Hi Compadres!
Welcome to June! And might be a hot June.
At the end of this month Hank is joining with dobro wizard Noel Dashwood – The Dash – and legendary guitar slinger Brad Breath aka Andy Roberts for a special gig in Brighton.
It’ll be Halfway To Christmas on Sunday 29th June at the fine Folklore Rooms in the centre of town.
Subtitled The First Noel to celebrate the first musical meting of Brad and the Dash, it will be a Country treat and a unique meeting of this trio – this Triumvirate – of Hard Country aficionados.
Much of the show will be Hank’s original songs, old classics and new songs from recent albums Holey Holey and Promises Promises (with the Dash), his new single to save the NHS Our Precious Thing and new songs as yet unrecorded.
World Premieres coming out of their ears!
The Dash will take us flying away on the wings of his dobro even unto South Sea islands.
Brad will take us by the hand into darker Country corners with his carefully curated Glimpses of Gloom and other tasty Honky Tonk morsels.

 

Compadres y companeros!
Hank is back from his break in Rancho Wangford in Connemara, the fresh Atlantic air healing him after his Aortic stent (the notorious Trouser Graft) and ready to play some classic Country again.
He will be corralling all the Wangfords - the complete Lost Cowboys - for their Spring gig at the semi historic #HalfMoon on Sunday May 11th - a May Sunday lunchtime gathering. 
Heartbreakers, Toetappers and Buckle Shiners is Hank’s promise to you. (Buckle shiners are those intimate songs you dance up close to your partner and .... shine your buckle)
It’ll be a Perfect Day as Hank croons on Holey Holey. 
Old songs, new songs including World Is Flat, Heaven Is Only For Angels and Hank’s new anthem Our Precious Thing, his love song to the NHS who he worked for most of his doctoring life. 
We’ll all sing along together, you’ll wipe away a tear or two and some will have a satisfying Sunday lunch from the Half Moon. 
Book early to avoid disappointment (last two shows Sold Out!) 
Tickets on www.halfmoon.co.uk 
See y’all there! 
Meantime have a happy May holiday weekend. Make the most of the wondrous weather!

 

Hallo Friends, Compadres and Companeros!

A big Howdy! From the edge of Europe in Hank’s Rancho Wangford in Connemara!
Hank came over with Mrs Wangford to recover from the insertion of his Aortic stent (to shore up his aortic aneurysm, a swelling balloon which has no symptoms until it bursts, then Goodbye!) Vascular surgeons call it a Trouser Graft.
Looks like a Demented Cowboy:
                 

 

At least Hank can now wear his Himalayan trousers safely. (see left)

He’ll likely wave them at the audience when he and the Big Bass Combo come to Southampton to play the prestigious The1865 club.

The twin basses of Spanner Robinson and Lord Kevin Foster will be pushed along by the urgent drums of Mike Pickering while dobro wizard Noel Dashwood will weave his magic around them and Hank’s original songs.
Hank will pluck favourites from the vast Wangford Hall Of Pain catalogue, songs from new albums Holey Holey and Promises Promises and new as yet unrecorded classics like It Is What It Is, The World Is Flat, Best Place To Find A Helping Hand (Is At The End Of Your Arm) and Heaven Is Only For Angels.

We’ll feature Hank’s new song for the NHS  written in Intensive care after a long Cardiac procedure and just before playing Glastonbury with The Dash and Billy Bragg. LUB DUP LUB DUP LUB DUP!!!

With The Dash’s magical dobro playing, El Picko’s muscular drumming, Hank’s miserable songs, Lord Kevin (the Jaco Pastorius of Country) in the Bassment and Spanner’s heavenly vocals this is going to be a night to remember.
Tickets on The1865 Club website
See y’all there!

Meantime here’s news from Rancho Wangford on the western shore of Connemara:

Here’s Rancho Wangford today resplendent in its Arsenal colours after last night’s thrashing of Real Madrid and the Rancho’s 1970s Stanley Super 80 turf (peat) stove that I inherited from my mate Noel Sweeney’s mum. It has kept us toasty for a couple of decades but is on its last legs.

It’s going to be replaced next week with a full like for like Transplant, a handsome  Reconditioned Stanley 80  entirely rebuilt by a fine Irish company, H & F stoves of Tipperary.

Means we will be able to use the stove and friends visiting can too. The old stove is so fragile no one but Hank or Mrs Wangford are allowed to touch.

 

Vilentine Day Gig
It’s that time of year again when we’re urged into fake lovey dovey candlelit dinners, soppy love songs, champagne and chocolates. Valentine’s, the hypocritical love fest, rammed down our throats. But here at Rancho Wangford we believe in true love and reality.

So join us at the historic Half Moon Putney at  Sunday lunchtime on the 16th for our anti-Valentine’s VILENTINE’S, an extravagant burst of miserable songs. True love songs, songs of separation, two timing, cheating, broken hearts, divorce, loneliness and divorce.

Hank and the full Big Bass Combo with dobro wizard Noel Dashwood will guide y’all into the dark underbelly of Country music. Stunning chanteuse Spanner Robinson and the Rhythm Duo of Lord Kevin Foster and Mike El Picko Pickering will salve your souls when the Pain gets too much.

And all with some great Country music, much from the Wangford Hall Of Pain and some tasty Hard Country classics.

Hank like his old mates Albert Lee and Ralph McTell has decided after a lifetime to have a guest singer do a couple of songs. So Florence Sommerville, a powerful twenty year old voice from Essex via Nashville, will sing y’all a couple of sad songs.
A great audience gathered already with just a few tickets left.

Tickets link: HERE 

Don’t miss this! Gonna be a goody!

And don’t forget to download Hank’s new appeal to love our NHS, the Soul of our country – NHS Our Precious Thing. Available on all streaming platforms.

Keep Yodelling in 2025!

 

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...