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Celtic Connections 2010
I’ve just returned from the 17th Celtic Connections festival. This was my sixth; each one has been different but all have been brilliant. Donald Shaw, in his third year as Artistic Director, has chosen another outstanding array of talent from all over the world to perform in Glasgow. The festival lasts eighteen days, features fifteen hundred artists and uses fourteen different venues- I don’t know another festival like it. It’s a huge feat of organisation and credit must go to the people behind it, for it always feels efficient, well run and a pleasure to attend, the staff always helpful and knowledgeable.
I arrived for the last weekend, and flew up just in time to catch a bit of rockabilly queen Imelda May at the ABC. She has a huge passionate voice and sings songs from a wide range - from sultry soul classics to self penned irreverent love songs. Dressed to kill, 50s style, with a band to match, Dublin born Imelda got the night off to a great start.
From there it was a short walk to the Royal Concert Hall, the main hub of the Festival and tonight the home of Transatlantic Sessions. The most popular event of the festival, Transatlantic Sessions happens every year, with a different line up. Aptly named too, as it’s basically a group of musicians from both sides of the Atlantic (nineteen this year) playing tunes together, taking it in turns to get up from the sofas and coffee table at the back of the stage, to come forward and join in. This year saw double bass legend Danny Thompson, Eddi Reader, Cara Dillon and John Doyle playing with American counterparts Sarah Watkins, Dan Tyminski, Tim O’Brien and Bruce Molsky. A great night, a relaxed atmosphere, and a promise that ‘Sunday would be better’ by the musicians! Good news too, for those unable to make it to Glasgow, as for the first time Transatlantic Sessions is touring. It starts this week- go and buy your tickets now!
After Transatlantic finished I wandered out to the Late Night Sessions, hosted on this occasion by Mary- Ann Kennedy for BBC Radio 3. It’s held in the Exhibition hall of the Concert Hall and is a bit like Festival club, in a well lit, corporate kind of way.
Good to see Breabach there though, the Scottish four piece performing tracks from their new album. Deolinda were there too, a Portuguese band who sang one song that sounded uncannily like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Potiphar, so I beat a hasty retreat to the hot dark crowded confines of the Festival Club, in its new home at the Glasgow School of Art. Hosted by Kevin Macleod (Singing Kettle, not Grand Designs!) resplendent in a sparkling striped suit, the Festival Club only seems to run the weekends of the festival, being replaced on weekdays by Late Night Sessions. Tonight I was lucky enough to see the Mhairi Hall Trio- piano, drums and guitar producing a sound by turn both dreamlike and funky, and Bruce MacGregor, Sandy Brechin & Brian Ó hEadhra. After a brief trip downstairs to the chill out area for chips, I returned to the dance floor for Skerryvore- a boy band Runrig for the 21st century, before heading back to my hotel.
The following morning, after a leisurely start, I walked up to the Royal Concert Hall to take part in one of the many workshops on offer at this festival. Run by Corinna Hewat, it was a vocal harmony workshop; eighty people turning up to be split into groups and sing six part harmonies. Inspiring and motivating, Corinna is a natural teacher, and I came away knowing more about music than I had when I went in. Delighted too, to discover that one of the songs we’d learnt is on the new Kris Drever album, a cd I’d just bought from the shop in the foyer.
A wander along the city’s busy Buchanon Street, and then back to the hotel to get ready for the evening’s events, starting first with dinner at the best pasta place in town- Antipasti, opposite the ABC on Sauchiehall Street. From there it was a pleasant walk down to Candleriggs, home to the very wonderful Fruitmarket/City Halls complex, my favourite venue of this festival, and just possibly my favourite venue! Sadly the gig I was going to wasn’t at the Fruitmarket, but at the City Halls, where I popped in to see Rachel Harrington, an American country/soul act singing Bobby Gentry’s ‘Ode to Billy Joe’
After she’d finished playing I took advantage of the interval to walk down to the quietest end of town to see Duncan Chisholm at St Andrews-in-the-square. I’m not sure whether this church still functions as a church- I’m guessing probably not, as there was a fixed bar in one corner, but the atmosphere was definitely reverent , aided and abetted by the formal setting and stained glass windows. Duncan was playing with Tony Byrne, Phil Cunningham and Allan Henderson. Hard to believe that he’s on his fourth solo album, but good to see the tunes are still wonderful and his sense of humour hasn’t diminished. I think he tells the best jokes of all the folk story tellers, and he was in fine form tonight, having recently been in the back of a Glasgow cab!
I stayed for a few songs and then walked back to City Halls for Grace, Hewat and Polwart. These three women sing beautiful harmonies, mostly acapella and the evening passed too quickly…though not before they’d song the other harmony song I’d learned earlier in the day with Corinna!
Late Night Sessions was busier tonight, probably because the Festival Club was sold out- Findlay Napier was back in his usual spot as compere. The Magic Lantern Show were very impressive; last year’s Danny Kyle’s Open Stage winners in the style of Mumford and Sons, Findlay Napier et al. A couple of other acts came and went, obviously unremarkably, and after a short set from Le Vent du Nord I left to go to Festival Club. If I thought it was crowded last night it was packed to the rafters tonight. Skaidi were there, a duo, comprising upright bass and a traditional Yuik singer, as part of Showcase Scotland’s Norwegian partnership. After a couple of acts I went downstairs to the less crowded bar to catch up with some friends before being lured back up by the sight of Michael Bryan and Iain Copeland on the video screen- this live link is a great idea, and stops you missing out!
Just as well, because the Wiyos were next- a four piece from Brooklyn playing old time swing/vaudeville/ragtime. I’m sure somebody will coin a phrase for their unique style, because once seen, you don’t forget them easily! The lead singer plays washboard, car horns and a variety of mouth organs and trumpets, but it’s the first time I’ve seen a loudhailer used on stage! Great vibrant sound though, and would be keen to see them again.
Last band of my night and undoubtedly the highlight of my festival experience were the Peatbog Faeries. How they all crammed onto the tiny stage I’ll never know, but I was glad they did. The brass section were tucked away in the corner, but very audible in ‘Garbo’ and there was a rocking tune from new fiddler Peter Tickell, while former member Adam Sutherland looked on from the bar. The Festival Club was on its feet, arms in the air and whistling for more but nobody encores at the Festival Club, and the Faeries were due to headline the closing night of the festival the next day.
Sadly, I wasn’t able to go, as I was due to return home the following day, but I just had time to see ‘New Voices’ before I left. A tradition when I go to the festival, New Voices is a newly composed piece of work commissioned by Celtic Connections which takes place on Sunday afternoon in the Strathclyde Suite of the Royal Concert Hall. This time I saw Lori Watson, performing with seven of her friends, including Aidan O’ Rourke, Innes Watson and Patsy Reid, as well as her brother Innes. Based on myths and legends from the Borders, the piece was entitled sanctuary, and offered some contemporary improvised music, as well as carefully scored pieces. A resounding success and I came away wanting to know more about Canobie Dick and the Lucken Hare.
And that was it, the highlight of my January over for another year. One year I’m going to attend for the whole two weeks- it is that good.
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Laura Veirs – July Flame (Bella Union BELLACD. 220)
On her seventh album this gifted Colorado songstress has returned to her earlier relatively unadorned folky style, fingerpicking her way round 13 new songs with the aid of what she calls her “crappy nylon-string guitar” and its often unashamedly odd tunings. But to be fair, that’s not at all the only sound you hear in accompaniment (she even wrote some of these songs on the banjo or electric guitar), but the overriding quality of lo-key indie intimacy is still very potent, not least in the combination of warmth and stridency inherent in Laura’s distinctive and confident voice.
Although Laura has now dispensed with a full backing band, she’s retained the services of some familiar musician friends including longtime collaborators Karl Blau and Steve Moore, string arranger Stephen Barber, guests Jim James (My Morning Jacket frontman) and Chris Funk of the Decembrists, and – vitally – producer-partner Tucker Martine who so deeply understands Laura’s creative world. Laura’s songs explore, notably (though not exclusively) through elemental imagery drawn from nature, the perennial conundrum whereby one realises that the security and stability one desires from life are nigh impossible to achieve. This uncertain emotional limbo gives rise to a tendency to revel in the transient beauty of the here-and-now: that unnaturally calm and woozily serene feel of a halcyon summer’s day.
In which context, we discover that the album is named after a variety of summer-fruiting peach which has a particular association for Laura (canning and eating some, and being inspired to write a song with that title, cured her of writer’s block a couple of years back). July Flame’s music embodies that same sweetness, that succulent, luscious quality. The new record’s finely-grained arrangements and close-miked, hand-picked individual instrumental timbres allows Laura to place an even sharper focus on her creations, while retaining the characteristically piquant quality of her intensely sensual imagery. The result lies somewhere between a folky backporch vibe and a more introspective chamber-psychedelia redolent of mid-life Beach Boys (fittingly, one song, Carol Kaye, pays tribute to the session bassist whose playing graced Pet Sounds and countless other 60s classics), and is seriously appealing, to these ears at least. Some quirky and unorthodox instrumental touches pay considerable dividends – Where Are You Driving, for instance, contains some heartbreakingly gorgeous timbres deriving from viola (Eyvind Kang), banjo and eerie pump organ; I Can See Your Tracks employs a rippling Bridget St. John guitar figure to underpin the dichotomy between hazy reverie and almost shouty vocal enthusiasm for the experience of the moment; the severely beautiful piano, strings and electrified guitar of Little Deschutes portrays the ominous yearning brought on by its echoey geographical setting, ditto the thunderous timps of Silo Song. The dreamy, floaty Sun Is King shimmers with the heat haze of childhood nirvana, while Life Is Good Blues takes a simple (Caleb Meyer?) riff into altogether weirder territory with some spiky barbershop harmonies. Quite apart from the purely sensory impact of Laura’s lyrics and vocal delivery, there’s so very much of ear-tickling interest going on in her music. July Flame is an extraordinary record, both intensely charming and compelling, and (even with all its contradictions) provides an unexpected sure-fire way to bring the heady recollections of a bygone hallucinatory summer season into your life on a cold January day: a perfect cure for the wintertime blues.
David Kidman
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Anna Shannon – BORDERLINES (Cadiz Music CP.31)
Another year, and another themed release from one of our region’s most prolific singer-songwriters, one that proves so much more than that bland description might prefigure. It’s an inspirational collection of songs of love and war: honest, impassioned reflections on the disc’s title. Anna’s original intention was to release just two new songs (Bring Our Boys Back Home and On The Homefront) as a single, but such is the strength of Anna’s muse that the writing only stopped when she had completed eight songs, thus all of them appear on this extended-EP which alternates yet also links the twin themes of love and war. Opening, then, with war, and the stirring, passionate tattoo of Bring Our Boys Back Home, both inspired by and dedicated to “the men and lads who fought and are still fighting” (you get the obvious message, but rarely has it been done more effectively in song, with Anna’s bold rhythms and fife-and-drum arrangement here both cleverly mirroring the stock musical military manoeuvres and neatly sidestepping cliché). My Love Is Away In Caledonia is a stripped-down ballad featuring some stunning guitar work from guest Sandy Stanage, whose playing inspired Anna to compose (around the song’s central motif) a companion instrumental piece, the beautiful Caledonia Lament, which forms the disc’s penultimate track. On The Homefront is a heartbreaking song of love and leaving that probably forms the closest-knit of the linked songs, inspired by and based on the real-life situation of Anna’s niece’s boyfriend setting off for a second spell in Afghanistan. The Dying Of The Day relevantly and poignantly reprises a song from Anna’s earlier CD The Whale Dreaming, and is followed with Ragged Flags, an account of a fictional accident on a bleak MOD firing-range that could easily be all too real, set to a chamber-folk setting with reel-like interludes from duetting flute and octave fiddle. Which brings us to the closing track, Good Job Kid, written to celebrate the outlook and achievement of Anna’s grandson Jamie. It’s a song with a simple message of tolerance that’s sensitively handled, but it sports a coda that just tips it over into “worthiness” (and just across the borderline in terms of sentimentality). Here Jamie himself sings us his own proud message; I can understand why it’s included, but for me it feels mildly intrusive and makes for slightly uncomfortable listening, that sits uneasily with the stylish (relative) detachment of the equally real emotional commitment of the remainder of the disc. But, even with that arguable miscalculation, there’s no denying that Anna has produced another must-have record to add to her already impressive canon of self-produced releases; I wouldn’t want to be without any of them.
David Kidman
Anna Shannon – Over Land (Chloë Productions CP. 30)
Over Land is Scarborough-based songwriter Anna’s fifth CD release, and comes at the culmination of three years during which she’s been working (and gigging) hard and rapidly (and deservedly) building a reputation as one of the folk-acoustic scene’s most confident – and compelling – live presences.
For, as folks around the northern scene already know, she makes a hell of an impression in live performance, where she brings to her lyrical and sensitively evocative songs her seriously stunning singing voice and some intensely accomplished musicianship that encompasses distinctive guitar work (influenced by both classical Spanish and folk stylings) and occasional excursions onto whistle and percussion. (She’s also a more than capable player of fiddle, flute and oboe by the way, and these instruments all get brief but effective airings on this new record, which scores points by virtue of its sparse yet richly-toned palette.)
Strictly speaking, Over Land’s immediate predecessor, the lovely, intimate When We Were Young album (released in 2008), should have brought her name to the attention of every right-thinking music-lover, for it was her most perfectly formed collection and if anything it sounds even better today. I’m not entirely sure (yet) that Over Land is quite as consistent a set in total, but it certainly contains plenty of real gems and not a weak song.
It actually also forms a neat bridge between albums (and, I guess, creative periods in Anna’s writing), since its opening two tracks (A Little Piece Of Africa and Frost On The Larch) also occur on When We Were Young and just happen to be two of its strongest songs. The reason for the re-recording of these songs, Anna explains in her liner notes, is essentially the presence of the incomparable Mike Silver, who’s been responsible for production (and mastering and mixing) of Over Land as well as the gentle and sympathetic musical arrangements on three of the tracks. Mike’s rather special, (umm) silvery-toned Lowden guitar graces six of the songs in beautiful counterpoint to Anna’s own guitar lines, and he sings backing vocal on a seventh. Mike’s new, and strongly individual, arrangement for Frost On The Larch, made after hearing only the melody of the original version, is just wonderful.
Moving on through the album, Anna glides over land (and sea) to retell the tale of the flight of golden eagles returning to their native Scotland, then comes to earth and settles down for a sequence of songs with the land (the soil) as a loose connecting theme. Three tracks carry the special resonance of Anna’s own stamping ground: the rather bluntly-titled Yorkshire Song chronicles a special moment in the fields around her home, Cinder Hills is a gentle instrumental portrait of a local hillside, and English Holly takes a Victorian perspective on one of Anna’s own regular occupations, the harvesting of holly to make wreaths.
Two songs powerfully retell old tales: the ballad of Charlotte Dymond, based on a Bodmin legend, comes straight out of Mike Silver Country, while Velvet Green (a standout track) is an old English fable on the consequences of infidelity which has a stark traditional feel and moves eerily from acappella to fiddle and hurdy gurdy drone accompaniment. Several of the other songs would have fitted in well on When We Were Young, two in particular feeling complementary to that earlier album, both being reflections from the point of view of a farmer (Where Once He Laboured affectionately recalls years spent with his working horse, while No Money For Old Rope tells of being defeated by technology and modern ways). Dancing With Lilies was written for Anna’s youngest daughter, while Bravios Gryengro provides a historical window into the life of a Romany.
