Folk and Roots presents 'Monday Monday', a night of the best of the folk and roots scene which will be held on the first Monday of the month in central London as from October 2009. See 
Artist: Nell Bryden
Album: Live From Iraq
Label: 157 Records
Tracks: 10
Released not so much as a follow up to the Second Time Around album but more of a token of something to put us on with, until the new studio album comes out later this year, Live From Iraq, gives us a taste of Nell's vibrant and energetic live shows whilst she entertains troops in the Middle East. Updating the efforts of the likes of Dame Vera Lynn, Bob Hope or Marilyn Monroe before her, Bryden appeared to be only too pleased to undertake three weeks of shows at several Forward Operating Bases in Iraq during October 2008.
Bryden is at pains to point out that this tour was not politically motivated, but insists that bringing a bit of rock n roll to people far from home is what it's all about. And so with vague memories of Bill Graham and a handful of dancers jumping out of a chopper into the heart of darkness, bringing a touch of glamour to the nightmare of Apocalypse Now, we are once again at the confluence of entertainment and war.
If I were a soldier out there, fully accustomed to the delights of a bunk room strewn with fellow sweaty souls, hurtling towards the end of yet another 'tour of duty', I would be highly delighted to have Nell Bryden come along and sing in the naffi (which is an acronym for British Navy Army & Air Force Institutes, in case you mis-heard me). Knowing her audience well from the get-go, Nell delight's the American Armed Forces’ complement of grateful deadheads gathered at Camp Falcon just outside Baghdad, with a rip roaring take on the traditional "I Know You Rider", setting out the tone of the show from the start. Commuting between other Forward Operating Bases at Camp's Mahmudiyah, Kalsu and Victory as well as at the Cropper Detention Center, doing for all intents and purposes the same job as Johnny Cash did at San Quentin and Folsom Prison in the Sixties, Bryden chronicles her experiences in a daily 'blog', printed in the accompanying booklet. Life on the road is known to be tough in rock n roll, but Nell Bryden calmly reports on how her trailer 'shakes with the booms of outgoing artillery', literally relocating her bed in the process. Probably better than incoming artillery though, eh Nell?
The most startling thing about the performances on Live From Iraq, is that the band, made up of Brooklyn musicians Eric Lindberg (guitar), Mark Stewart (bass) and Bryan Bisordi (drums), was gathered together as a pick-up outfit on the eve of the tour as her regular band promptly pulled out at the last minute. Determination prevailed and Nell Bryden went on the create an atmosphere of raw and sweaty blues, utilising her trademark alto on ten outstanding songs from a handful of self-penned songs such as "Second Time Around", "Tonight", "Meridian" and "What Does It Take", together with some timely crowd pleasers in "House of the Rising Sun" and "That's Alright Mama". Particular highlights though come in the form of two blues classics, first of all the powerful Muddy Waters composition "Forty Days and Forty Nights" and finally a stripped down solo version of Robert Johnson's "Hellhound on My Trail", giving the boys a break and bringing the set to a close.
Allan Wilkinson
Kathryn Tickell – The Best Of Kathryn Tickell (Park Records PRKCD107)
I was first introduced to the wonderful sound of Northumbrian Smallpipes on hearing a recording by the High Level Ranters over thirty years ago. Colin Ross and particularly Alistair Anderson were both influential in helping broaden my audio tastes and that continues to this day with the prodigious talents of Kathryn Tickell.
Most recently spotted as part of Sting’s entourage I’d forgotten how much I personally missed hearing the smallpipes as part of an ensemble and how easily they cut through the many layered sounds of a ‘band’. It’s the distinctively delicious Northern burr of the instrument much like the Geordie dialect that sets it apart and delivers to its audience a pleasurable, warm feeling. Opening with the melancholic setting of the self-penned tune “Our Kate” leading into the buoyant “Welcome Home” the pipes feature prominently throughout the recording and followed by the digitally demanding “Lads Of Alnwick/Sunderland Lasses/Peacocks March” Kathryn leaves you in no doubt that there is fighting spirit in the exquisite smaller relation to its more brutish cousin the Scottish Highland pipes.
Having collected all of our heroine’s albums to date (of which there isn’t a duff one) I’d be hard pushed in choosing my favourites and, as Kathryn states in the sleeve-notes this isn’t really a “best of” but her personal choice of favourites (at present) from throughout her glittering twenty four years recording career. If you’re just starting out on a voyage of musical discovery or are already a fan of this beautiful instrument why not purchase a copy of this great 2-disk ‘calling card’…you won’t be disappointed!
Pete Fyfe
Kathryn Tickell Band, March 12th 2009, The Stables, Wavendon
I love Kathryn's playing - she is without a doubt the best known player of Northumbrian small pipes that has ever lived; the advantage of being an expert player in the modern age of one of the less well known instruments. Moreover her composing weaves in influences from traditional tunes with pop music and Bollywood movie themes and more to produce a very distinctive blend of tunes that are new but rooted in tradition. She's also a mean fiddle player.
The band tonight are : Kathryn (Northumbrian small pipes / fiddle), Peter Tickell (fiddle/acoustic guitar), Joss Clapp (acoustic guitar / acoustic bass guitar)and Julian Sutton (melodeon). This gives a good number of combinations, sometimes the band are backing Kathryn on pipes, sometimes there's a double fiddle assault on bouncy dance tunes. Joss Clapp's acoustic bass guitar adds a rich undertone to several sets of tunes as he ripples out funky bass riffs. There are several tunes off the latest album - Instrumental - including the haunting Yeavering written, Kathryn says, to evoke the silence and solitude of The Cheviots. Last time I was up Yeavering it rained for about 6 hours, but I know what she means. When it isn't raining on The Cheviots it is, perhaps, the stillest place in England.
There were plenty of more familiar tunes as well - such as Bill Charlton's Fancy which aims to replicate the sound of Northumbrian rain, and succeeds at it. It was a cracking night, the band in good spirits (I can't recall seeing two fiddle players po-going around the stage before), the playing near perfect even on new tunes - one so new they'd only first rehearsed it that day. Having not seen her live for many years (possibly pushing towards decades !) I'm going to make sure not to leave it so long again.
Jonathan Aird
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Rose Laughlin – The Chicago Sessions (Ramblin’ Rose Records)
Rose is an enigmatic figure, of whom I’ve been able to discover very little beyond the fact that she grew up in Seattle, then in 2003 relocated to Chicago where she evolved her own special style of interpreting traditional Celtic and American folk songs (although she also tackled key songs from other genres). She recorded her debut album (Souvenir) under the guidance of master Irish musician Dennis Cahill, and The Chicago Sessions is its natural followup, at any rate in the spiritual sense. Production-wise, however, it’s a quite different-sounding record to Souvenir, for it reflects Rose’s more recent musical collaboration, that with her duo-partner, guitarist/composer/producer Mike Kirkpatrick, who helped her record the album in a few short sessions in late summer of 2007, calling on just three other musician friends (Devin Shepherd, Kat Eggleston and Jackie Moran) for occasional support. It’s a gently intimate but also immensely powerful record, replete with warmth and an involving sense of presence, on which Rose’s gorgeous voice is given exemplary prominence within imaginative, sublimely minimal yet full-toned musical settings. Rose responds intuitively and clear-sightedly to her chosen material, delivering the songs with a solid confidence and a sensuous intensity that’s born both of thorough preparation and deep understanding. In doing so, she’s not afraid to take a risk or two, and this invariably pays off. For instance, on the opening track, interestingly the disc’s only non-folk item, to which the immediate reaction might be “aagh, not another version of Gershwin’s Summertime!”, but what Rose and Mike do with it is genuinely different and wholly inspired (Rose’s perfectly poised vocal rendition entirely unexpectedly ushers in a fiddle-and-guitar jig for counterpoint midway through). Rose’s version of Cold Rain And Snow, set to strange organ chordings and an ominous bodhrán tattoo, is quite literally chilling, whereas her well-judged acappella rendition of The Unquiet Grave is no less compelling for its pithy economy. Let No Man Steal Your Thyme is brilliantly matched with some eerie, resonant electronic treatment, and Barbara Allen receives a majestic and refreshingly punchy reading. I also really loved Rose’s stylishly beautiful take on the Carter Family classic Storms Are On The Ocean. The last-mentioned three songs also benefit from Kat’s wondrous vocal harmonies, by the way. On the majority of the tracks, it’s Mike’s crystalline guitar work that forms the predominant signature in the backdrop to Rose’s individual and personal interpretations. It glistens and gleams, its flowing undercurrents carrying both singer and listener along unerringly – the sustained seven-minute timespan of The Snow It Melts The Soonest being a prime example of the way his artistry complements and inspires Rose’s own. Only on Pretty Saro do I feel Mike overdoses on the effects pedal, his aural embellishments distracting from Rose’s careful portrayal. But that’s my only reservation, for this is such an exciting record. And yet it also carries so much promise for the future, and so I do hope that with Rose’s recent move back to Seattle she won’t be ruling out the possibility of further increasingly fruitful ventures into the realms of folk tradition.
David Kidman
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Dezi Donnelly, Steve Cooney and Dermot Byrne - Live at The Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith, Saturday 28th February
The Irish Centre was full tonight- about 200 people had turned out to see this trio. Dezi Donnelly- more usually seen with Mike McGoldrick or Sharon Shannon; Dermot Byrne of Altan fame and lastly Steve Cooney, formerly of Stockton’s Wing, and now playing with Seamus Begley.
I like seeing familiar musicians in unfamiliar settings. Mixing things up and changing things around. ‘Waterman’s’ on the fiddle, for example, or ‘Skidoo’ as a trio on guitar/box/fiddle. However, this was mainly a traditional set with tunes such as ‘Paddy’s Rambles, Jenny Picking Cockles and Lord Gordon’s. Traditional maybe, but not dull- with everyone lending their own individuality to the tunes. Steve, with his long dreadlocks reaching halfway down his back and bare feet played didgeridoo, perhaps not the most obvious accompaniment to jigs and reels but it worked really well, providing extra percussion, although the sound quality in the venue tonight was disappointing.
Dezi entered into the spirit of the evening by removing his trainers to play in his socks- maybe the barefoot thing was just a step too far for him! All the banter and storytelling came from Steve and Dezi, leaving Dermot, who didn’t have a microphone, to sit quietly in the background smiling at their stories.
