slide guitar.
Having spent a number of years gigging extensively on the South Wales circuit as members of the JC Arnold Band, Keith and Julie have more recently been focusing their attention musically on the acoustic scene.
Together, they deliver their own take on a range of Blues and Americana classics,... along with a few self-penned numbers thrown in for good measure. They've been making steady progress on the Acoustic and Blues circuits both locally and nationally - don't miss this chance to catch them in Penarth!
Stephen Payne is Penarth Acoustic Club's poet in residence, who has been lurking in the shadows for a couple of years while arranging most of our visiting poets for us, but he's stepping back into the limelight this month!
He works at the University of Bath. He therefore shares his time between Bath and Penarth, and writes poems between Cardiff Central and Filton Abbey Wood. His first full collection of poems, Pattern Beyond Chance was published by HappenStance in 2015, and was shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year.
This will be his fourth reading at the club, a measure of his great popularity.
In America they called it “soul”, In Wales we call it “hwyl”, singing with heartfelt emotion, commitment and passion. Penarth’s very own Retro-esque Indie musician / singer/songwriter John Lewis has it in spades.
John's former band The Rimshots made a huge splash across Europe. John has recorded for labels in Holland, Japan, Australia, London (the oh so cool Vinyl Japan), and Germany – a made in Wales Hank Williams Tribute that won a prestigious British Music Award as album of the year. He has also just released the double-album retrospective "33 Years Stage by Stage", which is receiving fantastic reviews.
Under his alter ego name of Johnny Bach, he has four CDs available, recorded along with Gretsch Twangmeister Darrel Higham, last seen touring with the Amazing Imelda May, whom John has supported many a time solo.
Haven’t seen him yet? Catch this local treasure here before St Fagan’s grabs him!
Full details on our website www.penarthacoustic.club.
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... and, slightly stretching the definition of “acoustic”, here’s Dexter Selboy and the Shonky Trio, leading the evening to its inevitable climax! Y trio, yn bendant yn fwy sionc na shonky!
Kitwhistle entertaining a full house tonight - swn hyfryd!
We’re all set up for tomorrow night, and looking forward to welcoming Kitwhistle, Mark Blayney, and Dexter Selboy & The Shonky Trio - it’ll be a fine night! If you haven’t got a ticket yet then Pencerdd Music are open tomorrow and they still have a few left, they’re still on sale online (www.skiddle.com/e/13506013) until 6:30 tomorrow night, and there will also be some on the door.
Welwn i chi i gyd nos fory - see you all tomorrow!
Emme Hastings has been playing to audiences for over ten years across the South, and first delighted our audience back in 2017 as a solo artist.
Her emotive, raw vocals and finger picking style guitar captivates listeners. Best described as folk soul, her sound is natural and personal, resonating with artists like Laura Marling and Lisa Hannigan.
Gigging regularly around Bristol and Bath, with the odd appearance at Glastonbury, she is joined for this gig by Joe Louvaine on gu...itar and vocals, and together they make up two thirds of the trio Kitwhistle, who are generating a strong following particularly around the South West.
Mark Blayney FRSA is a writer and performer based in Cardiff. He won the Somerset Maugham Prize for his novella Two Kinds of Silence and his second book, Conversations With Magic Stones, was described by John Bayley as 'Remarkable... as good as some of the best of Elizabeth Bowen's, and praise does not go higher than that.'
His work spans comedy, fiction and poetry. He is about to tour his new solo show, Be Your Own Life Coach ... with ABBA, and has also toured with the Lecture in Boney M Studies, a comedy extravaganza, at festivals including Wychwood and the Dinefwr Literature Festival.
He performs regularly with the Wordplay Cabaret, a smorgasbord (not as rude as it sounds) of noise, letters, numbers, static caravans and Lionel Richie songs.
'A perceptive storyteller of real promise...' Beryl Bainbridge
From Selboy Central:
'There’s so much New Orleans slink in Dexter’s barfly blues music it’s hard to believe it comes from Bristol. That’s partly down to the impeccably shonky threesome of musicians behind him and partly due to Dexter’s own commitment to gravelling around where the bottles roll.
