Bellowhead Blog No. 3 - By Jon Boden
Jon Boden of writes:
One of the paradoxes of earning a living as a full-time folk musician is that it makes it very difficult to spend any time playing real folk music. Like many folk musicians myself and the other folkies in Bellowhead all started off playing music in pubs for fun. That, indeed, is how we all met.
Music sessions are what folk music is really about. There are many genres that generate great live acts and great CDs, but only folk music can really claim to be at its pinnacle at 1am in a dingy pub with a random assortment of singers/musicians of widely differing ability. I've had many great experiences as a professional musician, but the greatest musical experiences of my life have all taken place in pubs when nobody was being paid to play.
Unfortunately touring for a living makes playing in sessions difficult. When you're away, you're away, and when you're home you're catching up on the time you've missed with family/friends/your accountant whilst you've been away. So popping out to a session on your nights off doesn't seem to work out all that much.
One consolation is that playing in an 11 piece band means you're touring with a ready-made session. A couple of times on our recently completed tour we've been invited back to local pubs with late closing hours and had a few tunes. Infinitely preferable to hanging out in a Travelodge. If a band you like are playing nearby and you know a good local with flexible closing hours and an off switch on the jukebox - why not email the band to let them know? Just don't ask them if they can play Duelling Banjos. It'll only end in tears.
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