What the reviewers said

"Chester's answer to the Renaissance Man. His ability to cope with the eclectic demands a Festival can throw up is second to none. We found it reassuring and a pleasure to have a man with such empathy for the scene to be with us all weekend." Phil Brown, Clitheroe Great Days of Folk

Roy Clinging

Reviews
Roy has recorded two solo CDs. '

Cheshire Born' - a collection of songs and tunes relating to Roy's home county of Cheshire. This work was supported by Cheshire County Council.

'An Honest Working Man' - a more diverse collection of mainly traditional material.

A selection of reviews are printed below.

Cheshire Born - songs and tunes of old Cheshire
At various points in its long and colourful history Cheshire has been rightly regarded as an area of military, economic and agricultural importance, but at the same time its folk culture has not always received the attention that it necessarily deserves. In a modest attempt to address at least some of the balance, all of the material on this recording is either from or about people and places within the old county boundary and its collection has been, and still is, an interesting, if at times challenging, exercise.

The Living Tradition Issue 35
Roy Clinging has put a lot of work into researching these songs and tunes from his home patch, and has produced good results. Some titles are familiar, 'Souling Song' and 'The Miller of Dee', others less so. Own up, have you ever heard 'The Unfortunate Loves of Thomas Clutterbuck and Polly Higginbotham' before? It's an amusing song set to the tune of 'The British Grenadiers' and top marks to Roy for handling the jaw-cracking task of singing it.

An album of localised songs such as this might not seem much of a prospect for people outside that area, but there is stuff here worth hearing. 'Young Bucks A-Hunting Go' is a version of 'The Fox Jumps Over The Farmer's Gate' that Peter Bellamy used to sing. 'The Rich Farmer in Cheshire' proves to be a well-known song of a highwayman and a spirited young heroine, familiar but still welcome, and again very well sung. Roy takes the lead singing role, with instrumentalists, Phil Hare, Catriona Thompson (guitar) and Sue Jones (fiddle), all working well. Mary Clinging, John Finnan and Dave Jenkins see to the backing vocals in good style.

I see that the Cheshire County Council has had some input into the production of this album. All honour to them then, let others follow. Their county will get some good publicity, and Roy Clinging's fine voice and excellent phrasing will be heard more widely, which is a good thing.
Roy Harris

Folk North West
Winter 1999/2000
An eagerly awaited CD this as I have listened to Roy quite a few times over the years and have always enjoyed both his voice and his choice of songs, plus I have always had a great love of the English Concertina.

Well I certainly wasn't disappointed. This is an excellent CD, a collection of songs and tunes of old Cheshire. Traditional songs sit alongside newer material, they all blend seamlessly together and a couple of superb tunes complete the assortment. Roy really has done a lot of research into the songs and tunes of his native county and the whole CD is a joy to listen to. He has adapted words and put some great tunes to songs from 'Ballads and Legends of Cheshire'. Here is a guy that clearly loves Cheshire and has spent a lot of time and effort putting this collection together. His rich strong voice, at times unaccompanied, other times complimented by English Concertina certainly is compelling and his diction is such that every word can be understood and this to me is really important.

Roy is joined at times by Mary Clinging on backing vocals and also a few more fine singers and musicians supply chorus vocals and also fiddle and guitar.

To choose favourite songs is difficult as I must admit I really enjoy listening to the CD as a whole. Cheshire Cavalry is a great chorus song and the Norley Gate written by Reg Holmes is a wonderful song about a true incident that happened when a local landowner tried to fence off part of the common. The Curst Fisherman is a spine tingling ballad about jealousy. The Mobberley May Song is one of the best songs to celebrate the beginning of summer that I have heard. As for "The Unfortunate Loves of Thomas Clutterbuck and Polly Higginbotham" well I shall leave that to your imaginations. I can say that the chorus is not the easiest to sing after a couple of pints, as was found when Roy appeared at the Four Fools a couple of months ago.

This is a fine CD and one for the collection if you are interested in the songs and tunes of Cheshire, if you like good story songs, or if you just appreciate a fine singer. Also Roy's live performance is just as good. If he hasn't been to your club yet, do book him, you will be guaranteed a great evening. He certainly deserves a wider audience.
Angie Bladen

fROOTS
Issue 202
Produced for Cheshire County Council Cultural Services, this set of songs draws heavily on traditional sources and the 19th century book Ballads And Legends Of Cheshire. Some composed items but, perhaps surprisingly, none from Pete Coe's back catalogue. Lively performances from Clinging, his concertina and collaborators; interesting material; excellent explanatory booklet.
Simon Jones

Folk BUZZ
Issue 61, Spring 2000
I know that Roy has really done his homework when preparing for this CD. He has drawn from a wide range of sources and come up with a CD made up entirely of Cheshire songs and tunes.
All the material is either by or about Cheshire people, events and places. I was glad to hear a version of the Souling song plus some material that was entirely new to me. My favourite song is the Mobberley May Song collected around 1850. It bears similarities to the more widely known Swinton May Song recorded by the Watersons, but I prefer it to theirs and I am off to listen to it again.
Duncan Broomhead

