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He moved to Australia where he was active in the Perth folk scene and organised the first ever Australian tour for Vin Garbutt. Ray ran the Governor Broome Folk Club and played in the trio, Blackthorn. After 5 years he moved back to the Lake District in England where he started the Whitehaven Folk Club and reformed with Knotted Cord. From Cumbria he and his family moved to Nottingham so that his wife could attend medical school, there he joined up with 3 other blokes to form the group, "Bedlam" who sang mainly Australian material. He returned to Australia in 1993 to live in Fremantle where, since arriving he has organised tours for British acts and put on concerts for other agents. Ray returns to the UK every northern summer where he always attends several folk festivals. Latest
- Ray is returning to touring International Artists. He was so impressed
by the duo Keith Donnelly and Flossie Malavialle when he caught their
act on a recent visit to England, that he has decided to tour them in
2011. This
page was updated 11th July 2010 |
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| ©This
site and all images within this site are the property of Ray Downes,
Jason Downes or the Artists shown |
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Ray
has been involved in folk music for over 40 years. He remembers his
first, nervously delivered song he ever did at a Nottingham folk club
as an 18 year old student, was Blowing in the Wind. He lived for 5
years in Northampton where he sang regularly at The Black Lion Folk
Club. When he moved back to his native Cumbria from teaching in Turkey,
he opened the Egremont Folk Club which he ran with his Australian
wife, Susan, for many years at the time when Jasper Carrot and Mike
Harding could be booked for 12 pounds. These were the days when you
had to be in the club by 7.30pm. or you wouldn't get in. He sang every
week with the popular resident group, "Knotted Cord".