Bob's recent interview and
songs live on The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe
29/04/2015on
Click on the song title to
hear Bob's radio
plays on the
Mike Harding Show
along with Mike's comments:
25/01/2012 WAR HORSE/"Shoals of herring"
13/04/2011 "Rambling Rover"
10/12/2010 "Taking on Men"
Bob
Fox & Billy Mitchell
With several "one-off never to be repeated" tours and two well received CDS
successfully completed, Bob
and Billy
will continue working as an occasional
duo as wellas solo and with the new
PITMEN POETS project
so plenty to look forward to!!
Click here to keep an eye on
the gigs page to see up to date details.
This unique combination will
entertain people of all shapes and
sizes with their wonderful selection
of northern songs that spans
Jimmy Nail’s ‘Big River’ to
Lindisfarne’s ‘Meet Me On The Corner’
all delivered with consummate musicianship.
The duo’s on-stage banter has also been
known to regularly reduce audiences to
gibbering wrecks.
"Back on City Road"
Click for details
and to
purchase online
BILLY MITCHELL has done it all as a
performer and songwriter.
He spent eight years as front man of
the legendary Lindisfarne until their
retirement in 2003.
Billy Mitchell’s influence on the
latter-day line-up of the band
helped them stay as respected and
successful as they had been prior
to his recruitment.
In the seventies he founded the
seminal Jack the Lad, who were both
musically deft & wondrous and also,
clearly (some say), unhinged.
Their final album, ‘Jackpot’ has just
recently had its debut on CD.
Billy recently also released his first
solo album, 'The Devil's Ground',
and in one enthusiastic review
of the album, was noted as
“one of the finest singers on the planet”
(Pete Fyffe)
He has also recently performed on
stage with Roger Daltrey of The Who,
Paul Weller, Jools Holland and
Brian Johnson of AC/DC at
The Sage, Gateshead.
One of Britain’s most respected and internationally acclaimed performers
Ralph McTell said of BOB FOX:
“As soon as I heard Bob Fox sing I
realised that he must have one of the
best voices in England. I have
always regarded him as an artiste of
great integrity and ability".
Bob has twice been nominated as
Folk Singer of the Year at the
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and was
invited to sing and play at
Celtic Connections as part of a
performance of the
2006 Radio Ballads.
In 2000 Bob was Special Guest on
the Wood and the Wire tour with
the legendary Fairport Convention,
who guested on his
Dreams Never Leave You album.
Bob’s masterful interpretation of
traditional and contemporary songs
is one of his greatest strengths and
during his time performing with
Stu Luckley they won the
Melody Maker
‘Folk Album of the Year’ Award.
Billy and Bob have a souvenir of
their performances available on CD
for all to sup and feast on,
proudly entitled
Five Star B & B
a title that cannily reflects both
the quality and wry humour of
their musical collaboration
and ‘live’ performance.
"I’ve
just witnessed my favourite
gig this year and who would
doubt me when I
say that the
protagonists arethose likely lads
Bob Fox & Billy Mitchell."
was one delighted
reviewers response.
The concert performances feature
Billy and Bob performing material
alone and together, cherry picked
from their solo work and the
combined back catalogues of
Lindisfarne, Jack the Lad and
Bob Fox and Stu Luckley
to produce a memorable night.
Five Star indeed.
"Five Star B & B" was recorded
during the Autumn
2006 Tour and
features new live versions of
their classic songs.
"Five Star B & B"
Clickfor details
and to
purchase online
Live Gig Review:
The Maltings, Farnham (18th Oct 2006)
I’ve
just witnessed my favourite
gig this year and who would doubt
me when I
say that the
protagonists are those likely lads
Bob Fox & Billy Mitchell.
You know you’re guaranteed a good
night out if you’re lucky enough to
see either as a solo performer but
working as a duo, they bounce
off each other as if they’d been
playing together for years.
The surprise is that the
two genial
Geordies have only completed five
days of a 19 date tour and,
although originally intending to
join each other for the last twenty
minutes of the show they are both on
stage most of the evening.
