Nicholas Driver

[Dan Worrall]

Sorry to be off topic with a bodhran question! I'm looking for contact details for the Nicholas Driver who wrote a bodhran tutor published by Hobgoblin back in the late 1970s. Should be living in the UK. Might anyone know how I can contact him? If so, could you please PM me?

 

He included a drawing in his book--from a nineteenth century minstrel show, featuring a couple of concertinas amongst a large minstrel band--that I am looking for more information on.

 

Many thanks,

Dan

[hjcjones]

I've PM'd you with a 30 year old address in Suffolk.

 

If it's this image you're thinking of, on the sleeve of his "Bare Bones" LP it's credited to the Hulton Picture Library.

[michael sam wild]

Looks an interesting LP Howard, any details? is it now a CD ?

[hjcjones]

Looks an interesting LP Howard, any details? is it now a CD ?

 

I'd be very surprised if it's on CD. It was issued by Greenwich Village in 1978 (GVR 202) and features Nicholas Driver on bones (and also bodhran) accompanying music by Charlie Harris and William Molan on melodeons, guitar and whistle. As the title suggests, it was intended to showcase "the traditional art of bones playing" and includes a brief guide to the history and technique. Nicholas was the third generation of his family to play bones, which he was taught by his father. Despite their being based in Suffolk, the music is mostly Irish.

Edited June 6, 2010 by hjcjones

[Dan Worrall]

I've PM'd you with a 30 year old address in Suffolk.

 

If it's this image you're thinking of, on the sleeve of his "Bare Bones" LP it's credited to the Hulton Picture Library.

Howard,

 

Many thanks. I had that address, but wasn't sure whether it is still current, or whether Mr. Driver is still around. I looked in the British Telecom directory, and there is still a Nicholas Driver in WOodbridge Suffolk, but it won't show me the address or the phone number without a fee and a signup (I hate those!).

 

That is indeed the picture. The copy I have from his book shows it in an uncropped version--more to the right and to the left. The musicians were surrounded on four sides by audience in a big tent. The orchestration is pretty similar to that of the photo on the cover of my volume 2--the New Zealand minstrels group. A blessedly guitar-free zone! We still have a few of these types of groups in Texas and the rest of the southern and western US...they are now called 'medicine shows' and usually play old-time music at various fairs and festivals, still have some joking end men with ribald humor, an interlocutor who acts as a straight man, but of course there are zero references to race anymore and no blackface!

 

I found the Hulton site, but did not find the image there. Will keep trying to find N.D. to learn more....

 

Cheers,

Dan

[Dan Worrall]

I've PM'd you with a 30 year old address in Suffolk.

 

If it's this image you're thinking of, on the sleeve of his "Bare Bones" LP it's credited to the Hulton Picture Library.

Howard,

 

Many thanks. I had that address, but wasn't sure whether it is still current, or whether Mr. Driver is still around. I looked in the British Telecom directory, and there is still a Nicholas Driver in WOodbridge Suffolk, but it won't show me the address or the phone number without a fee and a signup (I hate those!).

 

That is indeed the picture. The copy I have from his book shows it in an uncropped version--more to the right and to the left. The musicians were surrounded on four sides by audience in a big tent. The orchestration is pretty similar to that of the photo on the cover of my volume 2--the New Zealand minstrels group. A blessedly guitar-free zone! We still have a few of these types of groups in Texas and the rest of the southern and western US...they are now called 'medicine shows' and usually play old-time music at various fairs and festivals, still have some joking end men with ribald humor, an interlocutor who acts as a straight man, but of course there are zero references to race anymore and no blackface!

 

I found the Hulton site, but did not find the image there. Will keep trying to find N.D. to learn more....

 

Cheers,

Dan

 

As a result of this thread, I received a PM from a Forum member who shall remain nameless (not one of the posters on this thread). He told me that Nicholas Driver has passed away, and so with that information, the photo caption in my book's third edition mentioned the late Nicholas Driver. As these things go, a week ago I received an email from Nicholas Driver, who let me know that he had read this Forum thread (someone had alerted him of it) and that he had no further information on the picture in question. The email was not from the Kingdom in the Clouds, so we can say, to paraphrase Mark Twain, that the rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated!

 

I had a nice email exchange with Nicholas. He lives close to Steve Dickinson, who refurbished both of Nicholas's' two anglos. Mr. Driver doesn't play them much anymore, but still has a go at the bones. It would be great fun, I should think, for any of you concertinists in Suffolk to look him up for some bones accompaniment!

 

Dan

Edited September 15, 2010 by Dan Worrall

[JimLucas]

As a result of this thread, I received a PM from a Forum member who shall remain nameless (not one of the posters on this thread). He told me that Nicholas Driver has passed away, and so with that information, the photo caption in my book's third edition mentioned the late Nicholas Driver. As these things go, a week ago I received an email from Nicholas Driver, who let me know that he had read this Forum thread (someone had alerted him of it) and that he had no further information on the picture in question. The email was not from the Kingdom in the Clouds, so we can say, to paraphrase Mark Twain, that the rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated!

He's in good company. Fiddler Dave Swarbrick was another who had the pleasure of reading his own obituary.

 

I had a nice email exchange with Nicholas. He lives close to Steve Dickinson, who refurbished both of Nicholas's' two anglos. Mr. Driver doesn't play them much anymore, but still has a go at the bones. It would be great fun, I should think, for any of you concertinists in Suffolk to look him up for some bones accompaniment!

I'm sorry that it was only this evening that I saw this thread. (A result of the "View New Content" option not looking back more than 24 hours?)

 

I also play bones, and among mine are a set (2 pair) made by Nick. (I didn't even know that he played the bodhran and anglo, though it certainly doesn't surprise me.) I'm glad you made contact; it saves me from trying to get his contact information from a friend here in Denmark, who knows Nick.

 

The LP mentioned by hjcjones sounds very interesting. I would love to get a copy of it. I wonder where I should start looking.

[hjcjones]

Try here

 

Glad to hear that Nick is still around.

Edited September 16, 2010 by hjcjones