It was a very mellow relaxing evening, a gig to unwind too, and all the more welcome for it. A chance to chill, sit back and let the evening unfold…
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Artist: Pamela Wyn Shannon
Album: Courting Autumn
Label: Girlhenge
Tracks: 12
www.girlhenge.com
My initial interest in Pamela Wyn Shannon was sparked by her rumoured return to the annual Nick Drake Gathering in Tanworth-in-Arden in 2007, where she would possibly be performing later that Summer. I found the songs the singer had uploaded onto her website thoroughly engaging and interesting and together with the anticipation of finally visiting the Drake family home of Far Leys, paying my respects at the graveside and learning a few new unfathomable tunings at the workshops, I was really looking forward to bumping into Pamela. Sadly, due to unforeseen circumstances, she missed that particular gathering and I imagined for a moment that our paths might never cross again.
To my astonishment, the November 2008 edition of fRoots magazine featured a full page article on Pamela and once again the magazine justly recognized an American singer songwriter, just as it had done a few months earlier with Devon Sproule and once again I felt less lonely in my appreciation for contemporary song writing for some inexplicable reason.
Courting Autumn, Pamela's follow up to her debut album Nature's Bride, is something of a conceptual album with twelve songs based around the melancholy season, all arranged and presented with an intriguing ambient resonance. At times there's the feeling that this album could quite easily have been recorded in the late Sixties, early Seventies, rubbing sleeves in an old cardboard box in the bedsit with Bridget St John's 'Ask Me No Questions', Vashti Bunyan's 'Just Another Diamond Day' and dare I even suggest Astral Weeks.
You have to enter Pamela's website through a 'mossy portal', which is at once enchanting and spellbinding and somehow lends itself to this particular season. The songs on Courting Autumn have a vague familiarity about them almost like that feeling of déjà vu; you know you haven't heard these songs before, well not in this life at any rate.
Pamela has an assured guitar style reminiscent of Bert Jansch and augments most of the arrangements with fitting accompanying instrumentation, including glockenspiel, harmonium and mountain dulcimer, as well as eliciting the services of Liz Knowles, who brings to the recordings an ethereal quality with her sensitive playing of the violin, viola and cello. On "Wool Gathering", even the sheep of Putney, Vermont get a credit for their bleating! The closing track on the album "Fare-Thee-Forlorn" is a poem set to a musical backing of reversed viola and cello courtesy of Knowles, and spoken in a soft unidentifiable accent that quite possibly is a mixture of Massachusetts, Irish, Welsh and Middle Earth.
Pamela promises to follow up Courting Autumn in due course, with three more albums covering the remaining seasons, which is something of a tall order, especially if the intention is to match the quality of this one. Thoroughly enchanting.
Allan Wilkinson
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Gary Fulton
Album:Dark Water
Label: Self Released/itunes nov
Website: http://www.myspace.com/garyfulton
"Dark Water" should be the album that turns Gary Fulton from being one of the best underground troubadour style folk and blues artists to one that stands on a par with the likes of Nick Harper and Rory McLeod, at least for his generation. "Dark Water" is a regularly occuring theme in folk music. It's mention in song is normally accompanied by a loss or at least a fight against adversity and it's good to have a contemporary singer adding to that particular canon. It's an album ricj in imagary, stories, journies and people, fingers crossed it's enough to bring Gary the recognition he deserves.
Neil King
Artist: Gary Fulton
Album: Wail And Holler
Label: Self Released/available on itunes
Tracks: 10
Website: www.myspace.com/garyfulton
First brought to our attention via the single, "Rosie", raising star of the North West folk and acoustic scene, Gary Fulton, has just released a full length album, "Wail And Holler". Gary runs to the principle of keep it simple, so the majority of the tracks are just him and his guitar and it really is a case of less is more. It gives Fulton's songs a resonance and consequently, "Wail And Holler" is an album that reaches out to the listener.
He puts good contemporary twist or two on some traditional themes. "Leather Shoes" feels of the here and now yet songs of harbourside whores stealing the clothes of sailors backs go back many hundreds of years. It's a song that shows much of the character of the album, strength against adversity.
The album also uses the folk trick of associating human frailties with occult entities, the Devil makes an appearance in "A Tipple For The Rogue", as a symbol of temptation. It also features a great line about the good book saying to have a cup of wine, but not when to stop.
Whilst Fulton does use more than just guitar for the instrumentation, it's the instrument that dominiates, not just for the chord structure, but also to generate a sense of rhythm in the absence of drums. It moves the songs forward as it provides the momentum for the lyrics to work alongside.
Fulton, takes a simplistic approach to the writing. There's plenty of rhyme, which in it's self works well with the rhythm, but it's not at the cost of description, in the aforementioned "Leather Shoes" it's easy to visualise the unfortunate sailor returning to ship dressed only in his shoes, with a sheet wrapped around him.
"Wail And Holler" is an album that it's easy to imagine being performed live. You can almost feel it in a bothy, the audience singing along to the choruses. It's music that can be performed anywhere and feels at home there.
Neil King
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Buddy & Julie Miller – WRITTEN IN CHALK (New West)
These two have been around for years making top-quality music within the solid Nashville-Americana ambit that used to be called plain country, and although highly revered among roots specialists they still haven’t quite made it to household-name profile despite being championed by other musicians and key writers and feted by Bob Harris. Perhaps it’s Buddy’s constant devotion to production duties on other folks’ records that has kept him further away from the limelight; perhaps it’s Julie’s all-too-infrequent release of albums in her own right (her last to date, Broken Things, came out as far back as 1999); perhaps it’s the fact that this joint venture is only the couple’s second such release… Who knows, but Written In Chalk is a brilliantly accomplished new set of songs (no less than eight of them penned solely by Julie herself, incidentally) that epitomise all that’s best about modern-day country-roots-Americana (call it what you will): superbly crafted, impeccably delivered with feeling and commitment and supported by excellent, proven musicianship including that of a small but select number of guest performers (Larry Campbell, John Deaderick, Gurf Morlix, Russ Pahl, Kami Lyle, Stuart Duncan et al.), together with four vocalists equally handpicked for their specific skills.
The album is a product of Buddy’s home studio, and the whole recording has a tastily rough edge, a deep-seated gutsiness, that’s the ideal antidote to the slick (and so often soulless) Nashville productions we’re used to hearing. I guess I’m thinking in particular of Gasoline And Matches and Memphis Jane (=Smooth), which crank and grind along in heavy-duty mode much in the manner of those primitive rockabilly-grunge-type outings on the early Gillian Welch albums, but the more delicate offerings also possess a close, intimate feel that really draws you into their world. Buddy and Julie are both on absolutely top form vocally: Buddy excelling on Chalk and Julie on the delectably jazzy A Long, Long Time. Just four out of the dozen tracks comprise harmonious duets between husband and wife: I specially loved the sparse heartbreaker June, and the passionately rollin’ opener Ellis County could’ve been taken from an early Band album, whereas Every Time We Say Goodbye finds Julie creatively doubletracked. The remainder feature those aforementioned guest singers; the pick of these for me are Mel Tillis’s What You Gonna Do Leroy, where Buddy duets with long-term admirer Robert Plant, and a fine cover of Leon Payne’s The Selfishness In Man, a duet between Buddy and Emmylou Harris no less, but there’s also a pair of heartfelt songs (Chalk and Don’t Say Goodbye)featuring the dulcet tones of Patty Griffin, and two splendid songs (One Part, Two Part and Hush, Sorrow) that feature the soulful Regina McCrary.
An exceptionally satisfying release on all counts.
David Kidman
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Artist: Bex Marshall
Album: Kitchen Table
Label: House Of Mercy
Tracks: 10
www.bexmarshall.co.uk
Bex Marshall comes along at a time when female singer songwriters are just about as plentiful as hydrogen. Rather than thinking in terms of KT Tunstall though, I'm more inclined to think along the lines of a younger version of Bonnie Raitt. Seldom do we hear such blues inflected rawness in female guitar players and so it's refreshing to hear it done with such authenticity and assurance. There's not so much of the Lowell George sweetness in Marshall's bottleneck playing as exemplified in the aforementioned Raitt, but more a bitter sneer. The sharp guitar licks and gritty vocals spell out a mission statement that says this girl means business and in no uncertain terms.
It's not all hard hitting city blues throughout by any means and Bex Marshall can deliver jaunty pop tunes such as "Head In The Clouds" to country radio contenders in "Bad Bad Girl" for example, as well as turning out some pretty tasty acoustic blues in "Red Light" to multi tracking everything from resonator, slide and electric guitar over an acoustic old timey ensemble featuring banjo, mandolin and violin courtesy of Don Wayne Reno, Dale Reno and Josh Hillman respectively in the pulsating "Hot Headed Man".
For atmospherics we turn to "Black Guitar", which finds what could conceivably be Marshall's comfort zone. There's the presence of the loner and the booze all there in her broody bottleneck guitar; you almost don't need the words.
"Here Is My Heart" presents a much more soulful approach to Marshall's delivery, with all those essential vocal frailties that makes the difference between soul and soulful. After listening to Kitchen Table a couple of times through, the most staggering fact to take in, is that this girl wasn't born in any close proximity to the deep southern delta of the Mississippi, but somewhere much closer to the Thames.
Allan Wilkinson
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Artist: Bag Of Rats
Album: Abbey Rodent
Label: Self Release
Tracks: 8
As an avid reader, you would have thought I would be only too aware that you should never judge a book by its cover, and the same should ideally go for music CDs as well. Still, I have to confess that the reason it took me so long to get around to listening to Bag of Rats' Abbey Rodent is simply because of its dreadful artwork. Call me old fashioned, but I like to be able to read the titles on a record without squinting (I can't); I like to nonchalantly toss an album cover on to the coffee table in order to impress the cat (I daren't); last but not least, there's my life-long aversion to the endless stream of parodies concerning the Fabs' swansong LP cover (hmm).
The music though, when I finally put my prejudices aside, is something of a revelation. I expected the tunes on Abbey Rodent to beggar the same question once again, posed originally by the late Frank Zappa, 'does humour belong in music?' but we are thankfully spared this. The jokes on the sleeve (Make Love Not Warfarin) and disc (Rodent Advisory Verminous Content) fortunately don't seep into the musical content, with the possible exception of the opening line to "Hard Side of Heaven" - 'Well I was walking with Peter Rabbit, when along came Puberty Hare.'
A quick visit to either of the Bag of Rats' websites reveals a fun bunch consisting of John Archer, Mike Hall, Mary Gilmour and Simon Hester and much of the fun and frivolity you imagine would be far more enjoyable at live gigs, to which I suspect they excel. I have to stress that there's nothing wrong with injecting fun into music, I'm just a little wary of stretching a joke.
