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MARCH 2025
SHEILA K. CAMERON
On Sanity’s Shore
Glalell SKC1711
Scottish poet and songwriter Sheila K. Cameron (SKC) says she belongs to Canada and the city of Vancouver, but is presently based in Glasgow. Others have described her as “something of a blues singer” and “a torch singer to trade”; she calls herself a one-time performer who is now more than a writer. Venues included St Andrew’s Halls, the Third Eye Centre, the Metropole and Close theatres in Glasgow, the George Hotel in Edinburgh and The Troubadour in London – “the latter was during a naïve attempt to become a successful folk singer”, she admits.
Sheila has recorded a prolific pile of 12 albums; on her 13th, On Sanity’s Shore, she lays down no less than 28 poems and blues songs, playing time a whopping 75 minutes, give or take a little less, from the opening ‘Where the Pebbles Grind and Scrape’, ‘Lie Awhile Longer My Love’ and the final ‘I’m Feeling Lost Bring Me Home’. She lived on the Canadian island of Haida Gwaii, in the North West Pacific; one of the songs was written on the island a very long time ago, and the rest were written mainly in Vancouver and Glasgow. Her spoken-word material and music tell of love found and lost, blues to soothe and being completely alone; collaborators are song arranger Brian McNeill, former keyboards player with Kirkby-based band China Crisis, and Argyll-based Wild Biscuit Music.
I reviewed On Sanity’s Shore, and I wasn’t too kind; but I’ve revisited her album and listened again, and I now see her work in a different light. Her voice has been through so many journeys, but it conveys so much passion, joy and pain. I think I’ll listen some more.
GIGSPANNER BIG BAND
Turnstone
GPCD009
www.gigspanner.com/gigspanner-big-band
***** FIVE STAR CHOICE! *****
The turnstone (scientific name: arenaria interpres) is a black, brown and white bird which can be seen fluttering around large pebbles on rocky and gravelly shores, flipping them over to look for prey. It can even lift rocks as big as its own body. It’s not native to the British Isles, but it can be seen all year round as different populations arrive throughout the seasons. Five years on from their critically-acclaimed album Natural Invention, Peter Knight’s Gigspanner Big Band is back with a mighty bang with this absolute treasure – 11 tracks filled with jaw-dropping quality. Turnstone is a master class in consummate, empathetic musicianship that blends together in an endlessly fascinating way, capturing all the energy of a live gig enhanced with the quality of studio sound.
Peter Knight is a revered giant in folkdom; his distinctive and emotive fiddle playing has enriched the music world for more than four decades, notably with folk-rock’s iconic band Steeleye Span and with his own Gigspanner trio, who have been quoted as: “One of the most genuinely groundbreaking forces on the British folk scene.” The members are outstanding acoustic and electric guitarist Roger Flack and brilliant percussionist Sacha Trochet; the trio was ably filled out by BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin, who added their immense skills to the sound – dobro, resophonic and tenor guitars, harmonica, five-string violin, banjo and Hannah’s deep contralto and highly distinctive voice – while the line-up was completed by John Spiers, nicknamed Squeezy John, founder member of Bellowhead and described as: “One of the best melodeon players of his generation.” Both he and Peter have played together as a duo, going out as Knight and Spiers.
Turnstone resembles this little bird turning pebbles upside down in its search for treasure, and the band is deconstructing and reconstructing traditional folk songs and soaring freely with their special tunes. Hannah says: “So it is with the folk tradition, with songs similarly worn smooth over time travelling to us – but when turned, yielding new secrets and possibilities.”
