“East London bloke with banjo takes
on all-comers and comes out alive”
– Boff Whalley (Chumbawamba)

Russ Chandler

“East London bloke with banjo takes on all-comers and comes out alive”
– Boff Whalley (Chumbawamba)

Russ Chandler is a forceful singer and banjo player who sings songs he feels have something to say to the world we live in.

He plays traditional, political and modern songs.

He is a fine banjo player and as well as giving concerts can teach and give presentations on the history and culture of the instrument.

His first album Last Night In Babylon was described by fRoots magazine as “Masterly”

He is well known around the folk scenes of East London and Essex.

Hold the Line: Lessons of the Peekskill Riots

He has written a short book called “Hold the Line: Lessons of the Peekskill Riots”.

It is a new work examining the Peekskill Riots on their seventieth anniversary. It examines the political and social background to the events, the main characters involved and draws parallels with events in the present day United States such as Charlottesville as well as drawing parallels with the increase in oppression and the growth of the far right across the world. It includes a new interview with one of the last surviving eyewitnesses to the events.

You can find out more about the book here.

On The Roof Of Your House, All Alone


His latest collection On The Roof Of your House, All Alone featuring Matt Quinn, Matthew Crampton, Rachel Weston and Steve White & the Protest Family is available now.

In this new collection Russ continues his eclectic choice of material and collaborators to come up with a very distinctive take on folk music.

Songs range from a forgotten music Hall Number from the late nineteenth century brought bang up to date in hipster Shoreditch, a song by designer and radical William Morris, one of the most powerful songs of resistance to oppression ever written and some swinging hits from the nineteen thirties. And a sad love song too.

“A Pick ‘n’ mix grab-bag of Wizz Jones, William Morris, Charles “The Laughing Policeman” Penrose, music hall silliness and radical subversion, a nudge in the conscience, and a poke in the ribs. The brevity of On The Roof Of Your House All Alone’s six-track EP format is more than balanced by it’s wide-open diversity… All human life is here. And that’s shallot…”
Andrew Darlington – RnR Magazine (Four Stars)

Click here for more about On The Roof Of Your House, All Alone

About Russ

I discovered the folk scene in 2003. In those days I played guitar, only taking up the banjo a couple of years later.

I loved the songs and not being a songwriter started arranging songs in order to bring them to a new audience. I play all sorts of things from modern contemporary songwriters to very old traditional songs.

I’m particularly interested in the Music Hall; discovering and arranging the old songs so they can connect with a modern audience.

I also play Classic finger-style banjo, and won the George A Keeler Memorial Trophy for finger-style banjo playing in 2012.

In addition to my solo work I am a member of Steve White & the Protest Family – East London’s favourite semi-acoustic singalong political folk punk group!

I am also promoter and one of the driving forces behind the Walthamstow Folk Club.

Videos

COP26: What’s This?
COP26: What’s This?
November 2021 saw the global climate talks known as COP26 held in Glasgow. The COP26 Coalition organised decentralised mass mobilisations across the world, bringing together...
Read More
Pity the Downtrodden Landlord
Pity the Downtrodden Landlord
Written by Fred Hellerman and dedicated to my previous landlord Lee and Amelia Hall, who having had more then £100K out of us over ten...
Read More
Palestine
Palestine
My banjo arrangment of the song Palestine by Jim Page. Find out more about Jim here - www.jimpage.net I’ll tell you a story, make it...
Read More
Which Side Are You On..?
Which Side Are You On..?
A version of the famous song written by Florence Reece in 1931. This is a version from Steve White & the Protest Family and was...
Read More
Jolly Old Christmas
Jolly Old Christmas
Featuring Steve White & the Protest Family on "No!!". A prime slice of Leslie Sarony silliness from 1932.   Christmas only comes along to see...
Read More
They’re Beginning to Notice Me!
They’re Beginning to Notice Me!
They're Beginning to Notice Me is a Music Hall song written by Murray and Leigh in 1899 and sung by George "Prime Minister of Mirth"...
Read More
The Labouring Man
The Labouring Man
My banjo arrangment of a traditional English song I heard on a Critics Group album. The song dates from around the time of the Napoleonic...
Read More
When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire
When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire
When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire is a music hall song written by Harry Wincott in 1893, and is most associated with Harry Champion....
Read More

About this site

This page is a collection of my recordings and videos, plus a place for me to share some of the other bits and pieces I have come up with.

There is sheet music I have found, essays and other ephemera that may be of interest to someone.

Later I will be adding some interviews too.

I would love to make this site a portal for the sort of material that interests me so if you have any ideas for articles or would like to contribute please let me know – you can contact me here.

Thanks to Theo Michael, Guy Smallman and others for the photographs.

Latest Posts

COP26: What’s This?
COP26: What’s This?
November 2021 saw the global climate talks known as COP26 held in Glasgow. The COP26 Coalition organised decentralised mass mobilisations across the world, bringing together...
Read More
Pity the Downtrodden Landlord
Pity the Downtrodden Landlord
Written by Fred Hellerman and dedicated to my previous landlord Lee and Amelia Hall, who having had more then £100K out of us over ten...
Read More
Palestine
Palestine
My banjo arrangment of the song Palestine by Jim Page. Find out more about Jim here - www.jimpage.net I’ll tell you a story, make it...
Read More
Which Side Are You On..?
Which Side Are You On..?
A version of the famous song written by Florence Reece in 1931. This is a version from Steve White & the Protest Family and was...
Read More
Jolly Old Christmas
Jolly Old Christmas
Featuring Steve White & the Protest Family on "No!!". A prime slice of Leslie Sarony silliness from 1932.   Christmas only comes along to see...
Read More
They’re Beginning to Notice Me!
They’re Beginning to Notice Me!
They're Beginning to Notice Me is a Music Hall song written by Murray and Leigh in 1899 and sung by George "Prime Minister of Mirth"...
Read More
The Labouring Man
The Labouring Man
My banjo arrangment of a traditional English song I heard on a Critics Group album. The song dates from around the time of the Napoleonic...
Read More
When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire
When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire
When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire is a music hall song written by Harry Wincott in 1893, and is most associated with Harry Champion....
Read More