Formed back in 2012, Dexter Selboy and the Shonky Trio are a quartet of talented yet lazy musicians who may finally have got their act together. Hard to pigeon-hole, their genre-fluid style incorporates elements of reggae, gypsy jazz and hip-hop.
Instrumentals and dub vocals belong to:
Mojo, plucking the bass with his comedy sized fingers, and blowing sweet, sweet carbon dioxide through his replica trombone.
Jose 'the Boogieman', half timing, full timing and two timing his way across the fretboards, like a gypsy who was pulled from his mothers womb with a pair of forceps made of mahogany, the best wood money can buy.
Gruff 'Two Hands', the singing, fingerpicking, tacheflicking, snare whipping king of the drums.'
Hold on to your hats - again!
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Fabulous playing from The Shackleton Trio tonight - cerddoriaeth wych gan y Shackleton Trio!
A brief selection of highlights from February's gig with Siobhan McCrudden & Dan Lambert, Thomas Tyrrell, and Darren Eedens & The Slim Pickin's.
Remember that our we're back next week, Friday 15th March, when The Shackleton Trio, and poet Josephine Corcoran both appear at the club for the first time. Full details are on our website (www.penarthacoustic.club) and here in our "Events" section
Detholiad byr o uchafbwyntiau gig mis Chwefror, gyda Siobhan McCrudden & Dan Lambert,... Thomas Tyrrell, a Darren Eedens & The Slim Pickin's.
Cofiwch bod ni 'n ôl dydd Gwener nesaf, Mawrth 15fed, pan fydd y Shackleton Trio a bardd Josephine Corcoran yn ymddangos yn y clwb, ill dwy am y tro cyntaf. Gweler ein gwefan am fanylion llawn (www.penarthacoustic.club) neu ein "Digwyddiadau" fan hyn.
Welwn ni chi 'r wythnos nesaf/ See you next week!
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The Shackleton Trio are Georgia Shackleton (fiddle, vocals), Aaren Bennett (guitar) and Nic Zuppardi (mandolin). Natural talents of the folk tradition, their self-penned material blends seamlessly with their imaginative yet authentic re-workings of traditional folk standards, influenced by British, American and Scandinavian folk traditions, with a regional twist from the group's native East Anglia.
The unique, distinctive songwriting style of Georgia Shackleton, combined with... the vibrant instrumental brilliance of Aaren Bennett, Nic Zuppardi and Georgia’s pure and original voice have developed and matured through two critically acclaimed albums: The Dog Who Would Not Be Washed and new release Fen, Farm and Deadly Water.
Frequently referred to as one of the hardest working bands on the scene, The Shackleton Trio is gaining significant UK and International exposure, becoming an in-demand name on the folk circuit. 2018 saw plays on Mark Radcliffe's Radio 2 Folk Show, ★★★★★ reviews, an appearance on Cambridge Folk Festival's main stage alongside a host of UK and European festivals and international tours.
They are a highly original and energetic musical force just as likely to move you to tears as to move you to your feet.
Josephine Corcoran lives in Wiltshire, where she is involved in schools and community literature projects. This will be her first visit to the club.
Her radio play The Songs that Houses Sing and short story Algebra (both originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4) were repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra last year, and she has had a stage play produced in London.
Her poetry pamphlet The Misplaced House was published in the UK by tall-lighthouse (November 2014) and a full collection What Are You After? was published by Nine Arches Press in June 2018. She is founder and editor of And Other Poems (www.andotherpoems.com), which is now an extensive online poetry anthology featuring many poets.
In 2018 she was awarded a Local Artist Bursary from Ginkgo Projects and Bloor Homes to write new poems that engage with the landscape and heritage of the area in and around Amesbury, Wiltshire.
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...and Darren Eedens & The Slim Pickin’s finish off the night in in some style - bendigedig!
Siobhan McCrudden & Dan Lambert tonight at Penarth Acoustic Club - hyfryd!
Heno! Tonight!
See you there... welwn ni chi yno!
With a voice described as 'fragile, pure and hugely distinctive', Cardiff-based singer songwriter Siobhan McCrudden crafts songs of intensity and sweetness, recounting personal stories whilst reflecting a vivid fascination with dark folk tales and superstitions.
