Jim Ghedi is heading back out on a short tour in April for what will probably be his last full band tour of 2023. He has said there may also be some new material in the set, making this a must-see for all Ghedi fans. Dates include London (Cecil Sharp House), Bedford, Hebden Bridge and Sheffield (see dates below).
Jim’s last album, In the Furrows of Common Place, was released in 2021, and I’d be hard-pushed to pick a favourite. Among the many highlights are Son David, a version of a traditional Scottish ballad, influenced by Jeannie Robertson’s telling and Ed Pickford‘s Ah Cud Hew. The accompanying video was made by Marry Waterson and, like Ghedi, really does capture the raw emotion of the song.
Jim on the song:
Ah Cud Hew is a song written by North East folk singer & songwriter Ed Pickford, a song from the narrative of an ex-miner suffering the effects of coal disease, a reflection of his working life, his family & the community he was connected to.
I first heard Ed’s version of the song on a folk compilation given to me a few years back…I had it on repeat for days and couldn’t shake it off, mesmerised by Ed’s voice and his ability with song, to tell a story with such humanity and lyrical imagery.
Around this time, I was doing research into the history of social injustice, the Miners’ strike and more specifically, the ‘Battle of Orgreave’. Watching Yvette Vanson’s powerful documentary ‘The Battle for Orgreave’ and finding a huge resource over on the ‘Orgreave truth and justice campaign’ website (https://otjc.org.uk/). Somehow Ed’s song really hit a nerve and correlated with themes I was becoming drawn towards, the starting point of political discourse into the breaking down of communities, state and police brutality and a further control and privatisation over the working classes. But the beauty of Ed’s song is he displays this through the personal perspective and the individual’s narrative connecting the listener by the raw emotion of it.
The accompanying tour poster, see below, features The Bradford Heads – “hundreds of scattered stone heads lay around the north of England, particularly in the west riding …This head was found in a coal shed near Halifax”.
Jim Ghedi Tour Dates
20th April – Cecil Sharp House, London
21st April – The Place Theatre, Bedford
27th April – The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
28th April – Firth Hall, Sheffield
Tickets: https://bnds.us/ahaqtr