A few words and links put together by Alan Dearling
I heard about these apparently annual events from musician, Angel Nash. She took part in the 2023 Narrowboat Sessions recently along with many others musicians. Angel lives on her own narrowboat. About her song, ‘Fight for Wot’s Right’, Angel says: “This was the first song I ever wrote, while travelling with Horsedrawn in Ireland back in 1993.”
You can find Angel on Facebook. This link to her recording may work for some folk. Give it a try: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0TrdgJmKZREMABRKxc7LZ4X4TrDnrNksqkrFsQgYzt5Nt4MSuYxBETwo7wHqdKEDbl&id=591491513&sfnsn=scwspmo
The Narrowboat Sessions provide an amazing creative space which leads to the creation of many videos and recordings. Eclectic – in fact, a wonderful diversity of musical styles and musicians.
It was a delight to discover it!
This is how they describe themselves on their website:
“Welcome to The Narrowboat Sessions, The No1 site for Acoustic Music Videos.
A non-profit making project helping to raise money for Cancer Research.”
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCllSH2nzwspSEVqJVSORv3A
Here is my ‘chat’ with Mark Holdsworth. He adds: “I suppose that would be the better name to use, although you could say, now known as Marcus Van Juggler after my 3-ton van fell on me!”
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Alan: Tell me a bit about yourselves and your narrowboat. I’ve watched quite a few of the music videos – fabulous quality – good, indeed, great fun… So, who are you, and what do you get up to?
Mark: I first created our Narrowboat Sessions about 10 years ago. It was lots of little evolutions that all came together. Some friends of mine and I realised that the large area under canvas at the front of my boat (the cratch) had an unusual ‘Dead sound’, that is ideal for recording. Many people have tried to record in narrowboats, but due to their slab-sided nature, the recordings are rarely any good. I am an ex-Royal Navy, electrical engineer, and because of that background I took an old zoom desk, and modified it to get a better sound. The other advantage of using a 40 year-old desk is that it is 12 volts, the same as the narrowboat, and is usually powered via the solar panels on the roof. Musically, I was a classically trained pianist, and was taken to the dark side in the mid-70s by a well-known Keyboard player who is sadly no longer with us! I’ve had a canal boat of one shape size or another since I was a kid and was brought up on them by my parents who also had boats.
Alan: Do your musicians choose to play or do you invite them?
Mark: When we first started out, we were helped by the fabulous Steve Tilston and his lovely ex-wife, Maggie Boyle, who also, sadly, is no longer with us. This gave us the kudos for people to come and want to play with us.
Video of Steve and Maggie ‘Silver Dagger’ from the 2014 Narrowboat Sessions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F8aqA_dH7g
In the first year we did 69 sessions second year 96 sessions and ever since then we have had to cap the amount of sessions at 120. But we do get between 5 to 600 applications every year.
Alan: What is the range of genres and styles – is it only, or, mostly acoustic?
Mark: Any genre is welcome, but we do try and keep it mainly acoustic due to the problems of trying to record in a floating, unearthed, faraday cage. We’ve had everything aboard from punk rock to 1,000 year old Japanese Koto being played.
Alan: The videos seem to be great quality both in terms of sound and images. Do you have your own pro-equipment?
Mark: Thank you, the camera is just an ordinary Canon D100. But I fitted an impedance-matching transformer to the desk so that the sound the camera records is a direct output from it. It saves me thousands of hours of editing.
Alan: You are raising funds for Cancer Research, but it must also cost you quite a lot to run the ‘sessions’…How does the funding work?
Mark: We produce a double album every year (although we are running a few years behind at the moment due to Covid). The profits from these go to Cancer Research. Unfortunately, it does take two or three years before the albums make a profit as very few people currently buy physical CDs. We are hoping to get them onto Bandcamp once we have sorted out the legalities of reproducing a downloadable compilation album.
As for the funding to run the sessions. We do run at quite a big loss each year, but we do ask for a minimum donation of £30 towards our costs per session. We are currently looking into allowing advertising on our channel provided that it doesn’t impact the music at all. Although it would be nice if we could find a rich benefactor!
Alan: Tell me a bit about your musical travels…
Mark: Every year we try to travel to a different part of the country. This year, we are hoping to get up as far as Lancaster. Next year we will only be going around the central Midlands. But in 2025 we’re going to try and get down to Bristol via the Kennett and Avon Canal. I have various crew that help me on my travels, ranging from my wife and young, upcoming musicians through to retired Pop Stars from my past. It’s always a good laugh!
Alan: Can you share some links for the article from some musical highlights – some of your favourite sessions…
Mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a5SPA0KYB8
One of my favourites so far this year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93re15DmbNo
And this is one of my favourites from last year!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPH6Fd9EmLg
And here are photos of Cerys and Eli from Bodywater
Alan: What is the best way or ways for folk to buy some of the music from the Narrowboat Sessions?
Mark: The best way to buy the music is just to go to our website and follow the links.
https://thenarrowboatsessions.com/
https://thenarrowboatsessions.com/albums
Alan: And, what plans for the rest of this year and into the future?
Mark: We are heading out on Saturday, going up north, returning to Maesbury Marsh by the middle of September where we will finish off recording for this year.
Alan: Great chatting with you, and good luck into the Musical Futures! And, of course, many thanks for sharing a bit about your adventures, links and pics.
Mark: Photos of me and Stan Cullimore (Housemartins) and me and my wife, Sue.
