The Four Foot Four
Ceilidh and Barn dance in Somerset and beyond
Micky Little: octave-mandola, mandolin and bodhran
Q: What is your name?
Michael Roberts Little(AKA) Micky
Q: What instrument or instruments do you play in the band?
Mainly octave-mandola and wee bitty o' bodhran and mandolin
Q: What other musical instruments do you play?
Ha! ha! guitar, whistles, fiddle and jaw's harp (oh! I do have a set o' bagpipes.)
Q: What other bands, choirs, etc… are you are involved with?
The Village Folk at the moment ex-Bailey Hill Bunch, ex-Grahame's Gathering and ex-Flute Salad
Q: What other interesting projects are you involved with?
Trying to learn tunes that most folk can play
Q: How tall are you? (in feet and inches)
I'm Four Foot Four
Q: What is your day job?
A professional horticulturist
Q: What type of music do you enjoy listening to?
Not jazz or the stuff on Saturday night telly
Q: What is your favourite band or artist, musical influences, etc.?
Ossian, Planxty, Skipinnish, Julie Fowlis and Nic Jones. Major influences include, Kieth Melhuish (Folky blokey) Grahame McCulloch (Jimmy Shand button-boxer who who new all the tunes and slowed me down with his knee and a scowl), both Colin Bowen and Trevor Ryder (a parcel of rogues if ever)
Q: How did you become involved in playing folk music?
Being into prog rock, metal, punk and non-TOTP music in the 1970's, the 1980's was bloomin' awful until The Pogues Rum Sodomy and Lash showed me the way into folk then I bought a mandolin coz everyone else plays guitar better than I.
Q: Where do you live?
In a house that I still have years to pay for
Q: How long have you lived in Somerset?
We moved down from The Isle of Gigha in 2013
Q: Where else have you lived before?
As a peripatetic Head Gardener we travelled from Jersey, Devon, Somerset, Isle of Gigha and Somerset (again)
Q: What is your favourite musical key to play in?
It has got to be D major (The key drop-down tuning for the mandola)
Q: What is your favourite food?
A double fried egg roll with broon sauce, possibly repeated
Q: What is your favourite film or TV programme?
Still not sure whether it is Twelve Angry Men (Henry Fonda) or Casablanca
Q: Which are funnier, bodhran jokes or banjo jokes?
Neither as it has to be "What do you get when throw a piano down a mine-shaft? Answer A flat minor."