A fondly remembered folk comedian from Nottingham.

Much more more to come but here is an outline.

This has been put together from common knowledge, some scattered conversations on the nottstalgia forum and youtube pages but predominantly an article by Al Atkinson in Nottingham Quarterly Spring 1978 and a article by Richard Williams January 20, 2014 from his thebluemoment.com blog, both of which illuminate the story further.

Dave Turner, born in the Meadows, Nottingham,1942, was a well known character on the Nottingham music scene for four decades or more. He was a pioneer of a style of “comedic folk music” which blosomed in the sixties and seventies folk clubs giving rise to well known acts like Fred Wedlock, Jasper Carrott, Mike Harding and Billy Connolly and maybe a more modern equivilant in Bill Bailey. A friend and contemporary of Jake Thackeray, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch and Anne Briggs he was renowned for his impersonations and throw away lines, Dave’s songs were a mixture of poetic excess and topical humour wrapped up in a folk guise that had audiences enthralled and laughing. He never achieved the recognition of his contemparies, passing away in 2008 at the age of 66, leaving little officially recorded work but will be fondly remembered by the many who were entertained by this bastian of the humourous song.

Dave Turner emerged on the local scene just after the skifle scene of the late fifties getting into folk music from records by Hank Williams, Jesse Fuller and Rambling Jack Elliot who was Dave’s favourite hence his nickname “Tromping Dave”. He first played around the Nottingham folk clubs with Sunny Ford covering his heroes songs but throwing in a funny one here and there. These funny ones seemed to get the best reaction from the audience and he developed an act comprising his own “decompositions”, other comic songs and some straight blues numbers. He was just learning to play and learn’t a lot from both Sunny and Spike Woods when visiting the “Bo” (Bohemian coffee shop) with Pete Turner (his brother?). Dave was also an avid reader of Mad magazine which helped him in writing absurd and surrealist songs.

In the early days of the Nottingham folk revival at the start of the sixties Dave would share the stage with many artists and their differing strands of folk. Roger Norman had his talking blues, Al O’Donnell sang Irish ballads, Hope Howard and John Webster would perform calypsos, Sunny Ford sang Woody Guthrie and Queinton Hood and Spike Woods sang visionary dramas. Dave would end up singing songs about teenage cremation, gangs of teds and satirical songs like “Ban the bow”, his CND tailored effort. Early Donovan songs would be paradied and eventually they would metamorphise into a song of Dave’s own making and he was also adept at performing and paradying Bob Dylan songs who was the flavour of the time. This went down very well with audiences.

After working down the pit Dave embarked on a professional career on the folk circuit and his first paid gig was in Cardiff for £15 and writing songs like “The Ballad of Cosmic Ray” but in the mid sixties folk singing was hardly a way to get rich quick. At the same time Dave had joined a local band the Junco Partners who were affectionally remembered by those about town in Nottingham at the time playing their brand of Chicago-style R&B. The band featured lead guitarist Mick Dale, electric pianist Ian Taylor, bass-guitarist and singer Rae Drewery (later to become the father of Swing Out Sister’s Corinne Drewery) drummer Richard Williams (Sheffield born journalist who came to Nottingham and lived in Burton Joyce) and Dave Turner on guitar, harmonica and vocals. The Junco Partners would let Dave take a solo spot in the midst of their gig where he would impress the crowd with his Dylan mimicary. Not to be confused with the slightly better known Newcastle band of the same name they played Nottinghams famous Dungeon club among their haunts and ended up supporting Tom Jones and the Squires at the Elizabethan Rooms in Nottingham before calling it a day.

