Johnie Winch: Retracing his Roots

John Winch has been playing ‘roots’ music – folk, blues, country, bluegrass, Cajun and skiffle - for six decades. For the last two (as throughout the 1980s) he’s lived and performed in Germany as a blues guitarist and singer. A correspondent to this site affirms that John remains an ‘extremely talented guitar and banjo player and has a fabulous blues voice.’ 

Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s John was a major feature on the English south coast’s folk music scene. On occasions he, Kelvin Message and other musicians would perform together at the end of a club evening. Kelvin has commented that John's heavily blues-influenced guitar style was so versatile that he was doing the work of three musicians at once. It was reading this site’s profile of Kelvin that led John to get in touch from Germany. ‘It brought back a lot of memories,’ he said. 

John explained that in the first half of the 1960s he was performing in the UK as a solo guitarist and singer as well as playing in a duo with Rod Machling. During this period Johnie (as he was then known) also founded several ‘roots music’ venues in East Sussex. 

John says that he started the ‘Country & Gospel Club’ at ‘The Heart & Hand’ pub in North Street, Brighton. The club was born out of necessity due to overcrowding as punters were coming in increasing numbers, both to hear the performers and in some cases to play informal guest spots too. Among the growing audience were some famous, or soon to be famous, names. Says John: ‘[O]n a Saturday evening, I and a few others would have a song session in the pub… It was often visited by such well-known names as Wizz Jones, Long John Baldry, and many others including, on the very odd occasion, a certain Rod Stewart and his hangers-on. 

'(It) became so crowded that I managed to persuade the landlord to let us use the empty room upstairs. That was an instant success.’ However, recalls John, this ‘also became so crowded that we had people standing on window sills and down the stairs. Once again, we didn't need to book guests as there were many 'names' just dropping in for a floor spot.’ When there was a spot available that is. Wizz Jones played a guest spot, as did several other major league folk performers such as John Renbourn (subsequently part of The Pentangle; he was ‘a good friend of mine’ commented John), and Nic Jones (‘another very good friend and an excellent guitarist and traditional singer’ who tragically ‘had a bad car accident and had to give up the guitar’). Also taking turns at John’s club were the renowned banjo player Pete Stanley, whose diverse plaudits later included work with Bryan Ferry; and John Pearce, the folk performer who had his own BBC guitar tuition programme in the 1960s. 

Eventually says John, the landlord, surprisingly perhaps, ‘got so fed up with the overcrowding and being overwhelmed with business that he gave us notice to quit.’ John recalls being shocked at the time, but now observes: ‘[I]t … gave me the motivation to move to a bigger place and to start organising as a folk club proper.’ John approached the landlord of ‘The Stanford Arms’ at Preston Circus in Brighton. John knew the place as a ‘stop-off on Saturday mornings for a game of cribbage and couple of pints of Guinness after work. I knew there was a large and empty room upstairs. The landlord agreed to let me start the club up there….and, after a couple of weeks of (distributing) flyers’ and of growing interest due to ‘word of mouth’, on a Sunday night John began hosting what would become another highly successful version of his Country & Gospel Club. 

Modestly, John says that ‘[L]uckily…(it was) an immediate success. We tried to work on the basis that everybody who played there ….could expect the same treatment as anybody else. There were no 'superstars' and everybody had the same chance to perform, should they wish. I also featured some of the Brighton street musicians when and if they were willing and needed a few bob. Very soon though, because of overwhelming attendance, we had a need to book 'names' as special guests in order to take the pressure off our regular (‘resident’) floor singers…. This is where Brian Golbey first came in (see picture below of John, on banjo, performing with Brian (fiddle), circa 1963). John says of Brian, he was ‘[O]ne of the (few) Brits to win a Nashville country award for best singer.’ John remembers that ‘We guested a few times at the Sidley Folk Club and also at the Nelson Folk Club’ (at the eponymous Hastings pub) during this period.