Raised in London to parents with Scottish and Irish roots, her vocal leanings reflect early memories of folk musicians at family gatherings and a strong desire to connect with these emotive beginnings.
Thomas Tyrrell ...was born in Hampshire but has been based in Cardiff for most of the past ten years.
Keen to be seen as a verse storyteller as well as a poet, he is an enthusiastic acolyte of the bardic and metrical traditions, reciting his verse from memory and making frequent use of rhyme, metre and ballad forms.
An old soul filled with storytelling imagination, Canadian musician Darren Eedens bends truths and creates upbeat rhythmic tracks with hauntingly morbid lyrics. With his many influences ranging from the honky tonkin’ folk and bluegrass pickers of the past, he uses his unique and powerful voice to captivate anyone within earshot.
With an unmatched live energy, playing hard and fast with his banjo, guitar and mandolin as his weapons of choice, he will be joined for this gig at the club by his band, the Slim Pickin’s, who are David Grubb on fiddle, Rhys Morgan on bass, and Edd Clemas on drums.
Hold on to your hats!
Full details available at http://www.PenarthAcoustic.club
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Great to have the Boogaloo String Band back - hyfryd gweld y Boogaloo String Band eto!
Happy New Year! / Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! -
Happy New Year - Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!
We're very late with this, since we skipped December due to a venue booking clash, but we're back now! And just to remind you how good our sessions are, here are some highlights from November's gig with Bella Collins & Gareth Evans, John Freeman, and the Goat Roper Rodeo Band.
Remember that our first session of 2019 is next week, Friday 18th January, when the Boogaloo String Band, and poet Emily Blewitt return for your delectation. Full d...etails are on our website (www.penarthacoustic.club) and here in our "Events" section
Dyn ni'n hwyr iawn gyda'r fideo yma, gan ein bod wedi colli mis Rhagfyr oherwydd problem gyda argaeledd ein 'stafell, ond dyma ni eto rwan! Ac er mwyn eich atgoffa chi pa mor dda ydy'n sesiynau, dyma clipiau o gig mis Tachwedd, gyda Bella Collins & Gareth Evans, John Freeman, a'r Goat Roper Rodeo Band.
Cofiwch bod ein sesiwn cyntaf 2019 dydd Gwener nesaf, Ionawr 18fed, pan fydd y Boogaloo String Band a bardd Emily Blewitt yn dychwelyd i'r clwb.Gweler ein gwefan am fanylion llawn (www.penarthacoustic.club) neu ein "Digwyddiadau" fan hyn.
Welwn ni chi 'r wythnos nesaf/ See you next week!
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The Boogaloo String Band are the re-vamped, re-jigged and re-vitalised trio who grew out of Boudica Boogaloo, who played the club to rapturous response in February of last year.
They are a Bristol based Americana deep south dream. The trio specialise in gorgeous three part harmony, dripping thick like treacle, served with a side of grits.
Led by Bristol legend Nuala Honan, songstress extraordinaire and lover of old-time folk, joined by French violinist Claire Northey and old...-time circuit favourite Bill Frampton, who replaces Boudica Boogaloo's Laura Pocket on bass, their trio goes straight to the heart of Americana roots, promising a sound of the South worthy of a singalong. Make sure to join the fiddle on the dance floor and get your roots into the soil!
Emily Blewitt was born in Carmarthen in 1986, and grew up in a small town on the Carmarthenshire coast. She read English Language and Literature at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and has an MA in Film and Literature from the University of York. In 2010 she returned to Wales to begin a PhD in English Literature at Cardiff University, where she specialised in poetic representations of pregnancy in nineteenth-century and contemporary women’s writing, graduating in 2016.
She has published poetry widely, her work appearing in The Rialto,Prole, The Interpreter’s House, Ambit Poetry Wales, Furies, Cheval,Nu2: Memorable Firsts, and in Brittle Star. The title poem from her debut collection, This Is Not a Rescue, was Highly Commended for best individual poem in the 2016 Forward Prizes, and is published inThe Forward Book of Poetry 2017.
Acoustic, Blues, Country/Americana, Folk + Poetry
Full details at our website, www.penarthacoustic.club
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.... and The Goat Roper Rodeo Band are roping those goats with some style .... Oes gafr eto? Oes!