Steve Knightley on the late John Wright
Steve Knightley writes:
On Friday 5 September I'll be playing a couple of songs at a memorial concert in Newcastle in honour of the late John Wright. A whole host of performers will also be taking part and the illustrious line-up is testament to the enormous affection and respect in which John was held.
Like Mick Ryan, Mike Silver or Jim Causley, John was one of those rare singers who could rest his voice upon a note, sustain and then allow it to fade effortlessly into gentle silence. I met him on only a handful of occasions and wrote a song 'Come By' that sought to capture some of the flavour of his former life as a Borders hill farmer.ÌýÌý
On a personal level I can also bear witness to the extraordinary support and goodwill that exists in our musical community. The artificial boundaries between musician, organiser, audience and promoter grow ever more blurred with time and friendships are formed across all of them. It's hard to think of another performing genre where this is so evident.
Ralph McTell once said to me, 'Don't refer to your CDs as 'product' - it's songs and music that you're selling" and for similar reasons I'm uneasy when a gang of familiar faces are referred to as 'punters'. Perhaps because we all learn our craft playing acoustically in small rooms without stages or sound systems, there is just no room for artifice or pretence in such environments. The real trick is to retain and recreate this intimacy whatever the venue or audience size. John Wright was a master at this. He is much missed.
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Steve
Comment number 1.
At 22nd Aug 2008, Keith wrote:The interpretive singers like John, with an ear for a good song and new ideas on how to deliver it, are a bit like the "bees" of the folk world. They take songs from the singer-songwriters (including Trad) and then move them around and into unexpected places, where they cross-pollinate and produce new fruit, when other people take the songs up. Without them, spreading the songs would be a lot harder, and sometimes just wouldn't happen.
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