Soon after John had begun running the Country & Gospel Club at ‘The Stanford’, he brought in Rod Machling to help with the organisation of what had also become a much in-demand venue. Together they formed a successful musical partnership too. Rod was ‘an excellent guitarist and singer,’ notes John. ‘We were booked (to play) at many of the folk clubs….from Portsmouth to Crawley to Hastings.’ 

After they’d played such a gig they’d often return to one of Brighton's coffee bars, such as The Lorelei in the Lanes, ‘for another session of music into the early hours.

'We had many fans and a programme that offered everything from Rod's serious protest songs and humorous Music Hall numbers, to my Old Timey American banjo mountain songs and Mississippi guitar blues. Also…we included a certain amount of country and bluegrass too … This gave us a vast and hugely interesting programme to choose from.’ 

From performing his own slots at ‘The Stanford Arms’, John acquired the nickname ‘The Reverend Winch’. He explains this seemingly unlikely moniker: ‘At this time I used to sing a lot of Gospel songs, which were not only very popular but, more importantly, (they were) centred on audience participation. The evening often began and ended with people standing on the chairs and everybody was singing their hearts out as though it was a service in a deep south black Baptist church.’ John stresses that his good-humoured nickname was not indicative of any deep religious motivation on his part. 

John says that after the huge success of the Brighton ‘Country & Gospel Club’, ‘[W]e decided to start a second club in Eastbourne. I already knew of ‘The Dolphin’ pub because one of my relatives used to go there and had told me about the large room at the back…. Again, the landlord agreed to its use, and so began the Eastbourne branch of the ‘Country & Gospel Club’. 

‘I will never forget (our) opening night,’ says John. There were, he recalls, 97 female college students ‘and (just) five men including ourselves.’ Both clubs, he says, were held on a Sunday night and so they had to share out the available guest singer and resident spots accordingly. While running ‘The Dolphin’ and Brighton music clubs, says John, ‘[T]hey both became exceptionally well-known on the scene, from London to the south coast, and we had many a top class guest, with whom we often became really good friends.’ 

Asked to list some of the major names that appeared at ‘The Dolphin’ and ‘The Stanford Arms’ branches of his ‘Country & Gospel Club’, John mentions some of the biggest names in folk and blues. Among them were Bert Jansch; leading UK blues and pop performer Long John Baldry (with whom Elton John first cut his musical teeth); The Levee Breakers (featuring singer Beverley Kutner who famously later teamed up with John Martyn); Tom Paley from The New Lost City Ramblers, Dave Evans (an ‘amazing guitarist, says John), John James, Johnny Duncan (an American bluegrass and country singer who, John notes, had a skiffle hit with 'Last Train to San Fernando'), Johnny Silvo, Caroline Hester, Julie Felix, and (as at ‘The Heart & Hand’) Wizz Jones, John Renbourn, John Pearce, and Pete Stanley. 

After two years of ‘total success’, John says ‘[T]he whole thing had become a bit too much. Rod, myself and Brian Golbey (who'd also taken on some organisational duties) decided to take on board another couple of friends who were willing to do some of the donkey work, which included bookings from various agencies, standing on the door on club nights, organising residents, singers, posters and flyers, etc, etc. At this point Rod and I decided to quit the clubs and to leave everything to a so-called folk committee to run them. I had also at this time started taking bookings to perform as a duo with Brian Golbey, which included BBC shows and club gigs along the south coast.’ John recalls that he and Brian recorded extensive sessions for two BBC national radio programmes in the early to mid-1960s; one of which was ‘Sounds of the Night’. 

‘After a while, owing to personal reasons, I stopped playing with Brian and I continued as a solo act, working the southern folk clubs (with bookings obtained) through a London agency.’

