NORTHUMBRIAN MUSIC
NIGHTS
What they're saying about
Terry Conway & Liz
Law
Popular local entertainer Terry Conway is embarking on his favourite night-time career option, singing the best of Northumbrian traditional songs and ballads, as well as some brilliant ones he's brought to the idiom himself, since his recent retirement from work with the county council.
One of the region's favourite living treasures, Terry has such a wealth of music that he is a living history trove of anecdotes, Northumbrian humour, and dialectic poetry. His guitar work is ideally suited to accompany his lovely tenor voice, and his music by turns enchants, thrills, inspires and evokes great belly laughs, from his receptive audiences up and down the country.
Although most people think the popular song, 'Sweet Rose of Alandale' refers to Allendale town, in fact it's a hymn to a boat sailing back to Scotland. Far more apropriate as a theme song for Allendale, and one which many in the region hold as their personal favourite, is Terry's 'Where the East of Allen runs', a truly inspired paean to the younger generation's wanderlust, homesickness, and the constant goodness of the Allen valley. But you haven't laughed either until you've laughed at the problems of the stockbroker's romantic suit, or the exasperating travails of those folks on Harcup Hill when Kielder Water was built.
As a duo with dulcimer player (Appalachian and hammered) Liz Law, who is a founder member of the Lucky Bags, and an entertainer in her own right, the combination makes for a sweet and gentle evening in the function room at The King's Head, Allendale, from 8:30 with the best of the rest of the region's entertainers lending a bit of support throughout the evening.
