The Legendary Manchester Busker . www.manchesterbusker.com
History - Interview with Helen Roche www.helenroche.net
“Yes, that was indeed me - spelt 'Roach' in those days... what a nice blast from the past.
I ran into Steve Finn performing Irish music a year or so ago, that being the world I tend to move in these days.
I'm wondering who the Salutation Allstars were? I wonder if Ed Boyd ever played any of the Manchester Busker events? He's a guitarist, now in folk supergroup Flook - www.flook.co.uk - and he played with Sharon Lewis in those days sometimes. I also wonder if Michael McGoldrick might have ever been in some way involved - he was also in Flook, and is a major player in Irish music/new trad. Likewise John Joe Kelly, another local lad. Though maybe he was only a wee boy in those days.
I'm afraid to say my memories are very murky, though - shame! I was mostly in awe of the other performers, those gigs were my first experiences of a large audience. I gave up singer-songwriting a few years later - decided singing about private things in public was an equation that didn't quite work for me... and drifted gradually into traditional music (Irish, Jewish, and Bosnian) which is where I've stayed.”
