00:00A group of acclaimed folk musicians is coming back together to take audiences on a musical
00:05journey through the North East Coalfield history.
00:08The Pitman Poets, featuring Billy Mitchell, Bob Fox and Jez Lowe, are heading out on
00:12a UK-wide tour, sharing songs and stories rooted in working life and community traditions.
00:18The Pitman Poets first got together around about 2011.
00:23I was asked by a swanky venue down in London called The King's Place if I could take a
00:29group of people down that could sing for the Londoners some songs and tell some stories
00:34about what life was like in the North East.
00:37And so I got Billy and Jez and another great singer called Benny Graham and we went down
00:44and we did a concert and we sang songs from where we come from, from our backgrounds and
00:48we told stories about life in the North East coal mining communities because that's where
00:54we all come from.
00:55We all enjoy playing together.
00:57The audiences enjoy it as well because it's not just a show of coal mining songs about
01:05disasters and strikes and things like that.
01:08So the show that we put together basically is a few songs, a few stories, a few laughs.
01:13Audiences can join in with the choruses and things like that.
01:15So it's just generally a bit of entertainment, but all based on the North East culture.
01:21Billy Mitchell's performed with bands including Linda's Farn, Bob Bob Fox is known for his interpretations
01:26of traditional song and his stage role in War Horse.
01:30Jez Lo is an internationally recognised songwriter with a long connection to documenting working
01:35lives through music.
01:36People need songs to represent what's going on.
01:42And it seems to work, you know, because the audience, we've played it all over the country.
01:45We don't just do the North East of England.
01:47We've been in the South of England, Wales, Scotland and everywhere.
01:50And people sort of seem to need a kind of an escape, you know, into these songs.
01:58And so that's basically what I try to do and that's what I offer to the band.
02:02I think the audiences can connect with the songs because the songs were written by real
02:06people.
02:07Yeah.
02:07We want to entertain.
02:09We want them to go away after having a good time, listening to what they should be listening
02:15to and joining in with what we hope they'll join in with.
02:19But maybe go away with something to think about as well, a bit more awareness of stuff.
02:26It starts on the 18th of June in a lovely little theatre called the East Riding Theatre
02:32in Beverly.
02:32And it finishes in a fantastic venue in Sunderland on the 12th of July called the Fire Station,
02:38which was actually the Fire Station at one time.
02:42That's why they called it the Fire Station idea.
02:44Good idea.
02:46The tour begins in mid-June and will visit towns and cities across the UK before concluding
02:51in Sunderland.
02:52Organisers say the performances aim to preserve and share the stories of coalfield communities
02:57with new audiences.
02:58And we'll see you next time.
Comments