The Barhoppers - The Barhoppers Blog

April 2011

Gabbi writes...
We are very pleased to announce we have now released our new CD, which is called. " Something - Old, New, Borrowed and Bluegrass".

Unfortunately, the first two venues we were to launch the arrival of our CD were thwarted by the fact that I had a car accident on the way to the gig on Good Friday!!! I sustained minor lacerations to my right arm and upper body caused by broken glass and had to spend several days in Hospital waiting to have the glass surgically removed. Luckily I am still here to tell the tale.
I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to those who booked us for the 22nd and 23rd April for not being able to appear.

Prior to this, on the 18th April, David, his wife Mic and I went to see Gene Watson at the Apollo Club in Harleston and saw a superb show featuring, "C'est le vie" who played throughout the evening accompanying the artists. They were all of the highest calibre. Supporting Gene Watson was Nicky James and Lisa McHugh and she will certainly go far in the Country Music world and has a very bright future ahead of her. Gene Watson thrilled the audience with his wonderful voice and great songs. A wonderful evening was Gabbi and Gene Watson had by all.

Gabbi and Gene Watson

Happy New Year

Not sure if anyone reads this blog but just in case, Hi ,Happy New Year to everyone and it’s time for another Blog.

Tony and gabbi have had birthdays since the last Blog,(Happy Birthday to them both.) Tony is a lot older than Gabbi (obviously)!!. Christmas has been and gone and we are into 2011, where has the time gone.

We lost a couple of gigs because of the snow so apologies to anyone who turned out to one of those venues to find out it had been cancelled. It’s a tough call from the promoters as to whether they should go ahead with an event. Even if the band can get there the audiences don’t show up which makes the night less enjoyable/profitable for all concerned.

The new CD mentioned in the last blog is still being recorded as we took a break during December from it, not enough hours in a day. We have also changed the songs we decided to record because Gabbi is writing her own songs and we shall be including some of these tracks on the CD. Keep watching this space.

We are looking forward to 2011 so look up the gig guide and we hope to meet you along the way, come and have a chat.

July and August

Since the last blog we've been out and about to Rettendon (Essex), Docking (Norfolk), Ipswich (Suffolk), The Rubber Duck Festival ,Methwold (think that's Norfolk), Hemsby (Definitely Norfolk) and Cockfield (Suffolk) and we have had brilliant receptions at all of them. It's a hard thing changing a singer in a band and to keep the support of the regular clubs and followers is something we really appreciate.

We met a lot of you at the Rubber Duck Festival at the end of August when we stayed on after our sets and it was nice to catch up and introduce Gabbi to you. It's also a good way for us to see other bands on the circuit and this festival had a good variety of acts on the day we were there. Friendly lot too.

This comming week we shall be starting work on our first CD and are hoping to get it out for Christmas so watch this space and we'll let you know when it's available.

Don't forget if you come to one of our gigs and you want a chat you'll usually find us near the bar (if there is one!!).

Back in the swing of it

Well, having had the whole of June off we got back into the swing of things with two gigs on the first weekend in July and three on the following one.

Even though we had to contend with the world cup (suppose it could have been worse if England had stayed in!) we had good crowds and it was nice to get some very good feedback from our regular followers about how Gabbi has fitted in with us.

A new venue for us was the Home Guard club in Leiston (Gabbi's home town) which proved to be a quieter night compared to their normal crowds (we were told) because two local weddings had drawn the audience away for the night. Those that were there enjoyed what we did and future bookings will be forthcoming.

Having got us out of a muddle throughout May Gabbi has started to learn some new songs to bring in to the act and very soon we hope to be starting work on a CD...watch this space!

One last thing, Gabbi would like to say thank you to Janet and Jim (cardigan) for the flowers they brought her when we were at the Lazy K, (Tony and I didn't feel left out at all)!!

Gabbi and Suzy Bogguss

Gabbi with Suzy Bogguss

Monday 7th June, I went to see Suzy Bogguss in concert at The Stables in Milton Keynes. I really enjoyed the concert and it was a great privilege to meet her. The acoustics at The Stables were superb, she sang beautifully and her musicians were brilliant. A really enjoyable evening. Gabbi.

June Break

Gabbi jumped in at the last minute to take over the singing when Suzy left us in April instead of the end of May so we were able to honour our May gigs.

However we had already had to cancel some gigs in June before Gabbi came to our rescue so we have a break now until the beginning of July.

Check out the gig guide on the website and download a copy if you need one.

Chichester 29th May 2010

Travelled for over 5 hours to get to Chichester thanks to the Bank Holiday traffic.

Had a great gig though and made very welcome by Tony and all at the club. Look forward to future bookings here.

Eventually got home at 4.30 am just as the birds were waking up!!

David