Utilising their
towering vocals and accompanying themselves with
astonishing skill on a
variety
of stringed instruments,
guitars, bouzouki and mandolin,
they could
hold a master class
in the art of ‘live’ entertainment.
Instrumental expertise
aside, the
songs come thick and fast with
standards such as
“The Galway
Shawl” and
“Sally Wheatley” rubbing
shoulders with Mitchell’s own
self-penned “The Devil’s Ground”.
Talking of North-East songs, it’s
interesting to
note that the power
of a good TV campaign can influence
a much wider audience
especially
the recent Young’s Seafood
advert featuring the emotive
“When
the Boat Comes In”
performed (in this case) with
such eloquence by Fox.
The banter between the two may
at times have been unrehearsed
but at no
point did the audience
feel excluded from the joke and in a
room that was
particularly difficult
to utilise a PA Ben (the engineer)
did a sterling
job.
Bob & Billy are planning to tour in
April of next year and by
that time
they hope to have a live recording.
If you’re looking for a fun
night
out with amazing musicianship and
vocals make sure you don't miss
them.
Pete
Fyfe
For
more information about
Billy Mitchell visit
www.billymitchell.co.uk
Bob
Fox & Stu LuckleyStu Luckley
To co-incide with their re-union tour of 2008
Bob
and Stu re-recorded both
"Nowt
So Good'll Pass"and their
second LP "Wish
We Never Had Parted"
as well as a few previously unrecorded
songs that never made it onto the
original records for a unique
"collector's item" double CD
"THIRTY YEARS ON"
Clickfor details
and to
purchase online
CD Review:
Thirty Years On (BFMCD010)
It would be criminal of me to not flag
up this recording by
Bob Fox & Stu Luckley
as one of the finest examples of
musicianship anywhere!
A bold statement but, if you’ll bear with
me and if, more importantly you’ll buy
this 2 disc album you too will be equally astonished.
From the opening track, the jaunty
“Bonny Gateshead Lass” you can’t be anything but impressed by Bob’s
beautifully finger-picked guitar and
with the addition of those rich baritone
vocals backed with just the right amount
of acoustic bass and harmony from Stu
you just know you’re in for a treat.
OK, so it might not be politically
correct in the current climate but
the next track “Reynard The Fox” with
its intricately placed time signatures is
a musical tour de force that I defy
anyone (musician or not) to say
“How good was that?” and leave you
grinning at the wonder of it all.
To give you some idea of how good it
really is you need to experience the
duo at a live concert where they inject
the same enthusiasm and fun with
(if it’s possible) even more passion.
Waxing lyrical writing this review
you’ll have to excuse me the
indulgence of extolling Bob & Stu’s
virtues as they have been instrumental
in inspiring many artists
(including yours truly) to
take up the challenge of promoting
folk music to a wider audience,
a thankless task at the best of times
but a worthy challenge that the lads
seem only too happy to take
up the gauntlet.
Utilising contemporary songs such
as Donovan’s wistful “Isle Of Islay”
and that old folk chestnut
“Ruby Tuesday” Luckley proves no
slouch when helming the vocals and
Bob’s rendition of Graeme Miles
“The Shores Of Old Blighty”
(every bit as good as the “Green Fields
Of France” in my opinion) will leave
you pondering the futility of war.
Songs to make you laugh, songs to
make you cry…they’re all here in all
their glory and I can truthfully say
there’s not a bad track (all 21 of them)
on this album. Fox & Luckley’s CDs
should have a health warning
stating that this music will bring a
smile to anyone who has a heart. Unfortunately it doesn’t but with the tremendous artwork from the near
legendary Bryan Ledgard and the
recording wizardry of Ron Angus this
album should be on every folk
enthusiast’s wish list for Christmas.
Live Gig Review:
Chanticleer Folk Club
Dorking, Surrey (15th Oct 2008)
Well it might be thirty years on
(which also happens to be the title of
the duo’s latest CD release) but who
would have known it. I admit at having
gone to see the duo as a sense of
nostalgia along with my mate Les Elvin
whilst in the process bearing witness
to one of the best concerts we have
both enjoyed in ages. I don’t know what
it is but musicians and singers such
as these only come along once in a
lifetime and I’m glad to say I was
there when it all started.
