The first time I had the pleasure of watching the amazing singer/songwriter Vin Garbutt was in a community hall in Marske-By-The-Sea when I was supporting him with The Grangetown Boys Club Brass Band. I was only thirteen years old at the time but what a privilege to watch such an incredible performer totally blow the crowd away with funny stories and amazing songs. He must have adapted things slightly to cater to the sense of humour of the young brass band in the room where he performed ‘The Hartlepool Monkey’; which I found absolutely hilarious. My Dad, also present at the gig, bought one of Vin’s albums ‘Eston California’ which, when I looked at the cover, I recognised all of the kids in the photo as being lads slightly older than me in school. Who was this Vin Garbutt bloke with his own records? Was he a famous pop star?
Vin Garbutt was far better than that. He was ‘The Teesside Troubadour’. He has taken his amazing songs and stories all around the world. He has won BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and has been lauded by the giants of the genre as being one of the very best. He wrote songs and told stories that completely hit all the emotions; that is the power of Vin Garbutt. Until his very untimely death in 2017, he was most certainly Teesside’s finest cultural export. He was taken from us far too early.
Vin was born in South Bank, Middlesbrough in 1947 and he attended my school St. Peter’s RC Comprehensive. He left school to start an apprenticeship at ICI before deciding to follow his dream as a professional musician playing in Folk Clubs around the country. A summer of busking around bars on the Spanish Mediterranean Coast sealed the ambitions of this unique performer.
As I mentioned earlier, Vin’s songs could hit every emotion. To watch him play live and explain the song with his hilarious ‘patter’, you would then analyse them during his performance to take away whatever emotion was being delivered from the most powerful of transmissions: a Vin performance.
A Master Craftsman
A song such as ‘Welcome Home Howard Green’ is a play on the words of The Green Howards (our local army regiment that saw its members sent to Northern Ireland to fight in the ‘Troubles’). Many of our local lads were possibly fighting distant Irish cousins and not realising the links. The South Bank community was predominantly founded by Irish immigrant workers and lots came from the Northern Irish counties; mine certainly did. Vin discussed this delicate issue perfectly within the song. A true craftsman.
On a similar subject, I was quite proud of a song I wrote called ‘The Blood Of Belfast’ from my Hermitage Suite album. I tried to discuss how the violence and historical conflicts could, at last, finally be put in the past and hope, that people can move to a new and brighter future of peace and respect. On hearing Vin’s ‘The Troubles Of Erin’, I realised my naive attempts to express the sentiments were far more eloquently executed by a master. Vin had the knack of doing just that. He could precisely express the right sentiment to really hit home, what could often be considered, very difficult subject matters.
“May the troubles of Erin be over
May the bubble of peace be preserved”
“So let’s pray for the day of forgiveness,
When the weeping and wailing will cease,
And may love reconcile all of Erin’s green isle,
May the living and dead rest in peace”.
Slaggy Island Farewell
On a local level, I really connected with his song ‘Slaggy Island Farewell’. I shall paint a picture of beauty to you. The glorious South Bank of The River Tees, when written down that way, could sound like a beautiful sleepy village on a meandering river as it strikes its last burst of current to the sea. The reality is a former industrial town, built amongst the mountains of slag tips from the Iron and Steelworks that it once served which, many could say, is a ghost of its former self. But what a place it was and what amazing people came from there! The current population are just as vibrant, even though it has been hit with every economic depression that history has historically offered. Vin provided a wonderful lament in this song to the town after the exodus. When people moved to more leafy suburbs and left South Bank (Slaggy Island as it is fondly named) to its own devices.
“So Slaggy Island, farewell, farewell to thee
Your pride has turned into decay
All of your sons they have deserted you
And now you must return unto the clay”
There are just too many amazing songs to discuss that I cannot place into this short article. The humour of Vin Garbutt is perfectly captured in ‘Fell Off The Back Of A Boat’. His social commentary about the spillage of cargo from a container ship off the North Yorkshire coast is hilarious.
“There were Tee Shirts for the husbands,
And Sweatshirts for the wives
And every kid in Skinningrove had underwear for life”.
Finally, Vin Garbutt was also a fine connoisseur of songs too. He would always discover or redefine a classic. He could always be relied on to champion a song by a lesser-known writer and help that song become incredibly well-known in the Folk Music community. The song ‘Wings’ by Brian Bedford is a stunner. I covered this song myself on my ‘Hermitage Suite’ album and, when I recently recorded a live version for Facebook, I telephoned Brian to ask permission if I was still ok to use it. He fondly recalled the moment that he played the song in Hong Kong and Australia to find the audience singing along with every word. Vin had already been to this part of the world and made the song legendary. As an ambassador to both the folk movement and great songwriting, Vin Garbutt is irreplaceable. I am privileged to have been fortunate enough to see this great man numerous times over my life and I have been enriched as an artist at the masterclasses that he provided. Vin Garbutt was not just The Teesside Troubadour but our finest treasure.
Here is a Spotify Playlist where you can explore some of Vin Garbutt’s finest moments.
All lyrics by Vin Garbutt are © 2021 Home Roots Music – The Estate of Vin Garbutt. I have no rights to quote these lyrics and hope that I cause no offence by exploring the work of this fantastic artist in my academic review
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