Kicking off with the old English rebel song "Song of the Times", the Rats start off with some basic folk rock fare, introducing Hester's heavily echoplexed fiddle, a sound you will become very much familiar with throughout, and somewhere along the way, the song morphs into a tequila stained knees up as if Flaco Jiminez had just crashed the session.
The band do have a thing for arrangement and like to include influences not normally associated with your common or garden rebel rogue folk ensemble, such as Ska for instance. I do like their take on The Beat's "Mirror in the Bathroom", which is sandwiched between "Willow Runner and "A Shot in the Dark", and I was positively swinging to the jazzy opening to "Hard Side of Heaven". The Rats' handling of traditional tunes is competent and exciting. Imagine the Velvet Underground playing "Drowsy Maggie" and there you have "Unreel" the penultimate tune on the album.
The band says their sound is somewhere between the Spinners and Hawkwind and have kindly left it up to us to decide exactly where that point might be. Why am I suddenly imagining Stacia in nothing but a nice thick Aaron sweater?
Allan Wilkinson
www.bagofrats.co.uk
www.myspace.com/bagofrats1
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Oxford Fiddle Group – Beyond The Spires (RRCD 015)
Evoking memories of those glorious old-time Scottish fiddle orchestras the Oxford Fiddle Group numbering twenty-one all sound as though they’re thoroughly enjoying themselves. Whether it’s performing a beautiful waltz “Beyond The Spires” written by band member Adrian Broadway or getting down and dirty with Steve Earle’s “The Galway Girl” the group know how to push the boat out when they need to. Adding splashes of colour with guitar, banjo, mandolin, double bass, keyboards and Celtic harp the group utilise many perennial favourites including “Music For A Found Harmonium”, a North-East set “Dance To Your Daddy/Rusty Gully/Bonny At Morn” and even a rendering of that old chestnut “Jambalaya”. Oxford should be proud to have such a fine group of musicians (I wish we had the same in Croydon) and the finale “Molly Oxford/Old Tom Of Oxford” arranged by Mike Gardiner proves a fitting end to a cracking recording. It’s rare for me to listen to a whole album these days but might I suggest that you do the same. Purchase this CD sit back, kick your shoes off and enjoy!
Contact www.oxfordfiddle.co.uk for further details.
Pete Fyfe
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Brian Peters & Gordon Tyrrall – Black Bull, Ecclesfield, Sheffield; Saturday 17th January 2009
Any gig by either of these two excellent fellows is a noteworthy event, for neither ever disappoints, dependable to the last; but a joint gig is a rare treat too, so even the night’s foul weather couldn’t deter me from braving the M1 down to the northern edge of Sheffield. Neither, happily, did it deter the regulars of this friendly and well-run folk club (named “Wortley Folk” after its former venue), nor other local aficionados of this dynamic duo’s special brand of music-making – for the Black Bull’s ample function room was full! I’ve seen Brian and Gordon in duo mode many times, and they’ve always turned in a well-played, well-sung, involving – and thoroughly professional – set. The secret surely lies in the enviable level of versatility and commitment that each musician so naturally displays. Now it's probably a year or two since I last experienced their duo incarnation live, but this Black Bull gig bowled me over afresh. The perennially entertaining BPGT Roadshow seemed now to have moved up a gear in terms of sheer presence, while retaining almost effortlessly Brian and Gordon’s familiar, exemplary degree of musicianship and commitment. The key is clearly that they’re having such a whale of a time themselves that they’re able to immerse themselves so completely and confidently in the act of performance and communication. And here they carried their capacity Black Bull audience along with them throughout two supremely well-balanced sets that varied pace, mood and instrumentation as naturally as breathing.
They kicked off stylishly with the Tyrrall staple Crockery Ware, Gordon’s typically quicksilver fingerwork underpinned by Brian’s nimble boxmanship – but now they were even more rock-n’roll! For an extra degree of oomph seemed present in every item on the programme that night; alongside the expected careful and well-coordinated dynamics and fine musicianship there was plenty of emphatic foot-stomping from Brian, while Gordon was relishing his own hammering, pounding guitar rhythms whenever he got the chance to indulge (as on his own sturdy Luddite anthem Swing Brother Swing) while never losing sight of the pulse or flow of the music or of the import of the actual song texts. The more sensitive items seemed possessed of an unearthly extra frisson of intensity, with Gordon’s powerful flute playing both cutting through and fully complementing Brian’s gloriously full-textured melodeon work on Jon Stoppard’s seriously beautiful air The Moving Moon, another well-considered highlight being Gordon’s celebrated John Clare setting. Brian and Gordon steered us from superb accounts of traditional material (notably A Sailor’s Life and the Hampshire variant of Wild Rover) through to rousing songs of piracy (High Barbary), bawdy sailors (Jolly Roving Tar) and cowboys (Santa Fe Trail), with unashamed forays into Beatledom and Dylanry (his late masterpiece Not Dark Yet). Never relinquishing that all-important sense of humour, though, as on Brian’s own fun take on Six Nights Drunk which opened the second half. The songs were piquantly punctuated with a handful of gleefully managed tune-sets, each half of the evening being arranged so as to give maximum instrumental, textural and mood/genre variety, with all instrument-swapping carried out with minimum fuss (always a good sign!) and covered by informative banter. Few artistes can boast sets with such a range, and with equal credibility and accomplishment in (and empathy for) all of these musical styles too. Tremendous fire and energy, with that all-important feelgood factor. So go on, book ’em!
David Kidman www.harbourtownrecords.com/peters-tyrrall.html
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Artist: Gathering
Album: Legends of Folk Rock
Label: Hypertension
Tracks: 12
The names on the front cover of 'Gathering: Legends of Folk Rock' read like a who's who of the genre, but you tend to approach the album with apprehension, especially if you allow the accompanying booklet to fall open at the centrefold, where you would be greeted with a monochrome image of a bunch of middle aged rockers who look like they've just returned from the funeral of one of the Kray Twins. Nope, these are actually a quintet of living breathing remnants of folk rock's heyday, each of whom played an important part in the history of this particular musical heritage.
A quick rundown then of these five 'made' men. Clive 'Sticks' Bunker left his mark on the first four Jethro Tull albums, handing in his beads and headband right after the release of Aqualung in 1971. Ray 'Tank Top' Jackson was the distinctive harmonica and mandolin player in Lindisfarne but who now designs vintage bus livery pictures, making good use of his college of art and industrial design education. Jerry 'String Bender' Donahue was and always will be the second best guitarist to have his name emblazoned on one of Pete Frame's 'Fairport Convention' family trees, but who went on to make his own distinctive mark under 'Fotheringay' with the late Sandy Denny and Trevor Lucas. Erstwhile husband of Maddy Prior, Rick 'Four Strings' Kemp was for over twenty years an integral part of Steeleye Span and who went on to pay his dues with the likes of Michael Chapman and Ralph McTell and finally, we have Doug 'MC Albion' Morter, one of the many players to have, in the words of Phil Beer 'done jury service' presided over by Judge Ashley Hutchings (The Guv'nor).
Joking apart, this gathering is in some places quite inspired. Although not pictured in the centrefold line up, there is a sixth addition to the band, a singer who contributes a great deal to the songs on the album. Donahue's daughter Kristina adds character to the recordings and provides some pretty confident lead vocals on both Rick Kemp's "Deep in the Darkest Night" and Richard Thompson's "For Shame of Doing Wrong". The comparisons to Linda Thompson are inevitable.
With the resurrection of the atmospheric "Lady Eleanor" featuring the wistful mandolin of Ray Jackson, we are transported back in time to a decade that saw the longest hair in Newcastle, together with the most embarrassing multi coloured tank tops in the history of woolen wear, cross the Tyne Bridge heading south for several TV appearances. Let's not forget that it was Jackson who played the mandolin part on Rod Stewart's Maggie May, even though that imposter Peel masqueraded as the seated mandomusician on TOTP week after week (bless him).
For those who saw Jerry Donahue as something more than Richard Thompson's shadow, on this album you only have to wait until track three before the magic manifests itself in his delightful guitar solo towards the end of "Deep In The Darkest Night", proving once again that the guitarist provides one of the most distinctive and inimitable sounds in folk rock history, if not rock history in general.
Between the folk rock and folk pop fare, there's a distinctive bluesy atmosphere throughout the album; in particular on "Don't Make Me Old" and "Brampton to Roadhead" yet nowhere better realised than in the heavily BB King inspired "I Don't Want", which is neither a pastiche nor an imitation of "The Thrill Is Gone", but very likely a blues standard in its own right.
I'm not sure whether 'Gathering' could ever be considered to be up there with Rising For The Moon, Fog On The Tyne or Aqualung for instance, but as a piece of folk rock history, it can certainly be added to the folk rock canon.
Allan Wilkinson
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Celtic Connections: James Grant
ABC1 Thursday 28th January
The wee lassie behind the bar at the ABC had never heard of James Grant. She'd never heard of Love or Money either, the Glasgow soul band that Grant established his reputation with in the eighties. A rough estimate would have her starting primary school when Love and Money called it a day in 1994, and this was a theme Grant exploited with self-deprecating humour in his between song banter. Inviting his audience to join in the chorus line "Didn't you used to be somebody?" he's clearly not bitter that his later solo career has not brought him fame and wealth.
He is, however, a highly respected songwriter. A musician's musician. That this concert was part of the Celtic Connections festival is therefore less surprising than it might seem. Grant is a very well connected Celt. His solo albums are co-produced by festival director Donald Shaw, who took his place on stage at this gig on keyboards and accordion. Shaw's wife Karen Matheson and fellow Capercaillie member has recorded Grant's songs on her own solo recordings.
Grant writes poetic evocations of lost love and regret, but there were no mournful acoustic laments tonight. With a full backing band including Ewan Vernal of Capercaillie and Deacon Blue on bass, and a virtuoso "moothie" performance by Fraser Spiers, this was a big rounded sound. When Grant swaps the acoustic guitar for a Stratocaster, we're into the realms of rock, and he struts the stage picking out soaring guitar solos and coaxing a very unfolky feedback from his amplifier.
The voice is still soulful, but there was little mention of the Love and Money days. Only a couple of the old songs sneak in, including the beautiful "Winter". Not that it would have mattered to the bar staff, but for Grant's small but loyal following this was one of the outstanding gigs of this year's festival.