So why do I still have a lingering feeling that Over Land, despite its many virtues, isn’t quite as consistent a set as its predecessor? I suppose it might be that I’ve grown to love When We Were Young so much that it will inevitably take a little longer for any new album (however good) to surpass it; but it’s equally possible that while each song is strong individually, there’s sometimes a sense that Anna’s melodies aren’t all quite as immediately distinctive this time around. This may just be a false impression, and certainly when I take a step back and at further remove from the earlier album Over Land scores especially highly and on its own terms is definitely an immensely appealing and rewarding experience – which in the end is how it should be assessed.
Oh, and the accompanying artwork is sheer magic too. Anna’s is a very very special talent, so miss this release at your peril!
David Kidman
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Various Artists – The Village: A Celebration of The Music of Greenwich Village (429 Records FTN. 17773)
In the sixties, the Greenwich Village area of New York City was the place to be, to hang out, to take in the music. It was a magnet for artists, actors, singers, poets, writers and musicians – not to mention managers and agents of course. The Greenwich Village scene was symbolic of a shared inspiration that helped change the course of popular music, and the songs composed there reflected the generation’s social conscience like nothing else, with such a far-reaching influence on everything. This CD is the end-product of a recent project concept by Savoy Label Group President Steve Vining, to celebrate the contribution of the Village to sixties and subsequent culture from out of the mouths of performers on whom the Village’s music had such a strong impact both creatively and as individual artists. Which of course entails specially-recorded cover versions of songs associated with that era, with the various musicians, in interpreting the material in their own distinctive way, showcase the timelessness and quality of the songs themselves.
Five out of the 13 songs are Dylan compositions; the pick of these is a radically slowed-down world-weary treatment of Positively 4th Street by Lucinda Williams, but the Dukhs’ take on It’s Alright Ma allows it to build and evolve into a soulfully indignant opus, and alt-rocker Rocco De Luca takes Ballad Of Hollis Brown into the realms of cinema-verité with only his resonator guitar for company. Shelby Lynne’s Don’t Think Twice takes an interesting slant on an over-covered song, but I found Rickie Lee Jones’ take on Subterranean Homesick Blues too quirky for its own good and rather missing the vitriolic point of the rant (and her use of Clangers-style swanee-whistle is nothing less than irritating). Elsewhere we find an affectionate rendition of Eric Andersen’s Violets Of Dawn by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Joni’s Both Sides Now is mistily evoked by Rachael Yamagata (who might be considered a weird choice of artist for this kind of song), and the Cowboy Junkies tackle Tim Buckley’s Once I Was with real moody style.
The intriguingly-named band Sixpence None The Richer turn in a refreshingly individual rethink of the ubiquitous traditional Wayfaring Stranger, and Bruce Hornsby’s casually jazzy piano-and-strings-backed live recording of Darlin’ Be Home Soon turns out more appealing than it might sound on paper. Los Lobos’ Guantanamera is pleasant but workmanlike, and Amos Lee’s revisit of Fred Neil’s Little Bit Of Rain pleasant and soulful. So I guess that a score of three or four genuinely thought-provoking, a similar number pretty good, a couple so-so and a misfire or two is above average for a tribute-cum-celebration of this ilk. Only one point remains to clear up: the booklet mentions bonus tracks, but I couldn’t find ’em anywhere on the disc.
David Kidman
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Rory Connor – Falling from Trees (Silvertop Records RC. 002)
Rory is singer and guitarist in the re-formed incarnation of the folk band Tarras that made such an impact on the scene a few years back, but he’s also an accomplished songwriter in his own right, with nearly ten years’ writing under his belt now and latterly acquiring a loyal following across the north by appearing with his own band at gigs over the past couple of years. Falling From Trees is his eagerly-awaited debut solo release, produced by fellow band-member Joss Clapp, on which he presents us with ten of his own compositions, securing plenty of solid instrumental support from Rob Armstrong, Ben Murray, Michael Woodward, Liam Hiatt, Louise Peacock, Richard Evans and Joss himself (in other words, most of Tarras and some of his own live band). But the general flavour of these songs is more soulful, often more pop-influenced than even partially folky, and I have to admit that the first few tracks did nothing to inspire me to investigate further. I just happened to leave the CD on while answering the postie’s knock and making a cup of tea, and then unexpectedly found both comfort and enjoyment in the disc’s more sparsely-scored later stages. Returning to the start of the disc for a second chance did improve matters, with For The Last Time revealing a measure of subtlety in its construction, but I still found the next few tracks altogether too poppy and smooth, even anodyne in idiom, although I can appreciate the high production values and competent musicianship achieved here.
On these tracks Rory sounds rather as though he’s striving for mainstream acceptance by trying too hard to be Van Morrison (Secrets), Elton John (Rooftops) or John Martyn (Australian Wine) as opposed to displaying his own voice. And yet, when he lays aside these influences, he reveals a vocal maturity rather belying his (24) years – but it’s a maturity that’s not always entirely convincingly expressed.
I did warm to these songs, but more by coming to appreciate the virtues of the carefully-managed arrangements than by the actual songwriting or singing I suspect. The quieter, bleaker ambiences, and more refreshingly limited scoring, of the plaintive Defeated, Half Full Glass and She Looks Good In Yellow seem to suit Rory’s voice better, enabling him to lay bare those expressive nuances that are struggling to make themselves heard on other, more fulsomely-clothed songs. I still think the jury’s out on this release, but even so I’m not convinced that Rory’s artistic voice is distinctive or original enough to make it into the top bracket of singer-songwriterdom.
www.myspace.com/roryconnormusic
David Kidman
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Duotone – Work Harder & One Day You’ll Find Her (Garrett Brown Music GBMCD 003)
This album reminds me of my youth when I was listening to the likes of Clifford T Ward and Al Stewart. As a journalist it’s a labour of love digging for information and piecing it together courtesy of the www and that’s what I had to do in the case of Barney Morse-Brown (cellist with The Imagined Village). For it is he and predominantly he alone (with the exception of B J Cole and James Garrett) who has created a very interesting and ultimately rewarding album.
Take, for example, with a small battery of instruments and technology he utilises the gorgeous rounded tones of cello segueing into the nicely faded in guitar and double-tracked vocals on the opening song “House In Keremma”.
Most of the album’s tracks prove Radio 2 friendly produced with a delicate yet assured hand by Robert Harbron and, if you’re like me will find this is the kind of album that you can stick your headphones on and listen to enraptured as the velvet like audio texture washes over you. From the striking, enigmatic pose on the sleeve…not dissimilar to a latter day Robert Louis Stevenson…Duotone has made an impressive debut and I for one hope that there is much more to follow.
Pete Fyfe
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Tim Hart and Friends – My Very Favourite Nursery Rhyme Record (Park Records PRKCD108)
Christmas Eve 2009 sadly saw the passing of Tim Hart who will probably best be remembered as a founding member of Steeleye Span or as part of his sublime duo with Maddy Prior. In fact it is the unusual pairing of Maddy’s vocals along with one of Hart’s “friends” B J Cole on pedal steel guitar on “Sing A Song Of Sixpence” that makes this a must buy for all completists of the folk-rock genre. Casting his net outside of the Steeleye framework (Maddy, Peter Knight, Bob Johnson and Rick Kemp) other musicians involved in the project include John Kirkpatrick, Davy Spillane (seriously!) and Melanie Harrold.
As Tim mentions in his sleeve-notes these albums (originally released as two separate recordings) were basically an antidote to the numerous rubbish releases of a similar ilk foisted on a gullible public that didn’t know any better. Of course the seam of songs (featuring deceptively ‘catchy’ melodies) such as “Lavender’s Blue”, “Oranges And Lemons” and “London Bridge Is Falling Down” have a far darker significance if you care to dig a little into their history and unravelling these gems was always a feature of any Steeleye album at the time. John Dagnall and all at Park Records should be justifiably proud in re-releasing (on double disk) what was a labour of love for its protagonist and a fitting tribute to one of the enduring legends of the folk scene.
Pete Fyfe
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McCALMANS – The Greentrax Years (Greentrax Recordings CDTRAX350)
My first encounter with The Macs was around thirty years ago at the Cambridge Folk Festival. I remember being mightily impressed by their vocal wall of sound and still am to this day. These were strident vocals employing a passion overlooked by so many artists these days (even though I still have a bit of difficulty understanding some of the more heavy Scottish dialect) and were/are the band’s trademark to this day. Never sounding happier than when it came to presenting bawdy drinking songs such as Andy M Stewart’s wonderful “Ramblin’ Rover” they certainly know how to engage and most importantly entertain their audience.Whether it be roaring out shanties (”Highland Laddie/Roll The Woodpile Down/A hundred Years Ago”), dipping into established favourites including “Both Sides The Tweed” and “Yankee Boots” or on a more reflective note utilising the band’s own finely crafted songs such as Ian McCalman’s “From Greenland” and you have a well rounded package. As a snapshot (46 songs on a double disk) this is a veritable smorgasbord of the band’s involvement with Greentrax Recordings and I hope will be a collaboration that continues for while longer.
Stop Press: I’ve just discovered that the band will finally retire at the end of 2010 so, all the more reason for purchashing a real slice of ‘folk’ history!
Pete Fyfe
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Joel McDermott – Wire Work (Download)
Joel’s an accomplished guitar player (versatile too – fingerstyle, flatpicking, classical and rhythm), also a dab hand on the mandolin and banjo; he’s been playing (and composing) music for a good quarter of a century, and yet this seems to be his first actual proper “release”. And even then, it appears only to be available on download from his website http://www.hahastudios.co.uk.
It doesn’t deserve to be hidden away in a limited niche-market, though, for it’s a delightful collection that intersperses arrangements of traditional tunes with some of more recent composition (mostly his own). Lest that description sound like a self-indulgent muso casually throwing down on tape a bunch of session tunes for his own amusement – let me say straightaway, this release is worlds away from that kind of reviewer’s nightmare, being instead a lovingly assembled sequence of brilliantly executed tracks characterised by thoughtful, intelligent musicianship and playing of gentle subtlety and delicate craft. Particular successes, I thought, were a delectably spry transformation of the shanty Essequibo River, a neat take on La Partida, a joyously nimble McDermott’s Hornpipe, a spirited mandolin-duet version of O’Carolan’s Concerto and a well-paced introductory set of reels (though I’m not sure why Joel allows some extraneous birdsong to creep in toward the end of the latter). Only on the set of jigs (track 4) do I feel that Joel rushes the tempo a tad too much; on all other tracks the pace is admirably relaxed (without being tepid) and singularly well judged, and his playing also exhibits a welcome lightness and sense of easy good-humour that transfers easily across to the listener. (The quirky encore track, a further example of this, may be little more than a throwaway, but it’s certainly entertaining.)
Joel plays all the instruments himself (and all expertly multitracked too): primarily guitar and mandolin, with some banjo and cuatro – that is, aside from the additional guitar part on Whiskey Before Breakfast, for which Joel has recruited Matthew Ord. On which tangent… if I were to carp very slightly, there’s sometimes a trace of almost-too-careful deliberateness in Joel’s arrangements, as if by playing all the parts himself he misses out on the last frisson of spontaneity that the interaction with another (i.e. different) musician playing in his own personal style would bring: which, come to think of it, is probably why I enjoyed Whiskey Before Breakfast so much. But everything you hear is crisply phrased and cleanly recorded, with a faithful portrayal of instrumental tone and timbre. I found only one drawback: the album’s 13 tracks took longer to download than to listen through!
David Kidman
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Den Miller – Be Where you Are (Own Label)
Early last year, I belatedly caught up with the recordings of this mega-talented (honestly!) Keighley (West Yorkshire)-based singer-songwriter, and he’s been well busy ever since in writing and recording this followup to his two previous records (Still A Beautiful World and Right, Where Was I?). It’s a logical next step in terms of “more of the same” – that is, a collection of exceptionally well-crafted songs couched in a fully accessible idiom with all parts performed by Den himself through the miracles of multitracked musicianship (acoustic and electric guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion and forthright, confident vocals – clever b******!).
If anything, this latest batch of songs seems marginally stronger than those on Still A Beautiful World. Or it could be that I’ve been lucky to hear him performing many of them live over the past year or so at local folk clubs… but familiarity definitely does not breed contempt in Den’s case, for his songs are genuinely memorable and, while their appeal is immediate and they’re full of catchy melodies and incisive lyrics, successive plays reveal extra canny little touches of craftsmanship, finesse and inventiveness.
As far as musical settings are concerned, Den’s as creative and accomplished as ever, displaying and maintaining what I can only call his acute pop sensibility for what works and what layers to use to build a listenable texture. Take the opening song, It Might Not Rain Everywhere, which is one of those swear-you-know-it-from-somewhere jobs, it could’ve been in a hit show or on a recently-discovered late-Beatles tape, and it comes with a torchy octave-buster of an inexorable build-up in the melody – all it needs is block-chords in the piano part hammed up to Tchaikovsky status and hey presto! Next up, One Day The First Shall Be Last is a clever retelling of folk memory in the guise of a kindof Grimm fairy tale. Then Den rivals Queen with his lush vocal harmonies on Oh For A Dream, then switches onto snarling quasi-punk Subterranean Homesick defiance mode for You Won’t Tell Me What To Think.
Imagine the Blondel-cum-Lindisfarne brand of tunefulness allied to thoughtful life-philosophy on What’s It Take To Make You Smile Again? – but with an added dizzy vocal leap into Den’s favoured high register for the climax. Sleep My Baby is an unsentimental but affecting soft-shoe-shuffle of a Broadway lullaby, while I’d Just Rather Be Me cleverly manages to escape from its Dylanesque straitjacket (but only just) to celebrate in cheesy R’n’R style. I Feel Alive is a cathartic burst of world-drumming exhilaration that (unlike many a similarly Glastonbury-tinged anthem) actually rings true, while How Did We Make It To Here? really couldn’t have expressed the eternal conundrum any better.
Now I wouldn’t intend to alienate any hardcore folkie contingent in the site’s readership here, but I’m paying Den the highest compliment by branding his songs timeless contemporary pop – even so, the beauty of his songs is that so many of them also communicate well in a stripped-down folk club setting and can appeal to the folkie audience too. As far as lyrics are concerned, Den maintains his generally positive outlook despite all the odds, and his commentaries on life’s hassles and dubious moral codes are both right-on and superbly well expressed.
Be Where You Are bestows on this fickle world a dozen really excellent songs; at times I wonder whether the world deserves it, but Den is generous to a fault in his modesty and optimism, qualities which are most refreshing and not to be begrudged. And the packaging is attractive, with appealing artwork and full lyrics supplied. Quite honestly, versatile contemporary pop-folk-styled songwriting doesn’t come any more classy than this.
www.denmiller.com and www.myspace.com/denmiller
David Kidman
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George Papavgeris – Looking Both Ways (WildGoose Studios)
This is master songwriter George’s eighth CD of original compositions in not quite that exact number of years, and it’s another stunner – although as always some of the songs may take a time to make their mark and reveal their true stature. With the aid of a handful of excellent and exceedingly versatile fellow-musicians (Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer, Paul Sartin, Pete Flood, the Tindall Family), George again paints thought-provoking and gently compelling pictures of our life and uncertain times, perceptively and unsentimentally observing with a keen eye for internal and external detail.
