Hank Wangford News

Dear Friends & Followers
Hank’s new single in praise and defence of our NHS, “NHS Our Precious Thing”, is released this weekend, on Friday November 15th.
Friday November 15th is coincidentally Hank’s 84th birthday. He has worked out the chords and is now playing

Will you still need me,
Will you still feed me?
When I’m eighty four?

For extra birthday sympathy. Scans well as it will at ninety four but one hundred and four might be a problem. But likely just an academic problem…
Anyway back to this year and the new single. If you can read the press release it tells you that the song was written after a long heart procedure in Hammersmith Hospital just before Hank joining Billy Bragg at Glastonbury.

You can tell by the Jamaican colours of Hank’s electronic heart image that the single is Reggae style. In fact it has two Dub versions (Heartfelt Dub & Healing Dub) of it on the download.

The whole package is available for streaming or (and we prefer!) download on all the relevant sites like Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music, Tidal and all the rest.

We use Spotify and the link for Our Precious Thing on Spotify is
HERE >>>
So download and stream like the wind.
Then tell your friends.
And your GPs
And your MP
And any wandering doctors you see on the Street!

Hank Wangford and Noel Dashwood - Promises Promises
Great reviews for Hank's and Dash's new Album - PROMISES PROMISES, are coming in ahead of its official release date. You can catch the latest HERE on the Media Page.

Hank Wangford and Noel Dashwood - Promises Promises
Album Launch
Hank Wangford And Noel Dashwood - Promises Promises Duo Album Release (with special guest Jose McGill).

Hank and Dash have recorded 11 stripped back, bare to the bone, three chords and the truth numbers. The official release date is 01/12/23. The album will be available to purchase on CD and Vinyl at the shows. Joining them on bass and opening up the show is Jose McGill of Norwichs legendary Vagaband.
“Stylish and chock-full of charms, and brimming with hope, the album practices what it preaches, showcasing the power of slowing down and honing-in on life’s tiny, beautiful details. Miss out on this album at your peril!”
Alan Cackett - (British Country Music Hall of Fame)

Hallo there!
Hank & Mrs Wangford are off to Rancho Wangford in Connemara. They will be joined by Noel Dashwood - the Dash, dobro wizard - and The Messages (Seanen Brennan - guitar & bouzouki, Fiona Maria Fitzpatrick - vocals & guitar and Denise Boyle - fiddle & mando) for Hank’s Irish tour.
Hank and The Messages had a memorable tour last year and wanted to repeat it specially as Hank has been booked to play the inspirational Clifden Arts Festival this year.
At the last minute Hank’s compadre The Dash became available so it will be an even more memorable tour this year as Hank & Dash join up with The Messages.
It starts on 18th September at Clifden Arts Festival at the Station House Theatre.
Apart from the joy of playing Ireland we will be celebrating our latest album Holey Holey as on the poster. Plus the new duo album with Hank & Dash Promises Promises due to be released in December.
By a stroke of luck we will have pre release CDs on tour!

Hi Folks!
I’ve been up in Norwich getting finishing touches on production of the new album Promises Promises with Noel Dashwood. Noel is back in mainland England now so we may do some gigs together. He will join the Wangford BBC at the Half Moon on Sunday 13th August and we’ll plan some promotional gigs around the November release of the album. It will be released on vinyl, on download and for our elderly non-digital fans without turntables on a very limited edition CD. CD and vinyl will have lots of info to read unlike the downloads.

After a triumph last week at London’s Green Note, Jose McGll, and Noel Dashwood are bringing Hank Wangford back to Norwich to the Reindeer next week, Wednesday 5th April.
It will be a second “Songwriters in the Round” with core shakers and movers José and Noel D, lynchpins of Norwich’s burgeoning music scene, José of Vagaband and Noel, dobro fiend and Hank’s partner on a new duo album.
José and Noel both have new albums just released. Hank’s latest is Holey Holey but you’ll have to wait for Hank & Dash’s newest to the end of the year.
Hank José and Dash will swop songs from their newest albums and join in together in the round. If it’s as good as it was at the Green Note, not to be missed!
Meantime a nudge for #HalfMoon Putney this Sunday lunchtime with Hank & The Lost Cowboys, first time this year with the whole band, BJ Cole and Martin Belmont weaving their magic through Hank’s miserable toetappers.
Sunday pub lunch, on stage 2pm off by 4 ish. Back home feet up by 6! Can’t whack it with a stick!! See y’ll somewhere!