Douglas Coulter
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The Navvy's Wife – A Folk Musical by Mick Ryan – Parish Centre, Stonegravels, Chesterfield, 2nd November 2008
One of this country’s very finest singers, and a songwriter of great standing too, Mick Ryan is no stranger to the concept of the folk musical, having made several nigh unrivalled contributions thus far to that genre: his previous ventures have all been major undertakings, invariably being well received and lastingly well regarded, and have proved both highly influential and an inspiration to other creative minds as well as providing source material for many singers. Only a few years after Tanks For The Memory comes A Navvy’s Wife, which “gives a voice to the men and women whose lives were shaped by the drive, over the course of three centuries, to build our canals, railways, roads etc …”, positing that “the land we know couldn’t have been built without the navvy and The Navvy’s Wife”. Mick has assembled the finest possible small cast to help him realise his vision: Judy Dunlop, Jackie Oates, Heather Bradford, Paul Downes and Roger Watson.
The production was semi-staged, with a sensible use of costumes for role-playing, and the small stage area was well filled with singers and props; a measure of sympathetic amplification was used, but this proved no distraction to the intimate power of the experience. The venue was jam-packed, with a keen buzz of anticipation amongst folks, many of whom had travelled some distance for this important event. It all ran smoothly, like a well-oiled machine (the very occasional fluff or missed cue was taken up for comic effect), and it was obvious too from the empathetic writing and choice of material that Mick had done much careful research into his subject and was intent on presenting his characters with both sympathy and realism. Social issues such as poverty, rootlessness, racism and attitudes to death were examined within the narrative and commentary too, and resonances, links and parallels were drawn throughout to bind the whole together satisfyingly. The production was conveniently divided into three temporal phases (the Canal Era, the Railway Era and the Modern Era), but Mick was also keen to maintain the common human thread – the songs and their timeless styling were a key factor in this. Each of the participants played a number of characters, and these were without exception entirely suited to their roles and believably managed. Singing and playing were of the highest standard, with musical arrangements lithe and economic and fully supportive, pulling back to give the sumptuous voices full rein where needed.
And what abundantly fine singing from everyone! The really special moments came with the simpler and more intimate personal observations perhaps: Jackie’s heartfelt acappella I Miss Him, Judy’s matchless rendition of The Navvy’s Wife, Heather’s tender Farewell My Son and – perhaps finest of all – the reflection of Old Tim (the retired navvy, played by Roger), Just Like You. The “lighter” numbers were convincingly done too, particularly Roger’s forthright portrayal of railway contractor Thomas Brassey on the darkly comic patter-song So Many Ways To Die and Paul’s chummy Here Comes Mick. There’s a small but inevitable amount of judicious recycling of songs (no complaint is intended!): the universally powerful Poppies gets another airing, in the perfect context, and The Journey has been a Ryan set staple for some time. The three songs on which the trio of women combined forces (one in each “phase”) formed another useful connection between the eras, while the closing anthem The Land Around You bound it all together in tellingly praising the permanence of the navvies’ creations as monuments unforgotten by the land and the people. Musicality has always been a hallmark of Mick Ryan’s songs and performance style (it’s been said that Mick can even make abject nonsense sound musical!), and these attributes didn’t desert him on this occasion. The Navvy’s Wife proved to be another triumph for Mick; it’s an unmissable show – so I’d recommend you make every effort to catch it when it begins touring during the coming folk festival season.
David Kidman
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Artist: Rodina
Album: Over The Sun
Label: AM Records
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.rodinamusic.com
If you are poring over the brochures whilst the last of the snows turn to sludge, pondering upon where you might spend some Summer days later in the year, then you could do a lot worse that have Rodina's debut as the soundtrack to your daydreams. Summer is a-coming after all.
With Latin rhythms from the very start, we enter Rodina's debut with the urge to dance. There's a distinct mariachi feel to the opening song "Always Had a Dream" courtesy of Malcolm Strachen's assured trumpet, which is dreamily augmented by Aoife Hearty's moody vocal.
If by the band's own admission, there's something of an Astrud Gilberto/Zero 7 feel running through the album, the title track itself almost verges on Portishead with its broody arrangement. Some of the arrangements tend to drift off into dreamy soundscapes such as "These Things You Do" and "Corcovado" for instance, both of which define the term 'laid back'. Others on the album have a tendency to make you sit up and take note.
The instrumental arrangement on "You Cry I Cry", featuring Atholl Ransome's astonishing tenor sax solo is reminiscent of Ray Warleigh's alto work on Nick Drake's 'Bryter Layter' period "At The Chime of A City Clock", which defined all that was cool back then. There's no doubting the standard of musicianship on Over the Sun, whether it be Joe Tatton's fluid keyboard work throughout, especially on "Shine", or any of the fine contributions from Rodina's highly individual musicians, not forgetting the enchanting Aoife Hearty, whose songs hold the key for holding all this together.
Produced by Joe Tatton, whose work with the Haggis Horns, New Mastersounds and Corinne Bailey Rae has proved his credentials for handling Rodina's debut with a touch of class, 'Over The Sun' is nothing less than an assured debut and with a cast of excellent musicians onboard, Rodina are very definite contenders for the Summer festival stages previously occupied by the likes of Groove Armada and more recently Hot Chip. Roll on Summer.
Allan Wilkinson
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Artist: Mike Silver
Album: How Many Rivers
Label: Faymus
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.mikesilver.co.uk/
From the opening few bars of the title song from Mike Silver's new album 'How Many Rivers' through to the closing scrape of Phil Beer's fiddle on "10-15 Year Old's Festival Blues", we are presented with a dozen songs of outstanding quality from one of Britain's most treasured songsmiths. With a good thirty years of writing and playing behind him, the ideas and themes continue to be drawn from a seemingly bottomless well, a well that is so often and justifiable so, plundered by many singers up and down the country eager to add some quality to their respective repertoires.
Mike Silver writes with assured confidence and manages to appeal to both serious song collectors and the breakfast radio MOR listener in equal measure. This is down to the accessibility of Silver's lyrical prowess and his ability to come up with melodic grace time and again. It also has something to do with the subjects this song writer addresses, which touch upon broader issues than your average songsmith. Done away with are standard love songs and protestations about improving the world in order to make way for songs that have a greater depth of meaning and understanding to a more mature generation.
"Breaking News" manages to hit the nail right on the head to anyone who has a daughter all grown up. This is a reflection on life that tugs at the heartstrings but without a trace of sentimentality. A fathers place is (and always will be) to be present, to observe, to understand; to be there when they need picking up, literally and metaphorically.
If Nizlopi's endeavours to put a certain piece of heavy plant machinery on the song map brought about both folk festival and chart success simultaneously, then Mike's "JCB" revisits the yellow digger with an air of authority. As a metaphor for an elderly neighbour's green-fingered toy girl, the image appears to stay with you long after it has trundled along down the lane.
Silver is a generous musician, who shares some of the space on How Many Rivers with one or two of his peers such as Johnny Coppin, who takes a verse on "The Dove and the Dolphin" to the inclusion of the only non-Silver composition on the album "Black and White 1945" written by newcomer Ross Brown, showcasing a potentially great song writing future in an astonishingly beautiful song, which began life in one of Silver's writing workshops.
Mike Silver also handles late night jazz crooning with authority and augments the more serious songs on this collection with moody numbers from a bygone age such as "Easy If You Look At It Right" and the Hoagy Carmichael-esque "Oh Doctor", both of which confirm Silver's credentials as a highly competent guitar player as well as a master songwriter. The bluesy "10-15 Year Old's Festival Blues" probably resonates in each and every one of us who has dragged our offspring kicking and screaming to folk festivals over the years, and makes light of what is potentially child cruelty. I'm kidding of course. Mike Silver has once again proved we have a class act amongst us.
Allan Wilkinson
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The Hull Story (MWMDVD 72)
Tribute and charity concerts appear to be two a penny in the North East (I wish they did in the South East too!) and at least everybody knows how to enjoy themselves. For this particular concert take one of the best ever ‘folk’ songwriter’s and add some tasty musicians to the mix and you really have cause to celebrate. Alan Hull provided some of the most memorable songs and hooks in folk-rock and along with the rest of his band mates in Lindisfarne created music that is timeless. Just scanning the sleeve notes for the songs including “United States Of Mind”, “Scarecrow Song” and “River” is like re-awakening my misspent youth at the Greyhound in Croydon where I first saw the band perform.
I can still vividly see Alan holding court along with the majestic sounds of Ray Jackson’s tuneful harmonica and the whole audience trying to be Geordie for the night. But, I digress from what is a truly special souvenir of this more recent concert on 19th November 2005 when the massed ranks of Lindisfarne past and present drew a packed audience to the hallowed Newcastle City Hall. Featuring an array of special guests including Tim Healey, Prelude, Ian McCallum (of Stiff Little Fingers fame) and Jimmy Nail’s subtle theatrical rendering of “This Heart Of Mine” the audience must have been in seventh heaven – I know I would have been. I knew practically every song and as much as everyone else who attended that night felt proud to be part of the Tyneside tradition. Talking of tradition, the Kathryn Tickell Band gave a tremendous performance featuring a compilation of Hull’s melodies that was both inventive and smile inducing in its individuality. Of course, no show of this kind would be complete without some great singers and in this we had the glorious tones of Billy Mitchell, Ray Jackson and Marty Craggs…all seasoned professionals and of course band members in Lindisfarne finishing with a well deserved standing ovation for the anthem “Run For Home”. All I can say is I wish I had been there in person…in the meantime, this DVD will do nicely.
www.mawson-wareham.com
Pete Fyfe
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CREEDY - 'Privileged Vagabond' CD.
If you have a soft spot for some of The Strawbs classic era material, then you'll surely want to get a hold of this new release from folk/prog guitarist & singer Creedy. His CD, titled Privileged Vagabond, is a collection of melodic, lush songs that are squarely in the folk style, but thanks to the symphonic 70's styled keyboards from Pilgrym mainman Andy Wells, it turns these ten tunes into pastoral, prog-inflected gems. Creedy's folky, lazy vocal delivery, along with his tasty acoustic guitar picking, works wonders alongside additional guitar work from Richard Dalby and Wells' vast array of sounds, including organ, Mellotron, piano, Moog, Korg, Roland, and ARP synths.
Many of the songs here are quite addictive, as the dreamy melodies lull you into an intoxicated state, especially on a song such as "Opposties Attract", floating synth washes calm the senses that are already sedated by Creedy's delicate vocals and plenty of lush guitar work. Mellotron lovers will be overjoyed the way Wells uses the vintage keyboard to dramatic effect on pieces like "Ninety Eight Percent", "Melt Us Down", and "Fall Into Winter", all gentle pieces that include occasional bursts of energy thanks to the mighty Mellotron. For some great acoustic picking, you can't go wrong with "Fever", one of the more upbeat numbers here, and the almost Led Zeppelin (circa their 3rd album) sounding "Lilac Jay". "Particle Acceleration" is a fun little piece, Well's spacey synths, Mellotron, and futuristic vocoder adding an almost ELO feel on what is otherwise a manic guitar based folk instrumental.
