Off Topic John Renbourn, R.I.P.

John Renbourn, folk guitarist, died on Thursday, aged 70

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-32083717

 

Great guitarist - saw him with Bert Jansch as part of Pentangle in the 70s at City Hall.

 

We have another music thread....

 

Had the pleasure of seeing him play several times and chatted with him once at Glastonbury, after he'd played with Robin Williamson there some time in the early/mid 90s. As well as being a prince among guitarists, he was also a lovely, engaging feller and even at 70, he was still playing beautifully. His 1985 album, "The Nine Maidens", was a masterpiece of British folk guitar, and still gets regular airings at my gaff.

 

I saw him at the old Blind Institute on Bev. Road, must have been the mid-Sixties. I went with a couple of guitarist mates and we all got talking to him after the gig. He came back and stayed at our house but, much as we wanted him to, he wouldn't get his guitar out.

He'd done enough. John Martyn was the same, at a later date

 

He stayed at your place? Wow. Did you also find him to be a really nice feller, or was he a bit wilder back then?

 

He was a bit knacked, Poll. Travelling; playing a gig; adrenalin dispersed; and 3/4 well-spliffed hippies......

But he was OK. Friendly, but not over-outgoing.

 

Good obit. in the Grauniad: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/27/john-renbourn

 

Yeah, I read that.

The guitarist in my band absolutely worshipped the guy, and I think he even went on a couple of weekends where he was doing tuition, down in Devon or somewhere. He plays very much in the Renbourn style, with great technique and accuracy. I'll never forget being at Cropredy Festival in the early 1990s with him and a few other mates, and being camped next to a band who were playing at the festival fringe in the village. The band were called Tower Struck Down, and I believe they actually got a slot on the main stage a couple of years later, although I can't find much trace of them these days. Anyway, they were a good bunch and they played their instruments day and night. My guitarist bandmate Alan is a pretty reserved type and in those days he really hid his light under a bushel, rarely going out of his way to impress, but on this occasion he asked if he could borrow a guitar, then proceeded to sit down and play The Nine Maidens suite of three songs, note perfect, while they sat, open-jawed in astonishment. It was one of those moments that will live with me for ever.

 

Thanks for that, Poll.

Just thought - all these three are gone now:

I never saw Davy Graham, but I saw Bert Jansch at (The Watersons') Folk Union One at the Bluebell, in the 60s

 

JR with Wizz Jones, doing a Jansch tune.

Then there's Nic Jones.....

 

That's almost the full line up of the great English folk revival guitarists for me; you just forgot Martin Carthy! Richard Thompson came about 5 years too late and has ploughed furrows in directions other than just folk; he occupies his own category of "Guitar God"!

I saw Davy Graham at Cambridge in the early 90s, but he wasn't in great shape. We were sat right at the very front in one of the smaller marquees watching him and when he played Angi, my aforementioned guitarist mate Al turned to me and whispered "I can play this better than he does now", which was, sadly, true.

Bert appeared in the club tent that year on the Sunday night, and we went to see him, but turned up about an hour late, and quite pissed. I think he was still in his drinking years, but he still played brilliantly.