Lockdown sounds: anything I can do, you can do better ...
April 23, 2020
A photograph I have hanging on the wall in France. It shows my reflection in the mirror as I interview Altan's Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh one night in Donegal
MUSIC TO HELP US THROUGH LOCKDOWN
I am grateful to everyone who has taken the trouble to respond to my series of Lockdown sounds, artists male and female, duos, bands seen live and so on .. with singer-songwriters to come.
Those responses have come directly to Salut! Live and at Twitter or Facebook. From Jon Marks came a quite exceptional effort.
He's lovely bloke I've met all of once (drinks before a Portsmouth-Sunderland match; I support Sunderland, he supports Spurs but lives in Pompey after which the detail of connections loses relevance to a folk music site).
But he has gone to the bother of replicating my device of listing top 10s in each category (when not inventing his own). His follow:
So, will respond based on live acts I have seen: Best bands; best folk acts; best female solo and best male solo. There’s loads of performers I wish I had or will see!
— Jon Marks (@Marks_Jon) April 23, 2020
Best 10 solo artists male seen live
Paul Brady
John Martyn
Jackson Browne
Van Morrison
Bob Dylan
Johnny Marr
Cat Stevens
Eric Clapton
Christy Moore
Paul Weller
Best folk acts seen live
Altan
Amazing Blondel
Pentangle
Runrig
Steeleye Span
Ralph McTell
Tom Paxton
Luka Bloom
Fairport Convention
Paddy Maloney and Matt Molloy
Best female artists seen in concert
Emmylou Harris
Sharleen Spiteri
Eleanor McAvoy
Mary Black
Sinead O’Connor
Dolores Keane
Mary Coughlan
Kirsty MacColl
Joan Armstrading
Judie Tzuke
Best bands seen live
War on Drugs
Travis
Doves
The Kinks
Fleetwood Mac
REM
The Coral
Graham Parker and The Rumour
The Proclaimers
Stereophonics
Thanks to Colin for uploading these. Procul Harum, Richie Havens, Stevie Wonder, Chuck Berry and BB King could have been in the mix too and The Who, all of them I saw live but maybe not in their prime. There are so many artists I wish I had seen to include them - Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Lindisfarne, Dire Straits, Kings of Leon, Aimee Mann, Davy Graham, Nick Drake, Steve Winwood,
Cranberries, Cowboy Junkies, David Gray (might have at a fleadh), Davy Spillane, Sharon Shannon, The Doors, Florence
and the Machine, Gordon Lightfoot, Jethro Tull, Kings of Convenience, Leon Russell, Michael Nesmith, Neil Halstead, Neil Young, Simon & Garfunkel, The Pretenders, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robert Cray, The Band, The Byrds, Rory Gallagher, Ry Cooder, Sade, Santana, Free, The Shins, The Waifs, Snow Patrol, Tom Petty, The Police, Blondie, Tracy Chapman, The Traveling Wilburys, Ultan Conlan, Warren Zevron - alas and alack
Posted by: Johnny Marks | April 23, 2020 at 05:15 PM
What a great list of the unlisted. Thanks, Jon ...
Posted by: Colin Randall | April 23, 2020 at 05:23 PM