Creedy has come up with a very pleasing listen here, and thanks to Andy Wells, has injected the right amount of prog elements into these songs to make this a worthwhile purchase for proggers as well as folk lovers.
Track Listing
Melt Us Down
Ninety Eight Percent
Opposites Attract
Fall Into Winter
Fever
To Faith With Love
And Now Your Heart Is But An Organ
No Angel
Lilac Jay
Particle Acceleration
Creedy's website is: http://www.myspace.com/creedymusic
Richard Dalby
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Artist: Arlo Guthrie
Venue: The Duchess
Town: York
Date: 01/02/09
Website: www.arlo.net
Arlo Guthrie admits that the one question he is frequently asked wherever he goes and wherever he plays is 'what was it like at Woodstock?' to which he often has to reply with a series of half remembered memoirs and half elaborated upon mythologies. It probably doesn't surprise him that this is so often brought up in conversation, having been captured on film delivering somewhat embarrassing, yet highly quotable, Sixties oratories from the stage at Max Yasgur's farm in 1969. "Man there's supposed to be a million and a half people here by tonight, can you dig that? New York railway is closed.. man." Arlo may have been out by a million souls, but as is often said, if you remember the Sixties, you weren't there.
The Duchess in York tonight saw a gathering of people of all ages, some of whom may not remember the Sixties, but who were very definitely there, to those who were probably not even born a clear twenty years after Jimi Hendrix brought that particular historic festival (and the decade) to its conclusion. Some came along carrying their prized LP records under their arms in order for their hero to sign them, if they got a chance to meet him that is, and some of the younger punters came along, curious to see how this young hippie, who took to that stage at arguably the most legendary pop festival in history almost forty years ago, is getting along.
Of course Arlo Guthrie is also famous for being a direct descendent of the most important American folk singer in history. I think it would be twee to pour importance on that fact, just in terms of his genetic relationship to Woody, but having been a kid growing up in that environment, that would also include the likes of Leadbelly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Big Bill Broonzy, Pete Seeger, Lee Hayes and Rambling Jack Elliott to name but a few, is difficult to overlook and I imagine it would have had a considerable impact on a young impressionable 1950s schoolboy at the time.
Tonight the folk troubadour appeared as part of his 'Arlo Guthrie Solo Reunion Tour (Together at Last!), armed with both 12 string and 6 string guitars as well as the customary harmonica rack, and performed songs from a repertoire spanning over four decades. Kicking off with a song from his very first and most celebrated album 'Alice's Restaurant' from 1967, which inspired Bonnie and Clyde film director Arthur Penn to make a feature film out of this true story of the young Guthrie dodging the draft, living the hippie lifestyle and getting into a skirmish with the Law for littering. "Chilling of the Evening" brought back memories of that time and surprisingly little has changed over the years. Guthrie has the sort of youthful voice that doesn't seem to age and it has to be said that all the older songs were pretty much as fresh as they were when he first put them down on record in the Sixties.
Arlo Guthrie could quite easily have been just another Dylan clone to emerge from the burgeoning Greenwich Village folk scene of the mid Sixties, had he not developed his own unique raconteur spirit. Many of his songs are either prefaced with hilarious introductions, or he may randomly insert stories right in the middle of a song. Arlo still tends to be slightly embarrassed by the popularity of "Motorcycle Song", a song he admits time and again that it was 'not the best song I ever wrote'. He joked that he was ashamed for the sake of the 'family history and all that', nevertheless, this offbeat tale of riding a motorbike whilst playing a guitar with tragic results for, of all things, a police car, remains an audience favourite.
What is generally overlooked whilst taking in Guthrie's irreverent humour, his hippie musings and offbeat tales, is his informed guitar playing. On blues standards such as "St James Infirmary Blues", "Cornbread Peas and Black Molasses" and "Key to the Highway" we see a guitarist who has done his homework. Not only does he tackle various blues styles with impressive authenticity, he also gives us a taste of some pretty tasty slack key Hawaiian guitar playing, reminiscent of Ry Cooder's forays into this particular style during the Seventies.
Highlights of the set tonight included Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans", Arlo's own controversial "Coming in From Los Angeles" and a rather faithful reading of "Pretty Boy Floyd", paying homage to his dad whilst observing that "the more laws you make, the more criminals you produce", one of Woody's more astute observations. All in all, a worthwhile reunion, man.
Allan Wilkinson
Arlo Guthrie, February 6th 2009, 100 Club, London
The city is still reeling from the heaviest snow in years but this hasn't but the intrepid folk music aficionado off turning out for Arlo Guthrie - the 100 club has been transformed into a half seated half standing folk club for the evening and it's packed to capacity. There’s a fairly muted response to the support act MacGillivray, a dark haired, sombrely dressed young woman who states her intent to sing us some Scottish songs and then launches into a series of songs that to me are highly reminiscent of Robin Williamson's writing. This isn't a good place to showcase such material, which struggles to gain ascendancy over the noisy bar.
Arlo Guthrie is not the callow youth that bounded onto the Woodstock stage and summed up the event with the insightful statement: "lot of freaks !". He's older, though as he points out not necesserily wiser. Alternating between a 6 string and a 12 string acoustic guitar he covers all the bases of folk from about 1930 up to the peak of the singer-songwriter sometime in the mid-1970's. He also mixes in a good number of humorous tales about the craft of song writing ("it's like fishing - there's a lot of sitting around waiting"), about motorcycle maintenance - and why it shouldn't be done in the living room, and about how America has changed since the 1960's.
He sings some fine covers of his dad's numbers - "Pretty Boy Floyd", "This Land is your Land", and the eventual closer of "My Peace". All these years later they still ring true and relevant. Mixed in are Arlo's own songs - "When A soldier makes it home", a very fine rendition of the Dylanesque "My Darkest Hour", and of course the classic counter-culture anthem "Coming into Los Angeles". And there are songs he's had success with and songs that remind him of people he's known - "Alabama Bound", "St James infirmary blues" and that superbly lyrical paean to both a passing transport system and a passing age "City of New Orleans" where "the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpets made of steel". He even manages to get a bit of a sing along going on a couple of songs, this last included.
All too soon the time is up and it's back out into the frozen metropolis, but with a sliver of burning American Folk to warm the journey home.
Jonathan Aird
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Luke Plumb - A Splendid Notion (Shoogle Records: Shoogle 08009)
My twin brother Chris and I were inspired to pick up the mandolin as our weapon of choice by the sadly departed and much missed Louis McManus of the Bushwackers Band and in an indirect way so was Mr Plumb who credits him in his sleeve notes.
Now this is how I like to hear the mandolin (ie: without chord backing from guitar or bouzouki) clutter free with the exception of tasteful percussive input from James Mackintosh and an astonishing amount of digital dexterity from the protagonist.
You see, in the right hands the mandolin should be able to provide its own driving rhythm and by gentle use of dynamics alone as demonstrated magnificently on the track “The Gallowglass/Trip To Sligo/Cook In The Kitchen” you don’t need to be a ‘speed merchant’ which Luke proves time and again. It’s refreshing to see liberal use of some real traditional tunes including “Battle Of The Somme”, “Drunken Landlady” and “The Snuff Wife” and with the occasional interloping of an Ed Reavey and Sean Ryan tune this is as near perfect a recording as I could wish for.
More info from www.lukeplumb.com
Pete Fyfe
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'Cool Acoustics - Class Acts - 14th May - The Royal Park Cellars, Leeds
As 37,000 followers of hope, packed in to Elland Road to see Leeds United have their dreams of a place at Wembley disappointingly defeated, the music lovers of Leeds were celebrating within a parallel universe of enjoyment, due to the latest promotion from Cool Acoustics. Pippa Lloyd and her band kicked the night off with tracks which had the audience foot-tapping from the first chord in a set much rockier than her usual acoustic performances, but no less spectacular. Nicky Phillips followed and proved yet again what an immense talent this young female has. More confident and assured with each gig, coupled with stronger guitar playing, her set never wavered and had the audience enthralled right up until the final note. A solo performance by Claire Cameron followed and the quality remained, with some wonderful compositions which were provided with powerful vocals and delicate keyboard playing. While some keyboard players “lose” their audience, Claire kept everyone interested and showed why many people class her as the best female-keyboard player on the circuit at present. With the audience on a musical high, enter, Rosie Doonan and the Snap Dragons (Katriona Gilmore on Violin and Sarah Smout on Cello) with special guest-guitarist Gary Stewart. The combination of Rosie’s pure voice and buoyant personality coupled with the sublime string section and the evening was complete with a stunning session. The final song was “victor” and this was a victorious night once again for Cool Acoustics.
After a summer break Cool Acoustics will be back in August, and with a predicted September launch of the DVD 'Cool Acoustics Vol.2-Acoustic Selection Box' things are hotting up for Cool Acoustics.
Please keep up to date by visiting: www.myspace.com/coolacousticspromotions
Royal Park Cellars - Cool Acoustics Review
Despite the credit crunch, Cool Acoustics continue to promote all that is good in “live” music, well known for their charity fund-raising endeavours in 2008, the regular gigs at the Royal Park Cellars, provide a showcase for many unsigned, yet very talented artists. The most recent promotion proved yet again how much musical talent the City of Leeds and beyond has to offer.
The evening started with Hungarian-born, but now Leeds-based Laura Toth, who, accompanied by fiddle player Andy Fell, produced a set including a mixture of both English and Hungarian songs. The rendition of a song complaining about the Hungarian Railway system must surely be a first for the music followers of Leeds!
Local artist Leesa Mae followed, and with a radiant smile and a fine collection of her own material, kept the now, packed venue upbeat and full of expectation. What followed was beyond expectations, as Londoner Nicky Phillips, now studying at Huddersfield University produced a breath-taking performance. Only 19 years of age but with a musical maturity far beyond those tender years, Nicky is sure to be destined for a long and successful musical career. Her set of original compositions allowed Nicky to showcase her full repertoire, and enable the audience to acknowledge being at the start of something very special.
The unenviable task of following on from Nicky was Rodina, featuring lead singer, Aoife. However the deep rich sound produced by the band, coupled with Aoife’s wonderful vocals, took the Royal Park Cellars to an ambiance of soulful jazz, coupled with a stronger than the usual lounge style “feel”, produced a performance of rich class.
