‘Ready Or Not’: Bryn Haworth, with Stewart and Carol Henderson
Event Details
The cornerHOUSE Theatre is excited to welcome one of the world’s premier slide guitarists, Bryn Haworth, outstanding singer songwriter and lauded session musician. To explore Bryn’s remarkable 50 year career is to take a heady walk through rock, and rhythm and blues music’s Hall of Fame.
Starting with Bryn’s key membership of the late 1960’s London-based Atlantic Records’ house band, The Fleur de Lys, backing such soul legends as Isaac Hayes, to trading on stage, guitar licks with Jimi Hendrix – an enthusiastic admirer of Bryn’s playing – at the rock music ‘Valhalla’, which was The Speakeasy, is some elevated apprenticeship. Stateside then beckoned with a new band, Wolgfang, managed by legendary promoter, Bill Graham. This lead to appearing on bills with Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead….And did we mention an encounter with one, Bob Dylan?
Back in Britain, Bryn was soon signed to Island Records, recording two acclaimed albums for them. A move to A&M followed with another brace of albums, including the Nashville recorded, ‘Grand Arrival’. This period included UK and European tours with Fairport Convention, Bad Company and Traffic, and appearances on John Peel’s Radio 1 Sessions, and The Old Grey Whistle Test. Then came much in demand session work with, amongst many others, Joan Armatrading, Chris de Burgh and Sir Cliff Richard.
The late Gerry Rafferty very much recognised Bryn’s master musicianship Their relationship, spanning several albums, prompted Gerry’s daughter, Martha to ask Bryn to assist her with previously unheard material of her father’s, with Bryn contributing to five tracks on the 5-star reviewed, 2021 release, ‘Rest In Blue’. And whilst remembering extraordinary talents, Sandy Denny hauntingly acknowledged Bryn’s exceptional songwriting. The very last number she recorded, before her tragic death in 1978, was the benedictory ‘Moments’ from Bryn’s album, ‘Grand Arrival’.
Together with his exemplary playing, those songwriting talents will be to the fore during The cornerHOUSE concert, with Bryn featuring songs from his blues, country, gospel and rock and roll, new album, ‘Ready Or Not’. Be prepared for a stand-out evening.
Joining Bryn, for their first half poetry set, will be his and Sally Haworth’s dear friends of longstanding, Stewart and Carol Henderson. No strangers to cornerHOUSE audiences having previously joined Roger McGough, and Chris Difford as guest performers, Stewart’s poetry appears in many anthologies including those of OUP, Hodder and Stoughton, Macmillan and Bloomsbury.Stewart’s poetry, and social history journal ‘A Poet’s Notebook…’ caused best selling author, Shaun Bythell (The Diary of a Bookseller) to underline Stewart’s ‘astounding knowledge of culture’. Whilst former Sunday Times radio critic, Gillian Reynolds, observed, ‘he understands the packed power of words; the importance of their use and measure’.
Alongside Stewart, Carol’s superlative verse and narrative reading skills have featured on various BBC Radio 4 documentaries, including the long running strand, ‘Something Understood’. Carol’s many poetry performances include Stanford University, The Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, New York, and Keble College, Oxford. The latter arising from a personal invitation by the Russian dissident poet, Irina Ratushinskaya for Carol to perform the English translation of the poems alongside Irina reading in her native Russian.
Tickets are £12 from TicketSource