The unifying theme of this latest collection is that of multiple perspectives, each of which can be seen to have its own validity; this approach can come into play in all manner of life experiences: from love to war, from street life to country life, from international politics to personal trials. And so George steers us engagingly from an appreciative hymn-like consideration of the Miracle Of Life to genially ponder the conundrum of Serendipity and more bitterly celebrate life’s Handmedowns, then moves into the realms of social observation (Street Life, Love Of A Sort, Hills Above The City) before focusing in on the effects of cultural differences and baggage (Daniel And Ayse) and needless war (Azadeh, Thieves Of Innocence). Arguably the strongest item on this collection, however, is Life’s Dreams/Kite Flying, a poignant “envelope” of two linked songs reflecting from different stages of a life. George hasn’t neglected his Greek heritage either, for the most ambitious track, Erotokritos, is a translation-cum-paraphrase of an excerpt from the traditional Cretan epic poem of that name concerning the parting of lovers (this is accessible rather than esoteric, I hasten to add, and its only drawback for some might be its decidedly-non-toe-tapping 17/8 time-signature!).
Throughout the CD, George’s singing is better than ever, and his playing – particularly on the twelve-string guitar – both accomplished and mellifluous, while the musical settings are increasingly imaginative, utilising piano, violin, oboe, cor anglais, nyckelharpa, accordion, whistle, double bass and percussion (albeit selectively deployed). I must declare a small personal involvement in this CD (including acting in an advisory capacity at an early stage in the songs’ composition) but on subsequently donning the magic cloak of impartiality I feel that the end result is one of George’s most musically satisfying albums to date, even though it might not contain quite the usual quota of catchy choruses (that’s not a complaint, just an observation). For that reason, Looking Both Ways may not be the album to introduce George’s fine body of work to the first-time listener (except on a selective basis perhaps), but it does provide a good spread of the musical and thematic diversity of his output as well as a convincing ongoing statement of his personal integrity and deep-rooted humanity. Not to underestimate the aforementioned contributions from George’s fellow-musicians who clearly hold him in great regard. And finally, a mention for the attractive and intelligently realised artwork.
www.folk4all.net and www.wildgoose.co.uk
David Kidman
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Madison Violet – No Fool for Trying (True North)
Madison Violet comprises Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac, who both hail from small-town Canada. Over the course of three albums and five years, their musical ambit has shifted from pop-folk (2004’s Worry The Jury) through alt-country (2006’s Caravan) to their latest, which seems to bring more backwoods-folk into the mix (as well as instigating a name-change – from Madviolet, in case you’re wondering). Their (jointly self-penned) songs are if anything now more keenly crafted, with almost every track making a strong impact.
With a stock-in-trade of heartfelt heartbreak and longing and loss that comes as no surprise I guess, but the overall vibe is quite soft-tinged with a soundscape that’s gently driven by banjo and/or acoustic guitar with occasional fiddle from Lisa (most impressive) and a modicum of accordion, pedal steel, slide and mandolin from colleague Les Cooper and a select crew of other musicians.
Good though the openers are, it’s the songs in the middle section of the disc that are the most lasting – the tenderly soulful Small Of My Heart, followed by the small-time electric combo adding drama to Baby In The Black And White, and the powerful tale of The Woodshop. Perhaps with Best Part Of Your Love the level of invention slackens a touch, and Time And Tide doesn’t quite set the seal on the whole set, but there’s plenty of satisfying – if understated – craft on display generally on No Fool For Trying: more than enough to convince me that Madison Violet deserve to be taken seriously.
A haunting and quietly stimulating record.
David Kidman
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Inge Thomson - 'Shipwrecks & Static'
Shipwrecks & Static is the début solo album from Inge Thomson, who is likely to be familiar to many as part of the creative force behind Scottish four-piece Harem Scarem, and familiar to many more as part of Karine Polwart's band, where her musical resourcefulness and incomparably beautiful harmony vocals prove as big a draw as Polwart herself. Inge hails from the Shetland Islands' Fair Isle, and with her roots firmly embedded in such a remote island community, it is hardly surprising that Inge should create an album that is heavily influenced by the nature and geography that dominates such a community.
Bringing together a myriad of familiar instruments from the typical folk-musicians arsenal, Inge turns her back on convention and explores the far and unfamiliar reaches of their sonic capabilities, marrying them with sounds that may be less familiar to the folk genre, and displaying an admirable ingenuity in doing so. A thread of "pings, tings, glitches and nonsense" (Inge's words!) permeates the music, placed with a canny intuition and often lending a quirky character. There is a beguiling disjointedness about the melodies, with the various sound segments held together in arrangements that offer commodious breadth and depth. Shipwrecks & Static certainly rewards the patient and inquisitive listener, with potential for each visit to whisk you off to a different plane of sound. This really feels like three-dimensional music with a physical presence that you can almost visualise; it's like you could walk around in it.
The deliciously mesmerising "Cycle" incorporates a repetitively seductive mantra that adds to the cyclical nature of the piece, augmented by similarly oscillating melodies on banjo and accordion, that weave in and out of the ethereal soundscape. There's some fun to be found on the mischievous-sounding opening track, "John," with a playful accordion arrangement and lyrics that seem to tell the story of an enthusiastically sociable character: "get us home before we're to anaesthetised to think." Both have discernibly different personalities, yet carry the same sound DNA that permeates Shipwrecks & Static. "Where Do I Sign?" wryly recalls the early days of a relationship giving way to the realisation of something more enduring, whilst "Cradle Song," a Louis MacNeice poem set to music by Tim Dalling, provides an evocative narrative, matched to a suitably spellbinding arrangement.
There is a conversational structure to the more conventional "How Far?," a beguiling duet with Rory Campbell, where a sparse arrangement allows the understated beauty of the lovelorn lyrics to really capture your imagination. This is a story that could apply to two lovers, or a family awaiting the return of their seafaring loved ones, or just the community spirit of a people whose lives are bound by the uncertainty that the sea can behold. It's a song that is clever in both its simplicity, and its universal application to love, loss and longing.
With Shipwrecks & Static, Inge has created a piece of work that can boast genuine originality; it's an atmospheric collection of music that succeeds in being both challenging and utterly absorbing.
Mike Wilson
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Hanneke Cassel – For Reasons Unseen (Cassel Records HJC2009)
As one of the most exploited instruments in folk music, the fiddle is probably my favourite and when it is performed with such fluidity by the likes of Hanneke Cassel then I’m sure that you too will be enchanted by its hypnotic sound. Gently ushering the listener in with the sumptuous piano chords (also performed by the multi-talented Cassel) “The Ides Of March” opens the recording in fine style.
Joined on second fiddle by Lissa Schneckenburger and the deep throaty sounds of Natalie Haas’s cello and you indeed have a marriage made in heaven. The melody is haunting and in some ways could (I personally think) have been expanded such is the beauty and simplicity of the piece. Still, we have a whole album to go and the quality is maintained throughout with inventive use of dynamics on the sweeping, swooping jig “Blackberry Festival Footrace/For Reals”.
This is a real master-class in how bowing technique can play a major part in the make-up of a tune and proves a more than pleasing audio delight to the ears. With the exception of one track, substituting bass with the use of cellos throughout the production drives the material along at a cracking pace and it’s nice to note that apart from the sparing but superb guitar accompaniment, the music is defiantly ‘string’ propelled. For an album that is more or less totally instrumental it certainly gets the thumbs up from me and I can’t wait for the next one!
Pete Fyfe
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Lissa Schneckenburger – Song (Footprint Records FR2008)
I just knew I was going to love this album from the strains of the opening track “The Fair Maid By The Sea Shore” set to a fast waltz which builds from the driving (although not intrusive) rhythm guitar of Keith Murphy and Lissa’s commanding vocal. Gradually joined by other musicians including Stefan Amidon (percussion) Jeremiah McLane (accordion) Corey DiMario (double bass) and special guest Sharon Shannon also on accordion this ballad of a sea captain beguiled by the charms of a fair damsel is a great start to the recording.
In a well-balanced programme that features Schneckenburger’s warm vocals throughout, the beauty of the melodies/lyrics shines through without being forced as is so often the case in other band’s interpretations of traditional ballads.
Reading the sleeve notes Lissa has taken a lot of time and effort in piecing together songs from her native Maine, New England territory and, if they’re all as good as those represented here she will undoubtedly acquire an extensive repertoire to see her well into the future. On the second track set to a tune not dissimilar to The Lakes Of Pontchartrain, “Jam On Gerry’s Rock/Willie’s” establishes more links with the dangers encountered by the sometime treacherous coastline even if the buoyant tune belies the serious events of the story.
On an album littered with gems it is a testament to the protagonist (and her fellow musicians) that to this journalist at least I can safely say that there isn’t a duff track and that we in the ‘folk’ world should embrace and endorse talent that makes a real statement.
Further information from www.lissafiddle.com
Pete Fyfe
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The Rosellys – ONE WAY ST. (Own Label)
The Rosellys are an accomplished Nottingham-based duo who play music that’s best described as Americana good ’n’ true. Lead singer/guitarist Rebecca Rosewell and guitarist/fiddle player Simon Kelly released their debut CD Drive Through The Night in 2006, and One Way St. is the followup, honed in the studio following wider experience and inspiration gained on a coast-to-coast American tour later that year. And it really does feel shot through with the authentic vibe of the musical idiom, which Rebecca and Simon clearly have in their veins: One Way St. takes us from genial acoustic-country to contemporary bluegrass to thoughtful balladry (Moon And Stars) and cajun (Redwoods).
It comes as no surprise to learn that Simon’s been playing (fiddle) with zydeco/swamp-rock band The Bon Temps Playboys since age 12, while Rebecca is expert on cello and piano as well as guitar (and she comes from a musical family too). At times there might be heard a hint of Alison Krauss in Rebecca’s voice, perhaps also Gillian Welch, but in reality Rebecca’s gift for phrasing and expression is entirely her own and completely natural. Arguably her finest performances on this disc are those where she stretches out emotionally, like the plaintive and touchingly sad Mary, the heartfelt yet succinct Rescue Me and the tenderly hopeful American Dream.
Elsewhere, Rebecca cuts it just fine on the uptempo numbers, breezy Caught Me At A Bad Time and the spry opener Only Way She Knows, the latter driven on by a killer riff that verges on rockabilly, Rebecca’s bold yet seductive vocal increasingly multitracked as the number draws to its close. And in praising Rebecca’s singing I wouldn’t want to underplay the sheer excellence of her – and Simon’s – guitar playing: what a combination! Their own comparatively sparse but tuneful backings are gently augmented by Chris Clarke (double bass) and Alan Kelly (pedal steel, squeezebox) and Rebecca’s mother Helena (cello), while on two of the songs, including the lovely You Stole My Heart, backing vocals are handled by a third Rosewell family member, Natasha). This disc has proved a great discovery: one that will doubtless lead me straight to tracking down its predecessor if it’s still available.
David Kidman
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Cruel Folk – Love, Loyalty and Other Lies (Cruelfolk 001)
Cruel Folk is a Norfolk-based acoustic duo consisting of brothers Sean and Paul Holden. Their musical background, however, is in rock and jazz, Sean having played drums for 25 years (latterly in space-rock band Underground Zero) before “Seeing The Acoustic Light” back in 2001 after a visit to Cambridge Folk Festival. They call themselves Cruel Folk in a bid to reflect the kind of subject-matter (and life-outlook) with which their self-penned original songs are concerned – the dark, doomy and murderous, tales of dramatic historical escapades and suchlike. Indeed, the cover shot, of a hangman’s noose strung over a branch against a cloudy twilight sky, reinforces this; but although Cruel Folk’s music is atmospheric with a deep sense of folk tradition it’s not always especially dour in nature, and there’s a goodly amount of light and shade in the instrumental textures, keenly exploring the tonal possibilities of a host of stringed instruments (a panoply of guitars including an octave 12-string model, as well as mandocello, bouzouki and mandolin).
Initially, it would seem that the Holdens can’t really escape the most obvious of comparisons – ie. with Show Of Hands, to which reference point I might also add 70s acid-folk act Forest – but I feel their penchant for the historical (or historio-local) timeframe in narrative arguably brings them closer to the world of Weardale duo Brother Crow, while their generally in-yer-face approach to vocal dynamics (and its occasionally uncomfortable sense of strain on attaining, and maintaining, the high notes) at times seems to stem from the world of rock rather than folk. All those observations notwithstanding, there’s some strongly individual songwriting on display here on Cruel Folk’s debut CD: persuasive and involving where the story is related from the first-person viewpoint, for Paul and Sean really do get inside their protagonists and their motives and aspirations.
The standout tracks are For The Cause (which examines the actions of a terrorist-cum-freedom-fighter), Before I Walk Away (told from the viewpoint of a farmer in the Northern borders 300 years ago), the gaunt What’s Done Is Done (the plight of an 18th century thief) and Cold Blood (which tells of an informer in 18th century Scotland). But other songs are almost equally impressive in depicting the helpless plight of their characters, you’ll find as you play the album through for the second or third time. Magic’s Almost Gone is a bitter yet tender tale of unrequited love set in a college, whereas in Merrie England a soldier thinks of his home life on the eve of the battle of Towton. The latter is imaginatively scored with whistles and drum tattoos, and the disc’s opening salvo Foreign Lands even sports a singalong chorus, while the final song The Greenwood Tree tells its boy-meets-girl story in an enticingly upbeat manner (with Jude Merryweather guesting on backing vocals). Yet here, as on every other song, there’s a sting in the tale and we just know there’ll be no happy-ever-after ending. Why then should we care if “several serfs were hideously mutilated in the making of this album”, after all?!… However, sometimes (as on the closing stages of that latter track) the duo indulge in additional studio “enhancements”, seemingly for dramatic effect, and the occasional touch of over-reverb here or there doesn’t distract unduly, but there are instances where the gimmickry can backfire, as on Worst Nightmare – in any case, this song doesn’t really quite fit with the rest of the album, being rather student-humour-that-wears-thin in nature and jarring somewhat with the maturity and overall memorability of the remainder of the songs, several of which may well be destined for classic status.
David Kidman
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Atypical Bard – The Sun and The Moon (EP) (Own Label)
Atypical Bard is a youthful duo comprising singer Sarah Bard and guitarist/singer Ben Hellings, who came together in collaboration a relatively short while ago having seen each other play various gigs around Nottingham. Sarah has been a professional singer from an early age, while Ben’s best known from his early stint with the band Uiscedwr. On the evidence of this EP, they work well together and clearly have a lot of fun in proudly purveying their own stylish takes on folk songs (predominantly traditional in origin). This basically involves a lively and sprightly vocal treatment that’s ably complemented by a similarly sprightly, busy and precisely managed yet robust guitar accompaniment, occasionally supplemented by a smidgen of sensitively-applied percussion. The disc alternates uptempo songs (Doffing Mistress) with more reflective material (the title track, also His Eye Is On The Sparrow, an affecting piece with words by Civilla D. Martin and music by Charles H. Gabriel).
Inevitably, Sarah does most of the singing, although Ben takes the lead on The Carlton Weaver (aka Nancy Whisky). I found Sarah’s delivery a touch stylised, and then again almost deliberately showily-quirky at times (as on Malvina Reynolds’ Little Boxes, despite it being a laudable attempt to drag the song out of its sing-songy “kids’-favourite” status), and not always entirely convincing interpretively. But Ben’s playing is always scintillating, whether at virtuoso speed or on the more delicate figurations, and on the EP’s one purely instrumental track – a medley of Banks Of The Nile and The Good Old Way – he takes an unusual and quite unexpected approach to the melodies and rhythms that’s certainly worth hearing. The whole EP provides a refreshing listen, even while as yet I’m not entirely convinced by the duo’s idiosyncratic approach to some of their material.