A Trio of Talented Musicians
Next Wednesday 22nd March the Green Note, Camden’s most intimate venue, hosts three musicians, singer songwriters with strong Norwich connections. They will recreate Nashville's Bluebird Café performing their songs in the round, solo and together. They are - José McGill, no stranger to the Green Note and leader of the great Vagaband, Hank Wangford, grizzled Godfather of British alt-Country, Noel Dashwood, best dobro player in the country, been part of Vagaband and played and recorded with Hank, just back from a mind expanding trip to Mexico. José Noel and Hank all have new albums. Noel and Hank are mixing a new collaborative album. So expect a rich tapestry of talent, an inspiring mix of old and new, a shed load of heartbreakers and toetappers. A three for one offer not to be missed!

Hi Wangletter readers
Happy New Year 2023! Let’s hope…
Hank is hitting the cold road of January with the Big Bass Combo.
December Hank played some great gigs with both the Big Bass Combo – HW’s BBC – and the powerful Lost Cowboys. The Half Moon Putney with Spanna Robinson sick and Hank at the tail end of a Covid attack was one of those great gigs where the Lost Cowboys just took off and flew out saving Hank’s skin and his lacerated larynx. No, not that bad but the gig was wondrous. As was the BBC’s gig at Camden’s Green Note.
This January Hank has been recording up in North Norfolk with his dobro meister mate Noel Dashwood hoping for a new duo album. Reviewing it now.
Here’s Hank battling misery with misery while Noel bubbles over with his Asher lap steel waiting for the next song. Next weekend the Wangford Big Bass Combo is back out East with dear friends the What’s Cookin’ mob in Leytonstone Saturday 28th. What better way of navigating the bleakness of 2023 and the misery of the New Year than by leaping into full blown Country with the BBC?
What better way of navigating the dark underbelly of Country than with twin bass guitars drilling their way through sad songs of lost love, breakups and betrayal, the malignant glue of relationships and the sticky end of divorce.
Hank Wangford is joined by two top bassistas.
Lord Kevin Foster, flying fingers soloist, Jaco Pastorius of Country music. Chanteuse Spanna Robinson holds things down on the bass while she sings heaven sent harmonies on Hank’s songs, some from Hank’s new album Holey Holey and even newer. And a few old favourites. And some of her own songs.
Behind them on drums Mike Pickering El Picko pushes Hank and the twin basses along. Together the four explore Country from the bottom up. When misery’s that deep it must be the Wangford Big Bass Combo.
Get Down into the Bassment!
Stop grumbling and get rumbling!
The Wangford BBC at What’s Cookin’ check the website for tickets.
At Leytonstone Social Club 2 Harvey Road E11 3DB

Friends & Neighbours!
Because of FIFAs absurd wrangling of the World Cup into the middle of the football season and England’s game against France this weekend our compadres at What’s Cookin’in Leytonstone have decided to postpone the Wanfgford BBC Combo - gig on Saturday 10th.
Damn you Sepp Blatter and all your dodgy FIFA cronies! Still, we shall reschedule and be back iin January with the full combo. Stay tuned... At the moment, it looks like we shall be back there for the 28th January and, of course, we shall honour all those who have bought tickets. STAY TUNED...

Friends & Companeros!
Winding up this year Hank will be celebrating in London - North, East and Southwest.
The Wangford BBC - the Big Bass Combo - will be in Camden Town’s gorgeous Green Note on Friday 9th. On Saturday 10th we will be trekking over to the far East of Leytonstone to play for our friends What’s Cookin’. Our last gig early this year in January with special guest dobro wizard and singer Dashwood was phenomenal. He has been travelling the world since but is due to be joining us in Leytonstone. He might even squeeze in a guest spot at the Green Note if the Camden folks are super lucky. Right now it’s only the Far Easterners who will benefit from his dobro...

We’re excited to bring the BBC - wondrous chanteuse and bassista Spanner Robinson, the great Lord Kevin Foster, the Jaco Pastorius of Country and the massive percussion of El Picko propping up the aged but far from infirm Hank - to both venues.
The following weekend on Sunday the 18th in Putney we bring the full headlong blast of the Lost Cowboys with the awesome Martin Belmont and BJ Cole on lead guitar and pedal steel taking us further into the pre-Xmas stratosphere. It’ll be our usual lunchtime meet from 2 to 4 so if y’all are football crazy you can rush out afterwards to gorge on the World Cup Final.
Can’t say better than that.

Hope to see you somewhere before we say adios to 2022. Come and stock up on $incere Products for Xmas. A brand new Holey Holey teacloth and Wangford sounds on vinyl and CD. Special bargain prices for you to pack your Xmas stockings with no pain in your bank.
We believe in De-flation on our ticket prices and $incere Products to keep it easy for y’all!
Merry Xmas!!

