An exclusive interview and performance with John Roberts and Debra Cowan took place at The Technology Campus at Leeds City College three weeks ago on the 29th March 2011. The press call was held by Nigel Schofield, starting with a short interview and finishing with a feature of songs. When the two stopped half way though their U.K tour to chat with students in the media department and also ended their guest lecture with an exclusive performance. Their tour started in Liverpool at The Everyman Folk Club, and by the 28th of March they had already covered South Shields and Coventry. The two are laid back folk singers that at some point in their lives they both discovered that they have a deep passion for English folk music.
The Massachusetts based singer Debra, says she has just finished a two week 35,00 mile your in the United States just before she headed to the United .Kingdom. She tells us she is a former teacher, and says she left teaching as she has always wanted to sing and that she had an interest in discovering more and more about folk music.
She’s accompanied by John Roberts, who says he lives in the backs of The Mawhawk River in Schenectady, New York. John originally grew up in England and tells us how he attended Manchester University and then went on to teaching English in India. He says that he never finished his psychology degree and now calls himself ‘a dropout folksinger.’
Once an introduction is over, Nigel wants to talk music. He tells us that John plays the two folk instruments that are the butt of endless insults and jokes. John Roberts the plus out and explain how the ‘5 String-banjo works.’ He then gives an example of how it works in a passionate manner, and says ‘I play tunes like this all the time.’ ‘It’s how I accomplish English folk songs.’ John then goes into detail about his instrument, ‘they were manufactured from the 1870’s, and became very popular in England.’ He then pulls out a non English Constantine and says ‘it’s a harmonica.’ After he gives an example of what the German Constantine sounds like, John says ‘people started to play it in Europe in about 1825.’ When Nigel focuses back onto Debra he asks her to try to show her instrument without trying to reveal the name of it. The audiences are offered to guess what it is, and as nobody does, Debra reveals it. She holds a guitar that folds up inside its case. Nigel jokes that ‘we should get a few gasps from the audience’. Debra tells the audience that ‘A Luthier names Harvey Leech from California created the guitar in 2003 as musicians found a great difficulty in travelling with large instruments.’ Debra plays the guitar just after testing her strings, and says that ‘the guitar is extremely portable.’ She then continues to talk about other instruments she has played over the years, including the English Constantine. John then laughs in agreement when Debra says ‘If it takes more than two trips to the car it’s not folk music.’
As the interview continues more questions are asked about their preferable musical instruments. Debra admits that she doesn’t use set lists anymore, and ‘stopped using them three or four years ago.’ But she says it hasn’t always been like that, and that before, she needed more confidence to be able to go on set without a set list as she added: ‘As the years went on I started to get more comfortable with what I was doing.’ When asked ‘how do set lists work, when you are working together?’ John answers by saying ‘I’ve sung a lot in the states, which are mostly English folk songs that I’m trying to introduce to the American culture.’ And that’s when he worked with a friend writing and composing some of these songs says ‘we never used a set list together.’ ‘But somebody has to have an idea as to what happens next.’ Debra says that the only time she uses a set list is when she has employed somebody. John is then referred back to what he said about introducing folk music to Americans, and John adds that ‘There are a bunch of us over in the states that all know our British folk.’ Debra the starts to talk about her musical inspirations from ‘just the age of thirteen’ and says that her first introduction to folk was Jeff Roe Tall, Pentangle and Fairport Convention. She says that ‘those are the three groups that made traditional English folk music accessible to those that didn’t know anything about it.’ Debra Cowan then goes into more detail about people who inspire her. ‘In the mid nineteen eighties I was introduced to a duo called Robert and Barrand. This was when somebody had handed her a cassette tape of ‘Spencer the Rover. This is when Debra heard about John Roberts and then went onto meeting him at a local folk festival.
As many questions were answered in depth about the two’s personal connections with music, Nigel Schofield then asks about hearing some music. He suggests hearing a Nigel Thompson song, but before playing the song Debra reminds the audience that she doesn’t write songs herself. She says; ‘I set the bar of song writing very high, I try to write, but I can never reach that level of excellence.’ She says that Richard Thompson is who she believed to be ‘one of the best songwriters around’ and then softly begins to play ‘Down with the Drunkards’. In between songs a small discussion about things that happened during the time when these songs were being written, the three tell the audience how a group of sea shanty singers from ‘down south’ have recently won a one million pound record deal. Soon another discussion about an article recently featured in Uncut magazine have published an article about a friend that both John Roberts and Nigel Schofield used to know through music named Peter Bellamy. After a short time reminiscing, John decides to demonstrate a few songs that his old friend Peter Bellamy had composed from turning Kipling poetry into music.
Self confessed lazy John and Debra, then take questions from the college’s first year journalists.
Debra mentions how she ‘sees the movie’ when performing a song, and says, ‘I believe memorising lyrics is a huge part of it’ and that she personally relates to the songs that she performs. Debra says that routing is important when touring as you need to know how much time you’ve got on your hands. When Debra is asked what inspired her to leave teaching and follow a career in music, she says that ever since she can remember she has wanted to sing, but says she got ovate messages telling her it was not something somebody wants a career in. She tells the audience how people around her told her that she would never have a guaranteed pay check, but despite having experiences that proved that to be partially true, she went with her heart and says ‘life is too short, you only get one go around.’ Debra says she prefers honest and asks people to be honest with her about her music. She says that ‘being a full time musician, I’m in front of the computer all day, I can go a fortnight and not pick an instrument up.’ She says that being on the Richard Thompson box-set is the highlight of her career, and says ‘working with Dave Mattox is definitely another.’
John jokes that the current interview he is taking is the best gig he has ever played. He then happily answers the question ‘What has been the highlight of your career so far?’ with; ‘It always seems to be the most recent.’ He says that he was invited to the New Found Land folk festival last year and that the trip showed him a great time and introduced him to a whole new culture. He says today’s music talent is very good, and says that ‘when I sing a song, I get into a song.’
John and Debra then end the last hour will a programme of a variety of songs exclusively for the audience. They end the session with a shorter and anglicised old Scottish ballad that John himself practised when teaching a literature class. The pair proves to be a compassionate towards their music, and in which they cherish every moment they have spent making their journey through performing traditional English folk music worldwide.
Please take into consideration that this is not the usual kind of article I would write
as this was a college project, which I am still very proud of.
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