Rattle On The Stovepipe are available for club, concert, private and festival bookings. You can watch some live performances on YouTube.
For all details and inquiries, please contact:

Dave Arthur 
storyart@aol.com
phone +44 (0)7765 377 441

Pete Cooper
pete@petecooper.com
phone +44 (0)20 8340 776

‘Whenever Rattle On The Stovepipe are booked to play at my local folk club, The Royal Oak in Lewes, I’m first in the queue to make sure I get my seat in the front row. This engaging trio inspires in me the same devotion that old Virginia musicians like Wade Ward and Uncle Charlie Higgins do. There is that same sweetness, ease, subtlety and good humour, every song and tune so well understood, so deftly played and so perfectly paced.

Rattle On The Stovepipe are Dave Arthur (5-string banjo, melodeon, guitar, vocals), Pete Cooper (fiddle and vocals) and Dan Stewart (5-string banjo, guitar and vocals). They’ve gained an enthusiastic folk club following with their mix of traditional songs, ballads and dance tunes from the British Isles and the Appalachian Mountains region of America. Their 2006 CD with Chris Moreton, ‘Eight More Miles' (Wild Goose, WGS 333), has spread their reputation more widely.

Shirley Collins writes on the sleeve, (Rattle on the Stovepipe) ...are all master musicians, but there is no sense of ego, no promotion of themselves as stars, although they certainly can dazzle. They are completely at home with the music they love, and can switch comfortably from American to English songs and tunes...
    As you’ll have gathered, I love them...’

“Transatlantic”
‘Shirley Collins MBE is one of their biggest fans, apparently, and she knows a thing or two about American old timey music... Particularly enjoyable is the pairing of the English country dance tune ‘The New Rigged Ship’ with its transatlantic cousin ‘Green Willis’ and Tom Clough’s Northumbrian pipe tune ‘Nancy Clough’ with its Appalachian clawhammer banjo derivative ‘Nancy’. Arthur’s relaxed singing on ‘The Light Dragoon’ and ‘Willie’s Ghost’ creates a pleasing contrast, while guitarist Moreton shines on ‘Over The Waterfall’... fiddler Cooper shines throughout, taking lead vocals on ‘The Lakes of Pontchartrain’.

- Nick Passmore, Taplas

“Rollercoaster”
‘They’ve been together for some years but this is the first recording under the band’s official name. In these days of too clever-clever Americana, it’s immensely refreshing to hear real old time music played with such verve and melodic nous, by musicians at the very top of their game... Here are tales from the dark side - supernatural, mysterious, compelling. Of death, true love and false lovers. Sentiment in spades... Add to this polkas, waltzes and downright breathless fox-chasing and you have an exhilarating roller-coaster of an album for the discerning listener...’

- Clive Pownceby

Paul Burgess, however, sounds a note of caution:

‘I’m always wary of people who play the folk music of countries other than their own, especially US music. What’s wrong with their own stuff? What about the vocals: do you sing them in your normal accent or try an “authentic” American dialect. It’s a rocky road, on which many have come to grief.’

He continues (phew!):

‘No such problems here though; the unaccented English of the vocals serves to highlight the connections between the American, English and Irish material presented. All three band members are master instrumentalists and play some rousing tunes: I have described Pete Cooper elsewhere as “a bit of a chameleon” and he continues this here, sounding as stylish and authentic an old-time fiddler as you could wish for, then swapping to another persona and doing exactly the same for English fiddle. Chris Moreton is one of these Island’s finest flat-pick guitarists and is also an excellent accompanist. Dave Arthur plays guitar and banjo and takes the lion’s share of the lead vocals. His vocal style is unusual. He is a very percussive singer, hitting the beginning of notes very hard and then letting the tone taper away; couple with this his penchant for ‘sprechtstimme’, a sort of pitched/unpitched speaking of some of the lyrics and you get a performance which ought not to work, but in fact is just what is needed and really spruces up the songs, although the longer Willie’s Ghost stretches this a little. The others chip in for vocals as well. Chris Moreton sings the sentimental Footmarks In The Snow straight – no overacting, and it works perfectly. And then there are the booklet notes: 12 pages of fascinating information about the history of the tunes written with Dave Arthur’s customary light touch, brilliant! Shirley Collins describes this album as “A Perfect Pleasure”: Hear! hear!’

- Paul Burgess, Shreds and Patches (January 2006)

“Steroids”
‘Rattle on the Stovepipe are an occasional band that got together at Whitby Folk Week in 2004. They have since appeared together in a host of clubs to general acclaim. This is their debut album (a strange word is that word debut, to apply to a trio of musicians with such a lot of recording time under their belts), and it comes with the imprimatur of Shirley Collins, no less...