The event finished in style with surely one of the best, if not the best “live” bands around, the amazing Gary Stewart Band. Anyone seeing the band for the first time are left with the same unanswered question “why is Gary and the band not massive by now?” surely it can only be a matter of time before this highly-talented singer-songwriter and his band receive the accolades they truly deserve. The Gary Stewart Band are pure class, there is no need to say anymore, apart from catch them ASAP.
Like the rest of the country, times are hard within the musical world, but while Cool Acoustics continue to battle against the odds to promote the unsigned and so far un-discovered, then there is hope for a better future within the acoustic music family.
For details of future Cool Acoustics events please visit the following website;
www.myspace.com/coolacousticspromotions
Paul Abraham
Leeds Music Promotions
http://www.myspace.com/leesamae
http://www.myspace.com/laoce
http://www.myspace.com/nickyphillipsmusic
http://www.myspace.com/rodinaalbum
http://www.myspace.com/garystewartband
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David Ferrard – Across The Troubled Wave (Alter Road Records ARRCD. 001)
Born and raised in Edinburgh (to a Scottish father and American mother), and still based there, David’s hitherto been known largely for his songwriting, and his debut album Broken Sky concentrated almost exclusively on that aspect of his art. Across The Troubled Wave displays the other side of the coin, as it were, being an album of traditional (and traditional-style) songs given David’s thoughtful and individual treatment. During his childhood, David spent part of each summer in rural Pennsylvania, an experience which has evidently informed his approach to the tradition, for the style of his performances and arrangements – made in collaboration with bluegrass and old-time multi-instrumentalist Josh Goforth (in whose studio in the Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina the album was recorded) – lend a distinct old-time feel to much of the disc. Also, listening to David’s attractive (if sometimes understated) singing, I was occasionally reminded of Kieron Means, or his mother Sara Grey, the latter especially in respect of a specific vocal characteristic: a sometimes quite pronounced vibrato which supplements the gentle burr of his legato lines. This is kept sensibly in check on David’s very appealing unaccompanied rendition of My Dearest Dear midway through the disc, which in spite of the consistently satisfying quality of the rest of the set remains a standout track. Instrumental backings are kept simple, and authentic as they come, with David’s own unfussy but effective guitar accompaniment complemented by exceedingly well-considered and wholesome fiddle, mandolin, banjo or second guitar from Josh (with occasional bass and backing vocal contributions too).
Nothing’s out of place, and that very fact might just once or twice during the album raise a mild charge of tameness, but repeated listens yield subtle insights in the playing as well as in the singing, for David definitely has an innate feel for this kind of material, whether it be purely traditional or contemporary in origin. Of the latter category, the pair of songs by Dunbar’s Kenny Brill (Gilmartin and SO9 Monktonhall) are outstanding, and keenly portrayed by David, while Doyle Lawson’s genial gospel Calling My Children Home is given an appealing and sensitive Carter-style treatment. Highlights of the former (true-traditional) category are a particularly fine fiddle-backed rendition of Pretty Saro and a version of The Rejected Lover (Once I Knew A Pretty Girl) which David got from the singing of Joan Baez. It’s indicative too, that many of the songs incorporate the themes of emigration, love and loss, clearly ones to which David responds, and the disc’s very title is taken from the lyric of Stephen Foster’s Hard Times, an easy-rolling version of which closes the set rather stylishly. Throughout, David’s even-toned, gently expressive performances on this exploration of his transatlantic roots give us a most pleasing disc.
David Kidman
Artist: David Ferrard
Album: Broken Sky
Label: Flamingo Records
Tracks: 11
Website: www.davidferrard.com
David Ferrard is a young Scottish/American topical songwriter who blends together his two genetic cultures remarkably well. Reminiscent of the 1960s protest singers, notably Harvey Andrews, both in terms of topical song writing and in sweetness of voice, Ferrard's thoughtful songs cover a variety of subjects from the war in Iraq to reminiscences of youth by way of the odd country foot-tapper. "One Hell of a Ride", an uplifting song with its country tinged slide guitar, almost imitating a pedal steel, becomes instantly radio friendly and could quite easily be the chart destined single from the album, if such things existed today.
Ferrard's strength is in his protest songs of which he crafts with a graceful passion. "Hills of Virginia", possibly the stand out song on the album, squares up to the unjust war in Iraq and tells the tale from a surviving soldier's point of view, carefully avoiding apportioning blame on any part, just stating the facts as they appear. Sometimes it's the plain and simple truth that holds the power to convey the right message.
On a lighter side, Ferrard's vocal warmth is no better suited than on "Take Me Out Waltzing Tonight", the triple meter invitation to dance, which would have even the strctest wallflowers on the dance floor before you could say 1,2,3.
With a crystal clear vocal delivery and unfussy guitar accompaniment, and with help from a cast of tastefully clued-up musicians including Sandy Butler, Alan Thomson, Josh Goforth, Alyn Cosker, James Ross, Karine Polwart, Yvonne Lyon and Karen Dietzand as well as Brian Young (Runrig, John Martyn) at the controls, providing suitably pristine production, David Ferrard presents an accomplished debut.
Allan Wilkinson
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Artist: Sarah McQuaid
Album: I Won't Go Home 'til Morning
Label: Self Release
Tracks: 11
Website: www.sarahmcquaid.com
It's been a long while since I got up extremely early on a Sunday morning, before light even, curled up on the sofa with the old Ipod, rested my head on a cushion and read through all the sleeve notes from start to finish including the lyrics, the comments, the personnel list and production credits, even where the artist might buy his or in this case her strings from. With Sarah McQuaid's new album 'I Won't Go Home 'til Morning', so portentous are the sleeve notes, printed in a handsomely packaged booklet, that it takes roughly the same time to read through the booklet as it does to listen to the songs included within, if you run ahead with the lyrics that is.
Such an intimate hour with Sarah McQuaid is a rewarding experience before breakfast on a Sunday morning. Reading accounts of where she first encountered these songs, from old recordings of Jean Richie and Joan Baez, or from books published by Cecil Sharpe or Alan Lomax, sidetracks me into thinking about where I might have first heard these songs myself. In all honesty, I don't go that far back and I admit that my first encounters with many of these songs, would no doubt have been via Bert Jansch and Doc Watson vinyls; the focal point of my mis-spent youth.
Dedicated to Sarah's late mother, the songs on the album were recorded partly for cathartic purposes, to exorcise the ghosts of grief that goes with coming to terms with a parent's death - most of the songs they sang together when Sarah was young - and partly because since Sarah now lives in her mothers' house with her own family, the songs are probably as much a part of the fabric of the place as the walls and the floorboards.
The album's title is taken from a line in the opening song "The Chicken's They Are Crowing", a song learned from a Peggy Seeger album entitled 'Folksongs and Ballads', which a very young Sarah heard via her Mickey Mouse record player. These songs were learned at a very young age it would seem. Reminiscent of Nick Drake's "Cello Song", but with some ethereal vocal humming instead of the big violin, the song immediately invites us into Sarah McQuaid's enchanting world.
The unexpected surprise on the album is a pretty faithful version of the old Bobby Gentry classic "Ode To Billie Joe", which maintains all that Southern back porch swamp ballad feel as well as once again conveying an air of mystery and ambiguity that we loved in the original.
"In The Pines" has weaved it's way up through the history of folksong from the days of Cecil Sharpe's travels through the Appalachians in the late 1800s, to Huddie Ledbetter fresh from the penitentiary, claiming the song as his own, and then even turning up unexpectedly as Kurt Cobain's swansong under the guise of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" in the last days of Nirvana. Sarah McQuaid manages to roll all these facets into one and provides a spellbinding reading, which sends 'shivers', especially when the cold winds blow.
With a couple of personal self-penned songs thrown into the brew, the touching "Only An Emotion" and the aptly titled "Last Song", which brings the album to a close with its familiar coda of 'froggy went a courtin', Sarah McQuaid provides us with a rare beauty of an album, which I imagine will be revisited on this reviewer's Ipod, time and again.
Allan Wilkinson
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Judy Collins, Jazz Cafe, London, January 26th 2009
Judy Collins can be fairly claimed to be "Folk Royalty", from her earliest albums covering traditional songs through her later championing of new writers such as Dylan, Cohen and Joni Mitchell and onto her own song writing. The opportunity to see this legend of the 1960's in a relatively small venue is not something that comes your way everyday.
On the night she is in excellent voice, effortlessly hitting high notes. She mostly plays 12 string guitar, but occasionally ousts her pianist to take charge of the piano keys. Starting with a beautifully crisp Chelsea Morning she runs through a set consisting mainly of singer-songwriter material, although there's a fine John Reilly along the way. Her rendition of Sandy Denny's Who Knows Where The Time Goes is flawless. Between songs she gives what seems a well rehearsed series of anecdotes about her contemporaries, and reflects on the 1960's - listing off the assassinated she categorically states "Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, no, I don't miss the 1960s they were terrible times".
Although she clearly had a set list to work to this wasn't rigid - often as people called out song titles she would sing a snatch - a few lines, a verse perhaps, then continue - but for Farewell to Tarwahie she quite clearly decided to carry on with it and gave a moving unaccompanied performance - at times having to pause to drag the words back to mind. Perhaps surprisingly Suzanne required some help in places from the audience to get the words - but this did nothing to disappoint and just emphasized the intimacy of the gig.
There were many highlights - and perhaps surprisingly no Dylan, althought there were two Beatles numbers. The single encore was "Both Sides Now", another of her signature songs. A great singer, undiminished by time.
Set List
Chelsea Morning
Medley : Leaving on a Jet Plane / Take me home country roads / Leaving on a jet plane
John Reilly
The hills of Shiloh
That song about the midway
Who knows where the time goes
Blackbird
Norwegian Wood
Farewell to Tarwahie
Anathea
Open the door
Gauguin
Suzanne
My father
Colours of the day
Send in the clowns
Encore : Both sides now
Jonathan Aird
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Steve Daggett 'Without' Mawson-Wareham Music MWMCDSP94
My introduction to his music was as an unannounced support act to Slaid Cleaves at Newcastle Live Theatre some years ago. Since then I've purchased all of his releases via the internet and this latest Without is most worthy of recommendation. In general singer-songwriters are too intense and self indulgent for their own good but here Steve manages to carry it off despite having both these traits in abundance. I believe the reason is his lyrical prowess. From the non-stop rollercoaster of words that is and then to the masterful imagery of skiplife (could have been a Ray Davies song) it is quality writing throughout. Track three the wagon that seperates them has the line of the set "roll up the money, get it under your skin, just like a human hoover on a threadbare carpet of sin". Marvellous.
