The countryside around here is at it's best right now. The grass and the trees are beginning to look green and lush and lovely. In the lanes the banks are full of primroses, violets and cowslips. The woods are showing the first hint of bluebell and it's very difficult to equate all this beauty with the absolute disaster afflicting Cumbria and Devon and other parts of Britain. Of course, if you live in the country you are bound to be affected. Some of the farmers around here winter sheep from up north and they have not been able to ship them back home for lambing so there are a lot of lambs skipping about with Dorset accents instead of Yorkshire ones. Fortunately though we have had no cases of foot and mouth in Dorset. I'm sure the side effects will go on for months. The saddest person in around here is the one who nicked half a bucket of disinfectant from outside a farm gate in Pulham about a month ago.
We have had a few bookings postponed and a Caravan Club Rally cancelled but I don't think the crisis will prove too problematical for us. I am trying to keep the web site information a little more up to date and certainly any changes that are thrust upon us (such as the concert at Barrow Gurney on the 12th of May) will be quickly displayed on it. If you are worried about changes, cancellations etc. you can always write to PO Box 3, Sherborne, [contact details removed] or, of course, use the jolly old e-mail at [contact details removed] Yetminster Fair is definitely on by the way.
New Recording
We are rehearsing like mad for a new CD/Cassette for Bob Barratt at Grasmere Music and will go into the studio from Monday May 7th until the 11th to record same. (Yes, I know the 7th is a bank holiday and all of you will be swaning around on Weymouth Beach or some such foot and mouth free spot but there are those among us of have to work). We have no idea what the finished product will be called but there will be one or two familiar songs on the which we don't have currently on CD such as 'Bread & Fishes' and 'D Day Dodgers'. The rest will be mostly new material for us although some of the songs, such as 'Scarborough Fair', will surely ring a bell. The idea is a sort of follow up to 'The Folk Music of England' CD and Pete has been scouring the archives for tunes with names which represent the four corners of England. The last list I saw looked pretty impressive. If things go according to plan (and with Bob Barratt in charge they usually do) the release date will be sometime in September. I will obviously be giving it a good old plug in Newsletter 68 when title etc. will be revealed.
Old Recordings
More and more people are talking about collecting our old recordings. We hear of bargains picked up in local Oxfam shops, markets etc. across the UK and, occasionally, of somewhat outrageous prices charged by dealers who specialise in LPs. There's a great deal of fun and satisfaction in poking around charity shops and finding a bargain, no matter what you collect, with the added bonus of knowing that you are passing on some cash to a good cause. There are lots of Yetties LPs out there but a lot of you may not realise what you are looking for. The list goes something like this:
Acorn Records 1968 Festival At Towersey
(with other artists)
1969 Fifty Stones of Loveliness
1970 Who's A-Fear'd
BBC Records 1971 Folk on Friday
(with other artists)
Argo records 1970 Keep A Runnin
1971 Our Friends
1971 The World of Irish Dancing
(disguised as O'Dalaigh's Ceilidh Band)
1971 The World of Folk
(with other artists)
1972 Dorset Is Beautiful
1972 Cyril Tawney In Port
(background vocals and instruments)
1972 Bob Arnold Mornin' All
(background vocals and instruments)
1973 All At Sea
1974 Up In Arms
(with Sherborne Town band in support)
1974 The World of The Countryside
(with other artists)
1975 The World of The Yetties
1975 The Yetties of Yetminster
1975 Let's Have A Party
1977 Cider With Rosie
(background music to Laurie Lee's reading of his own book)
1979 Tess of the d'Urbervilles
(background music to Moira Shearer's reading)
Decca Records 1976 The Village band
(with Sherborne Town band)
1977 Up Market
1978 Dorset Style
1978 Focus On The Yetties
(double album)
1979 In Concert
ASV Records 1981 A Little Bit of Dorset
1981 A Proper Job
1986 The Yetties
1988 The Musical Heritage of Thomas Hardy
(double album)
1989 Singing All The Way
1990 The Fiddler Knows
(more music from The Hardy collection)
White Hart Records 1983 Cider & Song
1984 The Sound of Cricket
(with John Arlott)
1984 The Banks of Newfoundland
1985 Top Of The Crops
1989 Play It Again
Conifer Records 1990 Out In The Green Fields
1991 Looking For The Sunshine
If I have missed any I do apologise to those who know better but my collection is not full. ARGO and Decca also released singles when we were with them but I'm not sure exactly when and I only have a couple of these. The rest of the recordings are still available, see the Sales page. Meanwhile, best of luck with your record harvest.
Bonny