... I am enamoured of Dave’s vocal gifts: nothing flash, just an honest delivery in the clearest diction. And Dave handles most of the vocals here. Really shines with an Appalachian version of the Child Ballad ‘Sweet William’s Ghost’. But I was less familiar of late with Pete Cooper’s vocals. Yes of course, his fiddle playing will long be in the memory, even after he departs this vale, but he is backward about coming forward, vocals-wise. However, that said, what a solid job he does on ‘The Lakes of Pontchartrain’. A voice a bit like Mike Harding’s on steroids. But the standout track has neither of them on lead vocals. Chris Moreton goes back to his bluegrass past for the old Bill Monroe 1945 classic ‘Footmarks In The Snow’. I had not heard it in ages. This track was a total triumph and soon had me singing along...’

- Dai Woosnam, Celtic & Folk Reviews (September 2006)

For even more reviews, go to the WildGoose site:

Background
In the 1960s and ’70s Dave Arthur, with his wife Toni, recorded albums for Topic, Transatlantic and Leader, and toured all over the world. Dave’s work as a researcher, collector, broadcaster and writer on English song, music and folklore has brought him widespread respect. He edited English Dance and Song, the English Folk Dance and Song Society magazine, for twenty years, and in 2003 was awarded the EFDSS Gold Badge for services to folk music. Ever since his first American tour in 1972, Dave has also regularly visited the Appalachian region. Alongside his passion for British music, he has always loved Old Time music, playing banjo and guitar with some of the best traditional mountain performers, including Doc Watson, and has collected many songs, tunes and stories. For his 1996 album, Chickens are a-Crowin’ (Fellside FECD 113), which he recorded with Barry Murphy as half of the oddly named ‘Rufus Crisp Experience’, Dave brought in English fiddler Pete Cooper.

Pete Cooper got into Old Time music in 1978 when, after busking his ‘Laker Skytrain’ plane-fare to America, he roamed West Virginia and New York in the company of Old Time musician (and Zen buddhist) John Herrmann, encountering mountain fiddle players - as well as life in a log cabin - at first hand. He performed with Appalachian dulcimer player and singer Holly Tannen (LP ‘Frosty Morning’, 1979), and later with Peta Webb, the latter duo juxtaposing Jean Ritchie and Hazel Dickens songs with British and Irish traditional folk (LP ‘The Heart Is True’, 1986). Pete has played fiddle with Old Time banjo-player and guitarist Tom Paley, formerly of the ‘New Lost City Ramblers’, and both men joined Barbara Scott on her ‘hand-held’ 1994 recording, ‘Wandering In The World’ (re-released in 2005, as Patuxent CD 127). Pete’s also worked with British bluegrass banjo-player Pete Stanley, and with Canadian fiddle maestro Bob Winquist. In 1997, inspired by his ‘Rufus Crisp’ experience, he revisited old North Carolina friends (on both sides of the so-called Old Time/ Bluegrass divide), won $10 in the Old Time Fiddle contest at Fiddler’s Grove, and played at the Mount Airy fiddle convention.

For Dave Arthur’s next (2003) CD project, ‘Return Journey' (Wild Goose WGS313), he brought in Chris Moreton, arguably the best flat-pick guitarist in Britain. Chris was the British Bluegrass Music Association’s ‘Instrumentalist of 1996’, and won Guitarist Magazine’s ‘Acoustic Guitarist of the Year’ award in 1997. In over twenty years of playing Bluegrass, Chris has toured in America, worked with visiting American musicians, and played in most of Britain’s top Bluegrass bands. (Nor were he and Pete strangers when they joined Dave. The two had met in 1992, playing a studio session, along with Ron Kavana, for American hammered-dulcimer player Jim Couza.) ‘Return Journey’ brought together the ‘Rattle On The Stovepipe’ line-up. It explores the historic migration of music, ballads and songs in a two-way flow, back and forth across the Atlantic.

Return Journey - Reviews

“Perfect Choice”
‘I’m on record elsewhere as being a fan of Dave Arthur and when the grapevine whispered that he’d just recorded a new album I had to chase it up... In this work Dave has taken as his theme the passage of songs and tunes which have crossed the Atlantic and, at times, returned in a different form to their place of origin. The title, ‘Return Journey’ speaks of this interaction in what are essentially two different cultures sharing a common language... Dave does not make the mistake of using a fake accent but relies rather on some economical but beautifully understated banjo playing to deliver the ‘otherness’ of much of the material. The singing is, as always, authoritative and yet manages to inject an ‘edge’ which some might compare to ‘Cordelia’s Dad’... Pete Cooper is here the perfect choice of fiddler whilst Chris Moreton provides equally understated and authentic guitar.’

- Paul Davenport, English Dance and Song

“Martin Carthy-esque”
‘Dave Arthur’s voice has a weathered sound that makes it easy to imagine him sitting by a fireplace, singing these ballads of an evening. He accompanies himself on banjo and also plays some melodeon and guitar. Joining him on Return Journey are Pete Cooper on fiddle and viola, and Chris Moreton on guitar. The interplay between the musicians is one of the disc’s strongest points; it sounds as if these three have been playing together for years.

