This year just keeps getting worse. I was shocked today by the death of Keith Woods, the founder of the eponymous Tales From The Woods group that I have been pleased to be a member of for around two decades. I knew he was in hospital but had no idea that he had cancer, and neither, it seems, did anyone else. Keith was a remarkable character who put on a series of music events stretching back to 2006 featuring UK acts who made their names in the fifties and the sixties, and quite a few American artists who made the trip to London especially to appear. He also encouraged young artists with a talent for rock and roll and the blues. I'm not sure when i first met Keith but it was some time in the early nineties when I kept bumping into him, always wearing a hat of some kind, at various gigs across London and at music festivals featuring roots music or blues. When John Howard and I visited Memphis in 1998 we came across Keith in the Rum Boogie Cafe on Beale Street along with fellow Woodies Tony Papard and Lee Wilkinson (see photo below).
The Woodies began regular monthly meet ups shortly afterwards and a bi-monthly newsletter was launched, with Keith firmly in charge and authoring a 'Hold the Third Page' feature in each issue. This was and still is a strange beast, happily accepting any writings that Woodies chose to offer, usually unedited. These included reviews of roots music gigs and record releases, memories of life in the old days, sometimes outrageously non-PC articles and offbeat stories (plus items from 'The Vinyl Word'). Keith started to organise shows in around 2006 including a tribute to the fifties skiffle boom, with Chas McDevitt, the City Ramblers and Peter Donegan, son of Lonnie, pub gigs at the 'Water Rats' near King's Cross and other venues featuring Barrence Whitfield, Lazy Lester and Robert Penn, rock and roll shows with early stars such as Wee Willie Harris and Vince Eager, even a soul show with Lou Pride. In 2007 he started a series of shows dedicated to the memory of the 2Is, the Soho coffee bar where British rock and roll was born. Then there was a show in memory of the great record producer Joe Meek; one remembering the music of Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent; one starring swamp pop singer Gene Terry; another starring Jimmy Powell and Chris Andrews. There were high quality performances by the likes of Shreveport based Margaret Lewis, Chas Hodges, Charlie Gracie, Roddy Jackson, Mike Berry, P P Arnold, Kingsize Taylor, Cliff Bennett, the Allisons, Jackie Lynton, Billie Davis, Beryl Marsden, Dave Berry, Roy Young Zoot Money and - possibly the greatest show of all - the doowop spectacular starring Tommy Hunt, Gaynel Hodge and John Cheatdom, backed by the Velvet Candles from Spain. The shows came to a juddering halt when Covid came along but there was time for one more show in September of this year to celebrate 20 years of Tales From The Woods starring Garry Mills and Mike Berry among others. Throughout this long run of shows superb backing was provided by a band that called itself simply the Tales From the Woods House band, led by my mate John Spencely. There were also low key meet ups at Gerry's bar in Soho where anyone - even me - could get up and sing a couple of numbers. Keith was always the genial host, introducing the 'wock and woll' as only he could. People sometimes asked why he did all this. It certainly wasn't for the money as I doubt he broke even on many occasions. It was for the love of the music and the desire to get half forgotten artists onto a stage at least one more time. I'm sure that all Woodies will join me in saying Keith - you will be missed. RIP.
3 Comments:
A comprehensive article on Keith and the Tales From The Woods organization which he started. I can't exactly recall when I first met him, but it was probably shortly after my partner died, or just before, in 1991 when I was attending Dave Webb's rock'n'roll gigs in Plaistow. Certainly I recall meeting other future Woodies there like Lee Wilkinson. Then there were Dave Webb's Jerry Lee Lewis Conventions in Newport, Wales which many of us, including Keith, attended. Also the Stompin'USA trips organized by Woody Ken Major, the photo in your article is of the second one I went on. I can't remember when the precursor of the Woodies music gigs started, but it was at the Buzz Bar in Battersea High Street. Not really a music venue, but they allowed us to have the back bar. One of the first gigs was with Linda Gail Lewis. The pub managers, knowing it was Jerry Lee Lewis' sister, probably imagined a little old lady coming to play a few old melodies on the piano. They certainly did not expect her to come along with a full band and amplifiers, with Van Morrison's band members in the audience as Linda Gail explained it was a sort of audition for her. She didn't make much out of the gig, the neighbors complained about the wild and loud rock'n'roll music and Linda got a short-lived association with Van Morrison which ended badly. The one album they recorded together has long been deleted. Linda did one more gig at the Buzz Bar in the main bar this time, and several other artists appeared there with Keith organizing it and me doing the disco as I lived quite near. We also did some gigs together in an East End gay pub to try and offer the LGBT crowd an alternative to the usual music they play in gay venues (in fact the Buzz Bar was also a gay venue but the LGBT crowd mainly kept to the other bar. Though little Danny saw they had karioke in the main bar and went in to do his Elvis impression. He went down a storm, whether because of his Elvis act or his looks is a moot point. I don't think he realized it was a gay bar). So a long association going back about 30 years and Keith's passing has certainly meant the
closing of an era for me and many others, not least Dave who helped in many ways with the gigs and who shared a home with Keith in Queen Anne's Avenue, Bromley which Keith always insisted was in Kent and I maintained was a suburb of Greater London.
Well put Tony. I forgot to mention Linda Gail Lewis's gigs. I never went to the Buzz Bar events but I do remember one in an east End pub - can't remember its name now or who was on
. As you say, it's the end of an era.
I suggested the East End events at The White Swan where Michael Barrimore later 'came out'. Ms Purvis used to do Tea Dances there with music from the 1930s up to date. I once requested a Jerry Lee track and she played 'Tennessee Saturday Nite' by him. The gigs Keith and I did there were discos of Roots Music, not just rock'n'roll. It was not advertised in the gay press. NDT refused the advert for 'Gay Rockin' Tonite' as 'not suitable for this publication'. Southern & Rockin' did put the advert in, I knew the editor, but attracted an abusive and threatening phone call. In the event several gay rockabillies turned up, and one was given a guest spot playing very obscure rockabilly. It was my idea to do the gigs for LGBTs on the rockin' scene in a safe LGBT space where we could be ourselves. Keith kindly offered to help me. He did also organize some jam sessions at an East End pub in the Wapping area. I also can't recall the name of the pub now. These were great too.
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