Dave frequented the Jules et Jim coffee shop on Goosegate which was almost opposite Heathcote street. Andrew Cole used to play folk music there between 1963 and 1965 and remembers Rene the owner. Rene and his Kiwi wife lived on their converted MTB moored at Gunthorpe Lock. Andrew stayed on board with them for a few days once in 1965. The Jules et Jim coffee shop was Andrews introduction to the Bob Dylan style of playing by Dave. Dave used to work as a part time waiter at the cafe as well. Sometimes after a gig with the Junco Partners and would come in and play some folky stuff to wind down. Another Nottingham reveller was coming out of the Belvedere coffee house one night, got in his mates (Mick Johnson) Mini when Dave tossed a tear gas canister in through the window. It stung but was real funny.

When the Junco Partners split around 1965 Dave went to Europe busking around Gemany, Denmark and Holland. He returned to Nottingham in mid 1968 and in the late 60s he found more gigs through an agent, working the colleges and supporting visiting rock groups. He played the Marquee in London on the bill with the likes of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Hawkwind and Spirit. The working mens clubs also supplied him with opportunities to earn a living. One of his songs was a winner in a TV song writing contest and there was talk of an LP being recorded. This never transpired and it was the folk circuit that kept him in food and clothes. Richard Morgan lived in the same house as Dave, in Nottingham, in 1968. One day Dave showed Richard a poem he had written, “Tears and Greasepaint” and asked if I had any ideas for a melody. He did and Dave regularly played this song at his gigs, telling the audience that the music was composed by “Dick da Morgue”.

Dave Turner was a good friend of Fred Wedlock (23 May 1942 – 4 March 2010), another “Folk comedian” from Bristol who was most well known for his surprise hit record “The oldest swinger in town” in 1981, presenting programmes for West Country TV, acting at the Bristol Old Vic but predominately the same comedic folk singing Dave was engaged in. They visited, stayed and played in each others towns regularly through out the seventies and eighties. Fred Wedlock recorded two of Dave’s songs, British Bobby (retitled Bristol Bobby) on his first album “The Folker”, 1971 and “Robin Hood” on his second album “Frollicks”, 1973. A studio recording by Dave of “The Perils Of Percy Pillywig” did appear on the “Nottingham Folk” compilation LP form 1971. It also featured the afformetioned Roger Norman as well as a host of other local folkies.

One of Dave’s cousins was Nick Turner who played in many bands and ended up opening and managing the Chameleon in Nottingham.

Late in 1976 the minstrel of the Meadows who liked to be billed as Festering Dave Turner was on the bill with Liverpool poets Roger Mcgough and Brian Patten at the Co-op theatre, Nottingham still playing one of his most popular numbers “The Perils of Percy Pilliwig” a song that starts off about life down Radford pit where Dave had worked in his youth before spiralling out of control and ending up in Africa! This was the first time Dave had shared the bill with poets and although there was a similararity he couldn’t see it prefering the smoky, alchohol fuelled pubs and clubs to the more reserved atmosphere of “serious” poetry. Living in a small flat with the decor of the junk shop and the street market find, with an impending herbal court case and an aversion to soap and water he had gained a legendary status not all would be happy to have but when he strummed his guitar and sang he was in his element and always held a crowd.

Colin Staples (from FB): I remember Dave in the 1960s around the time that Bob Dylan became popular in the UK. At that time you couldn’t by a harmonica harness in the shops. So Dave was making them from from coat hanger wire 2 springs and 2 nuts and bolts. He was using a flat iron for a hammer and his back step for a work bench, the harness worked very well. Dave wrote very funny Dylan parodies amongst the many songs he wrote. David was a talented writer, performer , painter and great person to be around, his own man, an original.

It was in the pubs and clubs that Dave could be heard for the rest of his days. Live recordings were made in 1979 in Nottingham at the Carrington Triangle Folk Club at the Gladstone issued as a limited edition cassette and Coventry. Forty minutes of the set at Coventry can be heard on YouTube

Later he ran ‘folk, blues and beyond’ at the Running Horse and at the Golden Fleece. He was still introducing acts at the ‘Fleece’ open mic night up until about 6 years ago. Sadly about 4 years ago he contracted shingles in his right arm and ,due to severe nerve damage, was unable to play the guitar again.