Mike Harding, singer and broadcaster, has his own blog on the BBC Folk and Acoustic page now.
I like what he says about sessions:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/folk/2008/06/sessions-an-elusive-beast.html
“Perhaps there ought to be a Good Sessions Guide and a Campaign For Real Sessions perhaps, sponsored by CAMRA?”
Should we ‘perhaps’ tell him that this campaign already exists?
Only elusive if you don’t know where to look…..
Mike Harding says of sessions, “…they are like the Unicorn, an elusive beast…”
The Unicorn is an elusive beast because it can only be caught by a virgin. I suspect sessions are slightly easier to track down, though there may not be very much in it.
In that bastion of civilised values the North-East of England, a cheery little magazine circulates called “Folk Roundabout”, which does as far as I know list sessions as well as folk clubs et cetera in the region. But to find it, you probably have to find a folk club, and how do you do that without a “Folk Roundabout”? Bit of a Catch-22 situation. But they may be in libraries, Tourist Info., etc.
Anyway, the Mustard Board here must be about the best session gazetteer going, at any rate in Ireland and the UK.
Good thing sessions don’t have that unicorn requirement, we’d be in trouble. Star Wars conventions, now….. ;>}
Maybe sometimes it’s best it remains elusive or you get all sorts of knobheads turning up and ruining it.
Sessions have a lot of human dynamics. Dominating people can do either a lot of good or a lot of harm, especially is they bring along sound equipment. Sessions also tend to take on a character, maybe lots of guitars, maybe all too fast and dominated by the really skilled, etc. If this is not the character you want you need to look further afield.
So sessions, not so hard to find. Sessions that suit you - you may have to start your own.
Advertising in local music stores might work. That is how I learned that some local musicians were trying to start an Irish Session here.