Salut! Live

Andrew Curry writes: As a former journalist, one of the things I like about Salut! Live is the range of formats that Colin has devised over the years—the fabulous Cover Story, for example, which now runs to something more than 70 songs, and the more quickfire Song of the Day, a way to acknowledge a performer and share something of their work.

But we haven’t really had a format at the Salut! Live Facebook group, until now.

We’ve just started a regular slot called Artist of the Week, in which each Thursday Colin, myself, or Bill Taylor will pick someone to showcase—usually with a link back to the blog.

(Photo: Show of Hands)

The first Artist of the Week slots went to Nanci Griffith, sadly lost to us in August 2021, and the second to Show of Hands, currently on a tour that they’re busy not describing as a farewell tour, but may be the last time to see them performing together.

Salut! Live will be catching them on that tour next month, so there will be a review here in due course.

To join the Salut! Live Facebook group, visit this link. 

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And since it was Swarb’s birthday yesterday—he would have been 83–and he is pretty much Salut! Live’s favourite folk fiddler, here’s a song of the day from the great Dave Swarbrick, playing live with Fairport Convention, chosen by the man himself back in 2011,.

What we said at the time:

Swarb is a man known predominantly for his mesmerising skills with the fiddle, in his decades-spanning duo with Martin Carthy, as a massive presence within Fairport and in all sorts of other settings.

I took time to appreciate his voice, but have come to think of it as fitting the genre like a comfy glove.

But since no single song stood out for me among many contenders, I invited Swarb to choose one for me and the answer came back like a shot: Now Be Thankful. It was a great shout.