In Sharp’s Folk Club, a seat was sadly empty, the center of Tom Paley, who once was a member of Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly and died last week. The club’s regulars talk about what he meant to them.
An older man wearing a stunning jumper is singing old sea shanties to pay tribute to Tom Paley, who passed away last week, aged 89. Everyone sings along with the chorus, reluctantly initially, but then harmonizing well towards the end: “Tom has gone, and we’ll go too. Tom’s been for Hilo.”
Paley, a legend in the folk world who toured alongside Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie and also influenced Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia, was waiting for his turn with the mixed group of regulars, veterans, and newcomers to Sharp’s one of London’s most revered folk clubs. The club is held by Cecil Sharp House, Camden (home to the English Folk Dance and Song Society).
With the sounds of Morris dance and Lancashire clog practices echoing throughout the bars, Paley would often be in the bar on a Tuesday evening, with a pint of beer in front, lying asleep at his usual spot near the window. Then the time for him to perform would arrive when he’d wake up, share a hilarious story, and then play an impromptu tune with his fiddle.
I returned to Sharp’s days after his passing. I sat at the empty chair and listened to songs and tributes from those who knew Sharp.
In New York, Paley juggled folk music and was a Maths instructor. Being a founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers, Paley significantly impacted his time in the American Folk revival.
He was a resident of Sweden for a short time during the 60s. Regulars at the club had a lively debate about the extent to which Vietnam had to do with the war – but he eventually moved to London in the late 60s, where he remained for a quarter of a century, informing and reforming bands as well as staying in the exact north London flat and playing at clubs and pubs.
“Sadly, his repertoire was much reduced,” says the lady who greets me when I mention I’ve not been in for a while. “By the end, it was just three or four songs, scraping on the fiddle.” As with many people around, she’d been with him since the 70s.
The best thing about Sharp’s is the way it’s hospitable. The staff will ask you to sing or play, and that’s all there is. There’s no formal vetting, and the audience is friendly and supportive. Some performers have been performing for decades, and others are brand new. The accordion and rambling stories are a good match against the most severe singer-songwriters.
One person shows up and talks about how life has been difficult for him since being assaulted and beaten up, which left his hands shaking, “which at least helps with my tremolo.” His voice is sincere and sincere.
Many other performers tie their songs to Paley similarly, including New Lost City Ramblers covers by people from Vancouver or sporting Jerry Garcia T-shirts explaining how they played with him in the 1980s. This is a night of songs by workers and sailors’ songs and a little funny scatological joke.
Introduce the Irish rock song The Wind That Shakes the Barley. A regular at Sharp’s says she sang since the 60s when conversing with Paley in 1994. He suggested that she visit Sharps. “He said one of the nicest things that anyone’s said to me, which was, ‘I think you should be encouraged.'”
As one would expect from a man with left-wing beliefs, politics are always on the horizon at night. An American Guthrie enthusiast named Steve Introduces Vigilante Man “There’s one day in the future when our sun’s core will begin to exhaust hydrogen and start to fuse with helium. At this point, the sun will grow and transform into an enormous red giant, and then take over the orbits of the four planets that orbit it, which includes the Earth. In that moment, Donald Trump will blame Obama.”
Everyone raises a glass in honor of Paley as the room is slowed down by an anthem by Amanda, a woman named Amanda who sings to the lyrics in Tam i’ the Kirk, which is a poem written by Scottish poet Violet Jacob: “When a’body’s thochts is set on their ain salvation, / Mine’s set on you, mine’s set on you.”