In 1965 Derek moved out of London to take up residence
in nearby Reading. There he met singer and guitarist Mike Cooper who
provides us with this reminiscence.
‘’Back
in the 60s there was a building in Reading called ‘The Shades
Coffee House’, situated in Gunn Street. It still exists and is a
burger place now called ‘Bluegrass’. In the 60s, on Saturday
nights, it was a folk music club where I and another guitarist/singer
called Derek Hall were resident house musicians. Derek worked at the
Shades and lived there, a refugee from London. The place was run by
Sid Lackinton, an eccentric; almost as eccentric as we were. It was
the 60’s bohemian centre of Reading.
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Blues guitarist Mike
Cooper in action at The Elephant Folk Club.
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Derek
and I made a record together, recorded in my kitchen in Eldon Road,
on a big chunky Ferrograph reel to reel 1/4 inch tape machine, with a
cable running from my lounge down the passage to my kitchen about 30
feet away, where we had a single mono microphone. It was our first
ever record and was titled ‘Out Of The Shades’; an homage to the
venue. It came out on Kennet Records in an edition of about 150 as I
recall. Sid paid for the recording.
Derek
was a formidable guitarist and, some say, he was in the league of the
likes of Davey Graham, such was his talent. Soon after the record’s
release he went back to live in London.
We recorded again together, two pieces on my first solo album, ‘Oh Really’, on the Pye label in December 1968. I lost contact and all track of him for a while after that but then someone told me that he was working at The British Museum Library. I went there but he had just left and no one knew where he was. That was about 45 years ago. Suddenly, quite recently, out of the blue, I discovered that he was living alone in the north of England with no internet and all communication would have to be by hand-written letters or postcards. He told me he had given up playing in public soon after leaving London and now only gave guitar lessons. He had spent some time learning to play classical guitar but had returned to playing blues and folk and he sent me a cassette tape of his recent style. Nothing had changed in 50 years. Unfortunately we never met again. "Sail on, sail on sailor”.
We recorded again together, two pieces on my first solo album, ‘Oh Really’, on the Pye label in December 1968. I lost contact and all track of him for a while after that but then someone told me that he was working at The British Museum Library. I went there but he had just left and no one knew where he was. That was about 45 years ago. Suddenly, quite recently, out of the blue, I discovered that he was living alone in the north of England with no internet and all communication would have to be by hand-written letters or postcards. He told me he had given up playing in public soon after leaving London and now only gave guitar lessons. He had spent some time learning to play classical guitar but had returned to playing blues and folk and he sent me a cassette tape of his recent style. Nothing had changed in 50 years. Unfortunately we never met again. "Sail on, sail on sailor”.
(Mike
Cooper)
Out Of The Shades is reproduced here with the kind permission of Mike Cooper and Secretly Distribution. Derek provides Guitar accompaniment for Mike Cooper of all tracks except Darlin', for which Derek provides vocals.
Out Of The Shades is reproduced here with the kind permission of Mike Cooper and Secretly Distribution. Derek provides Guitar accompaniment for Mike Cooper of all tracks except Darlin', for which Derek provides vocals.