Month: November 2022

FolkLife West Cornwall column

You may have noticed that from time to time I post something here about the excellent print magazine FolkLife West, its sibling Folklife Traditions Journal, and its newsletter updates.

For the January-April edition, I’m standing in for Nigel Morson, who has done an excellent job keeping the Kernow/Cornwall column going since the death of the much-missed Mike Walford. It was rather a last-minute substitution, so the deadline for that edition has already passed, I’m afraid. (Hit the post, as it were…)

It’s not certain yet that I’ll be doing the column for the next edition (May-August) – after all, I’ve already retired from FolkLife once (I was the Shropshire correspondent), and I’m already doing some editing for the magazine. But if you care to send me any information on events in Cornwall for the May edition (via the Contact Form linked above), I’ll do my best to ensure that it reaches the editor if I’m not already drafting the column. (Actually, I’ll be drafting the column over the whole four months before the deadline, which is 20th March.

Do check out the links above, though: through me is not the only way (let alone the most efficient) to get news to the magazine!

David Harley

Wadebridge Folk Club – new venue

I’ve never been to the Wadebridge Folk Club, as I wouldn’t be able to get back from Wadebridge by public transport afterwards. However, I know lots of people will be glad to know that the club, having been unable to run during lockdown and subsequently without a venue, is now due to reopen at a new venue: specifically, the Barn at Pentireglaze Cafe, which is down a right turn (Brown signposted) off the New Polzeath Road @ PL27 6QY.

The first meeting will be on Thursday 19th Jan at 7pm. Neal Jolly tells us that there will be hot drinks available. I’m not sure if there’ll be alcohol: Neal will be checking on that. He says that “The barn also has a log burner, chairs, tables etc and a sofa (First come first settled!)”

There will be a cost (£5) to cover the hire of the building and to build a fund to be able to pay for the occasional guest performer.

While the slide player on the poster looks to be playing something like a Telecaster, the event will be purely acoustic “to encourage a listening audience, and yet offering a sort of stagey area, rather than a sing around. ”

“Spoken word performance will be very much welcome as well as singing and playing.”

More details when I have them.

In the meantime, I believe the club’s Tuesday Zoom session is continuing: details at https://www.folkincornwall.co.uk/clubdetail.php?clubname=WADEBRIDGE%20ZOOM

David Harley

Introduction to Nashville Tuning book

There’s now an expanded version of an article that used to be on this blog available as an eBook or paperback on Amazon. (I might reinstate the article at some point but it will require some editing, and certainly won’t contain anything like all the material the book does.)

This is a short textbook on an alternative technique for stringing and tuning a guitar to get a very bright, treble-y sound that can be used to create some very unusual effects. It may at least interest some of the people who’ve asked me questions about Nashville stringing/tuning when I’ve used it in performance. It includes information on more-or-less related tunings, and the factors that need to be taken into account when considering setting up an electric or acoustic Nashville-strung guitar. It also includes links to a number of sample sound files illustrating the technique and ways in which it can be used to emulate other instruments.

It’s the first part of a book series called Strings Attached, though it’s more background than anything. The other books will be about albums, songs, and the history behind them.

The book is called Introduction to Nashville Tuning for Guitar, and it’s available as:

  • A reflowable eBook for Kindle, so you can do things like resize the font on a suitable device if it makes it easier to read. It includes links to audio clips.
  • A print replica book – that means you can’t change things like font size, but as well as links, there are embedded audio clips so it can be read even when there’s no Internet connection.
  • A fairly slim paperback version, since Amazon likes it if I do a paperback too… No embedded clips, I’m afraid. 😉 But the links are still there!

The previous book, The Vanes of Shrewsbury, featuring drawings of Shrewsbury buildings by my uncle, Eddie Parker, is also available on my Amazon page, as an eBook or as a paperback.  There are even links to some of the security books I’ve written or edited or contributed to.

David Harley