David Kidman
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K.C. McKanzie – Dryland/Hammer and Nails (T3 Records 0018-2/0020-2)
Hers is not an easy name to get right, but K.C. proves a singer-songwriter who, on the evidence of her third and fourth albums received recently for review, is well worth your close attention. Actually, DryLand is the latest of K.C.’s offerings, and although on balance I think it probably engages me marginally more than Hammer And Nails both titles still have lots to commend them. Of course, since they contain exclusively self-penned material, one would expect to undergo a period of acclimatisation to K.C.’s personal style before reaping the rewards that are obviously there for the taking. It’s a bit frustrating tho’, that available biographical and background info on K.C. is rather scant (do we assume she’s US-born and bred?), and virtually all the press coverage on her music thus far seems to originate in Germany!
But it’s useful to know that after a mid-teens baptism in the music of The Band, then Beefheart and Tori Amos, it was a meeting with Joe “Budi” Budinsky (and his record collection!) that would appear to have been the catalyst for the unleashing of K.C.’s creative muse back in 2004. Since which time, Budi and his bass, banjo and percussion have become permanent musical partners for K.C.’s own voice and guitars.
Her music is also quite hard to pin down as far as genre is concerned, for she hops and flits across and back over, and sometimes straddles, that awkward boundary-line between Americana and Brit-folk s/s, with shades of Leonard Cohen angst and old-time wistfulness thrown into the mix too, and musically speaking there are sometimes even mild folk-rock touches, especially on DryLand with its generally more extensive use of drums and percussion (albeit only on selected tracks) to provide the rhythm element.
It’s both curious and interesting, though, that despite the beautiful and unpretentious sparseness of her music, the stripped-down nature of most of K.C.’s arrangements and the softly personal, intimate, passionate nature of her thoughts on love, lust, longing and despair, her writing can be intriguingly complex, elusive and challenging – disturbed and yet relaxed in demeanour. And yet, although each individual song carries its own heady, melancholy perfume and makes a strong impact during the time it occupies the airwaves, it can be hard to recall the delicate melodies therein.
And there’s something slippery about songs like I Remember You that resists not only generic categorisation but also a permanent assessment of its lyric content. But each album certainly contains plenty of standout material: Hammer And Nails highlights are the chamber-backporch banjo-and-cello plod of Wide Awake, the strange grinding rock gestures of See, How You’ve Mastered Me and the sinister, cryptic economy of Rolling Tide. DryLand’s highpoints are equally individual in character: the purposeful opening title track creatively offsets a rollicking uptempo country shuffle with a yearning cello line, while Lovesick Boy is intoned to an eerie knocking percussion, squeezebox drone and spectral clucking banjo. A brooding, bluesy cello and bass pervades Man Of Gentle Birth and an even more stealthy tread informs To The Ground, whereas The Shabby Bride resonates ominously with echoes of traditional folk balladry, Machine Gun Fire ricochets its muted banjo sparks to a jew’s harp rhythm, and Mirrors, Spoons And Bottles is a deliciously homespun banjo-ridden come-on. The disc closes with the pained emotional kernel of Into The Killerstorm. After only two or three plays, both albums were fast revealing their true stature, and DryLand in particular has become a front-runner in my affections.
David Kidman
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Macmaster/Hay – Love and Reason (Own Label MDMCD. 001)
Is there no end to the incredible creativity in Scotland these days, I ask myself… for the musicians of that fair nation are continually finding vital new ways to interpret and carry forward their traditions in the context of, and representing, an important world-stage music in its own right (expanding on the pioneering work of Martyn Bennett, I’m reminded at times here). This new collaborative venture between Mary Macmaster (leading exponent of the clarsach and electro-harp and a key member of The Poozies and Sileas) and Donald Hay (leading and much-in-demand exponent of the empathic school of drumming/percussion) provides a magically innovative, thoughtful and genuinely progressive, take on traditional Scottish music that is sure to attract a wider range of listeners.
It’s not a purely instrumental album either, a factor which will definitely broaden its appeal outwith the pure-Celtic brigade. We all know Mary’s a fabulous singer as well as a brilliant harper, and she gets plenty of chances to shine here in the sparkling musical settings that she and Donald conjure from what might imagine would be rather limited resources. The album displays a thoroughly skilful use of timbre and texture that comes from two musicians who really know their instruments and their latent possibilities and have the imagination to remain open to, and keenly and boldly investigate, new ideas (including the use of samples).
Love And Reason brings us a seriously invigorating sequence of music that journeys from a delectable reel composed by Vancouver fiddle and trumpet player Daniel Lapp, onto a pair of original tunes by piper Fred Morrison, a brace of Gaelic waulking songs, a curious pibroch by MacCrimmon, a fine song by Burns (Weary – The Slave’s Lament) and two written by local Edinburgh legend Sandy Wright – of which the unequivocally simple statement of love that is My Shining Star forms the disc’s final (and quite perfect) utterance. Highlights during the course of this wonderful journey include an enchanting little song from the time of the Jacobite Rebellion concerning the proscribed wearing of the plaid; the aforementioned pibroch, Lament For The Children (which eerily, almost cinematically, incorporates the sounds of children’s cries – it shouldn’t work, but it does!); Mary’s delicate personalised setting of Sorley MacLean’s poem Reason And Love; and the joyously rippling tune-set Waves. Mary’s in splendid voice, and no more sympathetic and tasteful (fully present but never remotely intrusive) accompanist could she have than Donald in her exemplary renditions of the MacLean and waulking songs in particular; they’re joined by singer Amy MacDougall on two of the pieces (including the aforementioned Burns song). The whole album is beguiling and mesmerising, to the extent that I can swiftly pass over one or two slightly incongruous production touches while I’m caught up in the engulfing wave of enchantingly inspirational sounds and atmospheric moods and texturings.
David Kidman
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Thea Gilmore – JOHN WESLEY HARDING (Fulfill FCCD. 132S)
This album may be but one of the many, many tribute records released to commemorate Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday (24th May 2011) – but I’m convinced it’s one of the few that will outlast the majority of those releases, and fully deserves not to get buried amidst the morass of indifferent covers that will no doubt grace the racks in the forthcoming months.
The clinching factor is always going to be the level of personal empathy and commitment displayed, and in that regard we know that Thea’s always been a devoted and passionate, and well-informed, Dylan fan. She was acclaimed by many, including no less a Dylan addict than Bruce Springsteen, for her expert cover of I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine, made for an Uncut magazine Dylan tribute CD all of nine years ago, and most recently she performed two Dylan songs (Masters Of War and the criminally undersung Lay Down Your Weary Tune) at this year’s Celtic Connections. So it seems perfectly logical that she should now get down and record the remaining 11 of the songs making up Dylan’s legendary 1968 John Wesley Harding album, and presenting the entire sequence to us in strict original running order (and with the 2002 Augustine interposed, naturally), as a respectful and apposite tribute to this perhaps partially neglected suite of songs (tho’ Thea’s not so awestruck by the model that she’s afraid to carve out her own intuitive path through the lyrics). I always found Dylan’s original record, though admirably economic in expression, a mite on the cautious side, even at times a touch slight, but intervening years have raised its status in my eyes/ears, and several of its songs might now (ok, depending on my mood at the time) arguably rank quite highly among his less overtly poetic or complex outpourings, notwithstanding the level of understatement they audibly encompass.
To realise JWH in all its glory, Thea’s brought back both Robbie McIntosh (guitar) and Paul Beavis (drums) from the Uncut session, to augment the mighty Nigel Stonier, with Ewan Davies (percussion) and Tracey Browne (backing vocals) in tow. Together they make a strong, confident and cohesive band sound, with intelligent deployment of light and shade and individual instrumental colours that, while not exactly mirroring the gentle sparseness of the original Dylan sessions, do make musical sense in the context of all the water that’s flown under the Americana bridge in the intervening 42-and-a-bit (whoa!) years. It’s to Thea’s credit, too, that she’s not attempted a faithful (or slavish) carbon-copy of Dylan’s original album, but IMHO she’s unerringly captured the spirit of the songs while putting her own special individual stamp on the interpretations: exactly like a good cover should be, and shot through with all the understanding (and importantly, integrity) that implies. Taking Thea’s cover versions on the musically literal level, several of the songs benefit from a newly minted, tough and muscular backing, with strident electric guitar and rhythm section underlining the moody vibe and raw, primally driven quality of the lyrics. Echoes of iconic traditional balladry course through Thea’s take on As I Went Out One Morning, its burnished Crazy Horse electric backing with blistering guitars and trademark blown harmonica in competing powerdrive on the bridges, then All Along The Watchtower, taken at what initially feels like an almost casual trot, gains in cryptic urgency with the introduction of cascading guitar figures. The Ballad Of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest shuffles along like a Blood On The Tracks outtake, while Drifter’s Escape brings the pounding toughness of Beggar’s-Banquet-era Stones (roughly contemporary with JWH, of course, and a key influence on Springsteen himself) to the tale. A piano-bluesy, dobro-bedecked recast of Dear Landlord brings a new angle of pathos to the singer’s plight, while a resigned take on I Pity The Poor Immigrant emphasises its purely beauteous vocal line in a kind of yearning cross between Timmins and Baez. I Am A Lonesome Hobo triumphs in its quiet-edged rustic banjo-backroads recreation.
A rockabilly-style dash through The Wicked Messenger and a genial romp through Down Along The Cove are brought into relief with the truly seductive closing siren-song of I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight. But perhaps the most impressive of Thea’s interpretations are probably those where, as on the slow-poke folk-balladry of the title song, the tone of her singing seems to’ve taken on something of the dyed-in-the-south-west timbre of Cowboy Junkies’ Margo Timmins, that cool yet emotive involvement in the developing narrative or unfolding drama. So – how best to sum up Thea’s tribute to Dylan and JWH?
Well, arguably no set of words might describe Thea better than “never known to make a foolish move”.
David Kidman
Thea Gilmore – MURPHY’S HEART (Fullfill FCCD. 122)
Over the course of nine album releases, Thea’s proved her songwriting skills over and over, and yet – in spite of rapturous reception for her extensive touring – she remains on the outside fringe of mainstream acceptance. Each successive record she releases can be counted a triumph of both writing and production, her music always making a heady impact and her individual voice remaining very strong indeed. Murphy’s Heart is album number ten, and, while it’s perhaps not Thea’s most immediately impressive set overall, it nevertheless still contains some excellent material (and importantly, no weak cuts).
Here it’s the more reflective, soul-weary experiential musings that strike most gold; most especially Automatic Blue, a chokingly dignified portrait of a friend of Thea’s caught in a painfully difficult situation over a bravely unrequited, forbidden love (and in one line of whose lyric Thea coyly and quite incidentally references Springsteen’s admiration of her own music!). Other standout songs include the beautifully seductive Coffee And Roses (where Thea sounds uncannily like Margo Timmins), the achingly plaintive How The Love Gets In and the sweet, yet understated desperation of Due South. But going more uptempo, even the breezier moments like the savvy psych-pop-flavoured single You’re The Radio and the catchy horny-honking Teach Me To Be Bad have their darker overtones, inevitably, the latter particularly being couched in wild-child illicit passions and an almost cute sense of villainy. Then there’s the jittery Not Alone, whose thicker, more opaque texture (a strident violin line set against growling fuzz guitar) gives a slight sense of sensory overload that belies the conciseness of the song’s message and secretive imagery. And the attention-grabbingly itchy, twitchy opener This Town, which disquietingly echoes the Specials’ Ghost Town along its brassy way. Connecting all of the album’s 13 songs, Thea retains her essential edge over so many other songwriters, her typically incisive perceptiveness borne out in ever-skilful wordsmithery and matching literate, insightful observation.
And if anything, her musical settings are a notch higher again in terms of sass and assurance – all credit to Nigel Stonier and his co-producer Mike Cave and the rest of the crew (which includes violinist Fluff, cellist Liz Hanks and drummer Roy Martin). Murphy’s Heart is another magisterial entry in the Thea Gilmore canon, and as I’ve said nine times before it can only be a matter of time before she breaks through the barriers with the wider acclaim she so deserves.
David Kidman
We have something quite special here, and yet it’s a seasonal album to boot. This is a record made by someone who genuinely loves Christmas, for those who also love Christmas but equally can’t abide the tinsel-and-tat, heavily commercialised, same-old-same-old crud that chokes your turkey year upon year. It oozes real affection for the season of Winter Solstice, while retaining the acutely edgy perception of the “real world” for which Thea is renowned. Nowhere is that combination more potent than on That’ll Be Christmas, which Thea herself terms “a just-about-healthy balance of joy and scepticism”. One of the album’s pair of co-writes with the brilliant Nigel Stonier, it’s exceedingly cleverly put together and can truly be considered as nothing less than a classic Christmas hit-single just waiting to happen: here Thea’s own take on a 21st century Christmas knowingly updates – and yes, surpasses – Slade’s Merry Christmas
Everybody, making it arguably the ultimate Christmas pop song (hey, it’s so good that we even get a reprise as a bonus track!…). But nearly ten minutes before that song’s first appearance, Strange Communion opens sensationally with Thea’s unaccompanied solo voice rising out of the ether in invocation of a pagan sun god – Sol Invictus – whereon, on 25th December, the “birthday of the unconquered sun” imparts the first detectable lengthening of daylight hours. Here the warm-yet-chilling timbre of Thea’s voice is accompanied by Liverpool’s award-winning Sense Of Sound Choir, and the result is seriously thrilling, a stunning prelude that threatens to eclipse the rest of the disc with its evocation of timeless antiquity. Inevitably we’re brought firmly back to earth thereafter, but it’s a heartwarming experience as Thea takes us on an emotive but inclusive journey through her own personal Christmas landscape in a sequence of songs with a seasonal connection, mostly of her own composition and both typically intelligently constructed and observed and emotionally responsive.
Thea finds her own lyrical inspiration as much in literature and folklore as in popular culture, while remaining socially aware at all times; the fiery Cold Coming, taking its cue from T.S. Eliot, tellingly explores three different aspects of the season (the religious, the secular and the confused), while the uneasily prescient cusp-of-realisation-era passage from Louis MacNeice’s Autumn Journal that Thea recites in her imaginative setting near the close of the disc could have been tailor-made for her own sensibilities. Old December is a call to allcomers to come together in this season to celebrate community, while December In New York (written by Thea all of nine years ago) is a magnificently atmospheric poetic portrait of “her kind of town”, and Drunken Angel, set to a Spectoresque rhythm, is a beautifully reflective song portraying “a twisted girl trying to make sense of life in a childish season”; these are standout tracks, and pure magic. Elsewhere, the spell cast by the winter landscape is conveyed in wide-eyed-wonder on Thea’s whispersome cover of Yoko Ono’s Listen The Snow Is Falling, while the more cynical response of humanity to seasonal frolics is conveyed par-excellence in Thea’s gleefully-Celtish cover of Elvis Costello’s St Stephen’s Day Murders (complete with a rasping Shane McGowan-like vocal from unlikely guest Mark Radcliffe!). Thea’s merry band of collaborators on this seasonal offering include Nigel Stonier, Fluff, Roy Martin, Mike Cave and Semay Wu, and they sure do her proud.
This is one of those rare seasonal offerings that, while definitively resonant of that season, is (I’m convinced) destined to outlive the glib and shallow temporal context of Ephemera-R-Us. Thanks Thea, you’ve cheered my Christmas loads already!