The sound is basic but wonderfully recorded, one guitar and one extremely expressive vocal that borders on Bob Dylan/Tom Waits style and I repeat, yes it's intense and self indulgent but this time around it's the making of it, not the downfall.
Matt Clarke
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Morris: A Life With Bells On (Twist Films)
This is a warm film in that oh so British way and if it were available on general release would I’m sure prove every bit as popular as any Ealing movie! I first came across the trailer for it via the SEFAN website (for which, much thanks) and thought it looked highly amusing. I suppose at first glance it will be seen as a Morris Mens doffing of the cap to the World’s greatest mocumentry “Spinal Tap” but that would be to under value the time and effort spent nurturing this little gem. Characters such as a very Henry Kipper-ish Aloysius “Pauncefoot” Stavely, Squire of Rimpton Morris 1959-1975 and the wonderfully observed Professor Compton Chamberlayne are textbook creations only topped by the presence of Charles Thomas Oldham as Derecq Twist the central character and Aidan McArdle as the ‘Producer’.
The offices of the Morris Circle and its head Derek Jacobi (yes, I did say Derek Jacobi who hams it up with a more than accurate portrayal of the general public’s view of a stiff-upper lipped Morris dancer) are a far cry from the hallowed halls of Cecil Sharp House an d look totally out of place from the traditional setting of the piece – nice touch! All of the actors have to be applauded for their performances throughout that are faultless and (dare one say it) near the Morris knuckle. By the way, the young lady playing the part of the Men’s nutrition/medical officer Skye Le Cornu (Lucy Akhurst) would be enough on her own to make any red-blooded male want to sign up to Morris dancing. Both the real producers (Akhurst & Thomas Oldham) should be well chuffed with what is one of the finest comedies I have seen in a long while. Now, I hate to think how much it cost them to put the whole show on the road but I hope they make it available for general release on DVD and that every Morris side in the country obtains a copy. If, by gently poking fun at a great institution some should see this film as slanderous to the dancers efforts then I can honestly say “…get a life!”
Pete Fyfe
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Chris and Siobhan Nelson - Live at Gregson Lane Folk Club on Thursday 29th January 2009
A raw January night was considerably warmed up by Chris and Siobhan Nelson playing to a full house at Gregson Lane FC. Refreshingly acoustic based, the duo are well known for their eclectic mixture of traditional English, Appalachian and modern folk classics. Underpinned by a driving fiddle, melodic viola and, unusually, mandola and a tenor guitar all played with verve and gusto by Chris, Siobhan’s voice rings out as the primary instrument.
An acapella ‘Saturday Rolling Around’ had the audience foot tapping from the start moving through ‘Bone Lace Weaver’ ( tune by Roy Harris, words circa 1650 ) to the poignant and evocative story of the working grind faced by Lancashire cotton weavers leavened only by the annual Wakes Week in Barry Wake’s ‘Living in a Shadow’. The collaboration with Wake, a Southampton based singer/songwriter/musician is long established culminating in the trio’s 2008 release of the CD ‘Ebb and Flow’ a collection of beautifully crafted songs. Wake’s narrative folk songs in traditional style, usually with an accessible chorus (always appreciated by the singalongers of the club), featured during the evening. ‘Along the Way’ inspired by the D Day landings, tales of misery in the early C20th copper mining community in ‘Mazey Days’ and ‘Appalachian Sunrise’ written especially for the Nelsons following a visit they made to a folk/fiddle/dance festival in the Appalachian mountains all evoked sounds and images from far flung places and distant times.
The performance resonated with Siobhan’s crystal clear vocals both accompanied and acapella on a diverse range of songs, some of the ‘woman sending her man packing’ variety as in the ‘Bold Dragoon’ accompanied by sensitive playing of the mandola from Chris, and a tale of a ‘bunny boiler’ stalker in the ‘Loyal Lover’.
Residents of the Bothy FC in Southport, Chris and Siobhan are experienced and informative, ably linking songs and tunes with witty introductions. Their set list is astonishingly varied incorporating contemporary arrangements with traditional themes all delivered with excellent musicianship and integrity. One of the many highlights was the incomparable ‘Unquiet Grave’, a song from their previous incarnation as part of the group ‘Cluster of Nuts’. This song is dark and atmospheric telling the tale of a young girl pining for her dead love for ‘twelve months and a day’. It was very well received by the audience who appreciated Chris’ ‘James Bond theme tune’ style introduction.
The enjoyment factor was enhanced following the interval with an acapella version of ‘Cathy Shaw’ by Roger Watson, the story of a cross dressing Derbyshire coal miner made good by marrying the gaffer’s son after being exposed in an accident down the mine. The Derbyshire link was strengthened in ‘Scarecrow’ – the John Tams war song was beautifully sung and packed with emotion listened to with rapt attention by a visibly moved audience. Chris joked that Siobhan usually has to ‘lie down in a darkened room after singing this song.’
The tenor guitar, described by Chris as a ‘fiddle players guitar’ with the same tuning, was used to great effect in Tim Hart/ Maddy Prior’s ‘False Knight on the Road’, ‘Oregon’ a tale of the spread of European immigrants through N.America and ‘Knoxville’ played with foot tapping zest.
An excellent evening of music was enhanced by the superb support of Gregson Lane FC resident Stuart Swarbrick. Stuart makes his Takamine ( tuned to CGCGCD Csus2) do the talking. His clear resonating voice singing his narrative choice of songs from John Tams’ ‘One More Day’, Dylan’s ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’ through Chris Woods’ ‘ Come Down Jehovah’ to the country feel of the ‘atheist spiritual’ ‘Sixteen Tons’ was well received by an appreciative audience. It always amuses me to see the ‘guitar guys’ (and girls) agog as Stuart paces the stage, hands blurring across the guitar. His performance of the Chris Woods signature song ‘One in a Million’ was outstanding, as was his dark, dark rendering of Dylan’s ‘Masters of War’. This man deserves to be heard far and wide.
Another brilliant Gregson Lane evening aptly summed up by Graham Dixon – ‘I think it’s difficult to get anything better than that, don’t you?’
Margaret McGrenery
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Richard Thompson, The Barbican, London, January 15th 2009
Even knowing that there will almost certainly be none of his own songs it's still an exciting prospect to be able to catch Richard Thompson live in concert. This is the Songs of the Millennium tour - the story is that he was requested to produce his top 10 songs of the millennium for Playboy magazine. Calling their bluff he put together a song from each century, they declined to use it but the leg-pull has now evolved into a full show.
The show is in two halves, the first half covers the first 900 years, the second half is devoted to the 20th century. This means that anything that would traditionally be labelled as folk is mostly in the first half.
Richard Thompson arrived on stage wearing his now trademark beret and playing the hurdy-gurdy, with his percussionist Debra Dobkin beating a drum, and accompanied by singer/keybords Judith Owen, for a first tune from 1000 years ago. After the applause he explained the evening in his stumbling manner - his articulacy being kept for his guitar playing and singing.
The first set races through the first 900 years with roughly a tune per century - Three Crows (which shares the same tune as The Cruel Sister) is a highlight and there's an excellent False Knight (introduced with a sly jibe - "Steeleye Span did this, our version's better, no, no, not really"). Mixed in with a little English Opera and the odd madrigal are an effective Shenandoah, during which the accompanying slide show of 19th century sailors and ships was particularly effective.
It's during The Black Leg Miner that I realised what an excellent drummer Debra Donkin is, here the previous fairly gentle accompaniment became something far more sinister mirroring the threatened fate for scab mine workers. The set closed out with some late Victorian / early 20th century material - with some Gilbert & Sullivan and then Owen taking lead vocals for a bit of cockney music hall with "I live in Trafalgar Square" which very nearly gets some of the audience singing along.
After The Intermission there's a rapid trot through the 20th century - a number of jazz influenced songs which I thought were the weakest items in the set, but finely balanced by the early emergence of blues transmuting into rock 'n' roll represented by Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee. There was a longer stop off in a psychedelic 1960's for The Kink's "See my friends" followed up with "Friday on my mind" a garage rocker driven along as much by Donkin's powerful drumming as Thompson's proficient guitar, with the whole group clearly having fun as the light show flashed in the background.
The 1970's were represented by Abba's "Money Money Money" - of course the original is dominated by keyboards but here no keyboards are used; all melody is provided by Thompson in a superb transformation of the song into a guitar tune.
For the encore there was a song attributed to Richard I ("sung in that difficult medieval French"), the song Maneater ("mostly in the style of Nellie Furtado, but the middle section is sung in Latin" - and it was) and closing out with a Mersey beat medley, terminating with “I want to hold your hand”.
All in all a superb evening, every step made with a light touch, plenty of irony and self deprecation and a superbly eclectic selection of material. Perhaps not Folk as it is usually thought of, but not a gig to miss on that account. Still on tour in the UK through early February, with a return visit to The Barbican on February 3rd.
Jonathan Aird
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Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo – DESPITE THE SNOW (Everyone Sang ES. 2008)
You might say that former Lo-Country singer Emily’s latest (second) solo album was recorded in adverse circumstances, those literally depicted in its title (taken from a Robert Graves poem). But adversity often produces the finest artistic results, and certainly in this case the end product is a cathartically spontaneous, wintry-warm, incredibly intense recording of a set of beautiful and intimate country-folky songs (all but two penned by Emily herself) that benefit from a unique soundscape that’s sparely coordinated and yet deeply luxurious in timbre. Hey now, this is good!… Back to basics, then: the songs were recorded live when Emily and her regular backing trio were ensconced in a 16th century Norfolk barn over last year’s snowy Easter weekend. The sense of atmosphere is tangible: edgy but cosy.
