Concert Review
Saltburn Community Hall Friday 11th April 2025
HAZJAK supported by
Ron & Pat Keedy
with Graham Brotton
Saltburn Folk Clubs' concerts have now moved to The Community Hall in the heart of Saltburn
This proved to be an excellent venue and was full for the evenings entertainment which commenced with Ron & Pat Keedy. Ron & Pat have been stalwarts of the local music scene for some time. Their distinctive old timey brand has flavours of Americana from the 1920’s and 30’s. It’s the kind of music that really draws you in. It’s uplifting and completely infectious. Lively and fun. I loved the mix of Ron’s unique slide guitar playing and Pat on autoharp. All tastefully underscored by Graham’s double bass. Ron and Pat took turns to sing the lead.
Their repertoire was wide and varied. The evening was split up into four interwoven sets from both acts.
Ron & Pat encouraged audience participation with ‘The Mill’, which Pat described as a very old Appalachian song. It had a three word refrain. They moved on to Tom Paxton’s ‘Rambling Boy’, which further encouraged the audience to join in.
Some of my favourites of Ron & Pat’s set included
‘Hesitation Blues’, ‘Amelia Earhart’ and the ‘Ballad of Lucy Jordan’.
They finished their first set with Ralph, the dancing doll. He was from the Appalachian Mountains. Ron mentioned that, if somebody from those mountains, didn’t play an instrument, they might whittle a doll from wood. This doll, then danced in time with the music and provided some percussion too!
HAZJAK
Lynne O’Malley and Steve Chapman Smith are multi instrumentalists, who specialise in close harmony singing. They opened in lively upbeat style, with Lynne on tenor guitar and Steve on six string. Their voices blended together beautifully. The duo also had a nice line in animated banter between the songs.
‘Roundabouts in Nashville’ was the first song of the night to incorporate the banjo. Roundabouts in Nashville? Surely not. Steve said they have three, which confuses Americans and causes frequent accidents.
‘The Wolf’ featured some really nifty guitar playing from Steve and some wolf howls from Lynne. You can’t have too many wolf howls! Stand out moments were ‘Make Me Down A Pallet on Your Floor’, and Leadbelly’s ‘Cotton Fields Back Home’, which saw the return of the banjo. ‘Hollywood Girls’ was an extremely catchy number about a girl from Hollywood … Birmingham. None other than Lynne herself. ‘Hen’ was given an interesting guitar effect which leant a Middle Eastern air. Lynne’s soaring vocal and Steve’s deep bass really gave the song a special vibe. ‘Listerville’ was a comic tale about the lack of parking and rather poor neighbours. ‘City Sleeps’ was an interesting song about New York during the lock downs. The song captured that unusual feeling of the famed “city that never sleeps” facing the lonely unpeopled streets. It must have been strange to have been locked down in New York during that time.
It was an excellent energetic night with great songs and fun banter from Hazjak and Pat, Ron and Graham.
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Mark Hadlett
