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Bullenbush music.htm

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The Bullenbush Band was started in 1984 by accordionist John Bullen purely as a ceilidh and barn dance band. He had assembled a group of musicians which included his sister Pamela on various wind instruments, Andy Paton on whistles and Steve Deeks on bodhran, as part of John’s “we don’t need a drummer” belief. A chance meeting with bass player Ian Bembridge in a country pub and the line up was complete.

It was not too long before John decided to use Ian’s other guitar skills as he himself progressed onto keyboard leaving more freedom to introduce acoustic and electric guitars.

When Pamela left to pursue a career as a teacher, singer and composer Sue Crow took her place, and the band started to produce the songs and concert pieces that led to festival bookings and folk circuit gigs throughout England.

The first album “Walthamstow Market” was featured on Jim Lloyd’s “Folk on Two” programme for the BBC, soon after it’s release in 1987. By then the line up was headed by John, with Ian, Sue (by now Sue Bembridge) and Steve still present.

The second Bullenbush Band album “On The Edge” was released in 1992. The songs and tunes this time were written by Ian and Sarah Heath, who had joined the band to add flute and recorders. John was back for his second stint and Steve had by now been replaced by Graham Baldwin on drums. Graham was, and still is, more often to be seen on the jazz circuits, having toured with some of the Deep South’s best during his time in the USA.

The band was set for yet another change soon after the release of the second album with John and Sarah departing to be replaced by Neil Bullen (John’s brother) on fiddle. Whilst the line up achieved a decade of stability, new ventures and album releases did not materialise.

Will Bembridge finally replaced Graham as the regular drummer in 2004 as Graham’s popularity playing Jazz restricted him to very few performances. The band continues to deliver a mixture of self written and traditional songs and dance sets in a rocky folk style.