Carolan is excited to have taken up residency at Folk Beeston, the online version of the long running Second Time Around Folk Club with its home in Beeston, Notts. Following Keith Hinchliffe and Carolan’s recent guest appearance at the club (see Post 80), Carolan has stayed on behind to spend some serious time with various club members as the resident guitar over the coming months.

First, a few words about Folk Beeston. We saw back in Post 79 how another club, the Carrington Triangle Folk Club, has taken to using Zoom to host online live singarounds. Folk Beeston has taken a very different approach, encouraging its members to record videos at home which are then edited to create weekly show that goes out as a Facebook Watch Party. At the time of writing the club is into its seventeenth show and has evolved a distinctive format that includes floor singers and guests, recorded interviews between club members, and various other features. There’s also the weekly ‘Doors Music’, a selection of instrumental music that runs while you are waiting in the lobby before the doors open. You can catch up with recordings of all of the shows here on the club’s YouTube channel.

Acoustic guitarist and club regular Dave McGowan is the first to host Carolan for a couple of weeks. Dave’s usual flame is a handmade instrument by Steve Hicks who we encountered way back in Post 48. Dave takes the opportunity to record several pieces on Carolan, including some lovely arrangements of The Star of the County Down, Blue Moon, Milonga, Down by the Sally Gardens, She Moves Through the Fair, and For all those Endearing Young Charms.

Dave is also inspired to record a feature article for the club show in which he reflects on guitars, woods, and a comparison of Steve’s guitar and Carolan.

It’s been a pleasure to stay with you Dave, thanks for being such a generous host, but now it’s time to move on. We’ll be reporting back from the next stop on our residency soon.