« 20th July 2011: On the banks of the Lot, on the terrace of the café-restaurant « la Batelière » in Puy-l'Evêque, two musicians gave a fabulous concert to an appreciative set of diners. The duo were singer-songwriter Michel Griffin, who has lived in St. Géry for 11 years, and his accompanist, Marcel « Frenchie » Dègre, a talented harmonica-player. Their repertoire consists of ballads and blues - predominantly in English. They give concerts throughout the Lot Valley, and can be found faithfully every last Friday in the month, in the Cahors Folk Club in the Carré d'Art art gallery in rue Pélegry, Cahors. Site : www.michelgriffin.com. »   - La Depêche

« Un spectacle musical de rare qualité » is what La Depêche had to say about the Bumets' concert in Vers on 9th July. You can read the whole article here

Patrick Saradeil, the new proprietor of the restaurant ‘On Passe à Table’ in St. Géry, has already introduced a number of innovations. With the help of two local musicians, Michel Griffin, who runs the Cahors Folk Club, and Allison Marriot, he has now launched a series of ‘Open Mic’ sessions at the restaurant, and is in the process of establishing a programme of Tapas Concerts for the Summer. The ‘Open Mic’ sessions take place on the second Thursday of each month at the restaurant, which is in the centre of St. Géry, on the D662 between Cahors and Cajarc. Already recruited for the Tapas Concert series: the WoodsLot duo, who ran a Karaoke evening on June 4th, ‘Booby Traps’ on June 25th, the ‘Beans Blues Band’ on 2nd July, the ‘Claire Aberlenc Trio’, on 30th July, Michel Griffin & Frenchie Dègre on 6th August, and ‘Rag Mama Rag’ on 27th August. On the menu will be Spanish specialities, tapas such as fried squid and ‘Accras de Morue’, and the musical fare promises to be quite as tasty as the food. Not to be missed !

For more information, contact Michel Griffin via his site www.MichelGriffin.com or Patrick Saradeil on 05 65 31 43 73

There's not much about the music in this review in La Depêche of the benefit concert for Haiti, which Mark Newman & I ended up opening on 9th February 2010. But, if you were there, you might recognise yourself in the photo accompanying the article ! More than 700 people turned up in a blizzard, to see Mark Newman and myself, Rag Mama Rag, Francesca Graziano & Limmie Snell, the Toubib Jazz Band, Judy Blair Quartet and Gary Brooker (Founder of Procol Harum) - and a good time was had by all.

Most importantly, the concert raised more than 10,000 € [$14,000] for the orphans of Haiti.

A much fuller review appeared in the 18th February edition of La Vie Quercynoise, where Jean-Louis Crassac had this to say about us: