It was like a time warp at Over Hulton Folk Club  with some traditional acoustic blues from In The Pocket and the groundbreaking Spinners/John Denver brand of folk music from the Bram Taylor Band.

In The Pocket are much more than a warm-up support band. The clever guitar work and wonderful blues harmonica  in a swingy version of Don’t Get Around Much Anymore was instantly appealing. Their rendition of Deep River Blues was followed by a smooth jazz version of Hey Bartender. Knock Me Zombie  Chris’s guitaring blended beautifully with Henry’s neat guitar work.  An Americana-styled cover of John Hiatt’s  Gone showed the duo’s versatility. with Chris plying his mandolin skills.

Unafraid to seek inspiration from more recent times, Dixie Chicks’ Long Time Gone preceded a jazzy cover of Ewan McColl’s Black Is The Colour including some nifty guitar runs. Beginning with some melodic unaccompanied vocals before some sublime harmonica from Chris and Henry’s warm double bass playing, the all-too-short set came to an end with Route 66. The term ‘in the pocket’ refers to musicians perfecting a tune for a live performance and this perfectly summed up their performance.  This entertaining duo will be welcomed back without a doubt.

The Bram Taylor Band offered us 2 longer sets. This tight veteran trio who have a history in the world of TV as well as music, interspersed their set with amusing anecdotes and gentle humour. Bram’s tuneful vocals were never a strain on the ear. They told us stories of gold-digging,  sang sad laments, described the aging process, told a cheeky kinky story, shunted us out to sea and pleaded for justice in the workplace. Along the way, they paid tribute to Nanci Griffiths (Sing), Richard Stilgoe (Joyce The Librarian) along with a tongue-in-cheek parody of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

A brief sojourn took them into bluegrass with Sunny Side Of Life from the film Oh Brother Where Art Thou giving us a respite from the 50’s/60’s folky style songs. Not many songwriters have trundled their way to Knott End for musical inspiration but to prove that life turns full circle  between father and son, Windy Harbour proved the most moving song of their performance.

It’s been quite a year at the Over Hulton Folk Club. Top-class acts such as Merry Hell, Chris While and Julie Matthews, Tennessee Waltz and Cobalt Tales were among the many musicians this year, showing how OHFC is going from strength to strength.

Next year promises to be another stunning year with  Merry Hell, AJ Clark, Tennessee Waltz and Anna Renae returning. The support set from the amazing Hayes Sisters is also a mouth-watering proposition but the year kicks off in January with local heroes The  Houghton Weavers. For more details of the fabulous line up for 2024 visit the OHFC website.

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