Arthur’s banjo playing is rhythmic and driving. He tends to play simply while singing, letting the song be the focus. The slow ‘Little Margaret’ is supported by rippling arpeggios, and the jaunty ‘Did-Na-Do’ is accompanied by strumming that sounds almost Dixieland in style... His guitar work, too, is driving; listen to the droning, almost drum-like guitar on ‘Downfall of Richmond’, or the Martin Carthy-esque playing (and singing) on ‘American Stranger’.

Cooper’s fiddle is wild on the fast tunes (‘Old Molly Hare’) and sweet on the slow ones (‘When He Cometh’). He shows considerable senitivity to the music when playing behind the voice, droning, shuffling and accenting without drawing attention from the song. Moreton’s guitar rounds out the sound beautifully; his timing is solid and he embellishes the melody with several tasteful bass-string runs. He gets in some good solos, too; ‘Sherman’s March’ and ‘Pushboat’ are two that stand out. Return Journey is good music; the sort for sitting back, putting up your feet, and maybe singing along.

- Tim Hoke, Green Man Review,
(greenmanreview.com)

Another critic, Dave Clarke, had reservations about the whole concept:

“Uncle Norman’s Nose”
‘Dave Arthur's thinking behind this CD is to highlight the shared family connections between ballads, songs and tunes from both sides of the Atlantic. This can be a bit like flicking through a photograph album looking for 'Uncle Norman's nose' as proof of a family relationship.... ‘Shepherd’s Hey’ is matched with ‘Old Molly Hare’, and whilst musically they share the same intervals and rhythmic structure there is something about the chunky melodeon and 'English' fiddle style of the former that jars with the 'old time' fiddle and banjo of the latter. (My first reaction to ‘Shepherd’s Hey’ was to reach for the sleeve notes to make sure that this wasn’t a reissue of the English Country Music LP!) There is no smooth transition between the two. They are related but do not appear to be on speaking terms...

...But Dave Arthur has a nice fluid style of banjo playing and Chris Moreton supplies some tasty guitar work. There is a subtlety here that underpins such songs as ‘The Two Sisters’ and ‘Harrison Brady’, a lovely version of the Gypsy Laddie. Arthur's vocal technique seems to have captured the authentic 'holler' of the backwoods banjo player... But what lifts this CD is the supportive fiddle playing of Pete Cooper. Tracks such as ‘Georgia Girl’ and ‘Downfall of Richmond’ rely heavily on Pete Cooper’s fiddle to drive the tunes along. On ‘Oh Death’ the fiddle supplies an underlying pulse to the dialogue between Death and his victim. Building from simple drones and shuffles Cooper moves on to a chromatic structure and chords that both Britten and Vaughan Williams would have surely chosen... This may not be everyone's cup of musical Earl Grey, but it displays a level of subtlety and invention that raises this CD above the ordinary...’

- Dave Clarke, www.btinternet.com/~radical/thefolkmag

“Heartbreaking”
‘Dave Arthur has produced a CD that’s an entertaining, informed and intelligent look at songs, ballads and tunes that crossed from the British Isles to the United States, ‘on the lips, in the fingers and in the hearts of generations of emigrants’, as he says in his excellent and witty sleeve notes. The transformations are fascinating, and sometimes surprising, the first track going straight for it with the Morris tune ‘Shepherd’s Hey’ becoming ‘Old Molly Hare’. It’s obvious once you’ve heard it. Well steeped in both the British and American traditions, Dave’s made a lively choice of material that’s beautifully played by him on 5-string banjo and melodeon, and by two master musicians, Pete Cooper on fiddle and viola, and Chris Moreton on guitar. Dave sounds very much at ease singing the American songs... I loved the very spooky ‘Oh Death’ which Dave says was inspired by Doc Boggs’ version, and ‘I Wish I Had Someone to Love Me’ which he learned from Jeff Davis who had it from Connemara’s Joe Heaney. Thus the songs go back and forth...The tunes are terrific, too, including a very fetching ‘Georgia Girl’, the Irish ‘Dan O’Keefe’s No. 2’ linked with the Virginian ‘Ducks on the Pond’, a Civil War tune ‘Downfall of Richmond’ and even one from 19th century Sussex, ‘Michael Turner’s Waltz’. If I had to pick a favourite track it would be ‘The Two Sisters’ which is quite heartbreakingly beautiful in its simplicity and restraint.  

- Shirley Collins

After the release of ‘Return Journey’, the band were booked to play Whitby Folk Week 2004, and, almost without trying, became a working band. Rattle On The Stovepipe have been enthusiastically received on subsequent English folk club tours, and ‘Eight More Miles’, their ‘debut’ CD as a band, captures the feel of their live performance. Check out the Shop for audio clips from ‘Eight More Miles’.

Rattle On The Stovepipe are available for club, concert, private and festival bookings. For all details and inquiries, please contact:

Dave Arthur
storyart@aol.com
phone +44(0)7765 377 441

Pete Cooper
pete@petecooper.com
phone +44 (0)20 8340 7760