Dartmoor prison blues
This is continuation of my short series of posts about how I became involved with Contemporary Christian Music. Previous posts are listed and linked at the foot of this post.
I met Roger Lenk while we were both at Marjons in Plymouth (then a teacher education college). I soon discovered that Roger identified as a 'Messianic Jew' - someone who had been born into the Jewish tradition, but had accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as his mashiach (Messiah). We actually first met during a journey up to Dartmoor Prison where we were both billed to play at an event organised by Youth for Christ. It was a daunting trip for me, because Dartmoor Prison can be a forbidding place at the best of times, and we arrived at Princetown that autumnal evening as an eery fog was drifting in over the moors and the sun had already set. The granite walls of the prison stared at us gauntly, and the sodium lamps cast a sickly yellow hue over the stonework. As the large gates of Dartmoor slammed sonorously behind us and we found ourselves inside the enclosure, I felt the chill, and was very nervous.
I needn't have worried, because the inmates at the prison gave us a warm welcome as we played our sets, and applauded and cheered us loudly when each song finished. Evidently they didn't get a lot of entertainment in the prison. I must admit, I felt a little like Johnny Cash, playing his famous set at Folsom Prison.
It was that evening as we listened to each other play, that Roger and I realised that our styles were similar enough that we might join forces. So we formed Sonrise, a folk duo that comprised of me on vocals, guitar and various flutes/tin whistles, and Roger on vocals, guitar, dobro and dulcimer. I remember he also played an autoharp for some tracks. We specialised in tight harmonies and melodic upbeat folk and roots.
As we began to write together, I developed a deeper appreciation of the art of song writing. I concentrated mainly on lyrics which seemed to be my strength, but occasionally came up with a good melody or riff that would be incorporated into one of our songs. I saw myself more of a poet than a songsmith. I also realised during this period that a song (either the words, or the melody) could come to you at any time, and could be inspired by just about anything or anyone.
Between 1975-77 Sunrise performed at youth and church events and then wider afield, culminating in a UK tour that took us to various parts of the country, including the South West, Lancashire, and London. We toured during the very hot, dry summer of 1976, and we often travelled at night to avoid the heat, in Roger's old Morris Minor. The back of the car would be crammed full of all our instruments, a small public address system and our personal luggage. Roger left Plymouth the following year when he had completed his teacher education degree, and went on to a career in education in China, Japan, USA and Israel until his retirement. He now lives in South Africa, where he has authored several books under the name of Raphael ben Levi. His work can be found here.
Next time: How the band Mark 2 was formed.
1. My first gig
2. Onwards and upwards
Dartmoor prison blues by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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| Me c 1980 |
I needn't have worried, because the inmates at the prison gave us a warm welcome as we played our sets, and applauded and cheered us loudly when each song finished. Evidently they didn't get a lot of entertainment in the prison. I must admit, I felt a little like Johnny Cash, playing his famous set at Folsom Prison.
It was that evening as we listened to each other play, that Roger and I realised that our styles were similar enough that we might join forces. So we formed Sonrise, a folk duo that comprised of me on vocals, guitar and various flutes/tin whistles, and Roger on vocals, guitar, dobro and dulcimer. I remember he also played an autoharp for some tracks. We specialised in tight harmonies and melodic upbeat folk and roots.
As we began to write together, I developed a deeper appreciation of the art of song writing. I concentrated mainly on lyrics which seemed to be my strength, but occasionally came up with a good melody or riff that would be incorporated into one of our songs. I saw myself more of a poet than a songsmith. I also realised during this period that a song (either the words, or the melody) could come to you at any time, and could be inspired by just about anything or anyone.
Between 1975-77 Sunrise performed at youth and church events and then wider afield, culminating in a UK tour that took us to various parts of the country, including the South West, Lancashire, and London. We toured during the very hot, dry summer of 1976, and we often travelled at night to avoid the heat, in Roger's old Morris Minor. The back of the car would be crammed full of all our instruments, a small public address system and our personal luggage. Roger left Plymouth the following year when he had completed his teacher education degree, and went on to a career in education in China, Japan, USA and Israel until his retirement. He now lives in South Africa, where he has authored several books under the name of Raphael ben Levi. His work can be found here.
Next time: How the band Mark 2 was formed.
1. My first gig
2. Onwards and upwards
Dartmoor prison blues by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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