I won’t go into their history - you
can always buy the CD for the
sleevenotes but needless to say
they’re both cast from that mould of
North East music mafiosi which
sprang up at the same time as the
likes of Lindisfarne.
Both Stu and Bob have that
Geordie sense of humour that
proves so popular with us Southerners
and the audience were treated to a
right royal banquet of stunning
musicianship and formidable vocals
in bucket-loads and the only words
I can find to describe the performance
are "sheer entertainment of the
highest calibre!"
To balance the levity of the
introductions Bob’s rendition of
“Bruton Town” was so inspiring
that it meant you lingered
onevery chilling word and you
actually felt the passion pouring out.
No mean feat
(take note Rachel Unthank etc)
for someone half his age but that’s
where the maturity in the craft of
delivery and how to tell a story are paramount to the overall effect.
In a near two hour show lithely
changing instruments including
guitars, bouzouki, bass, and dulcimer,
Fox & Luckley provided a selection of
their greatest hits such as;
“Sally Wheatley”, “Doodle Let Me Go”
and “The Two Magicians” and plenty
ofchorus songs which were
enthusiastically embraced by a
more than eager audience.
Now, if you think this review is too
gushing then don’t take my word for
it just catch them while you still can
and perhaps, like me and Les you’ll
find yourselves talking for ages after
the show about how good a gig can be.
PETE FYFE
Two
of the 2006 Radio Ballads win
prestigious
SONY MUSIC AWARDS.
"The
Song of Steel" and "Thirty Years
of Conflict" won Gold and Bronze
awards at the Sony Radio
Academy Awards 2007.
Congratulations
to all involved in the productions especially John Tams and
John Leonard.
Bob
was involved in the project singing
many songs on five of the new ballads.
Clickfor details
and to
purchase online
Bob
Fox performs at Celtic Connections 2007
I
was delighted to be asked to sing and
play
in a live performance of the New
Radio
Ballads at Glasgow's Celtic
Connections
Festival on Monday 22nd January.
The
New Radio Ballads were first
broadcast on
BBC Radio 2 last year.
In Glasgow, selected highlights
from the shows were performed on stage
by the musicians and singers involved in the
original recordings.
The
instrumentalists included
myself(guitar),
John
McCusker(fiddle,whistle,cittern),
Andy
Cutting(accordion),
Andy
Seward(double bass),
Barry
Coope(piano,percussion),
Jez
Lowe(guitar,bazouki,mandolin)
and
John Tams (harmonica).
The
singers were Kate Rusby,
Karine Polwart, John
Tams, Barry Coope,
Jez Lowe, Chris While, Julie Mathews
and me!
Getting
so many artists together for
the show was an achievement in itself.
Musical
director John Tams and
producer John Leonard oversaw
development of the
musical and
vocal arrangements during an intensive two
days of rehearsal before the
performance. Last
year's broadcast
sessions for The Radio Ballads were
recorded over a number
of months
with most of the musicians
contributing without the others
present. This
made the job of turning
the material into a cohesive live show
even more
daunting but everyone
involved made a massive effort and on
the night it
was a lot more than alright!
The
show was staged in the Royal
Glasgow Concert Hall and the
first set was a selection of songs
from five of the 2006 Radio Ballads:
Song
of Steel, The Enemy Within,
The Horn of the Hunter,
Swings and Roundabouts
and Thirty Years of Conflict.
After
the interval
The Ballad of the Big Ships, concerning shipbuilding on the
Tyne and the Clyde,
was performed in it's entirety and
included many of
the interviews with
ship-builders recorded for the
broadcasts expertly
interleaved with
the songs by Max Leonard.
Another
feature of the show was a
'big screen' projection of shipbuilding
pictures
collected and collated by
Brian Ledgard.
Former
shipyard worker
Brian Whittingham also appeared on
stage to read his own
poems.
The
Royal Concert Hall audience gave
The Radio Ballads show astanding ovation.
It was a true folk spectacular and one
I dearly hope will be repeated.
Full
details and a chance
to
listen again click here!
Clickto
purchase online
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