John Bull - buy products from John Bull - the folk dance, country dancing, ceilidh band providing superb dance music in an upbeat folk rock style.

Baskets & Bananaskins

These two resource packs are aimed at schoolteachers, Guide leaders – or anyone else who wishes to teach country dancing, or just have a dance at home! There are two independent volumes, ‘Country Dancing for the Unwary’ and ‘The Next Steps’.

“Why ‘Baskets and Bananaskins’?” you may well ask! Well, we consider that many of the available country dance manuals assume previously acquired knowledge which results in teachers being given vague instructions regarding ‘do-si-dos’, ‘right hand stars’ and ‘baskets’, that many ‘slipped up’ and were quickly put off the idea of teaching country dancing at all!

We therefore decided to fill this gap in the market by producing our resource packs, which provide detailed instructions – words AND diagrams – for a total of 22 dances, together with CDs of all the music. Each pack contains two versions of each dance - as music only OR music and calling by Eddie, our caller.

Feedback from many of the schools and clubs currently using ‘Baskets and Bananaskins’ indicates that not only do the teachers find the instructions clear and easy to follow, but also that the children love dancing to our upbeat folk-rock style of music provided on the CDs. Teachers particularly like having the option of doing the ‘calling’ for themselves or using the alternative versions that include the call with the music, allowing them to concentrate on what the children are doing! These packs are currently being used in schools and clubs as far away as Holland, West Africa, Tanzania and United Arab Emirates.

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CDs For Listening To - Footstomping Folk Rock

Our other three albums are purely for listening pleasure. On all three, we present a selection of our favourite dance tunes that we regularly perform ‘on stage’, and also a wider variety of material ranging from slow airs to heavy folk-rock. Many numbers reflect other influences on members of the band, such as songs, ritual dance tunes and musical involvement in theatrical productions. The three albums taken together chart the evolution and development of the band’s music over a 20+ year period.

Our first album, ‘John Bull His Owne Selfe’, was released back in 1984. It contains a great mix of tunes plus two songs, at a time when Richard played drums and accordion, not melodeon, and we were experimenting with some baroque style tunes.

The second album, ‘Nobody Expects….Folk Songs of the Spanish Inquisition’, contains not one folk song concerning the Spanish Inquisition! – but DO expect another varied mix of mainly English, Manx, Dutch and American tunes! Released in 1994 – when as you will be able to tell from the CD cover, track names and sleeve notes, we were going through a slightly zany period! – FSSI has Richard on melodeons and the use of a drum sequencer.

Our third and (we think) finest album, ‘Alive and Kicking’, was released in May 2004. The next stage in the band’s development, with a greater use of multi-tracking to get the sound we wanted, this album includes 11 compositions written by the band and four great songs. This album is definitely not background music – so turn up that volume control!

And what do others think of Alive and Kicking? Well, Pete Massey in the Greenman Review in June 2004 said "I think anyone who is a fan of Fairport Convention or the early days of the Albion Country Band will lap it up. It has some fine material not heard before." So why not see if you agree? You can read the full review by clicking HERE. And Brian from Derbyshire had only had his copy just over a month before he said he was almost wearing the CD out!

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TO BUY ANY OF OUR PRODUCTS: please print off this form and post it with your cheque to Neil Stuart (sorry, we cannot accept online payments).

OR: contact Neil Stuart direct at: Wychwood, Bole Hill, Wingerworth, Chesterfield, Derbyshire S42 6RF

Telephone: 01246 204056 | email: neil@john-bull.org.uk

We haves produced 3 CDs for listening, and two volumes of a resource pack of dances and music aimed at teachers, Girl Guide leaders and anyone else that wants to teach country dancing to others (or just have your own ‘at home’ ceilidh!). Keen to retain control of our own destiny, we have recorded, mixed, engineered and mastered all these products ourselves, with only manufacture and duplication carried out by third parties.