Hank x

Hi Everyone! July was a busy month for Hank and different clutches of the Cowboys. On the 2nd Hank did a gig with Lord Kevin Foster at the Mascara Bar in Stoke Newington, their annual "Grand Ol'Stokey" Fourth of July celebration. Another with Lord Kevington was for the What's Cookin' folks down in Abbey Wood at the end of the Elizabeth Line. Both gigs great. In the middle of the month Hank went to France and did a solo gig at the Footsbarn Theatre's Festival down in the Auvergne. Deep France. It was to be a solo gig but Hank was joined by Michele Stodart of Magic Numbers and her drummer Emma (see photo left). And Haka, a wonderful Bosnian accordion player. Hank was overwhelmed but survived. Back in the UK and there were two more gigs. One with the Lost Cowboys at the Half Moon Putney when the band played out of their skins, a memorable day. And the night before was with the Big Bass Combo, the BBC, at Camden's fine intimate venue the Green Note. In August Hank has just been over to Transylvania to revisit his project of bringing contraceptive services to Brasov, Romania's second city. With a mix of capitalism and corruption much has withered on the vine but there was pleasure in seeing old friends and colleagues.

And now on the 3rd of September Hank goes down to Bridport in Dorset with the full Lost Cowboys - Martin Belmont guitar, Spanna Robinson chanteuse and bass, BJ Cole pedal steel & dobro, Mike Pickering "El Picko" on drums and Lord Kevington Foster on bass - for their show in the magnificent 1920's Electric Palace. They'll be pulling songs out of Hank's extensive repertoire, old songs from way back, songs from the new album Holey Holey released in lockdownand even newer ones written recently. Songs to make you laugh and cry and most of all songs to go straight to your heart...

On next Sunday April 24th The Last Music Company presents a DOUBLE-BARRELLED SUNDAY NIGHT SPECIAL featuring Hank Wangford and The Lost Cowboys plus Geraint Watkins and his band.
This bonanza hooley will be at the semi-historic and very lovely Bush Hall, an Edwardian dancehall back to its former glory with chandeliers and cherubs. It sits just up the Uxbridge Road from Shepherd’s Bush
Hank Wangford and The Lost Cowboys features B.J. Cole - pedal steel guitar; Martin Belmont - guitar; Lord Kevin Foster - bass; Spanna Robinson - vocals/bass; Mike Pickering- drums.
Geraint Watkins and his band features Martin Winning - sax/clarinet; Oliver Darling - guitar/vocals; Bob Loveday - fiddle; Paul Riley - bass; Malcolm Mills - drums.
Both bands will each play a full set then join forces in a mighty Country / Honky Tonk / RnB explosion
Performance will start promptly at 7.30
Hank & The Cowboys will start and warm you up with some classic toe tapping misery. So don’t be late and miss Hank!
Then Geraint - whose band is shit hot right now - will beat you about the ears with the best honkytonk RnB you’ve heard in a while.
Chairs will be kicked back and partners will whirl and twirl all around Bush Hall.
This is an all seated venue with some standing room. And dancing room...
Hold on to your hats…this is gonna be a classic

This Sunday April 10th will be a special gig at Half Moon Putney with Hank Wangford and the Lost Cowboys. Our chanteuse Spanna Robinson has just given birth to her second daughter Roseanna so is resting up as much as can be with a newborn babe and a toddler about. Life. So we're welcoming dobro wizard and singer Noel Dashwood to fill her harmony shoes and to tussle on dobro and harmonica with the rest of the band. Hank has been up in Norwich recording some downhome tracks with Noel to capture some of their duo magic before Dashwood dashes off to the Southern Seas for the rest of the year.
This then is your last chance to enjoy his harmonies and his dobro as he locks in with BJ on dobro and pedal steel and Big Martin on guitar.

And some Wangford family news - Mrs Wangford will enjoy a palindromic birthday this February. It will be 22.02.2022
Wierd huh? Hank X

More gigs on the Horizon..
And early news of a special double header gig at Bush Hall near Shepherd's Bush on April 24th with Hank's Lost Cowboys joining with the mighty Geraint Watkins band. Another night to savour.
See - Hank is looking after y'all! In London at least..... x