David Kidman
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Hut People – Home Is Where The Hut Is (Fellside Recordings FECD228)
Ah, that’s more like it something a little different from the ‘folk’ world. Paul Adams should be well chuffed with this recording on his tremendous Fellside label. For it is he who once again takes a leap of faith much as he did with Boden & Spears. This new pairing of Sam Pirt (squeezeboxes) and Gary Hammond (all things percussive) is a real breath of bellows driven air starting with the jaunty melody “Basque” which sets the pace of the album nicely. Following with the gorgeous sound of frame drum/thunder drum buoying the elegantly flowing tune “Morfars” this sound could become seriously addictive in a hypnotic kind of way. In my mind’s eye you could see the arrangement being used as the pivotal role in leading a colourful procession for celebrations such as May Day etc.
By the fourth track the “Happy One-Step” we’ve moved into Cajun country and a triangle led rhythm bringing back fond memories of Bill Caddick. This proves the adage that a good tune will always stand on its own merits whoever performs it. There is some seriously rocking stuff on this little silver disk and some great tunes that will undoubtedly find their way into other bands repertoires. If you do hear them performed by others (and there’s no finer accolade) you can say you heard it here first.
For copies of the CD which won’t be available until 25th January 2010 contact www.fellside.com or for further information on the duo check out www.myspace.com/thehutpeople
Pete Fyfe
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Artist: Folk an Sunday: The AHS Foundation Charity Concert
Venue: The Regent Hotel
Town: Doncaster
Date: 15/11/09
Website: http://www.ahsfoundation.com
The Regent Hotel is perfectly situated in the centre of Doncaster and provides an ideal setting for a major charity event both in terms of its location and its own musical heritage. The Hallgate/South Parade junction was heaving with traffic at lunchtime today as motorists slowed down to witness the last few remaining hours in the life of the Gaumont Theatre right next door. As diggers of various sizes reduced the old place to rubble, the ghost of Lonnie Donegan was no doubt felt by some of the older onlookers, recalling the night the Skiffle King recorded My Old Man's A Dustman live on that very stage in 1960, the recording of which was released as a single and which went on to sell over a million copies. Then there was the theatre's relationship with The Beatles who played there no less than three times in 1963 before Beatlemania stormed America. There was an air of sadness as I watched the bricks fall to the ground heralding the end of an era.
Adjacent to this old theatre is the Regent Hotel, which over the subsequent years has served as temporary accommodation for most of the performers who have appeared on the Gaumont stage in its heyday. My mother worked at the hotel for a while in the early 1960s and vividly remembers the Beatles stay over. The Abbey Road Bar in the basement is testament to that special relationship between the family who owns this hotel and the world famous artists who appeared next door. Today however, the Regent Hotel was playing host to a very different sort of music and for an entirely different purpose. The destruction and devastation of this neighbouring theatre cannot possibly compare with the awful events that played out in Pakistan four years ago, when an earthquake struck the country, destroying many communities and taking thousands of lives. Today the local folk community came together to raise the profile of the AHS Foundation charity and to raise funds that will be used in various ongoing endeavours to help those affected by this terrible Earthquake.
The charities' fundraising co-ordinator Eileen Myles joined me before the concert, where she brought me up to date on the progress of the work being carried out in Noon Bagla, supporting those communities devastated by the Earthquake, with aid for over 12,000 people in Kashmir. Seated in one of the windows overlooking South Parade, Eileen spoke passionately about the devastation caused and of the inspirational spirit of those affected and of the humility found in the people who are now offering their help and support.
I was keen to find out why Eileen chose the folk genre as the basis for this concert. "I was brought up with folk; from being twelve years old I've been listening to folk music and the thing about people I find, generally people who are involved in folk music do care. The two things I'm most passionate about in life are providing healthcare for these people in this village of Noon Bagla and Folk Music and so why not combine the two?" Why not indeed.
The first artist to arrive this afternoon was Clive Gregson. The running order and start time had been slightly adjusted to accommodate Clive who had another engagement in North Yorkshire later in the evening. I caught up with him just before his set and found him both relaxed and talkative. He seemed only too glad to be able to help on this occasion. I first of all asked him how he feels about charity concerts. "It's interesting because down the years, charity events on a local level can be chaotic and very poorly organised and although well intentioned, as functions and musical events they can be quite poor. I always try and make sure that it's something I'm interested in and something I'd like to help out with. I'm always positively inclined, but I always try and make sure it's going to be reasonably well run and that just because it's a benefit or charity event, I still think that people are parting with money and they still need to see something that's worthwhile and good." With Hedley Jones at the sound desk and Eileen Myles and her team at the helm, Clive had no such worries today as the whole event went superbly well.
The MC for the today's event was Jonathan Duffield who introduced each act and kept the audience up to date with various announcements. Clive Gregson's most recent CD release is a Best Of covering his solo years and this afternoon he performed some of the songs included in this retrospective album. A well respected singer-songwriter, Gregson appears equally at home with up-tempo rockers such as Graham Parker's Bare Footin' as he does with soulful ballads such as his own Touch and Go and Home Is Where the Heart Is both from his much loved and much missed duo period with Christine Collister. Having moved to America in the early 1990s and now based in Nashville, Gregson has moved in the right circles, hooking up for a while with Nanci Griffith who recorded Gregson's I Love This Town, which he played this afternoon to an attentive audience. After consulting with the audience about what they would prefer, a song by either John, Paul or George? Gregson finished his set with a totally acoustic version of George Harrison's Here Comes The Sun.
Representing the younger end of the folk scene was Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts who had hot-footed it over from Barnsley Market, where they had been performing during the afternoon, playing for shoppers and providing them with something slightly different to shop to. Katriona joked that after following Clive Gregson at a festival a couple of years ago, he was becoming 'consistently the best support act we've had.' Performing songs from their debut album SHADOWS AND HALF LIGHT Katriona and Jamie brought to Doncaster their own brand of gentle folk ballads, fiddle tunes and self-penned material such as Jamie's So Long and I Don't Want to Say Goodbye and Katriona's heartfelt Travelling In Time and a homage to an old Stephen Foster song with Susannah. "It’s really good that so many people are turning out to support such a worthwhile cause" said Katriona after the duo's set, going on to say "we feel lucky that we're fortunate enough to be in a position where we can help out."
Ray Hearne was on hand as ever to lend his support to such a worthwhile cause, contributing the poem he wrote about the Kashmir Earthquake Dark of Heartness as a prelude to his set. Ray told me later how compelled he felt to write something after watching the events unfold on TV. "What can you do when you're watching it on the television and you see a thing of such massive proportions as that Kashmir Earthquake? A lot of people who live in Rotherham near me are from Kashmir, so it hit Rotherham in that sense. People collected and people went over to Kashmir to try and help. It was such utter devastation and one of the great tragedies was that a lot of it could've been prevented, so many buildings fell on people, because they were badly designed, badly constructed, cheap materials. Many many people died and they needn't have done and so that added to the tragedy and what can a writer do? A writer has got to write and has got to try and find something; but if you keep at it, keep letting it nag at you and you nag back at it, eventually you can shape something sometimes."
Having released his CD THE WRONG SUNSHINE recently, Ray performed some of the songs this evening including Manvers Island Bound, Melting Shop Chaps and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as well as the beautiful Song For David, still an audience favourite.
Jez Lowe 'dragged a few greatest hits out' tonight, including Old Bones, Taking On Men and Tenterhooks, and as in the case of all performers today, performing totally free of charge. Speaking to me after his set tonight, Jez explained "We all try and do our bit for different causes and different charities and things, but this was something very different but obviously very worthwhile and something that Eileen felt very strongly about so she persuaded me, no bother."
The songs that Jez writes and sings are specific to his County Durham roots and he went on to explain "I was very attracted to start with, with the traditional folk melodies. The traditional folk thing really never died out in the North East of England, you know my parents sang those folk songs, they didn't know they were folk songs they were just old songs, so it was really in the blood of the people up there, a bit like it is in Ireland and Scotland with the Geordies. I really try to emphasise that I'm not trying to write pretend folk songs, they're actually new contemporary songs, but the style is just the way they come out of me really."
Rounding off the event was Doncaster entertainer, performer, comedian and songwriter Steve Womack who brought some of his own unique humour to the proceedings, bringing a smile to the faces of everyone who stayed on until the end of the six hour event. Such is Steve's wealth of knowledge of popular song, he invites the audience to call out three or four random artists and he performs a medley of songs by those artists, whoever they may be. Tonight the random choices ranged from The Beatles to Lindisfarne by way of Shirley Bassey, Warren Zevon and Jedwood, oh and it's a long time since i've heard Cliff's Summer Holiday sang so well in a folk club!
We left the Regent close to midnight after a successful few hours of great songs and music, a good deal of fun and the satisfaction of having been involved in raising funds for such a worthwhile cause. Delivering hope was the message and with the hard work of people like Eileen Myles and the rest of her team at the AHS Foundation, we can rest assured that the message will get through to those who need it most before too long.
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Artist: Vanessa Peters and Manuel Schicchi
Venue: The Wheelhouse
Town: Wombwell
Date: 14/11/09
Website: http://vanessapeters.com
For the final show in the UK leg of their current tour, Texan singer-songwriter Vanessa Peters and Ice Cream on Mondays guitar player Manuel Schicchi appeared at the Wheelhouse in Wombwell tonight as part of the Barnsley House Concerts series. Once again the Jones family, Hedley and Lynne together with Hedley's sister Sue and Rory the dog, invited a small audience into their home for another intimate evening of fine and mellow music.
Originally from Texas, Vanessa lived most of her life in Dallas before moving to Houston and then on to Austin, one of the world's leading music capitols. After gravitating to Italy and subsequently returning several times to the little town she had fallen in love with there, Vanessa met a bunch of like minded souls in 2004 and started making music together. "I was a student there, almost ten years ago now, and then I started to go back to visit because I liked this little town. Then one of the years I was visiting I met Manuel and the other two guys that form the band (bassist Juri Deluca and drummer Alberto 'Gumo' Serafini) and we all started playing together. That was in 2004 and since then we've been touring and playing together for the last five years, so I use Italy as my home base when I'm in Europe."
Ice Cream on Mondays was the name of the band and Vanessa was only too happy to join them in order to tour and play with them and together they have gone on to record three albums. I suggested that being in a band with three Italian male musicians was the unattainable dream of possibly all the women I know, to which she jokingly replied "It's true, me and three Italian guys is a bit strange but you could say the same for them; it's three Italian guys and one girl from Texas, for a lot of Italian guys that's the unattainable dream."
Completing her UK tour with not one but two consecutive house concerts, the first taking place in York last night and then again in Wombwell tonight, I asked Vanessa about the current appeal of such unique settings, which in all fairness are relatively new in the UK. "We love house concerts; if we could do a whole tour of just house concerts we would, because ultimately they're less stressful and they're more fun. They're more how story telling music is meant to be. Our music is not meant to be a big stage production with lights and dancers, it's just about the songs."
The songs were certainly what it was all about tonight and the duo performed much of the new album SWEETHEART, KEEP YOUR CHIN UP, with an exceptionally gentle touch. Completely unplugged, Vanessa and Manuel lowered their acoustic volume level to minimum in order for Vanessa's voice to cut through. "When I talk I'm a lot louder than when I sing" the singer admitted, even discarding her pick in order to gently brush the strings of her guitar with her slight fingers.
Starting with the opening song from the new album, Vanessa revealed the context of much of the new record, that of Greek Mythology and in particular Odysseus and Penelope from Homer's classic work of literature. On Good News, one of the winged Sirens is used as the basis of her story telling, as a metaphor for some of our current world conflicts. "I'm really interested in literature and so I like the idea of taking these old stories and making them modern" Vanessa admitted and at the same time pointing out that the references are not immediately obvious, "If you download the record off itunes and you never look at the lyrics and you never look at the drawings you might never even catch the mythological references because I never actually say this is the Odysseus song or this is the Penelope song, it's only if you had bought the record that you would know that. So I try to write songs that could go either way."
The characters in such literary stories as The Odyssey appeal to Vanessa in as much as she empathises with the protagonists in their yearning to return home. "I like these characters because these are characters that are not at home and we are never at home anymore, so I identify with the idea of being out to sea and trying to struggle to find your way back." To Vanessa touring and being out on the road has an appealing side to it but there is always this nagging desire to return home. "It is an adventure but at the end of the day you do just want to get home."
Vanessa tells us that home really is Texas, and despite being constantly reminded that her home town was where they shot Kennedy, the songwriter found empathy when she recently met someone from Lockerbie. "We sort of laughed together; this really is a weird world." Weirder still, for me Dallas represents the place where they shot JR, whose brother apparently had fantastically imaginative dreams that play out for much longer than your usual sleep length, but hey, if the man from Atlantis says it was a dream, then it must've been.
With songs like Austin I Made a Mess and Drowning in Amsterdam, the autobiographical element is apparent in Vanessa's song writing, but sometimes the lines between fact and fiction are somewhat blurred. "Some of the songs are totally fiction and some are completely autobiographical and it's up to everyone just to decide, because I will never tell."
Dedicating a good part of her life to touring, I wondered when Vanessa manages to fit songwriting into her busy schedule. "If I'm alone I will write on the road. It's really hard for me to write when anyone else is around at all, even if it's my best friend, I want to be totally alone." With such personal songs it would appear logical to find ones own space and to avoid distractions as much as possible.
There's a big difference between playing solo or in this case in a duo and playing in a full band. I asked Vanessa if she misses that bass line here or that drum fill there when playing in such a trimmed down version. "When you play with the band you do have to follow the letter of the law, if there's a stop coming up you have to stop there because everyone else is going to stop, so the nice thing about the duo is that we are flexible enough that if we want to do something a little bit different with the song we can and it doesn't stress anybody else out." Having said that, Vanessa is always keen to get back with the band eventually. "When we've been playing as the duo for a long time, three or four or five months and then we do have a band show, it's just really fun it's really nice to rock out a little bit."
Vanessa's popularity has grown, particularly in light of the recent video she made with Schicchi, which was entered in a video contest presided over by singer-songwriter Aimee Mann. As runners-up with their take on Mann's single Freeway, Vanessa soon found that the hits had rose from 3,000 to 30,000 overnight, eventually exceeding 100,000. Vanessa is still astonished at the number of hits the video has received. "It was crazy, I was rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, it was like is there another zero over there? I thought oh my God how is that possible overnight." Upon announcing the winners, Mann singled out Vanessa's video as one of her favourites, adding I would imagine, to the good publicity.
During two sets that our host Hedley Jones described as 'sublime', Vanessa and Manuel performed songs from their back catalogue including Nothing I Should Cry About from her debut album SPARKLER (2003), Gone from her first album with the band THIN THREAD (2005), Such Good Actors and Fireworks from her last album LITTLE FILMS (2006) and a whole bunch from the new album, plus no less than three covers, Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart in the first half and Tim Hardin's Reason To Believe in the second with the old Elvis hit (I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You serving as the final encore and therefore the song that rounded off their last UK date in their current tour, before shooting off to Holland, where they were due to be playing another gig in less than twelve hours time. Another indication of their gruelling tour schedule.
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Pùr, The Lassies Reply (MacDug Music, 2009)
Bringing something different to this year's homecoming celebrations, The Lassies' Reply is a contemporary interpretation of a selection of songs by Robert Burns. What makes this recording special, if not unique, is that Burns' work is performed in a combination of Sots and Gaelic, with Roderick Macdonald translating Burns' original words in to the Gaelic tongue. Pùr themselves are the Gaelic singer, Katie Mackenzie, and the fiddler and Scots singer Shona Donaldson, who can both lay claim to being amongst the brightest young talent on the Scottish traditional music scene. Both ladies have voices that possess an unending beauty, and their voices alone would make this recording an utter pleasure to listen to.
