Folk club rounds off successful year in new venue

The December concert overran by half an hour as the audience simply couldn’t get enough of returning favourites Anthony John Clarke and Dave Pegg.

Anthony John’s mixture of self-penned songs, both amusing and profound, were underpinned by the Jethro Tull and Fairport man’s brilliant bass, mandolin and electric guitar. The classic The Broken Years has never sounded better.

The evening’s opening act Ashgate Calling gave a joyous first set and were invited to perform in Anthony John’s and Dave’s encore.

November saw a full house for the great Jez Lowe and Steve Tilston. With a combined performing career of around 80 years, this was the first time they had toured as a duo and what a duo they were. We had many of these singer-songwriters’ best known tunes with each adding sympathetic and accomplished guitar, bouzouki, harmonica and vocals to the other’s songs. Simply too many highlights to recount but we hope to see them back in Chesterfield soon.

Locally-based Haywood and Newman will be appearing as a four-piece band in a double-header with the southern songwriter Liz Simcock at the Library Theatre on January 8. Jon Spiers of the legendary Bellowhead appears on February 12.