The Wangford BBC - Hank’s Big Bass Combo - at a mighty gig last Saturday way out East in Leytonstone. An excitable sell out crowd packed into a space festooned like a Hawaiian tiki bar by those colourful crazies What’s Cookin’. Nice support from Danny Jones, son of one of the original Spinners, a man with Folk in his blood.
Such a good gig that the What’s Cookers want the BBC back maybe early summer. Don’t miss out next time! Worth the hike out East!
Meantime watch out for the Wangford BBC’s next gig, the legendary Anti- Valentine’s, Vilentine’s night on February 14th at the Half Moon Putney.
And early news of a very special double header gig at Bush Hall on April 24th with Hank’s Lost Cowboys joining with the mighty Geraint Watkins band. Another night to savour.
See - Hank is looking after y’all! In London at least..... x

Hi all you WangListers / Hank Appreciators / WangFans, however you may be...
Since my last letter four months ago life has stumbled from pillar to pandemic, from a Covid attack to chest infections, from virus fatigue to Boris fatigue. Ah the wintry fun of it all! But now we’re in 2022 and all hoping that this New Year will be a whole heap better than the last two terrible ones. Anyway..
Monday February 14th, Valentine’s Day, for Hank’s now ritual stab at the cloying candles / chocolates / roses / entwined hearts sentimentality of what he calls Vilentine’s Day. Dedicated to all those who have been shafted in love, double crossed, cheated on, dumped, divorced and broken hearted by a callous lover, Hank will dig out the best of miserable and angry Country songs. And Country is the best place to go for disillusion in love.
Let’s get real!
Vilentine’s will be at the beloved Half Moon Putney on Monday evening.
Tickets on the Half Moon website.

HANK WANGFORD Yippee, gigs are coming...
"As we all emerge into the light fumbling blindly like moles shut off underground for a year we see a little clutch of gigs through the late summer. Most are for the Bass Combo (Hank with Spanner Robinson and Lord Kevin Foster and dobro magician Noel Dashwood) a couple of No Hall Too Small reminders from Hank and compadre Brad Breath (Andy Roberts) and an acoustic duo with Noel Dashwood and perhaps Spanner joining us.
We will bring Holey Holey our new album as well as sacks of Wangford product.

HANK WANGFORD YouTube Videos
Hank has now added five of the six episodes of his second TV series Big Big Country where he delves in detail into parts of Country music and its roots that specially drew him in. He looks at Honky Tonk music, Duets (with many of the great Brother duets), God in Country and Mexico and its influence. At the end he goes right off the rails and goes to Bulgaria to show you the best of the Bulgarian singers and musicians - Hank loves this music and feels it ticks as many boxes as does American Country - the music of ordinary folks, carrying their stories, their history and heartaches. A special one this, not to be missed. THe whole series expands on the first HW's A-Z of C&W and together they are the first exploration of Country music on British TV.
Click that link and feast your ears and eyes along with other films about Hank and some classic performances with his various and changing bands. And when you get to Hank's channel click on Videos to see the complete catalogue of goodies.
LINK HERE

14TH AUGUST - HANK'S NEW CD RELEASED
Hank's NEW CD 'HOLEY HOLEY' will be released on 14th August and is available at all good outlets. A single, 'PERFECT DAY', (from the album) and 'MY LOVE HAS GONE' (not on the album) is to be released shortly. PLUS a 7" vinyl. (left) WATCH THIS SPACE!

ANNOUNCING HANKTUBE - The home of Hank Wangford YouTube Videos
Hank has uploaded a selection of videos via YouTube, including a handful of his LOCKDOWN SPECIALS. You can view and listen HERE

More Lockdown Balcony Sessions from Hank
Hank offers 'Perfect Day' from Hank's new Holey Holey album to brighten up your lock down day. Stay Safe.

And there's more
We've added a short video of Hank and ensemble during the recording of SAVE ME THE WALTZ. You'll find it HERE on Hank's YouTube page...

Dear Friends
Hank's contribution to our lockdown blues... Hank offers 'Simple Pleasures' from the Wake Up Dead album to brighten up your lock down day. More coming soon. Check out Hank's new cd on the 'Media' page too, HOLEY HOLEY is receiving some great reviews. HERE

Dear Friends
Following the Big Statement on the 16th March it looks like all gigs in theatres and big gatherings are off for the moment. We're as sorry as you are so we will all watch some kind of space from the comfort of our own isolation. We suggest you visit the venue & promoters' websites for up to date information. Keep yodelling and if you can keep smiling. While you wash your hands for 20 seconds of course. Hank x