In 1978 John released his first record, a three track EP on Joe Stead’s ‘Sweet Folk and Country’ label (formerly known as ‘Sweet Folk All’). John’s own song, ‘Little Woman’ was on Side 1, with his arrangement of ‘Come on in My Kitchen’ and a cover of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Lady Jane’ on Side 2 (see pic below). (As a singer, guitarist and banjo player, Joe Stead was a major name on the UK folk scene.)

Sometime in the late 1970s, says John, ‘[A] friend offered me two tours in Bavaria, Germany. They (were) very successful and in the early 1980s this gave me the idea to move to Germany on a permanent basis.’ In fact in 1981 John put out an album on the German Brutkasten label entitled ‘I Am A Free and Travelling Man’. It featured ‘Little Woman’ and 10 other self-penned songs. (The artwork is featured below © Brutkasten) The track ‘Free & Travelling Man’ spoke of the freedom of the road, a belief expressed on the LP’s back cover on which John writes simply ‘Keep free and travelling.’ (John’s home-recorded performance of the song, from 2001, can be heard here

After many years of gigging in Germany, John says that the 1990s brought a personal shift. ‘I returned to England with my wife, who had started studying at Greenwich Uni.’ For the next decade, says John, they were based in St. Leonard’s, East Sussex, which was part of a thriving local music scene. ‘I started playing regularly with a new partner there,’ he says, and together they performed under the name of the Yazoo Brothers and as a skiffle band called the Yazoo Skiffle Company. ‘We also had a fun, Cajun-style band, that sometimes performed (in local pubs) as The Tower Road Alligators...’

In September 2020 John wrote on the SMART music site of Hastings music impresario Alan Esdaile, ‘I remember well George Street Hall (in Hastings) and doing gigs (on the same bill as) SoulXpress as if it were yesterday. Also, (I recall) my own very long and mad stint of (playing) Sunday mornings at ‘The Standard’ (or)… at ‘The Nelson Folk Club’, in the days of Wilf the landlord, (with) Jeff Coates and Bruce Astly hammering away in ‘The Nelson’ on a Sunday morning session. I used to play banjo then, which was kindly lent to me for the session by Ron Harrison who sometime during the session, and after a few pints….burst into a great version of ‘Shoals of Herring’. Those were the days when there were still a few herring in Hastings waters. SoulXpress were one of the best of the Hastings groups (along with) Tich Turner, Stallion, Chris Sayer and many more. Hopefully Barry, Lenny, and the others are still alive and kicking. Unfortunately some have left us, but I shall never cease to be amazed that there were so many good musicians and so much live music in such a small town.’ John is very pleased to still be playing live. He told me: ‘I am still playing the odd blues gig with a German guitarist partner, and hope, with luck, to carry on for another few more years.’ Or, as he commented on the SMART website, ‘I’m 78 now, an old geezer, but still as mad and still playing...’ Reflecting on all that had happened over his musical career, he says, ‘Actually, there are so many stories that I could probably go on for hours about those days. Many fun days, many good friends.’ John is pictured below (with Peter Gall (left) and Gerald Stegmiller (right)) performing at a festival in the German village where he now lives.

John says he hopes that this article will add a ‘bit of interest’ to the more musically open and inclusive side of the Sussex folk scene that ‘was often a bit dominated by the traditional side of folk music,’ he says. ‘What a lot of people seem to have forgotten …is that a great many old folk songs from the British Isles went to America in the sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen hundreds and, much later, returned to Britain in a slightly (altered) form. It was often stated, with a slight tinge of standoffishness, that we (me, my partners and friends) were singing ‘American songs’ as opposed to the purists who only sang ‘English’ or … ‘Sussex’ songs. There was sometimes a definite border drawn between the two. However, as I so often stated in the folk club days, I don't think it really matters who sings what, as long as they enjoy it, and, if there is one, the audience enjoys it too.’ 

John is still drawing in audiences and is still a fine musician and singer. As in the sentiment he inscribed on his album, he’s also still ‘keeping free’. The travelling that went with that freedom took John a long way from where his musical journey began, but he remains very connected to his diverse musical roots.