Julie and Gavin at Revelation St Mary’s, Ashford. Photos by the excellent Lewis Brockway. Many thanks Lewis!
Julie and Gavin in concert at Revelation St Mary’s
Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree
The album is out!
The Julie and Gavin Atkin album Sentimental Journey is officially out and is available to order from the record label Red Admiral, and as downloads on Amazon and iTunes.
Here’s what the record label blurb says:
‘A 19-track album stuffed full of well-known songs from a bygone age and which you have been hearing all your life – maybe initially on your mothers knee.
‘Julie’s soulful voice is accompanied by Gavin on his Jeffries duet concertina, and melodeon.
‘Recorded in a natural environment they are virtually in the room with you, performing the often nostalgic combination of Tin Pan Alley songs and music from the twenties and thirties.’
And it’s just in time for Christmas! See the Red Admiral website.
Julie sings I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter
The smashing old hit I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter, by Fred E Ahlert and Joe Young, sung here by Julie, accompanied by Gavin on Jeffries duet concertina.
Julie sings Two Sleepy People
This is another song from our visit to the Royal Oak at Lewes last week, with Julie right on song and the tina sounding mellow. Didn’t Frank Loesser just write some corking songs?
Frank Loesser’s Slow boat to China
We’ve been learning some new songs ahead of a gig at Islington Folk Club on the 1st October – and this is one of them. Julie and I think it’s a hoot – Frank Loesser’s chords for Slow boat to China alone are wild and wonderful.
The splendid postcard of the liner United States is courtesy of the Wikimedia, by the way – but in the interests of peace between our two nations, I guess I should point out that the slow boat in question is the yacht – not the Blue Ribband-winning liner.
A letter from Towersey Festival
Oxfordshire’s Towersey Festival is an almost overwhelming experience – colourful, crowded, exuberant and crammed with good music, singing, dancing and a range of other entertainments.
Gav was involved with several this year including a dance band booking with Florida and some workshops to lead. So on Sunday lunchtime we took the opportunity to drop into a quiet lunchtime singaround at The Three Horseshoes.
We weren’t sure how many of them knew what was coming when Gav started playing this popular old Fats Waller song on his ‘tina – you may just hear the crowd gasp in surprise if you listen carefully to this recording – but by the end you can also hear how pleased they were that we happened by.
A few moments later, they were probably just as surprised when I hit them with the ballad of McCaffery – still a powerful song nearly 150 years since the events it describes took place.
How much is that doggie in the window?
Julie and Gav and friends address an age-old question!
This is a recording of Julie and Gavin Atkin at a session at the Bell & Jorrocks, Frittenden, Kent in mid-August 2009. It was made by fellow concertinist Brian Hawes of Hastings – many thanks Brian!
Informal old-fashioned music sessions at the pub take place regularly on the last Sunday of each month from September to May. Ring Gav on 07985 522734 for information.
Hello world – welcome to our website
Our plan is to build a site here to promote the singing and playing of Julie and Gavin Atkin.
Julie is a superb singer who particularly enjoys singing old-fashioned popular songs, while Gavin plays the rarely seen Jeffries duet concertina. Here’s a sample of Julie and Gav performing I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter.
We’re happy to take bookings for clubs, festivals, and concertina and other events at very reasonable prices! Contact us at gmatkin@gmail.com.
Here’s another sample from YouTube: