Find out more about the High Level Ranters: http://www.nspipes.co.uk/hlr/
Last appeared at the Grove: November 25th 2005
High Level Ranters
We both come from the Northeast, so we have known the High Level Ranters for some time. In the early days they were responsible for running the Bridge Folk Club in Newcastle for many years, and continue their passion for playing to audiences such as we have at the Grove.
But make no mistake, Jim Hall, Johnny Handle and Colin Ross are outstanding in playing north country music. Humour aplenty, including “stories told in irreverent dialect”!
Find out more on their splendid website, and you'll not want to miss them.
Sam and Ed
High Level Ranters: October 24th 2008
The High Level Ranters have been playing traditional music and song from the North-East of England for over 30 years, becoming one of the most influential groups of the Folk Revival.
For many years they were the only group featuring the Northumbrian smallpipes in their performances, and are thus responsible for introducing many of today's pipers to this most beautiful and unique instrument.
They also introduced many of today's musicians to the wealth of distinctive local and traditional music in the North-East, and did so with a unique enthusiasm of performance which has not been equalled.
Their name was chosen as a combination of the location of the Bridge Folk Club at the North end of the High Level Bridge in Newcastle, where they all played, and from the Cheviot Ranters, a famous Northumberland dance band operating in the Alnwick area from about 1953 to 1996.
The High Level Ranters’s website can be found at http://www.nspipes.co.uk/hlr/
and they all play the Northumbrian pipes!
Jim Hall (bagpipes and piano)
Johnny Handle (accordion, vocals)
Colin Ross (fiddle)