Farm Laurel Name Farm
This Hill is alive with the sound of music
Chris Berry talks with farmer and bass guitarist Charlie Hill in Skeffling
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THE CHARLIE DANIELS Band had a hit single with ‘ The Devil Went Down To Georgia ’ but whether another Charlie will ever release ‘ The Devil Went Down to Skeffling ’ is perhaps unlikely as it hasn ’ t even been written yet for one thing , but he is enjoying life with his band The Pub Lads that plays to have a great time , give a great time and raise funds for charity . In the past two years they have raised over £ 3000 for Cancer Research and they fully intend to carry on .
Charlie Hill is the larger-thanlife farmer , land agent director and livestock auctioneer who has now turned his hand to playing bass and provides the band ’ s rehearsal room in his lean-to that sees the band sharing the space with his Koi carp at Laurel Farm from where Charlie , wife Helen and their sons Francis ( 27 ) and David ( 25 ) run their 1150 acre farm enterprise growing mainly wheat and with oilseed rape as a break crop and beans . They also operate as agricultural contractors .
‘ We ’ re having a great time as The Pub Lads and people really seem to like us . There ’ s another farmer Andrew Wells of Kilnsea and then there ’ s Guy Moxon , a holiday home salesman ; my cousin Rich Newsome a solar panel installer ; and our drummer Paul Baker a retired lifeboat crewman and registered nurse , so we ’ re okay if anyone gets carried away at our gigs !’
‘ We play a bit of country , bit of rock and really anything from Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson through to Status Quo and Thin Lizzy . Whisky In The Jar goes down really well and we ’ re on with some Marc Bolan and T . Rex at the moment . We have about 40 songs that we can play with reasonable confidence . Our drummer Paul loves what we do as he ’ s played in rock bands for a long time and our repertoire is quite different to other bands . I sing Waylon Jennings ’ ‘ Mamas Don ’ t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys ’ and we play stuff like ‘ On The Road Again ’ by Willie Nelson .’
Performing in a band was something that Charlie may have thought about when he was younger but he had no idea that a chance meeting with a friend one day would lead to The Pub Lads .
‘ I tried learning to play the bass guitar at school but lost interest . The catalyst for what has happened with The Pub Lads started when this chap brought his guitar one time , we sat in the conservatory and started singing and
48 Dec / Jan 2017 www . farmers-mart . co . uk