Night Of The Consumers Theme (CoryxKenshin Remix)

An original acoustic folk-blues composition by Richard Ebbs. This song was inspired by many visits to Hebden Bridge, a small English town in the low Pennine hills between Leeds and Manchester.

In the mid-to-late 60s Hebden Bridge didn't have a huge amount going for it: the town was economically depressed, and property was incredibly cheap then, so a group of people who spent much of each year traveling from festival to festival across the UK (Britain still has a thriving festival scene) bought many of the tall, narrow, row of houses on Windsor Road as a base to travel from and a place to take stock each winter. As so often happens, these 'hippies' brought music and arts and a lot of life to this very traditional blue-collar Yorkshire town. The huge 'mills' are still standing, mills that were early powerhouses of the industrial revolution, where from the large 18th century to the mid 19th century mill-owners became super rich, and mill-workers were often worked to the bone: young children literally 8 years old sometimes working 12-hour days and six-day weeks. That history is very dark.

Hebden Bridge in the 21st century has a lot of heart.

Harmony vocals by Anne de Haas

Windsor Road

An original acoustic folk-blues composition by Richard Ebbs. Harmony vocals by Anne de Haas

Shores of Superior

Maple Leaf Monologue

Lucky Song

A traditional English folk song as arranged by Bert Jansch and played by Richard Ebbs.

Love is Teasing

It All Comes Down to Love

An original acoustic folk-blues composition by Richard Ebbs. Harmony vocals by Anne de Haas. I wrote this song when I was a part of The Medicine Men (Sandy Edgar, Richard Marggraf-Turley and myself Richard Ebbs) back in Leeds, England in the early 90s.

How Much Rain

North Fork Mountain

Twenty years ago I left Yorkshire England and crossed the pond to marry a Canadian. I'm an ex-landscaper, ex software developer. Now resident in Grey County with wonderful wife Anne de Haas (professional photographer, check out her work online here and here).

I play solo with an acoustic guitar. Some of my own, and some covers. Some country, some blues, folk, pop and even the occasional classical piece.

I've played gigs at the Midland Tiffin Bay Folk Club (featured artist), in Georgetown at the Silvercreek Bistro and the Shepherd's Crook, in Acton at the Red Harp, the Ark Rockwood, Toronto's Free Times Cafe, at the Leeds UK Library pub with The Medicine Men. At the Bridge Inn in Pateley Bridge UK and at the Wallasey UK Embassy Club, among others.

Growing up in the UK I used to particularly enjoy going to folk clubs, where real, old, traditional music is kept very much alive. The traditional folk music of England, Scotland and Ireland is so rich with great melodies!

British 'folk-blues' acoustic guitarist Bert Jansch was also a big influence in my formative years - Jansch mixed formidable technique with creativity in unique and often genre-bending ways.

Now I'm particularly fascinated by the process of writing my own material: the craft of making those tweakable elements work together to create a good song: the melody, the rhythm, the lyrics and everything else.


New tracks tagged #Ebbs