Danny Spooner + Jenny Fitzgibbon @ The Loaded Dog
8PM, Saturday 25th October, 2014, doors open 7.40pm

By Sandra Nixon
Posted Thursday, August 7, 2014

Danny Spooner

Danny's passion is the expression of British and Australian culture through folk music.

Born into a working-class family in the East End of London prior to World War 2, Danny Spooner grew up with the traditions, music and folklore of a typical Cockney family (singing round the piano, music hall, traditional English & Irish songs).

At 13 he left school and worked on a sailing barge which plied the Thames and the south coast of England. Under the instructive eye of Bob Roberts, Danny learned British songs and was enrolled in libraries along the coast to read their stories. He was apprenticed to the Thames as a Waterman and Lighterman, and after 6 years had earned his Freeman of the Thames.

When Danny arrived in Australia in 1962, he realised that there was an audience ready, interested, and willing to appreciate these sorts of songs. He heard Declan Affley singing in the early folk scene in Sydney, and at the fabled Frank Traynors in Melbourne Martyn Wyndham-Read, Brian Mooney, David Lumsden, Trevor Lucas and Margret RoadKnight. This was the engine room of the folk revival in Australia, and made Danny want to learn those songs.

Jenny Fitzgibbon

Queenslander Jenny Fitz just loves singing and is also the author of many a wicked parody! She is a festival of song all by herself. Her vocals rip it up and hush it down. With drama and humour she’ll lead you through familiar fields and dark forests. Compelling acapella.

Born in Ireland, Jenny arrived in Brisbane from Darwin in 1999 full of songs - traditional, contemporary and topical. Her love of a good search and flair for marrying the traditional with the current has brought about some wonderful additions to the folk pantheon.

photos - Sandra Nixon