John Tams & Barry Coope - Biddulph Town Hall 6th October 2007 John Tams is a bit of a cultural polymath - not only is he one of the most revered English folk singers - although he sees himself as a pretender, but he was well known for playing Hagman in the Sharpe series, has been heavily involved in the revived BBC Radio Ballads and was playing this gig inbetween work at the National Theatre in London. He and keyboardist Barry Coope (Best known on the folk circuit for his work with Coope, Boyes and Simpson) from first appearance to the end of the night are eminently charming and affable, yet Tams has a roguish edge that saves him from falling over the cliff into musically and anecdotally saccharine clichés. Like Mr. Fulks, Tams covers many bases in his set - there's the traditional, the love song, the protest and cheeky re-invention (A Derbyshire version of Dylan's "Don't think twice"). Interspersing enthralling chatter between the songs, Tams proves himself to be a folk raconteur par-excellence - and just a general all round good bloke.
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