Gerry Cooper's Biography
Born 1948 in Newcastle upon Tyne, I first became aware of music through church and school, but it was the arrival of rock’n’roll records bought by my cousin Pat that really opened my ears. I can still recall endless re-plays of Good Golly Miss Molly, Great Balls of Fire, Heartbreak Hotel, Summertime Blues… all on 78s. There was the radio, too – the BBC Light Programme and Luxembourg. Most of what was played was dross but the occasional gem would emerge, especially in the brief but deeply influential skiffle period. I don’t think I’m the only one of my generation who can recall ‘Uncle Mac’ on Children’s Favourites playing tracks by Woody Guthrie and Big Bill Broonzy... And I always loved the Shadows! Hank and Bruce were, after all, hometown boys.
Then came the Sixties, which, as everyone knows, did not actually begin until 1963. By this time I was at St Cuthbert’s Grammar School, where amongst my near-contemporaries were such diverse musicians as Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys, Ray Laidlaw of Lindisfarne and Gordon Sumner, aka Sting. I was listening to all sorts of music, from The Beatles and other chart stuff to classical and jazz, but nothing really grabbed me until the Great Folk Scare. Bob Dylan was the first great influence but more traditional music was coming from sources as diverse as Joan Baez, The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, and Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick. Through Dylan I became more aware of country blues; through the Stones and the Animals (more hometown boys) I came to electric blues. ‘Hit singles’ were giving way to LPs. The first one I ever bought in a shop (Windows in Newcastle’s Central Arcade – still there!) was the first Bert Jansch album, which someone played at school during a lunch break. It blew me away! It still does. Jansch has remained one of my all-time heroes.
It was while I was in the Lower Sixth (1964) that I took up the guitar, along with about 95% of my contemporaries. Most gave it up after a while but from the very first I was hooked. My first guitar was bought from a lad called Frank Cronin for £2, although I used to borrow other better ones from mates. Taking up the guitar is one of the decisions I’ve made in my life which I’ve never ever regretted. From then on it was folk clubs, youth clubs, sessions in pubs, endlessly listening to the records which were emerging by the kind of artists I wanted to emulate: Jansch, John Renbourn, Ralph McTell, Davy Graham, Al Stewart. And their sources: Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Blind Boy Fuller, Jesse Fuller, Son House, Blind Blake. I remember thinking the first time I heard Blake, “I’ll never be able to play like that!” Some forty years later, I can say with pride: I was right!
At college in Liverpool I played in a lot of folk clubs and college concerts, ditto when I came home for holidays. I spent six months in France (1969) on a course and earned some money busking. I learned a lot from being with other players: I’ve always found it difficult trying to work out things purely by ear from records, but if I could see it done… So I was one of those guys who used to go to gigs and stand at the front.
Marriage and moving to Yorkshire and into teaching (1972) naturally reduced the public appearances, but I still played out when possible, most memorably with a guy called Steve Kowal. We formed a duo called Sundown (after the Gordon Lightfoot song) and had a good time playing all sorts of songs, from John Denver to country blues. Later (1977) when I moved to a Catholic school in Bradford as Head of RE I became involved with two areas of music which helped me hugely in my playing: liturgical music for Church services (I was later to run my parish choir for several years) and stage musicals for school productions; they are terrific for learning to play in A-flat using demented chords with flattened 17ths. I learned enormous amounts from the school’s music teachers over the years: Mike Murphy, Geoff Phillips (may he rest in peace) and Helena Zamulinskjy, and also from the incredibly talented youngsters who played in the production bands. However, all will recall that the early 1980s were not years which were kind to acoustic musicians, so I gradually stopped playing in public – there were fewer and fewer places to play, especially if you didn’t drive. And I was busy with my career, family, house - the usual suspects.
In 1984 I bought a new guitar, a nice Yamaha dreadnought, which I still have and would not part with under any circumstances. I’ve customised it over the years with pickups, new machine heads, a refret – it’s still a terrific guitar. In the late 80s I started playing with a ceilidh band around Bradford and then had a spell with local Irish-rock heroes Scarlet Heights, playing mostly mandolin. The blues, however, were calling me and eventually I gave in and joined the guitar class at Ilkley College run by the redoubtable bluesman Roger Sutcliffe. I’ve known Roger a long time and learned vast amounts from him and after the ceilidh band and I finally parted company in 1995 I started playing blues with one of the guys from the class, the excellent Richard Young.
We were The OKeh Boys and we could kick some serious ass when so inclined. When Roger retired from his day job in 1996 I took over the class for the remainder of the life of Ilkley College. Through Roger I’d met some of the well-known ‘Blues Mafia’ from Leeds: Steve Phillips, Brendan Croker, Dave Speight. Just watching these guys play and listening to their recordings was another form of education.
The last years of the 20th century were mixed for me. My marriage broke up, I met my new partner Ann, moved house, and then in 2001 had a breakdown brought on by the stress of teaching. I was given early retirement on health grounds and when I was in better shape took the big step of starting to play out again after nearly eight years. Thanks for that go especially to Ann but also to Nick and Duncan Hall (The Hall Brothers) and to all at the three folk clubs which have made me most welcome: Otley Folk Club, the Topic in Bradford and the Famous Baccapipes in Keighley. (I don’t mean that other clubs don’t make me welcome, it’s just that these three are the ones I tend to visit most!) Steve Fairholme at Otley asked me to play at the Otley Folk Festival which was a whole new experience for me. Steve Cockerill booked me more than once for the Stormy Monday Blues Club at The Grove in Leeds. So now you know who to blame for it all... In 2004 I recorded my first CD, Big Road Blues, which people seem to like.
Ambitions? To play and sing better, play more gigs and festivals, keep the proper old country blues alive and in peoples’ minds until the next ‘blues boom’ comes along. Oh, and to find a way of overcoming my inexplicable finger-freezing during the counterpoint section in Dallas Rag which is all that stops me inflicting it on a long-suffering public...