Features

The Real Music Club, is based at 2 pubs - The Green Man and The Rising Sun - in the village of Willington on the Staffordshire - Derbyshire border, holding bigger events in the Staffordshire village of Stretton.

The Rising Sun

It was in 1990 that my wife Debbie and I, after years of involvement on the Birmingham folk scene, decided it was time our home village had its own club. The Rising Sun Folk Entertainment Club was born and ran successfully for 5 years - before the pub changed hands and became a restaurant.

Fast forward to 2004, and our son Robert Scott was now 20 years old, himself an accomplished musician and composer.

The club re-opened in September 2004 with Robert as its resident musician and Shep Woolley as the main guest. It was a sell out.
Robert soon joined up with Dez Preston, a talented Willington musician and composer, and 'Lunargrass' became the club resident duo.

The 2004/05 season mixed open mic nights with concerts, with headliners including Prelude, Derek Brimstone, Bernard Wrigley, and The Armpit Jug Band.

Change or Die

Artistically and for sheer entertainment value this first year was a great success, re-establishing the club and becoming a meeting place for local musicians at the open mic nights. However, financially it wasn't so good.

It was obvious that the small room they were using couldn't physically hold enough paying customers to cover the costs of putting on top class acts at a reasonable ticket price.

In September 2005 the club faced the 'change or die' moment, but a group of supporters stepped forward and the club was re-born for the second time as The Real-Music Club (the RMC).

The new organisers negotiated a joint venture with Sharpe's Pottery Museum in Swadlincote in Derbyshire to promote a series of monthly Saturday Night concerts.

They made Thursday nights in Willington free acoustic sessions where anyone can come along and play, with the sessions alternating between 2 pubs in the village, The Green Man and The Rising Sun.

Live in the Kiln

The concerts called "Live in The Kiln" were always either fully or nearly sold out and received critical acclaim. One press review said "...Swad's Kiln is simply ideal for such performances with its magnificent acoustics and the proximity of the audience to the performer - there simply can't be a better way to enjoy the widely varied styles of "roots" music championed by the Real-Music Club."

This venture ended in December 2007, leaving the Real Music Club to concentrate on its popular Thursday night sessions which regularly see 25 to 50 people turn up to listen and perform.

Support for the Club is at an all time high and continues to be a fun, supportive, creative place for local musicians to meet and encourage each other and this makes for wonderful entertainment for the rest of us who just love to listen to 'real music'.

Get Involved

The Thursday night sessions are open to all and entrance is free. If you want to come along and see what the RMC is all about just turn up at either The Green Man or The Rising Sun in Willington (directions on official website) on a Thursday evening. If you want to perform get there by 8pm to book your spot.
See link to the official website, in the top right hand corner of this page, for more details.