Bobs & Betties
So it’s the last gig of the year before we all go off to lick our wounds and hope against hope (default position for a Gooner like Hank) for a better year to come.
And so it should be with the fine final mixes of Hank’s new album Holey Holey whizzing in. We expect it to be released in the spring of 2020.
Meantime if there are any tickets left for this loveliest of venues grab them now. A special gig is in store….
Hank comes back to his home stomping ground of Camden Town and the Green Note. For a special Xmas show Hank is bringing new friend Noel Dashwood playing heartstopping dobro and harmonica to add to the joyful rumble of the Bass Combo. Hank played a gig at Norwich’s Art Centre recently with Noel and Big Steve Arlene so wanted to bring Noel to your attention. Don’t miss this one – you’ll regret it all of 2020… So let’s kick out the footlights and get on with the show. More Country! More misery! Tears on the Tinsel!! We’re looking forward to this one more than we can say… ( DEC 2019 )

Hi Friends
Visiting the Sligo cemetery which has a gravestone marked for WB Yeast (though his mortally poetic remains are in fact somewhere else) and then looking in the WB Yeast Memorial Souvenir shop sincerely placed (unlike the man himself) in the cemetery, Hank had something of an epiphany. The old chestnut of C&W sincerity – “There are no strangers, only friends we don’t recognise” that Hank heard intoned by many Country stars particularly at the infamous Wembley Country festivals of the early ‘70s – is a quote from Yeast himself. They were selling greetings cards with Yeast’s bon mots in the WB gift shoppe. So not C&W horseshit, actual poetry… You can see Hank is back from the West of Ireland and Rancho Wangford and has been marinated in the craic for the last month. Now back to business, to finishing the mixing of Holey Holey the new album and coming to play some gigs and meeting and greeting again.

Hi Friends
As the fabulous Bridport Hat Festival beckons Click to Enbiggun!!

Hank spends a whole hour getting fully charged up in the hyper magnetic 2001 Space Odyssey electro tube. Whirr whirr bang clang bang clunk clonk bash bosh - it was great and so exciting Hank asked if he could have another go. He swore Laurie Anderson was in there with him whispering Oh! Superman into his ear. But they said he'd just get TOO charged up he'd be glowing. Come on the 7th September to the Electric Palace in Bridport to see the results and hear Hank's songs old and new from the new album with the whole Lost Cowboys. Big Martin Belmont, Space Guru BJ Cole, the Ultimate Country Fusion rhythm section Roy Dodds & Lord Kevin Foster and celestial singer and harmoniste Spanner Robinson will all be with Hank.
The socks were white when Hank went into the Big Machine - ah the power of the Magnets! Apparently this Cyclotron for the masses shifts all your hydrogen atoms sideways then measures how long it takes for them to recover... Clearly the hydrogen atoms in Hanks socks never reverted to their original whiteness... (Click to see Hank's socks in greater detail!!)

Hi Friends
Self self self! Hank has been so self obsessed in the last two months he’s missed on letting you know what’s new. Understandable, since just getting his cardiac reboot six weeks ago, getting more involved with the new album recording and then running away to Rancho Wangford to better enjoy the fiercest winds that Storm Gareth has to offer. And for winds – howling down the chimneys of the Rancho, blasting in off the wild Atlantic by the gate and screaming through the overhead wires – there’s nowhere to beat the Connemara coast. But back to you folks – pulling through assorted sicknesses that struck down the Wangford Bass Combo we had a glorious gig at Bungay’s Fisher Theatre when BJ Cole stepped in for the ailing Lord Kevin Foster and we harangued a warm partisan crowd with a bunch of fresh songs from the new album along with a smattering of oldies. Hank will come back from the Wild West this week to be ready for the Bass Combo’s return to the wonderful Green Note in Parkway, the hub of Camden in London. Come and hear Hank performing better than ever. The Cardiac Reboot looks to have done the trick and Hank – the Frankenstein of Alt Country – has risen from the moribund with his charge to the heart. The Reboot might even inspire the title of the new album… We’ll see.

THREE STANDOUT GIGS COMING UP...
Crawling out of the Great Darkness, two in London one in East Anglia’s Waveney Valley. We start with the Wangford Bass Combo pouring Country scorn on the cloying sweetness of Valentine’s Day. So successful last year the Half Moon have demanded a return to the cutting edge of revenge.
Meantime we went in to Hackney Road Studios and laid down a huge number of tracks for the new album which was waiting for the extra batch of songs from Rancho Wangford. So far the tracks are sounding sweet and now we have some work to do. We'll keep you posted. Not giving away a lot here but best that way at the beginning...

HANK & SPANNERS TRIP TO FOOTSBARN / GLEN HANSARD FESTIVAL
We've added some footage of Hank and Spanner's performnce at at the Ballintubbert for the Footsbarn / Glen Hansard festival in Ireland last September. See it HERE on Hank's YouTube page. ( SEPT 2018 )