I often reflect on how our lives in music, as in so much else, are affected by things that happen out of the blue. When I was a college student I was unexpectedly invited to a jam session which I decided not to go to because I didn’t think I was good enough. But the day before the session I again ran into the guy who had asked me along. I made an excuse – my guitar needed some new strings – but he brushed that aside and told me to be there. The result was that I had a great time and met some pickers who were very encouraging and gave me a lot of help over the following years. I had suddenly developed a new musical focus.
Fast forward three years. I had a new job in a different town the other side of London. I had become involved with folk music in the college where I taught, nothing very high level, events like folk music evenings and occasional sessions in the refectory at lunchtime. One day out of the blue, I received a letter from someone who had met one of my students at a party. He said, “I hear that you play the banjo. I sing and play the guitar, how about a session?” Again, to cut a long story short, it was the beginning of quite an intense learning period, meeting some good pickers and forming a five-piece band. All these people have become lifelong friends, and our circle of musical acquaintances has continued to grow over the years. I can’t imagine how life would have been without playing music.
Musical serendipity extends to buying records. Back in the 1960s and 70s the record stores were the key. Word would go round about specialist shops where you could obtain American imports. These often came to the UK via dealers in jazz records. Two of the best known shops in central London were Collets and Dobells. The latter had two shops, for jazz and folk music, next door to each other in the Charing Cross Road. There is an old and evocative photo of the two shops at https://www.flickr.com/photos/warsaw1948/6924276327 . Further exploration in the area led me to the Rock On record stall in Soho Market. I well remember the cold damp day in December when I first discovered the stall and found they had a bluegrass section. I pulled out an LP by Raymond Fairchild, a name I had recently come across in Banjo Newsletter. The disc was called ‘Mama Likes Bluegrass Music’, and it was a cracker. (BTW you can still obtain the record in CD and mp3 format on Amazon.) And apart from Hub Nitchie’s plaudits in BNL I knew nothing about Raymond Fairchild. I was beginning to realise the vast reserve of top-class pickers and singers who were relatively unknown, and whose recordings had to be hunted down. I became a record shop addict, and still have dreams (literally) of discovering new shops and obscure recordings.
I was struck by another example of musical serendipity the other evening, watching a television rockumentary about the Beatles. Quite a number of the Fab Four’s contemporaries were reflecting on the early days of rock ‘n’ roll in Liverpool. The city was teeming with music groups, and a particularly significant occasion was the appearance (actually two performances) by Buddy Holly and The Crickets on 29th March 1958. The Liverpool Echo reported years later “Those who were there still recall an electric show. The second house was so animated that Jerry Allison threw his drum sticks into the audience, and Buddy Holly played his guitar over his head. UK concert-goers had never seen a Fender Strat before, let alone one played that way.” Many of the city’s musicians were in the audience that night and the message of the performance with amplified instruments and particularly that Stratocaster, hit home. Quickly the Liverpool skiffle groups acquired electric guitars and learned to play rock ‘n’ roll. And John Lennon’s Quarrymen Skiffle Group? Well, they weren’t able to see Buddy Holly – they were at the opening of a new skiffle club in Oakhill Park, Liverpool, barely two miles away. But they learned the lesson quickly!
My last major discovery at a record store was in 1998, just before the internet changed everything. I was in Guildford, a town near London, and, having half an hour to spare, I wandered into a small record shop to investigate. I asked if they had any bluegrass discs and mentioned Alison Krauss, thinking that Bill Monroe might be a bit obscure in that neck of the woods. The guy behind the counter pointed over to the country music section, and just as I was starting to browse he put on a recording of a singer who quickly grabbed my attention. “Who’s THAT?” I said. “Oh, it’s a woman who was over here recently, called Gillian Welch.” The CD was ‘Revival’, Gillian Welch’s classic debut disc, and I promptly purchased it, with grateful thanks to the shopkeeper for drawing it to my attention so dramatically. My wife was equally impressed and we became great fans of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. A particularly memorable evening came a few years later when they were due to play in London on a double bill with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. In the event Ralph Stanley’s flight was unfortunately grounded by ice storms in USA and he and the band were unable to make it. On the plus side Gillian Welch and David Rawlings now played for the entire evening, which suited Kate and me, and the rest of the capacity audience, just fine. What a treat! The review in The Guardian newspaper the next day said “Ralph Stanley didn’t know what he missed.”
As more and more record shops succumb to the internet, most browsing for music now takes place on line. Live recordings are being uploaded every day to YouTube and its like. I’m particularly grateful to whatever algorithm it is that puts up those links on YouTube for drawing my attention only a few days ago to AJ Lee and Blue Summit. What I heard by clicking on that first YouTube link stopped me in my tracks! I called my wife to listen and she was also amazed. What a band! Young, talented and primed on bluegrass but able to broaden out and delight their audiences with such a variety of styles of music. Their first CD is on my shopping list! AJ Lee is up there in the same class as Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch and we will surely be hearing much more of her as her career in music unfolds.
I wish you all happy listening and plenty of those ‘out of the blue’ discoveries as you journey through music!
John Baldry
June 2020
