Summer 2019 - Last weekend, I was invited by a friend to the annual 'Gathering' at Tanworth-In-Arden, a small village in rural Warwickshire. It's a celebration of Nick Drake's music, with musicians from across the world volunteering their versions of Nick's tunes.
I am a fairly committed fan of Nick Drake's music, which is to say I have the three albums he made during his short life, a couple of posthumous compilations and I've read his sister Gabrielle's companion book, Remembered For A While. I've also learnt a few of his songs on the guitar. Nick was, above all, a very talented guitarist, so I understand how daunting it might be to perform his songs in front of an audience that knows them well.
The Nick Drake Gathering, held over a weekend and now in its 14th year, remains a low-key affair. It is held just a few yards from his family's former home - the place where he wrote and demo'd many of his songs - and where he died, aged 27, in November 1974.
The local villagers are largely tolerant of the intrusion, since this is not a profit-making venture. The organisers and the people who attend do it out of love and admiration for Nick Drake's music.
On Friday evening, the village hall at Tanworth is packed out with people who have come from all over the country, and some from abroad, to pay their respects in song.
Many of them have also been drawn in by the introspective nature of Nick - the shy man from a well-to-do background - the guitar prodigy whose mental health suffered, in part at least, from a failure to gain widespread recognition for his undoubted talent.
The three albums he released in his lifetime failed commercially and Nick withdraw from live performance very early in his career, which made it very difficult for his music to reach a wider audience.
There are several books about Nick's life and music, the most detailed of which is 'Remembered For A While' a document of his life and a compendium of his music, compiled by his sister Gabrielle with Cally Callomon, who manages Nick's estate. (EDIT. this was written before the publication of Richard Morton Jack's excellent book, Nick Drake - The Life).
Remembered For A While is a window on Nick's early life and the travels that helped nurture his musical talent. Articles by friends and acquaintances, and by Gabrielle herself, reveal facets of his character, often contradictory, which only adds to the intrigue.
The book also contains some heartbreaking diary entries and correspondence from his parents. The letters where his father Rodney tries to convince Nick not to drop out of Cambridge, nine months before graduation, are particularly poignant in the light of subsequent events.
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| 'Far Leys' - where Nick lived with his family |
Visiting Nick's home town, you realise he must have had a fairly idyllic upbringing amongst the grand houses and the surrounding fields.
We drive past Far Leys, the impressive red brick
mansion that was the Drake family home. We then paid a visit to Nick's grave in the village churchyard. A modest headstone sits beneath a mature oak tree.
A polite noticeboard on the tree asks that people respect that this is a
family grave site and to be mindful not to clutter it with fan
tributes. Most people are respectful of this but there have been reports in the past of people chipping bits
off the headstone.
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| The village of Tanworth-In-Arden |
Back at the village hall, the evening's performances begin, with each artist allowed to play two songs. Most choose to play one of
Nick's and one of their own. Some of the performers are accomplished
players and singers; some less so, but that just adds to the charm of
the evening.
Nick's guitar playing was often quite complicated, so it is no mean feat for any musician to get up and try to play it in front of an audience that knows the music intimately.
Among the highlights is a beautiful rendition of Place To Be
by 27 year-old George Boomsma, similar in style to Nick's early home demo version (tuned drop D rather than Nick's CGCFGE) that has
the arpeggiated guitar figure, instead of the strummed version that
appeared on the Pink Moon album. George played and sang it very well, receiving the loudest ovation of the evening and drawing a few tears from those around me.
At the interval, I spoke to George about his version and we agreed it is a mystery why Nick didn't play the song like this on the album.
A couple from Brazil (pictured here) also choose Know but with a very different rhythmic style that I thought quite amusing, but I think it baffled a lot of people. Generally it is the performances that stay faithful to the spirit of the originals that goes down best with the audience.
At the last, a first-time performance of I Was Made To Love Magic (from Time Of No Reply) brings the evening to a satisfactory close.
Sound man Peter Rice, who was at Cambridge with Nick, told the audience that 'Magic'
was the first song he ever heard of Nick's and it remains one of his
favourites.
That encounter led Peter, as head of the tape recording
society at Cambridge, to record some of Nick's songs for an early demo
tape, used to secure his contract with Joe Boyd.
It is a strange feeling, to be sitting in a hall so close to where Nick
had lived and to be listening to his songs being played to a devoted
audience all these years later. But at the same time, it is in keeping
with the romanticism and the innocence evoked by much of his music.
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| On Saturday, a second concert is held at the church |
In this video
about the annual Nick Drake Gathering, made in 2012, Peter Rice (at 7
mins 30) revisits the site of Nick's first recital as a solo artist,
performing with a string quartet orchestrated by Robert Kirby, who did
many of the arrangements on Nick's first two albums.
The 2020 Nick Drake Gathering was unfortunately cancelled because of COVID-19.
The organisers made the best of the situation though, and invited people to contribute to an online festival. This was aired on the 26th July 2020. It contains some newly contributed videos and some of the best performances from previous years.
Here's the link to The Virtual Nick Drake Gathering: https://www.facebook.com/nickdrakegathering/videos/974005486358671/?q=the%20annual%20nick%20drake%20gathering&epa=SEARCH_BOX
This time, we went on the Saturday for the concert in the village church of St Mary Magdalene, where Nick had played the organ as a boy.
It was a particular treat to see that a few of the performers had mastered the more complex guitar parts of songs such as Three Hours, the unreleased Far Leys and the aforementioned Hampstead demo of Place To Be. Robert Barnett deserves a special mention for, I think, capturing the most precise notation and indeed spirit of the songs. Here is his performance at the 2022 Gathering.
UPDATE: Nick's estate manager Cally brought Nick's guitar, as played on Pink Moon, to another tribute show in the north of England and allowed George Boomsma to play it for one number. Here's the clip
Here's an interview with Cally, talking about the compilation of 'Remembered For A While'
http://www.rebeatmag.com/cally-callomon-remembers-nick-drake-for-a-while/
Here's another example of George Boomsma's fine guitar playing, duetting on the Bert Jansch tune Black Water Side with the equally talented singer/songwriter Katherine Priddy.
See also on this blog:
Nick Drake - Better Programming Might Have Helped
https://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2019/07/nick-drake-better-programming-might.html
Duncan Browne's Journey - and comparisons with Nick Drake
https://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2020/11/duncan-browne-forgotten.html 
That is really nicely done. Thank you.
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DeleteReally good read.
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