Adding much to the listening pleasure are the graceful arrangements and measured production work of Irvin Duguid, lending his customary distinguished feel to the overall sound, and deploying some of the best of Scotland's traditional music talent, who provide a replete and absorbing aural palette from which Duguid chooses so well.
Opening with "My Heart's In The Highlands," Katie and Shona exchange verses over a classy backdrop of strings, Irvin Duguid's piano, and the gorgeous clàrsach of Mary Ann Kennedy. This is a stylish, sumptuous arrangement, surpassed only by the chiming clarity of the vocals. But just as you might be thinking that the tone for the album is set with this opening number, Shona takes the lead on an inventive, upbeat rework of "John Anderson, My Jo," with John Goldie's nimble guitar being the perfect foil for James Mackintosh's pulsating percussion. There is a similarly dark, contemporary edge to "The Slaves' Lament," with a driving bass line that results in an enticingly catchy arrangement, and also boasts some undeniably cool harmonica playing.
Even Katie's Gaelic interpretation of "Ae Fond Kiss" (Aon Phòg Ghràidh) is delivered with a bold, carefree swing that rescues the song from the routine humdrum with which it is oft marred. There is a lively rebirth for the Scots/Gaelic fusion of "Green Grow The Rashes, O" (Chan eil ach cùram air gach làimh), that captures well the joyous spirit of Burns' lyrics, and Katie's beautifully lucid and intimate reading of "My Luv' Is Like A Red, Red Rose," exquisitely imparts the sentiments of a delicate romance.
Well, the girls have certainly done good! The Lassies' Reply is an album that draws together several strands of Scotland's rich traditions, and offers genuinely fresh interpretations of Burns' work, with a broad appeal. The accompanying publicity suggests that "if Robert Burns were alive in 2009, these are The Lassies he would be writing about." With beauty in such abundance, there are surely plenty of modern-day gentleman wordsmiths who'd be more than happy to oblige in Burns' absence.
Mike Wilson
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Artist: Robin James
Album: Saint Jude
Label: Independent
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.myspace.com/songsofrobinjames
If I was a script writer for Little Britain or The Fast Show and I was toying with the idea of coming up with a character to help lampoon the whole genre of self-indulgent singer-songwriters who walk amongst us, a character who could potentially embody all the foibles of the genre, encompassing the likes of everyone from Nick Drake and Donovan through to Devendra Banhart, Sufjan Stevens and beyond, I don't think I could've come up with a better concept than Robin James. This at first sounds disdainful, yet I don't mean it to be; after all, I love the genre.
However you approach SAINT JUDE though, you can't help but wonder whether this debut is meant to be a serious endeavour or just a joke. Robin James appears to have a singing voice that is far more fragile than any human being should be made to endure, with the end of every line sounding very much like the final breath of a dying man. I'm reminded of Syd Barrett's solo albums but played on either 78rpm or on helium, then mixed with a sprinkle of the neo-romanticism of early Tyrannosaurus Rex.
SAINT JUDE is a difficult album to listen to. Robin's Romany Gypsy and Argentinean roots are not evident in either the sound of his voice, the style of his guitar playing or in the lyrical content of the songs. The album was recorded live direct onto tape with no studio wizardry, one guitar, one voice, making for a sparsely arranged debut. If Robin is serious here, then it is heartbreakingly sensitive stuff and reaches the recesses of despair that even Leonard Cohen couldn't reach. If it is intended as a little tongue in cheek, then Van Gogh provides the most memorable punchlines.
The only song that provides a significant shift in tempo is Rag Doll Girl, which betrays the singer's fragility and proves that James has a stronger voice than first he lets on. I don't dislike the album as such, I just can't imagine a follow up.
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Artist: The Feedback File
Album: Still Revolving
Label: Independent
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.myspace.com/feedbackfile
If like me, you become slightly irritated when you come across cards stuffed in independent record shop CD browsers with tempting messages like 'if you like Nick Drake, you'll love this', then forgive me, but allow me to scribble that message right here. It's not the introspective lyricism of the Tanworth-in-Arden Bard, nor is it the complex guitar tunings found on three and a half albums worth of songs from the early 1970s that The Feedback File attempts to imitate here; it's more the ethereal essence of Drake. At times Tom Linneen's voice touches upon the breathy grace of Drake, and John Almond's guitar sound is just as crisp, but really it's the arrangements that appear to make no attempt in hiding that specific influence. Set to Crazy is probably the closest this outfit get to BRYTER LAYTER period Drake, especially in the orchestral arrangements that infiltrate the song half way through. This is all okay with me for I feel that when we lose our Drakes and Martyns we are left with a void that ought to be filled.
Despite this, I want to shrug off that influence in order to listen to John and Tom's venture unhindered by this constant comparison to an artist who left the world three and a half decades ago and one who left us more recently and whose legacy is even more poignant. The Feedback File was without doubt born out of a mutual understanding of the music from this period and chasing down these particular ghosts has proved to be a worthy cause.
STILL REVOLVING was produced in collaboration with Nigel Penny-Lanyi, who also provided a variety of instruments including some guitar and pedal steel as well as mellotron and piano and original Blue Aeroplanes member Richard Bell was on hand to provide guitar and bass parts despite being remotely positioned in Australia, proving once again that if you do take advantage of our burgeoning technological age, you can succeed in making good music from afar. A bit tricky when it comes to live appearances granted. Fink's drummer Tim Thornton kept the beat throughout and on one track, the instrumental Star Song, the late Ian Nelson provided a tenor sax solo just as he had done for his brother Bill on Be Bop Deluxe's memorable Ships in the Night back in 1976.
There's a melancholic feel to the album but it's strangely uplifting at the same time, another similarity I suppose to Drake's difficult second. Referencing both Drake and Tim Buckley as well as a nod to Saturday Sun, Not Breaking Down Doors is one of those songs that you feel you've known all your life before you've given it a first run through and together with the other ten songs on the album, it joins a body of work that is distinctly English and serves as a reflection of a bygone age.
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Artist: Stevie Coyle
Album: Ten In One
Label: Tuna Minemusic
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.steviecoyle.com
Concept albums worried me back in the 1970s and they worry me today still. Unfortunately, the term has found itself forever associated with Arthurian knights on skates, prancing around the ice rink astride pantomime horses strapped to the midriff, whilst our grumpy old caped crusader tinkles the ivories. It was always going to be a hideous affair from the get go. In the world we now know of as Americana however, the concept album has a much more intelligent approach. Tom Russell's brilliant HOTWALKER took us on a similar journey to the one Stevie Coyle attempts here on this his debut solo album TEN-IN-ONE (a sideshow tent at a carnival or circus, we are informed), with a similar cast of burlesque characters.
From the outset we know that we have been invited into a world freed from the restrictions of the standard ten song collection that Nashville is noted to approve of. In a slight twist, the first twenty seconds revisit SGT PEPPER with a reference to both the opening and closing few seconds of probably the most famous concept album of the lot, with all the middle bits removed for convenience. A Day in the Life is also referenced in the closing coda of She Ain't Got Me ensuring the hommage wasn't entirely missed at the beginning.
Train on the Brain is a growling introduction to this intriguing landscape of circus freaks and fairground folk, told with the authority of a Nighthawks period Tom Waits or a moody Robbie Robertson somewhere down a similarly crazy river. Former Waybacks guitarist Stevie Coyle makes no apology for turning his debut solo effort into a freak show. 'When The Muse taps you, you gotta answer' he reportedly remarked, going on to conclude 'especially if she taps you with a baseball bat.' The one constant thing on this album is the standard of musicianship. Each song or instrumental, augmented by an interlude of either circus sound bites or some determined rowing on a creaky boat, offers an entirely different and individual musical approach, whether it be a fiddle or banjo tune, Mr Oster's Theme and Cousin Sally Brown respectively, or some Eastern influenced Davy Graham-esque guitar playing on Cousin Sari Brown, which to all intents and purposes could be seen as the Within You Without You moment on this potential homage to The Fab's most lauded album.
The artwork only adds to the mystery with its bleak photo montage featuring presumably the mysterious Mr Oster and a booklet which reveals not much more to go on. Then there's the stark warning at the foot of the inner sleeve, 'Rip and burn this CD at your own karmic peril' ooer, consider us warned. Fortunately there is a detailed personnel list with an array of assembled talent to aid and abet this conceptual carnival including Walter Strauss who also produces, Corinne West who adds her own distinctive vocals and a bunch of musicians who spar and duel throughout. Watch out for the duelling theremin and slide on the funky Petrified Man, where Star Trek meets the Staples Singers in another galaxy, far away etc.
There are some moments of absolute beauty on this album such as the gorgeous Rue Du Rome, a thoroughly entrancing dance courtesy of Phillip Aaberg's sweeping accordion and Coyle's crisp finger style guitar and The Falcon, Richard Farina's take on the old traditional song The Blackbird, which offers some gorgeous harmony singing to a single finger-picked guitar backing.
If there's a point on TEN IN ONE where we would have originally expected the album to go, it would be on Rick Ruskin's Microphone Fever, which demonstrates once again what a thoroughly excellent guitar player Coyle is. Personally I have become jaded with solo guitar albums of the Stefan Grossman tutorial variety over the years and therefore this album is infinitely more interesting than it was originally intended, in fact, I defy anyone to listen to this through just the once; there's a distinct urge to play it over again and again.
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Derby Traditional Music & Arts Festival - 9th to 11th October 2009
Derby TMAF is one of the newer festivals to come onto the scene, but it has definitely established itself on the calendar after only three years.
It needs to be said that it’s pretty much a “concert-oriented” festival, conveniently based around one central location: the Assembly Rooms/Guildhall complex in the heart of Derby (although this year, as an experiment, there were also some limited fringe-type activities in The Quad, just across the Market Place).
Derby TMAF is all exceptionally well organised (by a team with a proven track record: Mick Peat & Celia Richmond, aka PR Promotions, with Bob Rushton) and Council-funded under the Derby Live umbrella. Sure, some harder-core folk enthusiasts may nitpick that the festival’s title is a mild misnomer, since the artistes appearing don’t fall into quite the same bracket of “core-traditional” as the deep-source or revival singers booked at certain other festivals, but there’s no disputing that Derby’s lineup always guarantees top-drawer artistes and it’s certainly been an enticing one for three years running now. For each year has proudly featured a headline première event: this time it was the turn of a stupendous new Demon Barber Roadshow (last year it was Ian Carter’s Waltzers And Wonders). And each successive year has brought a slight expansion in Derby’s “festival weekend”, with this year’s enjoying the most extensive timespan yet.
There aren’t a large number of events run concurrently, but there always seems to be enough to satisfy a decent cross-section of musical tastes!
The Friday evening ceilidh formed a momentous start to the festival, with the stage filled by a splendid 14-strong band (the Derbyshire Volunteers) led by John Tams and comprising “the great and good of the Derbyshire folk scene”, all brought to heel by expert caller Martyn Harvey. Those not wishing to ceilidh were catered for by a (packed) short concert (featuring upcoming young s/s David Gibb, the sprightly musicianship of Isambarde and the uniquely dynamic personable virtuosity of Rory McLeod), after which it was left to the recently-temporarily-re-formed Edward II to purvey their special brand of laid-back cool for a couple of hours to set the seal on the evening.
Saturday’s programme brought a pair of single-artist showcases (Les Barker, Mawkin: Causley) and a mini-concert (starting off with the name-to-watch Lucy Ward), with kids’ stuff, music sessions, dance displays, a beginners’ ceilidh and a Tilston workshop, then the evening entertainment pitted a Michael Marra showcase against a mini-concert (the excellent and reliable Keith Kendrick & Sylvia Needham, the stunning Bella Hardy and our perennial favourite Steve Tilston) before climaxing in style in the grand concert with more from Mawkin: Causley, a spellbinding set from the gorgeous Poozies and some intriguing sounds from the very latest incarnation of Eliza Carthy’s band entourage. Finally, Sunday’s programme provided further contrasts, starting with an invigorating and friendly singers’ workshop led by Sarah Matthews and Doug Eunson, and more music sessions. There was a brilliant “Local Heroes” afternoon concert (which was hard to resist billing as The Simpsons, I’m sure), which featured superb individual sets from Tams & Coope, CB&S and Martin Simpson before gathering all those participants onstage for the final half-hour or so. The afternoon’s parting-shot took the form of a typically canny set from the ever-effervescent touring partnership of Bob Fox and Billy Mitchell, guaranteed to send festival-goers off in the happiest frame of mind. Derby TMAF has so much going for it: top-drawer acts, in a comfortable, accessible venue which boasts friendly staff and excellent real ale bar and other facilities. And from 2010, the festival moves to what it hopes will be its permanent temporal home, starting on the first Friday in October.
Check it out – you won’t be disappointed.
David Kidman
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Seasick Steve - Man from Another Time(Atlantic 5051865615828)
Sexagenarian Steve Wold, alias Seasick Steve, is one of the "hot new sensations" of the moment, the latest of music's fiercely resilient one-offs to receive the major-label treatment and the (ultimate?) accolade of successive appearances on the Jools Holland TV show (three numbers instead of the token one this latest time round!). So how does his music measure up to the media circus, and is he more lasting than the "next big thing" tag that straddles the hype? Let's start with the reality: Steve's a real character, whose stock-in-trade is a reinvention of the blues, reconnecting it with its homespun roots using the often wayward methods and expressions of early practitioners like Charley Patton. Not for Steve the predictable and rigidly metrical 12-bar of the standard revivalists, but instead a revitalised, if mildly eccentric, take on the primitive delta blues, where response to the lyrics is the key to the music's pulse and momentum rather than any preordained rules and regulations. Steve's grizzled persona, one-man-band ethos and weathered, gritty vocal delivery, his determinedly oddball invented instruments - all these facets grant him a place in the pantheon of modern-day mavericks like Moondog. Man From Another Time is his third album release, and follows barely a year after the "difficult second", I Started Out With Nothin' And I Still Got Most Of It Left, which signalled the move to a major label (Warners) and to some extent encompassed "conscious" higher production values and employed extra backing musicians on a few tracks. For album three, Steve's now largely reverted to the stripped-down approach, with just backing from Swedish drummer Dan Magnusson (from the Level Devils) on seven of the dozen tracks and a guest vocal from Amy LaVere on the bonus thirteenth (the album's lone cover - Hank Williams' I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry). And the sound quality, while warm and well-upholstered, sticks to the tried-and-trusted analogue style and retains both that essential intimacy and a certain amount of rawness with the natural recording environment well conveyed. Steve's rough, heavy-nicotine-stained voice remains the intoxicating miracle it was the very first time I heard it, that much won't ever change for sure, while his songs mostly still have that big old depth charge, that massive ring of truth born of harsh experience. Steve's growling, snarling reflections are at once harsh and wistful, and the powerful emotional charge of his involved and involving performance for the most part transcends any shortcomings in the actual songwriting (tho' there are some decidedly trite lines here and there). And even so, there are moments when Steve still seems a mite fazed by his fame, and overly modest philosophising can get the better of him (the title track, for a start, well betrays this confusion).