An Honest Working Man
I've enjoyed Roy's strong, stylish singing & concertina playing for a good few years. His first solo CD 'Cheshire Born' is a handsome collection of local songs which confirmed his reputation in the north-west & attracted interest from festivals & clubs further afield. Here he presents a wider range of songs, ballads & tunes, including matters maritime & original, performed with the skill & confidence of a craftsman. I look forward to adding this CD to my collection & enjoying his live performances in the future.
Pete Coe

The Living Tradition Issue 47
Roy's timely follow-up to his 1999 Cheshire Born again presents a great choice of songs in interesting versions and exceedingly stylish performances vocally and concertinally (is there such a word? - if there isn't, then there is now!) from Roy himself. The principal difference is that whereas the earlier album concentrated on songs and tunes from Roy's native Cheshire, the new album contains a fair sprinkling of maritime material alongside unusual versions of classics of the ballad repertoire. In the former category are The Death Of Admiral Benbow, Western Ocean, Shiny-O, Billy Boy (which shantyman Stan Hugill noted down as a Northumbrian capstan shanty, though Roy here gives us a version of more southerly origin) and Davy Lowston. In the latter category are the haunting John Barleycorn (in a chillingly mournful Scottish version that I only discovered recently myself through the singing of Heather Heywood), a perfectly valid hybrid version of Lord Randall, and one of the most attractive of the many variants of Cruel Barbara Allen (a Shropshire version which Roy gleaned from Roy Palmer's Songs Of The West Midlands). The closer, the title track, is Roy's own composition, and is one of those deceptively jaunty industrial songs that I' m sure will easily enter the tradition. Supporting musicians are few and far between on this album, imparting a more telling focus to Roy's own considerable talents (we're reminded anew of just how fine a performer Roy is); there's just that brilliant but eternally underrated guitarist Phil Hare, superlative fiddler Gina Le Faux, and Roy's wife Mary on occasional backing vocals. Roy's profile has increased a lot since Cheshire Born, but if this new album gets distributed properly, the word should get round even faster that Roy's a performer of real stature, good taste and integrity.
David Kidman

Tykes News
Summer 2002
Roy's second solo CD presents his strong voice in a mainly traditional environment, a place that suits it well. His educated concertina accompaniments are joined, at various times, by Gina Le Faux's fiddle and Phil Hare's guitar.
The concertina is a subtle instrument (well, it is in Roy's hands), just right for accompanying a solo voice, as many English folk singers have sussed. He uses it sparsely in 'Davy Lowston' where it fades into nothingness on the last words 'That's a pitiful place to die; never seal, never seal, never seal . . .' Shiver up the spine time. Tune sets are the concertina's other forte, and sure enough here are a couple of nice arrangements; 'The Manchester Hornpipe' and later 'The Barber's Pole' (James Hill). The latter is started slowly by Phil and Roy but after a couple of times through Phil doubles the time and begins using subtle jazz chords. Simple but effective. Mary Clinging joins in on some choruses with appropriate harmonies and joins with Phil and Roy on the title track chorus to make a fine old, fully rounded, sound. Just to complete the full house of arrangements there is a bit of strong and forthright multi-male-voicing in unison on 'Shiny-O' and a full ensemble jobby on an unexpectedly jaunty sounding 'Gresford Disaster'.
Roy has had a full time music career since he too redundancy around 1998but doesn't confine himself just to the folk circuit in his native Cheshire. He goes out into the community, to Residential Homes, Day Care Centres and Nursing Homes sharing his (our) music with the world at large. Surely not one step, but several giant leaps, in the right direction. For more information on Roy and his doings, visit Roy's informative website.
Jim Ellison

Folk On Tap
Summer 2002
I always think that there's something lonely about one man and his concertina. It's probably because of the image I have of an old sea dog sitting on the deck of a three master serenading no one but the moon and stars, with a vast ocean as his backdrop. Appropriate then that the opening track is 'The Death of Admiral Benbow', a bit of a cheerless number, as the title suggests. The solitude - real or imagined - is further compounded by a rather enervating version of 'Cruel Barbara Allen'. Thank goodness, then, that Mr C is joined by a couple of pals to produce 'The Manchester Hornpipe', a jolly toe tapper that gives the album a bit of a lift. Overall, I much prefer those tracks, such as 'Western Ocean' or 'The Gresford Disaster', that are augmented by his friends, which includes his good lady, Mary. The extra instruments and vocals give a much richer texture to the songs.
I very much enjoyed listening to Roy Clinging's singing. The former British Gas worker - and there is a relevance to that reference - has a strong and melodic voice. Moreover, he has a fine control, as can be heard on the a capella 'Arbour Town'. The album concludes with the self-penned 'An Honest Working Man', written while Mr C was still in the employ of British Gas. It is a view of the mass redundancies that followed privatisation. It was a short time later that Roy Clinging decided to jump ship and embrace music full time: a good choice - and, overall, a good album.
Wayne Debeugny