Woodies pay tribute to Keith and Claire

For 25 years Keith Woods single handedly brought roots and rock and roll shows to London. Numerous heritage artists from the UK and the US appeared over the years and Keith's efforts, often at a financial loss to himself, were very much appreciated by artists and audiences alike. Central to the success of his shows was the Tales From The Woods House band, led by John Spencely, which featured the excellent keyboard skills of Claire Hamlin. Sadly both Keith and Claire have passed away in the last year. But despite those losses Tales From The Woods, the loose knit group of music fans who live for rock and roll, blues, soul and swamp pop, lives on and they were out in force last night for a tribute show to Keith and Claire organised by John Spencely in the cramped music bar of the Spice Of Life in Soho.

The show in aid of cancer charities featured four artists who have appeared at shows in the past, backed by the TFTW band led by John (pictured above), with Jeff Tuck on drums, Alex Bland on sax and Rob Davies and Pete Pritchard sharing bass guitar duties. John Howard acted as DJ for the night playing tracks by some of the stars of past shows, from Charlie Gracie to Terry Dene.

First up was Essex's own Jackson Sloan who, although not a heritage artist in the accepted sense, has a great feel for jump blues and swing and was excellent on his four songs which included 'Big Top' and 'Kicking Up Dust'. He has a natural flair to his singing and this was a good start to the evening.

This continued with a sparkling set by Liverpool born Beryl Marsden, who enjoyed chart success in 1963 with a cover of Barbara George's 'I Know'. She began with 'Everything's Gonna Be Alright', continued with 'I Know' and included three well delivered Shirelles songs - 'Baby It's You', 'Everybody Loves A Lover' and 'Boys'. Other songs were "Hi Heel Sneakers' and 'Whole Lotta Shakin' the latter song delighting the many rock and roll fans in the audience.

The rockers will have been well pleased with the next act Graham Fenton, who was lead singer of rockabilly revival band Matchbox. As ever his set featured songs by his hero Gene Vincent ('Rocky Road Blues' and 'Right Now") plus Eddie Cochran's 'Somethin' Else', "Pretend', 'Wild One' and Matchbox favourites 'When You Ask About Love', 'Buzz Buzz A Diddle It' and 'Rockabilly Rebel'. The highlight was a duet with Jackson Sloan on "Let's Rock' (top photo).

Final artist of the night was Mike Berry who first recorded in 1961 amd who showed he had a flair for comedy with a stint in the TV series 'Are You Being Served?' He interspersed his numbers with amusing anecdotes and asides and showed that his voice remains in superb shape. His numbers, which included 'Rock Around With Ollie Vee', 'Rocket In My Pocket', 'Stood Up', 'Three Steps To Heaven' and his 'Tribute To Buddy Holly' were a delight. Throughout the show the band provided excellent support with some exciting sax breaks by Alex and incisive guitar work from John. There's no doubt that the audience, nearly all of whom were 70 or over, enjoyed the show. I'm sure Keith and Claire would have loved it too.