Instrument-swapping duo ready to impress Cambridge Folk Club

Coming soon to the Cambridge Folk Club will be renowned folk musician, actress and writer Charlie Dore.

Joining the talented singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist on stage will be her long-time collaborator Julian Littman, and the Cambridge date will be the first on the pair's nationwide Short Circuit tour, which takes place through February and March.

Charlie's most recent album was released during the height of Covid and the subsequent tour in support of it understandably had to be postponed. “We've been slowly getting back to gigging and catching up with gigs that we couldn't do over the last couple of years,” she explains, “so we've been giving an airing to an album called Like Animals which came out bang in the middle of the pandemic.

“It was specially designed, pre-pandemic, to come out in the summer of 2020 and it still did, but obviously we couldn't do gigs around it... Also, at the end of 2021, I did my first ever Christmas EP, which I'd never done before, and enjoyed doing that so much.

“The songs are not traditional in any way; they're absolutely not what you would expect for a Christmas song, and we've decided to still include a couple of them in our gigs because they're fun. The audiences really like them so far.”

As well as her various musical projects, Charlie, whose songs have been covered by the likes of George Harrison, Tina Turner, Lisa Stansfied, Celine Dion, UB40, and Status Quo, has also been hard at work on a book of essays called Background Noise, "an account of what goes on off-stage and backstage” as well as "lots of stories about my family because many of them are unusual and I think deserve a bit of a write-up”.

So what does go on behind the scenes? “The one thing is that, as a performer, when you're on social media obviously you err on the positive side about enjoying a gig - which mainly you do, of course, pleased to be out and lovely to meet an audience,” says Charlie, an experienced actress whose credits include the film The Ploughman's Lunch alongside Jonathan Pryce and television and radio work with Eric Idle.

“But if you're actually writing about the whole business of touring, I think it's much more interesting if you're talking about the odd stuff - the strange events that sometimes occur when you're travelling around the country, getting lost. We often stay with people who are associated with the venues, as opposed to hotels, and that can be really interesting.”

February 17 will be the first time Charlie has ever played the Cambridge Folk Club (she's also never performed at the Cambridge Folk Festival, though she has attended the popular annual event). “I think we tried to do it around the time of the pandemic,” she recalls, “but of course that couldn't happen so this is our first visit.”

The gig will include songs from throughout her career. “Since 2005, I've made nine albums, I think it is,” says Charlie. “This tour is called the Short Circuit tour because we're doing short bursts of gigs, and then we're coming back and reorganising the sets so that we get to do some of the stuff we previously have ignored because there's been new songs, new albums.

“And you find that there are dozens and dozens of songs that you actually love to play but there's just not enough room for them. All through this year we're doing the Short Circuit tour, which is going to be bursts of gigs of between five or 10, and then coming back home and working out a new set.”

Charlie met Julian Littman at drama school when she was 16. “We've worked together, on and off, forever really,” she says. “We both do other things and work with other people. Julian's also with Steeleye Span - that's his other band. It's good that we can do that because we both bring fresh ideas to the pot.”

Charlie and Julian, who appeared on The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe on BBC Radio 2 on February 1, play a variety of instruments on stage. “We both swap instruments the whole time,” notes Charlie, “it's unusual for us to play the same line-up in any set of songs.

“Julian plays guitars, piano, mandolin, ukulele, harmonium... I play guitars, harmonium, ukulele, piano, and we're constantly swapping, so it's a really busy night for any sound engineer!”

Expect impressive displays of musicianship when Charlie and Julian come to Cambridge Folk Club on Friday, February 17. Support comes from Anna Hester. Tickets, priced £16 (door), £15 (advance) and £14 (members), are available at cambridgefolkclub.co.uk.