Instrumentally, Steve's as mesmerising as ever, whether slicing slide or straight-picking: sheer energy is his stock-in-trade, and the ferocious attack is absolutely compelling. He varies texture and interest by switching between "guitars" (three-string Trance Wonder, four-string cigar-box job, battered acoustic model and one-string Diddley Bo, the latter the subject of the opening track and in danger of becoming a bit of a "gimmick"), with one excursion onto banjo (for the brilliant, spare backwoods Banjo Song). The most mesmerising songs here are the spare, pleading Dark, the unbridled Happy, the tender My Home and the dusty Just Because I Can, while the driving Never Go West packs a hard, defiant punch; elsewhere, though, some proto-Beefheart riffing almost gets the better of Steve's lyrics, while the southern-boogie-style Big Green And Yeller (Steve's unrepentant ode to ridin' his ol' John Deere tractor) feels both routine and self-conscious, and the sprawling Seasick Boogie rather outstays its limited welcome on disc. I also get the feeling that there's only a limited amount of potential mileage that Steve can draw from his (admittedly rich) stock of life-experiences, and that Steve may be reaching that limit quite soon: I can't quite envisage how things might develop from here. For now, though, Man From Another Time will do quite nicely.
David Kidman
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Gerry McNeice - Small Town Boy (Own Label, no catalogue number)
This guy's a bit of a local hero round West Yorkshire: though deservedly well regarded as a solo performer (singer, songwriter, guitarist, indeed multi-instrumentalist), Gerry also leads his own four-piece band and augmented "orchestra" and plays stand-up bass with Duncan McFarlane's mighty acoustic outfit, yet in spite of all these activities he somehow maintains an unassuming profile.
Although Gerry's been around the music scene for some 25 years, with his expertise in great demand from fellow-musicians, it's only in the past five years that he's launched himself into a solo career path. An early studio recording displayed Gerry's penchant and aptitude for intelligent experimentation, especially as regards texture and arrangement, while now on the brand-new album release, Small Town Boy, he combines that trait with his many other proven talents: characterful singing, skilled songwriting and fine all-round musicianship, all of which can be heard to good advantage on a thoughtful collection of songs that celebrate the best of contemporary acoustic writing with a handful of keen arrangements of traditional songs that (as a self-confessed nu-folkie!) he's recently discovered.
To help him realise the potential of these songs, Gerry has drawn around him a host of talented friends, mixing and matching the various musical colours as they drop in to assist. There's a real feel of willing collaboration, a genuinely enjoyable coming-together of enviably naturally talented muso-mates. These include members of his band (Katriona Gilmore on fiddle and mandolin, Ruth Wilde on double bass and Liam McNeice on guitar) and extended orchestra (Dom Howell on bodhrán and Jude Rees on oboe), while there are also key appearances from melodeonists Andy Cutting, Steve Fairholme and Pete Robinson, with backing vocals from Michelle Plum, fiddle from Marjorie Paterson and Jamie Roberts on trombone: stars every one of 'em! Gerry's personal treatments of his chosen material are without exception genial and pleasing, but that evaluation should not be taken pejoratively, for he displays a real knack for communicating the essence of each song; it's rather that Gerry's performances are couched in a brilliantly likeable, listener-friendly and thoroughly accessible nu-folk idiom that occasionally understates and belies its own keen depth of invention and imagination.
Gerry's own songs (just three on this disc, but there's plenty more on the stocks!) are simply- and memorably-expressed demonstrations of his acute empathy with the human condition, although their inspiration invariably derives from specific stories. These in turn can be based either on true events (Home is the tale of an American airman lost in training during WW2, whereas Danger Sign uses the much-documented local issue of the fence alongside the river Wharfe in Otley as a telling metaphor for other life experiences and concerns) or urban myths (The Legend Of Black Jack, a ghost who haunted a friend's farm). Gerry also turns in affectionate and well-considered performances of songs penned by other songwriters: Katriona's I Know You (clearly inspired by Alison Krauss) receives a distinctive, sensitive reading that's quite different from that on Kat and Jamie's own 2006 EP, while Boo Hewerdine's limpid Wings On My Heels shows Gerry's persuasive way with that kind of nostalgic material. For two of the album's songs, there's no other recorded comparison to hand: Shadow Of Skiddaw, which comes from the pen of Australian singer-songwriter Chris Aronsten, appealingly namechecks several locations from Gerry's (and mine own!) favourite part of the Lake District, while Circle (Round) For Danny is a lovely, evocative recent composition by Duncan McFarlane written for and about his own grandfather. Elsewhere: do we really need yet another version of Beeswing? A resounding yes, when it's as finely realised as Gerry's!… He also manages to achieve a similar freshness of interpretive approach for other folkie-familiar fodder, here the traditional songs Flash Company, The White Cockade and Lezzie Lindsay, all of which he so beguilingly makes his own. In all these cases, Gerry's superlative renditions can proudly hold their own alongside those by illustrious "star names" of the folk scene; and his melodious take on Braw Sailing is a close match for Kris Drever's celebrated recent version, which can be taken as praise indeed.
As a singer, Gerry has a very pleasing vocal delivery, a gentle and light-textured but never unfeeling way of putting across a song. And not only is Gerry a significantly accomplished instrumentalist (guitars, tenor guitar, bouzouki, banjo and basses), wearing his talents lightly and modestly, but he also has a great ear for effective blending of instrumental colour; each successive listen to this CD reveals playful and ingenious subtleties of individual parts that really enhance his own performances. There's a lot going on in there: Gerry's a real craftsman in sound at times! And for the most part, the carefully-managed recording does Gerry's creative insights commendable justice, although there were times when I felt a touch of opaqueness in the overall texture, especially in the definition of bass lines and some minor clutter in the separation of other parts. But these trifles matter little when set alongside the considerable achievements of the disc as a whole in accurately presenting the consummate nature of Gerry's talents and reflecting where Gerry is artistically right now. And it's top quality all the way - no wonder he's got so many friends!
David Kidman
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Rosie Stewart - On the Leitrim Mountainside (Spring SCD.1058)
Co. Fermanagh-born Rosie is regarded as an ambassador for traditional Ulster singing, with a direct, forceful and purposeful manner that gets straight to the import of a song. Although she's become more widely known since her appearances at Whitby Folk Week, the National Festival and Celtic Connections, she still remains outside the radar of many traditional folk enthusiasts, which is a pity for on the evidence of this, her second CD, her intensely captivating delivery and her absolute passion and involvement in everything she sings should by rights encourage a greater appreciation of her artistry.
On The Leitrim Mountainside follows her first CD Adieu To Lovely Garrison in presenting an eclectic mix of songs Rosie has picked up over the years, although, as she explains in her note, it marks a change of direction in that whereas on the earlier release she performed unaccompanied, on no fewer than eight of the new CD's fourteen tracks Rosie fulfils her ambition of recording "with music" (this is her own, rather quaint way of saying "with band accompaniment"). But we needn't worry, for Rosie's magnificently commanding voice receives the finest possible settings here, simple and considered and undistracting, drawing the colours from a small ensemble consisting of Paddy Morgan (guitar), Thomas Polland (mandolin, mandola, banjo), Neillidh Mulligan (pipes), Brendan Carson (flute, whistle) and Petesy Burns (basses), with rarely more than two or three instruments playing at any one time (even on the disc's one non-vocal item, a spirited set of hornpipes). The actual selection of songs is quite brilliant, with Rosie turning in excellent renditions of traditional ballads like The Maid With The Bonny Brown Hair and The King's Shilling and the fanciful travellers' song What Shall We Do. Rosie's also totally at home enthusiastically blasting out a country song (Fifty Miles Of Elbow Room, culled from the singing of Iris Dement), unashamedly placing this alongside Rosalita And Jack Campbell (from the pen of Armagh songwriter Sean Mone), a powerful contemporary evocation that lurches from comedy to tragedy in depicting the effect of sudden violence on people's lives.
Among the unaccompanied selections, Rosie's heavily ornamented rendition of Davie Robertson's Star O' The Bar is especially electrifying, while her joyous Jug Of Punch is a truly refreshing change from the more-usually-heard (and mechanically joyless) versions, her treatment of Bill Watkin's The Errant Apprentice is enormous fun, and her finely contoured opening rendition of Lough Erne's Shore makes for instructive comparison with that of fellow Fermanagh singer Paddy Tunney, from whom Rosie learned the song.
The CD's a genuine "cottage recording", with a wonderfully close, intimate atmosphere that allows for full listener involvement with Rosie's tremendous performances. One of the most enjoyable and consistently rewarding discs I've heard recently from any "traditional singer in English", this is.
David Kidman
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Playing Rapunzel - Abseiling for Beginners (ClubGK GKRC. 005)
The London-based Playing Rapunzel, described as "an energetic folk duo who share, in powerful harmony, songs of story and myth", comprises Mich Sampson and Marilisa Valtazanou, two indubitably talented ladies of varying multinational background. Their particular brand of folk, however, is - on the evidence of this disc - less of a grass-roots-folk steeped in tradition and more a distinctly cultured-sounding brew of unusual influences. The "health warning" is that more traditionally-inclined folkies will thus be likely to find their music too refined (even to the point of seeming "manufactured").
This would be an unjust, hasty and unwarranted dismissal, for there's an abundance of both beauty and emotion in the performances, and in the songs they've chosen to perform: really positive qualities which should not be ignored. The first, and immediately noticeable, hallmark of Playing Rapunzel's music is the ladies' tremendous voices: supremely strong and confident, wonderfully clear in both diction and timbre, and tending to be technique-driven (Mich is classically-trained) with great use of harmonies and parts. The second Playing Rapunzel feature is that - unusually for a "folk" act - their music is predominantly piano-accompanied, with only intermittent use of guitar (and then generally in a subservient role), topped out by occasional harp, cello, flute or recorder (all played expertly by Marilisa). The songs themselves form an intriguing and diverse selection, most of them little-known even within contemporary folk circles; all of them are quality compositions. I particularly liked Mich's own composition Ingo (modestly placed at the end of the disc), Mina's Song (by Zander Nyrond), and Dave Weingart's The River - none of which I'd heard before - and Playing Rapunzel's fine take on the late Dave Carter's Tanglewood Tree.
The duo also turns in inspired renditions of the lesser-known and truly lovely Steve Knightley song Seven Days and Stan Rogers' brilliantly poignant Lies. And I appreciate the contrast provided by The Beat Of Drums, a kind of mystical invocation piece on which Mich and Marilisa are joined by the duo Divine Strumpet and percussionist Tim Walker to impart an altogether broader palette. Towards the middle of the disc, two consecutive items are drawn from tradition: an unexpectedly successful, theatrical As I Roved Out (which is not always known by that title!), and a florid and idiomatic Sholem (derived from a Yiddish source). All in all, I find this an endearing and enchanting disc (although I'm aware that others may find it too cultured, even precious, for their tastes), and one which is worth any beginner diving backwards off the parapet to sample. Go on - take the plunge!
David Kidman
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Richard Lumsden – Morris: A Life With Bells On (Dreamboat Records DRMBT014)
The legend that is “Morris: A Life With Bells On” continues apace with another extraordinary leap of faith and a labour of love on behalf of the producers (Lucy Ackhurst & Chaz Oldham) who booked Richard Lumsden on the strength that the composer knew nothing about the tradition of Morris. These melodies that are used to invigorate the dancers with their sprightly steps has infused the film with a quaint British-ness of the Ealing Studios variety whilst remaining resolutely true to what the ‘folk’ world sees as the established Morris ‘sound’.
Of course the music isn’t all ‘folk’ based and Lumsden’s sweeping panoramic orchestrations induce the movie with a soundtrack that is as widely expansive as anything by say John Barry or the Russian film composer Vladimir Cosma. OK, so getting established folk fiddler John Dipper and box player Saul Rose on board as music advisors was a bit of a masterstroke to add authenticity to proceedings but it’s the use of lush string and wind arrangements that provides the pivotal role of the recording. Alongside the more traditional sounding “Derecq” and “Threeple Hammer Damson” the inclusion of the ‘rap’ inspired “Sonoma” featuring Mr McTwist is the icing on a not inconsiderable cake. This soundtrack rings all the right bells for this particular reviewer and even if you thought you weren’t the least bit interested in Morris melodies you’ll go away loving this album! This CD has become something of a coup de grace for me as I thought the soundtrack might not have been released if the film didn’t get a National release.
Of course, it has and hopefully the DVD won’t be long in coming!
Further information from www.dreamboatrecoords.co.uk
Pete Fyfe
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The Poozies – Yellow Like Sunshine (Greentrax Records CDTRAX 342)
Opening with a standard ‘blues’ riff, you feel as if you’re into conventional music pigeon-holeing until that is the introduction of Camac harp that adds such a deep, resonant texture it makes you think “wow”… this is really different! It’s that unusual texture and presentation layered by the evocative, almost eerie singing of the band on the Gaelic “Ho Mhorag” (imagine Harpies luring Jason and his Argonauts to their deaths) that the song gently adheres to the hypnotic beat so characteristic of indigenous waulking songs. Topped by an absolutely gorgeous tune “John Stephen Of Chance Inn” with its seductively simple arrangement this is what the girls do best. With four original members; Mary MacMaster (harps), Patsy Seddon (harps/fiddle), Sally Barker (guitars) Eilidh Shaw (fiddle) the quartet are now joined by the talented Mairearad Green (piano accordion/pipe drone) and there’s a sprightly ‘feel’ to the band that has been somewhat lacking of old.
Moving into Puppini Sisters style barbershop harmonies on “Black Eyed Susan” proves an interesting musical diversion although I’m not sure about the mannered lead vocals. Painting a vivid musical portrait conjuring images of technicolour landscapes and a hoped for better life in Sally Barker’s exquisite “Canada” segueing into “Oh My Country” and hopefully you have some idea of where this album’s coming from. Perhaps not as ‘in your face’ as I thought it might be, the recording has plenty to challenge the listener and that’s no bad thing in this commercially led industry of ours.
Contact www.poozies.com
Pete Fyfe
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Michelle Burke - Pulling Threads
Pulling Threads is the charming début album from Irish singer, Michelle Burke, who is currently lead singer with the long established group, Cherish The Ladies. The album offers a collection of beautifully arranged material, wrapped up in an assured femininity. Produced by Lau's Aidan O'Rourke, and featuring an array of the finest musicians from the Scottish folk scene, Pulling Threads leaves nothing to chance, with arrangements that embrace the material's folk roots without shying away from more creative leanings. Classy piano melodies sit alongside unpretentious acoustic guitar, with occasional luscious string arrangements, all perfectly understated, and contributing perfectly to the art of both singer and writer.
The star attraction is of course Burke's effortless and placid voice, with its distinctive Irish diction. You really get the impression that Burke is holding plenty back here, and that she could really belt out a tune should she wish. Instead we hear beautifully reserved and refined vocal performances, with Burke exploring subtle nuances in both the melodies and pronunciation of the lyrics.
Burke's keen ear for a good song pays dividends throughout. "Hey Mama," by Edinburgh song writer Sandy Wright, is the perfect blend of tenderness, heartache and hopelessness, with the harmonies of Karine Polwart and Kris Drever lending a rousing, spiritual chorus. Burke's lead vocals ensure that this story of a death row inmate is treated with utmost dignity, painting a harrowing picture of despair and regret. With the right exposure, this song might well be Burke's calling card.
Songs by esteemed writers such as Bob Dylan and Tom Waits also get Burke's sensitive treatment. Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" is successfully tamed and its full poetic beauty is realised with Burke's evocative reading over a fluid piano. Waits' "Broken Bicycles" is treated to a more fragmented arrangement that gives a haunting edge, befitting of the lyrics, and allowing Burke to turn in a vocal performance laced with a pensive torment.
