Davey Dodds & Friends | Lee Abraham | Dandelion Charm

Davey Dodds,

Described by Fantasy Forest Festival this year as ‘The master of Celtic rock’n’reel’ is a songwriter of some renown. Top performers frequently record his songs – the classic ‘Magpie’ appeared on the Unthanks recent album, Mount the Air, was used for The Detectorists on BBC2 and was performed at the Proms in 2018. It was recently performed by Dave Gilmore in a Facebook stream. 

Davey has an interesting musical history. Once upon a time, he was the front man of the quintessentially English prog rock band Red Jasper, who topped the bill at The European Symphonic Rock Festival, at The Noorderligt in Holland in 1994. In those far off days, he also played as an acoustic support act for Fish in Holland. When the Dutch record label, SI Music went bust in 1994, Davey stopped playing music and moved to a different planet. 

For many years, he worked as a fly-fishing guide in remote, wilderness locations. Now that he’s been cajoled back onto the boards, he’s busy writing songs, grown from the roots and bones of his home in North Cornwall. A new solo album, Toadstool Soup, has received rave reviews and he should have been playing main stage slots at big festivals to promote it. He’s lucky to be back in Blighty – he caught the last flight from Poland before the Corona insanity derailed Pendragon’s big European tour. 

He’s itching to get back to playing with his real live band members to real live human audiences! His live shows fizz with energy. Incisive lyrics and startling musicianship will rattle your braincells and put blisters on your feet. Because he writes great songs and performs with real stage presence, top musicians regularly join him for live shows. Davey is convinced that playing music is making him younger. By this time next year, he fully expects to be in his early thirties!

Unfortunately the drummer ‘s car broke down on the way to their previous visit but he will be with them for this fundraiser

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJxFteEPDE0CuTGE1t00v4A

Lee Abraham (solo)

Lee Abraham is a musician, guitarist and producer from southern England. A music fan first, Lee took up guitar and songwriting in his mid teens and played in a number of bands playing both covers and original material throughout his formative years. He can still be seen playing guitar in local pubs with ‘Rock wth a sax’ covers band ‘Something Else’

In 1999 Lee took up recording and song production and started to record his song ideas. With his writing featuring both a classic AOR and progressive rock sound, early releases found a small audience online

In 2005 Lee successfully auditioned the position of bass player for UK proggers Galahad. Many UK and overseas tours followed and Lee featured on their 2006 release Empires Never Last. A stunning gig in Katowice in Poland also in 2006 was released as a live DVD, Resonance. The band’s legendary performance at the ROSfestival in Philadelphia in 2007 was released as the live album Sleepless in Phoenixville.

In 2009 he parted ways with Galahad to concentrate on song writing and production releasing many successful CDs with many prog luminaries guesting on the discs with him. Dec Burke, Simon Godfrey, Mark Colton and Martin Orford to name a few.

In May 2017 Lee was invited to re-join Galahad, this time as lead guitarist. Through late 2017 Lee recorded all the guitars to the Galahad album Seas of Change which was released in January 2018. All through 2018 and into early 2019 Galahad supported the album with live gigs in England, Scotland, Wales, Poland, Norway and the Netherlands.

2019 his solo projects followed with Comatose, a progressive rock concept and single track album with a running time of 47 minutes. The album follows a storyline developed by Lee and takes the listener on a journey of both despair and hope. The album was critically acclaimed by many fans and media outlets alike.

And finally here we are in 2021 and what a 12 months it has been!  If there were any good to come of this pandemic, Lee was determined to write and record a new album and he’s done just that! Written and recorded in just under 9 weeks, Harmony/Synchronicity sees Lee once again releasing an album different to the last. The album contains 7 brand new songs with vocal contributions from Simon Godfrey, Marc Atkinson, Peter Jones together with Galahad bandmates Mark Spencer and Stu Nicholson. Gerald Mulligan once again joins on drums.

http://leeabraham.co.uk/

Dandelion Charm

Newhaven-based Dandelion Charm combine prog, folk and rock influences into a luxurious blend of intricate harmonies, soaring melodies, superb musicianship and heartfelt lyrics. Imagine Fleetwood Mac meets Opeth and CSN meets Yes. Very much a personal as well as a creative partnership Dandelion Charm sprang to life in 2015, the brainchild of John and Clare Fowler performing as a duo, trio and with a full band. As a live act Dandelion Charm have been wowing audiences, with slots at The Real Music Club, The Cambridge Rock Festival, Cropredy Fringe, The Big Green Cardigan and Purbeck Valley Folk Festival.

https://www.dandelioncharm.com/