Simon’s regard for the man is profound; he ventures the belief that when various music magazines do their periodic “100 best albums” etc, that Shand’s Awa’ Frae Hame, recorded in 1963, deserves to be placed alongside perennial choices like The Who’s Live In Leeds. Less known among his heroes, however, and possibly more revealing than any of his other choices, are a group of “old boys” who meet monthly in Sussex.


The “Old Boys” and the further thoughts of A.A.Gill


These are men whom I have often heard him champion, and are part of the reason I chose to interview him. I’ve heard him speak affectionately about the monthly gatherings where he meets this group, and it’s plain, whether he’s talking about collecting from them, or merely noting their distinctive versions of various songs or tunes, that his immersion in tradition which had begun with the “two Bobs” continues undimmed. He lists some of those “old boys” he admires. “Ex-horseman Alf Potter lives near me in Thaxted and is now 90 years old. He plays anything he can think of on mouth organ, and can play spoons with somebody holding the mouth organ.


Essex melodeon, mouth organ player and singer Charlie Bird, I met at a traction rally, in the pub. He used to be a hedger and ditcher many years ago, and at the time I met him (in the late 1980s) he was reputed to be in his 80’s, and was still working as a gravedigger – his father used to sing Jim The Carters Lad.” He rates the late Tony Harvey, “a major influence, and the source of Caroline and The Sailor Bold as sung around here”.


Simon has an extensive list of such characters, and their gatherings. “The event follows the way it’s always been done, with songs, music, jig dolls and stories expected as part of the overall thing.” These gatherings are clearly different from pub sessions where “folkies” (his word) go, and descend directly from a tradition of horsemen’s afternoon off lunchtime sessions. Participants engage for their own pleasure, and he recalls originally misunderstanding the brevity of any step dancing that took place, as being perhaps down to their encroaching ages. It was only when he danced, and others then got up and did longer, vigourous dances, that he appreciated the real reason i.e. the dancers were


wary of the dangers of becoming regarded as “local colour”, but were happy to strut their stuff in front of someone who represented a carrier of the tradition to new generations. (It is for those reasons that I neither give location nor times of the sessions).


Simon has already described being struck by the tradition behind such performance. A.A.Gill, talking of traditions that we gradually let slip through our fingers, says, “the things we misplace always bear a heavier loss than the things we chose to grasp with white knuckles”, and that there’s value in those who, “keep alive an uncared for and unwanted tradition - simply for the pleasure of the thing itself, and their own company.” Watching dancers end the day at the 75th anniversary of Thaxted’s Morris Ring, Gill ends such musings, “and in the darkness, quite unexpectedly, I feel tears of mourning on my cheek.”


Previously if Simon sang a song learned from this group, and someone asked for his version, he would instead direct them to the source, if it existed in recorded fashion. Nowadays, by using mobile phone recordings he’s made, he’s able to direct enquirers to those sources, so they can get it “straight from the horse’s mouth.”


His own musical career is now diverse. He’s melodeon player with the Posh Band, appears with the Thaxted Country Dance Band, through his involvement with John Howson’s various projects has become recognised as an exponent of East Anglian music and is a solo artist who sings, plays, step dances and uses jig dolls. His solo recordings have been played by Andy Kershaw, Phil Jupitus, Mike Harding, and used on Spongebob Squarepants on MTV. He’s currently working on recording songs from Thaxted, and a separate set of his own recordings of traditional material.


His list of projects could be described in much more detail, but here isn’t the place, and it’s more important perhaps to end with Simon’s assessment that he’s “still playing for peanuts, but with some of the most considerate, nicest people on earth.”


The Nice Men’s last demo recording, “Love Betrayal” (1982) is available at www.myspace.com/ simonritchieandtheposhband


The Living Tradition - Page 13


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