Robin Harrison

I meant to add a line at the end of my post yesterday saying I would love to hear any other stories about how he has impacted, lightened, enriched anyone's life, as he has mine. Please tell us a story about him. Thanks Robin

And what a fine man he is too ! The largest influence on my trad. music life both for anglo and for singing. My personal "holy-macaroni" moment was listening to the album where he sings "Rambling Comber"; unaccompanied. It is with me to this day, it has everything I love about folk song. Robin

Angler......this post won't help your search but I would like to say how much I love some of her compositions and totally get why you want to play this tune which I had not listened to ( thanks !!) I have spend much time learning the tune linked below which I just about had under my fingers until the sunny weather came...................... Roll on Fall and cloudy days ! Robin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzSGr3Lq7sM&ab_channel=ITMAVideos I

Second request here to see how you saw them up etc. please Alex. By coincidence, last month I secured a Lignum Vitae bowling ball here in my bowling club in Paris, Ontario. I asked if I could have one from the many unusable old ones and most of them were melamine material but managed to find a wooden set....maybe two more to follow. I am interested to see how you deal with them. Thanks Robin

Mega playing !

I had two of John's bellows and although maybe heavier, they were wonderful quality and I am not sure I noticed any real difference compared to the Rosalie dipper bellows I have had. They would not affect volume at all and I would be very happy to have them on any anglo.

Sorry I can't help except to say that my whole approach to playing EC is based on having listened AA's playing for hours on end as a new player all those years ago. I loved his use of the word "stotty" when describing air management. You are totally on the right path by referring back to his playing. I'll be interested to hear any replies t your question. Robin

PM sent

Well done P. It is so cool to buy a concertina that comes with documentation esp . photo's. Robin

I like this, Jim. I think you could re-interpret it what she said more generally and say.........." Jim, the way you play that tune makes me want to dance". For the music that we love to play, this is the.......... "it's-all-been-worthwhile"......... comment. When I lead the English Trad English session in Toronto for 15 or so years, when we had settled into the Caledonian pub, it could be quite noisy some evenings. I was always looking around at the pub's patrons and if I saw a group deep in conversation but unconsciously tapping their feet, I would think............"this is working, this is why we are here " !

......................boy those first few bars took me back to 1976, Plain Capers, John Kirkpatrick and my youth ! Nicely played.....interesting basses, I really enjoyed it. Personally I did not find it "non-morrisy" other than the tempo ! Thanks for posting, Jim. Robin

Don, as an aside...I emigrated from England to Canada for the love of a good woman and Robertson head screws........

Over the years I've been to a few concertina weekends in England and was always amazed to see that the Irish\English folk music contingent were in the minority. Others on this forum can expand/contradict etc that view.

Hi Joey.........three of the end bolts are missing from the image ?

Simple man that I am, Geraghty, this is what I call a "no brainer" ! You will never regret it. Cheers..............Robin

Nice anglo and well played..........well done ! Like the Tamara de Lempicka poster too !....interesting woman ! Robin

Thanks, Steve; I look forward to hearing about the project.....and maybe hearing it eventually.

Just curious, Bill........what is the likely final use for these reeds ? I know zero about reed organ reeds . Tx Robin

A link from the past...

Yep.....I was lucky enough years ago to buy one of the great Jeffries (G/D) anglos from John Rodd, member of the Albion Country Dance band ( the concertina was on record, I think ) He was an astonishingly good anglo layer BUT.....he was then playing guitar as well and had Colin D. put on buttons that were very long so he could play it with his long guitar-picking fingernails. I found it difficult to manage so Colin re buttoned it for me..........

Hi Gary..........for us non-Jeffries duet types, why the double !!..............is Ab a "good thing" or a "bad thing" ? What would you have liked ? Tx and totally looking forward to some pictures !! Robin

I too like short buttons on both my English and anglos. However..... ............for me the button height is irrelevant for this. It's much harder to do but gets easier with practice but I never slide fingers, only plan so I can tuck them under or over. Seems really awkward to begin with then becomes normal. Robin

Amazing art............it struck me as very Gormenghast / Mervyn Peake. The second image could be Steerpike playing. Robin

I didn't know this is supposed to be the case..............the Dippers make laminated action boards if their anglos are going to N.America. Harsh they are not.

Also interesting that on the Jeffries price list it advertises English concertinas and yet we have seen perhaps 2 or 3 come up for sale in 20+ years ?