Martin Gittins
After 33 memorable years playing and singing alongside Bob Ashworth as one half of Bunting and Frolics, Martin is once again available as a solo artiste.
With a background in several folks clubs in Greater Manchester - notably the Legendary Star Inn Folk Club in Salford and the Moonraker Folk Club in Middleton - he cut his musical teeth surrounded by many of the best acts of the 80s and 90s.
Offering an 'eclectic' (I love that word!) mix of humorous, traditional, modern and self-penned songs and poems he is available for functions, folk clubs and frivolity. 07760 430 577
Coming Soon - whether you like it or not!
Well, it's only taken 50 years but, finally, after all attempts at dissuasion have failed, Martin Gittins is going to record a CD and release it onto an unsuspecting public, some time in 2024.
The content will cover his meteoric rise to oblivion, from reciter of monologues at the Friday Folk Club at Middleton's Ring O' Bells to the re-birth of All Things Considered Acoustic Session at the Derby Brewery Arms with, along the way, occasional sorties into collaborations with a number of notable musicians and, eventually, his feeble attempts at actually writing his own songs.
This will, indeed, be a magical mystery tour, cos even Martin doesn't know where it will go at this stage!
Keep coming back for updates and news of developments.
Martin's update 23.02.2024
I have now completed four recording sessions at the home of my sound engineer, Michael Billington at his home in Chorlton. After some initial hesitancy on my part, mainly due to unfamiliarity with the process, the latter sessions went pretty smoothly and I'm building up a nice bank of tracks that I'm happy with.
This week we made our first attempt at a live recording at my monthly 'All Things Considered Acoustic Session' This went well and the audience reaction was 'generous'. A further 8 tracks were successfully recorded.
Next month (Tuesday 19th) and in April (Tuesday 16th) we'll try and complete the live section of my song list (which is still growing, by the way) and, in the weeks in between I've invited a few musicians to come and add a few accompaniments to the last few studio tracks. The exciting news is that I'm going to try and create a new recording of Me and Bob Ashworth singing together again for the first time in five years, using a track he recorded and passed on to me just before he died.
I'm looking forward to the production process, when I'll have the chance to decide on the fine tuning of the raw tracks. Rest assured there will be no seven part harmonies or string and brass sections, just me, sometimes with a mate or two, singing the songs I've collected over the years.
More news soon.
Robert Hastings Ashworth - 'Bob' 27.07.1950 - 14.06.2019
Bob passed away peacefully in his sleep at Oldham General Hospital
on the afternoon of Saturday 14th June, with his sister Tricia and
brother in law Steve at his bedside.
Bob had been unwell for some time and, despite the best efforts of
the medical staff his condition deteriorated and he was unable to recover.
Tear down the bunting, let the frolics cease - Bob has left the building.
BUNTING AND FROLICS
Bob Ashworth and Martin Gittins were active individually on the local Folk Music scene for many years, but then, in 1986, they came together to form the duo ‘Bunting and Frolics’, cleverly doubling their repertoire to a stunning seven (7) songs!
As Bunting and Frolics they have been getting away with their so-called ‘act’ for over three decades, thus proving that you CAN fool all of the people all of the time!
For many years Martin ran a successful Folk Club at The Star Inn, Salford, and, at the same time, Bob ran a failing Second Hand Tripe stall on Conran Street Market.
Lately, they have been involved in various projects commemorating the Peterloo Massacre, including a performance piece entitled ‘Peterloo – Soldiers On The Rampage’ in which they are joined by the writer of the work local folk leg-end Geoff Higginbottom to form 'The Free Radicals'.
The trio also appear as 'Flat Back Four' when they perform Geoff's other musical documentary 'The Flowers Of Manchester' telling the story of Manchester United and the Munich Air Crash
Martin has a deep interest in Local History whilst Bob has a deep interest in gin.
SOME OF BOB'S SONGS
In the process of clearing out Bob's flat last year we came across a couple of old cassette tapes.
These contained a selection of some of Bob's songs, written over many years, which he had recorded at home.
The quality is not great, and some of the language and sentiments are 'from another time' but I include them here for their historic value.
To view a list and listen to the songs click below.
Here we are performing Mike Canavan's ode to Collyhurst 'Don't Bring That In Here Lad' at the Collyhurst Hall Archaeological Dig.
Here's a VERY HASTILY produced video of a song I wrote for Tom Paxton, after he announced in 2015 that he would not be touring any more!
In January DURING HIS SHORT TOUR! I was able to give him a copy of the words when we met him after the show at The Lowry.