Burke's measured expressiveness lends itself well to traditional material, and the opening track, "Molly Bawn," is much enlightened by her lucid interpretation, evoking the stark and brutal tragedy of the story. In contrast, while not being traditional, although dating from the late nineteenth century, "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen" finds Burke at her most tender, with a heartfelt reading over Kris Drever's acoustic guitar that rescues the song from its habitually clichéd associations.
Pulling Threads celebrates the emergence of an impressive interpreter of songs, that will likely have song writers around the globe queueing up to get the Burke treatment. I think I want to hear her have a crack at every song in my CD collection!
Mike Wilson
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Abi Moore - Things We Should've Said
The release of Abi Moore's second album "Things we should've said" and her tour of all 360 Caffe Nero stores in the UK, starting on 1st August and finishing on 30th Sept, enabled new audiences to see why Abi Moore is quickly being regarded as one of the finest female song-writers the UK has produced in a long-time. From the first track, "Let My Ship Sail" which will have audiences joining in for many years to come, followed by "Has The Whole World Come Undone?" where Abi raises a relevant message on the "instant" culture and fame obsessed world we presently live in and leaves you thinking and nodding your approval. The piano intro of "Just Breathe Out" is perfect for a song praising fulfilment and counting your blessings while "World Leaders and Power Seekers" has a 1960's go-go dancing type feel to it. After Abi produces a powerful vocal performance throughout "The Way It Is" she then gives a poppie/ska dimension to the CD with an interesting finish on the track "Found My Voice" before moving on to even more thoughtful and heart-felt tracks to finish a very polished and impressive album. Abi's ship is definitely sailing to the sea of success.
For more details please visit;
www.abimoore.com
www.caffenero.com
Paul Abraham
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Cool Acoustics DVD
The latest DVD released by Cool Acoustics, titled "Acoustic Selection Box" gives the viewer over 2 hours of hidden gems from the acoustic music diamond mine. With each artist being given the freedom and opportunity to showcase their many varied, but always consistant talents, the various styles produce an entertaining collection.
The ever highly-energetic Gary Stewart and his band had the venue rocking with a set of old and new favourites which get the DVD off to flying start. Rosie Doonan, confirming why she is one of Yorkshires finest and versatile female-performers, as she plays keyboards, guitar and ukulele in a set, which, with her Snap Dragons of the highly talented cellist Sarah Smout and violinist Katriona Gilmore provide a warm and poignant set to take the viewer down a different musical road and raises the expectations of what the rest of this "selection box" has to offer. A visit to Eastern Europe follows in the shape of Hungarian songstress Laura Toth, who provides confirmation that good music is universal and appreciated by music-lovers of whatever preferred genre. Nicky Phillips showing her prodigious talent, is the next to saviour, as the leaves the audience/viewer in no doubt that she is going to be a massive influence on the music-scene for many years to come. Surely a certainty for any new/young singer-songwriter of 2009 award. Rodina, featuring the impressive vocals of lead singer Aoife, allows the soulful jazz/lounge style to create a chilled out but not superficial sound edge in a memorable set. The evocative and richly composed performance from Liverpool-based Ragz adds yet another dimension before Gina Dootson completes the DVD with a performance which shows what the music scene in the UK has been missing while Gina has had her base in Germany, thankfully now returned to the UK, the performance is awesome, and finishes the enjoyable "Selection Box" in fine style.
The sincere hope is that in years to come, these artists will have the exposure they deserve and Cool Acoustics have received the recognition for all the hard work, dedication and vision in providing the opportunity to spread the acoustic family they have built, to a bigger and hopefully national audience.
For more details of the DVD, and where to purchase it from, please visit:
www.myspace.com/coolacoustics
Paul Abraham
www.leedsmusicpromotions.com
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Abbie Lathe & The Lovelies - Stargazing (Curlew Records CD001)
I’ve been enraptured by the sounds of tight, close harmonies since I first saw Steeleye Span many years ago and there are plenty featured on this album. Abbie Lathe the engaging front-person of The Lovelies along with the other members of the group Claudia Gibson (piano), Colin Fletcher (acoustic bass guitar) and Jane Griffiths (violin/viola) utilise a colourful and interesting choice of songs that is outstandingly refreshing to these jaded old ‘folk’ ears of mine. The elements of jazz make for a satisfying change as the vocal structures sumptuously envelope the listener in a warm, soft blanket of audio pleasure. As well as employing the songs of established artists including Kate Bush's “Army Dreamers” (which I a haven’t heard since the sadly departed Viva Smith’s version a few years ago) Anne Lister’s “The Moth” and the traditional “Mingulay Boat Song” it is the band’s own self-penned material that proves the real foundation. All four musicians contribute and should be justifiably proud of their song-writing and arranging skills. If you’re looking for something a little different to broaden your conceptions of what ‘folk’ music is all about then you could do worse than use this album as a starting point.
www.myspace.com/abbielatheandthelovelies
Pete Fyfe
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Womad at the Tower - Saturday 19th September.
Yesterday Peter Gabriel's celebrated festival of world music WOMAD came to come to London for the first time in over 10 years to present a weekend of performances and workshops from artists all over the world. I arrived on a fine Saturday evening to find the festival elegantly set out in the wide grassed moat of the Tower of London. A spectacular setting enhanced by the corporate feel of the whole event; sponsored by Continental Airlines, who obviously know a thing or two about keeping customers happy. Everything was of the highest standard, from the food and drink [including the opportunity to pre order picnic hampers] to the positioning of the elegantly draped stage, which had more in common with a Roman temple than a festival stage.
I arrived in time to see a drum/rhythm workshop from Korean band Dulsori, before making my way to the main stage for Nathan 'Flutebox' Lee- a fluteboxer magician who I'm guessing comes from South London. Playing the flute while beatboxing sounds impossible, and standing in front of him watching, it looked impossible too, but Nathan made it look easy. On stage with his crew- a rapper, beatboxer, fiddle player and keyboards, he was also accompanied by Hanif Khan on tablas. The whole thing was an incredible spectacle, definitely worth catching at the Purcell Rooms this coming Friday. However, repeated viewings may find this show hasn't quite found the right format yet- it needs expanding to allow for greater musicianship.
A swift scene change and four big rigs on stage later, and the eleven strong Imagined Village arrived. Described in the programme as 'quirky' this band are more of a modern day folk collective- put together by the brains behind the Afro Celt Sound System's Simon Emmerson. Representing Britain today, with people like Billy Bragg, Martin and Eliza Carthy, Johnny 'Dhol Foundation' Kalsi and Sheema Mukherjee, the Imagined Village take old folk songs and make them new, with the addition of bhangra beats and new lyrics, like 'Hard Times of Old England'.
Having performed at several festivals this summer the band were in good shape and had new songs to showcase, as well as finishing finale style with an uproarious version of Slade's 'Cum on feel the noize'. Magnificent. And as the band left the stage the thunderclouds overhead broke open, the rain voicing its disapproval at their disappearance.
The weather didn't stop the well prepared audience though, and an array of umbrellas, rain ponchos and macs appeared for those that stayed to watch the last act of the day, Khaled. This Algerian singer is widely acknowledged as one of the biggest stars in world music and his collaboration in style between traditional Algerian music and soul, reggae and rock kept everyone entertained, despite the weather.
An early finish meant it was over by 10.15pm, and it was left to Continental Airlines to have the last say; 'what we can't get in the in-flight entertainment, we put in a festival.'
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John Jones – RISING ROAD (Westpark 87179)
The prospect of a solo album from the highly charismatic Voice of Oysterband is an exciting one, and Rising Road doesn’t for a moment disappoint. Its seed was planted a few short years ago when John briefly toured outside of Oysterband in company with those dynamic fellows Benji Kirkpatrick and Seth Lakeman. It’s probably fair to say that for those who didn’t catch that tour this new album (which also features Benji and Seth among its contributors) may not deliver exactly what those listeners will expect of it, although for me its proud gestures and urgency of spirit aptly typify John’s musical personality, his very soul. And as recent Oysterband albums in particular have increasingly shown, he’s a very strong singer with a distinctive expressive presence (and yes, a “big” voice) that’s at the same time both bold and subtle. John also has a clear vision of where he’s taking a song, as the seven trad-arr. items on Rising Road (out of its twelve tracks) especially persuasively demonstrate, and on which he evidently derives further inspiration from Al Scott’s often expansive (tho’ not intrusively fulsome) production. The ancillary contributions of Ian Kearey, Alan Prosser, Sophie Walsh, François Deville and the aforementioned Benji and Seth are also not to be underestimated. For there’s a lot going on in the detail, whether it be in John’s own expressive emphasis or the more inventive aspects of the accompanying instrumentation or the choice of basic tempo or rhythmic pulse – either can be surprising, but the effect is almost always gripping. For example: Searching For Lambs (here a duet with Rowan Godel) is imparted with a brooding, almost sinister character, One Morning In The Spring, characterised by Seth’s spectral fiddle, enjoys a different perspective in this variant, and the piano-and-dulcimer-accompanied Newlyn Town becomes a tender and poignant album closer. A relentless percussive rhythm plays an important part in John’s radically different take on Polly On The Shore, which is compellingly driven along to a tough chant rather like a prison-farm worksong, as well as the shanty Fire Marengo. One other important aspect of the album is John’s renewed (rediscovered?) connection between music and landscape, not just in new self-penned originals like Walking Through Ithonside and Henry Martin but also in his fresh stance on the traditional songs, which all invoke an impressively potent sense of place – and sense of drama. For Rising Road is an epic set that conjures a spacious sense of wide-screen personal vision within a closely-focused but admirably high-definition aural canvas.
David Kidman
www.myspace.com/johnjonesoyster
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Fiddlers’ Bid – All Dressed in Yellow (Hairst Blinks Music HBM. 001)
After issuing three records on Scotland’s premier Greentrax label, this formidable septet now takes the bold step of releasing album number four under its own steam, switching recording location (to London) and producers (to Calum Malcolm) in the process. For those who haven’t already succumbed to the spell of their music, some background will be helpful. Fiddlers’ Bid is a fabulous Scottish outfit who over the 18 years of their existence thus far have espoused a mission to bring the Shetland fiddle tradition to life (and wider circulation) in vibrant virtuoso performance. There’s a life and energy about their playing that’s abundantly infectious, and their music has the power to rouse those normally immune to the charms of fiddle tunery! The band includes among its ranks no fewer than four excellent fiddle players – Andrew Gifford, Chris Stout, Kevin Henderson and Maurice Henderson – who are supplemented by Catriona McKay (clarsach and piano), Fionán De Barra (guitar) and Jonathan Ritch (bass). The sound of four fiddles in unison or in joyful interplay is a wonderful thing, but the Fiddlers’ Bid approach is intelligent and ensures interest and variety by skilful manipulation of the textures and there’s no sense of clutter or overcrowding – so that when the full ensemble kicks in it makes a great impact. Although the signature band sound is inevitably fiddle-rich, the fiddlers aren’t selfish and regularly leave gaps in the texture for some delightful non-fiddle solo passages or fills. Catriona gets to lead on Midnight, and her deft but confident treatment of the tricky time-signature is brilliantly taken up by the fiddle section. Glancing initially at the cover listing might give rise to fears that the album, with six just tracks (all but one over five minutes in duration, and the title-track finale weighing in at an epic quarter-of-an-hour!), will be heavy going – but the minutes fairly whiz by in a whirlwind of scintillating playing and brilliant tunes. Though a healthy majority of these are of traditional Shetland origin, there’s a couple from Sweden and one from Estonia while Chris brings four of his own fine compositions to the mix too. Moods range from the no-holds-barred attack and session-spirit vibe of The Fiddlers’ Bid Ode To Joy set to the evocative pump-organ stylings of Astrid’s Vals, while the aforementioned finale in particular wears its ambitious and unusual structure (a sequence of contrasted reels leading to a reposeful waltz and slow air) lightly in a really appealing combination of thrust and fragility. But the whole record is a dazzling and treasurable display of lovingly phrased instrumental work and keen, bright-eyed musicianship.
David Kidman
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The Dog Roses – Just Another Saturday (EP) (Superfan Music, no catalogue number)
Styled as “South London’s finest rocking string band”, the “five boys in black” have been doing the rounds of the UK’s country/Americana circuit over the past couple of years to increasing acclaim, and they now consolidate those live appearances by releasing this 16-minute, five-track EP (produced, interestingly, by Davy O’List – formerly of The Nice and The Attack) that encapsulates their appeal in a nutshell. Tight, well-crafted, catchy and addictive self-penned songs with a stomping rootsy vibe, all propelled along by a keen fiddle melody line, tasty accordion or harmonica fills, driving guitar rhythm and a strong gutsy backbeat. Think Durbervilles, Bushburys, with a dusting of Pogue swagger too but the music is never too frantic for its own good. The midway track is a rather gorgeous honky-tonk waltz (Let The Bottle Take The Heartache Away), on which mainman Mike Perrett’s joined by Sally George on duet vocal. The four framing tracks are all rather neat, unpretentious uptempo good-time – but it’s quality stuff, make no mistake.
David Kidman
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Artist: Doug Cox
Album: Without Words
Label: Black Hen
Tracks: 13
Website: www.dougcox.org
Doug Cox approaches the Dobro as an undiscovered instrument and explores its potential as if he had just been given the very first prototype. Unafraid to fuse Classical elements with both Eastern and Western influences, bluegrass, pop, jazz and what you might possibly expect to hear on Mars, Cox handles each investigation with a sensitive touch and precise execution. Like most of us, Doug Cox first heard Jerry Douglas over twenty years ago and was instantly aware of the potential of using the Dobro as much more than an instrumental fill-in, but as a bone-fide lead instrument in its own right.
On Without Words, Cox hand picks some of his previously recorded work and presents the thirteen pieces as a compact package of instrumental gems, some self-written, some by others, but each in this context very much his own. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" borrows from the original acoustic demo of the song George subsequently chose to rock-up with Clapton for the glorious White Album. It sounds pretty much like Union Station emoting sublimely in between takes, whilst Alison gives her tonsils a break. A gorgeous version of one of the Fab's most underrated tunes.
Tackling Duke Ellington on a modified guitar and metal slide would in other hands possibly be reduced to novelty value only, but with the dexterous handling of "Caravan" as a bluegrass number challenging the old jazz guard in a sort of feuding banjos manner, is nothing short of inspired. The strangled cornet solo, courtesy of Daniel Lapp, comes across as a duel of sorts between Western music of two distinctly original styles. Joe Zawinul's "Birdland" again boasts a valid relationship between jazz and bluegrass, with some delightful musical syncopation between Doug's Rayco Resophonic and Sam Hurrie's guitar.
The Indian Classical music influenced "Letter Home" shows the remarkable relationship between the Dobro, a typically Western instrument and the Indian version of the slide guitar, the Satvik Veena, played here by its creator and leading exponent Salil Bhatt. As a meditative piece of resonant music, complete with tabla, we find Cox comfortably engaging in a musical experience a world away from bluegrass, but strangely fitting in with it dove-tail like.
"The Circle Game" reminds us once again what a beautiful melody Joni Mitchell's song has, even without the words. Try though as I will, I cannot help singing along to it. It's strange to have an entirely instrumental album with so many fine words.
For newcomers to Doug Cox's music, Without Words offers a fine introduction to the instrumental side of his recorded output, covering his collaborations with Todd Butler, Sam Hurrie, Salil Bhatt and on the George Harrison song, one other local hero, Clive Gregson.