Emily’s inspired and acutely tender songwriting is characterised by a pained reflectiveness that gives her lovelorn psyche full rein, and is appositely upholstered by the uncannily rich, dark yet luminous sounds conjured by the violin, cello and accordion of her regular collaborators (Gill Sandell, Jo Silverston and Anna Jenkins – with a bassist and drummer too on a couple of tracks). Standout songs begin as soon as the disc starts spinning: Nostalgia contains some absolutely extraordinary imagery, economically and poetically expressed, then All Love Knows portrays the heady impact of a new relationship in the simplest of terms. The spooky, enigmatic Disappear almost drowns beneath the weight of its scoring, but the final impact is paradoxically fleet-footed since the momentum is maintained – and on into the washboard-chugging instrumental If It’s All Night Long. Then at the album’s core, the unearthly Bloated Blistered Aching Heart, the forlorn Emily has only a battered old upright piano and a musical saw for company – after which, Emily’s cover of Bright Phoebus sounds entirely natural. As does the bare, close-focus acoustic guitar tracery of Emily’s delicate reminiscence The Greenway. The wordier Storm In A Teacup evokes raindrops with its stealthy pizzicato strings, while Sideline is a truly desperate cri-de-cœur. The motion of the “boat in London waters” propels the album closer Oh Journey, which appears to conclude Emily’s turbulent emotional voyage, at least for the moment. This is chamber-gothic-backwoods folk par-excellence: Emily’s delivery uncannily conjures the spirits of Gillian Welch, Natalie Merchant, even Laura Veirs and, most eerily (on the extraordinary flute-flecked lovers’ waltz of Breath) both Emmylou and Iris Dement. Emily’s blessed with a great melodic sensibility, which is developed to great advantage by the firmly-controlled yet organic nature of the instrumental treatments and the full-blooded yet selectively groomed vocal harmonies.
O I wish I’d heard this album last autumn, when it first came out – it would easily have made my 2008 best-of-year list!
David Kidman
www.emily-barker.com
www.myspace.com/emilybarker
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CD REVIEW - Bandersnatch 'Changing Days'
Did you watch the remake of 'The 39 Steps' over Christmas, with current heartthrob Rupert Penry Jones? Were you as disappointed as I was? No Forth rail bridge, no bloke in the theatre who has to answer in truths, etc? Why can't they leave these things alone?
However, proof that you CAN remake a classic and add to its value is amply demonstrated by the opening track of Bandersnatch's second album, 'Changing Days'. Their arrangement of that stalwart Folk Club dietary staple, 'Lancashire Lads' is, in my humble opinion, a cracking job - it just grows and grows on you and transpires to be just the opening track of an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable album.
In fact the second track up, the Eponymous 'These Changing Days', indicates what we're about with this CD, the band's second album but the first with a new line up. The Band have embraced a number of changes, both organic and acquisitioned and have used the opportunity to respect the existing quality but also to build on what was good to begin with.
Perhaps most immediately obvious in the new line up is the addition of Becky Raw, adding another depth of talent from a number of aspects. The inclusion of a (lovely) female vocal, be it lead or harmonies, definitely adds and expands the overall appeal. A good example is the gospel song 'Ain't No
Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down' - very nicely done. And using the time honoured ability of all females to multi task, Becky's wonderfully sympathetic interpretation of Violin and Viola parts is just spot on.
Similarly, multi - instrumentalist Ian Kell adds keyboard, as well as lead electric and acoustic guitar into the balance, and again here the secret is that Ian's playing always just adds enough to the overall mix - in my view the signature appeal of the band.
Other highlights of the album include the evocative 'Storm Around Tumbledown' (I defy you not to join in), 'Copperline' (James Taylor), 'Dallas Rag' (I'll bet Dennis Dodd has one of those stripy coloured jackets at home), and of course the title track 'These Changing Days', sung beautifully, once again by Becky.
I should at this point confess that I've always enjoyed the sound that Bandersnatch produce - whilst the general 'feel' of the band is based in traditional music, it's the sheer variety and the delivery (trad/original/covers/gospel/ragtime), that, added to their musicality, make them so listenable.
'Changing Days' is a worthy and optimistic addition to anyone's CD collection, a sort of 'feel good' album; there is singalong, there is frisson, there is tenderness - I can't recommend it highly enough.
Finally, I have to mention the much missed Clive Leyland. I can imagine the band postulating on how best to celebrate his legacy as a songwriter and significant band member. Well, I think you've done it, guys. I can just picture Clive sitting on his cloud, nodding in approval…..Yes, I think you've done it beautifully.
Pete Hardman, Garstang Unplugged. January 2009
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Marybeth D'Amico - Heaven, Hell, Sin And Redemption
Marybeth’s an American singer-songwriter living in Germany, a former journalist whose epiphany came with her discovery, around four or five years ago, of the songwriting of Patty Griffin (and later other less well-known writers including Lori McKenna and Deb Talan). Marybeth’s stock-in-trade is melody-driven, surprisingly upbeat-sounding songs that trade stories of characters with shadowy secrets and often dubious habits. This turns out to be her first full-length album, and it’s a confidently managed set on which she’s been fortunate to engage the services of producer/bassist Bradley Kopp and a crew of musicians comprising Lloyd Maines (pedal steel, dobro), Richard Bowden (violin), David Webb (keyboards) and Paul Pearcy (drums). The album was well received in Europe on its release last summer, apparently, although reviews of its predecessor EP were mixed. Evidently the support team has provided the catalyst here for Marybeth to deliver the goods musically this time round.
This album exhibits a lightly-worn classiness, a listener-friendly pop-country-folk-Americana feel that belies the fairly dark nature of its content, in which aspect it’s been (quite fairly I believe) compared to the work of Kathleen Edwards. Marybeth sings well, with conviction and a quality of believability that stems from her direct, no-nonsense delivery; she makes the best of a voice that may not be considered the most individual. Another significant plus is that maybe you don’t exactly expect a lady singer to convince when portraying a male protagonist, but Every Week and Ohio (in particular) really hit home. There are occasions when reading the lyrics in the booklet gives a more potent sense of their poetry than listening to the record, but on the other hand (and especially on third or fourth play), luckily the melodies and arrangements entice and hook sufficiently to prevent the lyrics from being too easily glossed over, so one’s emotions are engaged from the outset on virtually every song. The album’s unity derives from the fact that Marybeth’s characters are real, and realistically depicted, and this record is a sufficiently distinctive and credible first-stab that should make something of a mark in a rather crowded marketplace, especially when backed up with a forthcoming UK tour (June 2009).
David Kidman
www.marybethdamico.com
www.myspace/marylisbeth
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Ann Scott; We’re Smiling (Raghouse Records, 02/09/2009)
It’s difficult to believe that through the female singer/song writer frenzy that has seen the likes of Amy MacDonald, Duffy, Amy Winehouse and Lilly Allen dominate the music press. A shining Irish starlet has gleamed under a shade of not entirely unwelcomed, relative obscurity. Now on her 2nd album, Ann Scott appears ready to fully harness the longing pull of her well-cushioned, but slightly weary approach.
She ups the atmospheric touches to mingle gospel, country and murky pop in the languid, yet uplifting opening double whammy of ‘Hot Day’ and the loved up ‘Mountain’. In latter mentioned effort, clipping percussion touches contrasts neatly against the full bodied trotting guitars and, the slightly coarse and ambient backing touches of David Kitt and Katell Keineg.
Brooding melancholy is a recurring theme and Scott’s Amy Studt and Cara Dillon conjoining range does this approach justice. A full bloodied Tenor Sax pushed crescendo, is set against eerie and a little incongruous interludes, rendering ‘Feather For Feather’, a forum for the full range of this so far understated tune crafting Irish artist.
It is evident even early on that since her rootsy more folk leaning debut album ‘Poor Horse’, Scott has been mulling over the meaning of love, life and listening to a little bit of Bjork and Emiliana Torrini into the bargain. This is exemplified in the slowly trickling ‘Imelda’, receiving the full ambient force of Kate Ellis’ cello, with the coup de grâce being Scott’s feeling pushed vocal echo that oozes crispness and a downtrodden lag. It also has a slight haunting nature to it that trickles into and then, fully controls the full-bodied country/blues amble, ‘Jealousy’.
Searching instrumentalism coincides neatly with the contemplative and searching tone of the leading lady here and, in the poetically life delving ‘100 Dances, 1000 Stars’, mundane philosophy is delivered with endearing clarity. Scott’s penchant for off-kilter , electrical intonations that was fully exposed in her 2005 side project, Cracklebox takes hold of her again and thrusts itself to the fore in the middle of this track. A foggy narrative that descends upon ‘Skin Deep’, will appeal to those with an oblique outlook.
A thoughtful, well-worked range of tales and instrumental foraging that makes full use of a variety of guest and Scott’s own well polished band, is cleverly made full use of here. Maybe now is the time for the thoughtful dreamer to rise to prominence. Given the increasing number of people searching for any way to escape this bleak economic climate, it could be time for history to be reversed and Scott could this time be discovered.
Rating; 4/5
Dave Adair
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Patsy Reid - Bridging the Gap
Patsy Reid is a Perthshire based fiddler,composer and teacher, who in a few short years has built up an impressive biography, in 2001 she was one of the finalists in the first BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year, the youngest winner of the Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship, a graduate of The Royal Northern College of Music and is currently a member of the highly regarded and rising stars of the folk circuit Breabach.
In 2008 Celtic Connections New Voices commissioned Reid to produce the show 'Bridging the Gap' which does precisely that, bridging the gap between Reid's love and background in both Classical and Traditional Music, the live show at the Festival last year (2008) was extremely well received and consequently the live recording was later released by Vertical Records.
'Bridging The Gap' itself is composed of nine self composed melodies and is divided into three movements fusing the different modes of classical music into jigs, reels, airs and hornpipes, the performance is centred around Reid's solo fiddle accompanied by a eight strong string section, guitar percussion and piano, accompanied by (amongst others) Mhairi Hall (piano), Aidan O'Rourke, Deidre Morrison and Wendy Stevenson (fiddle), Duncan Lyall (Double Bass). The first movement is composed of four tunes, Baby Broon, Space to Breathe, Slowing Down and Vanessa Edward's Enviable Rhythm, opening with Reid's solo fiddle introducing the Reel Baby Broon providing the focus for what is to follow, she is quickly joined by the full ensemble mentioned above, the tempo changes to the following Jig 'Space to Breathe' and the Slow Air 'Slowing Air', all of which is seemlessly moved between with apparant ease. The remaining two movements also provide similar fusion of classical and traditional styles with Reid regularly pushing boundaries whilst at the same time maintaining the depth and beauty of the whole piece. The personal highlight for me was the second movement of the three consisting of 'The Strath Sunrise' a slow and very evocative Air in the lydian mode followed by the one march of the piece 'Two of a Kind', whilst the Air was perhaps the more orchestral piece of the performance the March follows the reflective nature of the Air with a different 'beat' nicely reflecting the diversity of the entire performance.
Indeed a shame that the performance was a one off, finally the CD sleeve is quite useful for giving a little background into the different classical modes and how they are defined, but thats not necessary here, other than to say Reid has produced an outstanding work that will pay testament to her skill in both performance and composition for some time, it certainly bodes extremely well for Reid's future career.
To hear clips and for further information visit www.patsyreid.com or www.verticalrecords.co.uk