This is a magnificent and an utterly breathtaking album, and it’s all deliciously drawn out in roughly an hour and 14 minutes. The band launch off with the Child ballad ‘Suffolk Miracle’, first published by 17th century broadside printers; it recounts the tale of a landowner father who sends his daughter away when she falls in love with a commoner. The young man dies, but returns as a ghost to ask her to ride away with him. A lone plucked fiddle introduces Hannah’s arresting vocal; it continues in sombre vein until the other band strike in with their musical clout and lush instrumentation in glorious crescendo. ‘Sovay’ follows on, and Hannah and the band skillfully ride the crazy and complicated time signature. Just when you thought the song had ended, Roger’s wailing guitar breaks out in an exhilaratingly harsh hurricane of notes. Peter says: “I have always liked this song and didn’t over-arrange it before bringing it the rehearsals. We all welcome a serious rummage in rehearsals – you never know what might pop up.”
Squeezy John suggested that the band might have a go at the American ballad ‘Silver Dagger’, one of the saddest of folk songs; the dagger is the suicide weapon used by the young lovers when parents objected to their match. Hannah’s soulful voice and Phillip’s twanging, singing dobro rises above the beautiful and serene arrangement; and the band swagger in with the folk hymn ‘What Wondrous Love Is This’ with a smoldering, smoking, defiant style that dares other mere musicians to get out of the way. The Scottish ballad ‘When Fortune Turns the Wheel’ is a nine-minute journey of sheer delight; it was a signature song of the late Louis/Louisa Jo Killen, who heard it in the late 1950s from Alan Robertson, a shepherd who lived in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland. Squeezy John also takes the vocal lead on the fratricide ballad ‘The Rolling of the Stones’, about a 1589 incident near Edinburgh when a man accidentally kills his brother; however, the brother’s lover Susie charms him from his grave.
The ’big ballads’ have been magically brought to life by the band’s ingenious interplay; ‘The Basket of Eggs’ tells of two sailors who steal a woman’s basket, thinking it is full of eggs – but when they look in the basket they discover a baby child, and offer £500 to any woman who will foster it. But the whole thing has been set up by the child’s mother, who recognises one of the sailors as the father of her child and takes the money before revealing herself. Next, Sacha’s sharp percussion kicks off the ‘gypsy song’, ‘Betsy Williams’; and another Child ballad, ‘Hind Horn’, concerns the Edinburgh-born man who served the King for seven years before he falls in love with the monarch’s daughter. The King sent him away to sea, but the daughter has given her lover a diamond ring; she promises him that when the stones will have grown pale before her love will have waned.
Peter sings the American parlour song ‘Hard Times Come Again No More’, written by Stephen Foster, who died aged just 37 in 1864; he was acclaimed as one of America’s best songwriters, and the expression of suffering and hardship was published just seven years before the American Civil War. The song breaks out into ‘Arthur Peter’s Reel’, and the sad dirge turns to unfettered joy. The band storms to a ten-and-a-half-minute live climax, while Sacha caps everything with a stunning and ear-popping percussion solo – and the crowd roars its approval.
I’ve listened time and time again to Turnstone, and I never get tired of it – there’s always some bright nuance for me to discover. Peter and the band members have always had a magical sixth sense of experimenting with ancient folk songs and turning them into prowling, roaring tigers. I’ve lost count of the miriad of inspiring instrumental arrangements which flow thick and fast like an endless torrent. These guys are at the high peak of their game and standing triumphantly at the top of their tree – ain’t it the truth?
MICK’S QUICKS
►And now there are two – after eight years, Liam Ward has left The Jake Leg Jug Band; frontman and double-bassist Duncan Willcox and frenetic-voiced Donegan-like guitarist Warren James are still delighting audiences all round the country. Their tenth album, Live at the Green Note (Coastal Light Records, CLR003), recorded when Liam was still in the trio, is chock-full of 15 prohibition-era jazz, blues and gospel stormers from the 1920s and 1930s, including well-known and well-loved ‘St Louis Blues’, ‘Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho’, ‘Light From the Lighthouse’ and ‘Gloryland’; The band light the blue touchpaper and encourage the Camden Town crowd with jug, kazoo, jaw harp, harmonica and entertaining chat, and guest musician Gabriel Garrick adds to the sound with trumpet, trombone and percussion. Great news: Duncan and Warren are already planning the eleventh album. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
►Remarkable duo Sound of the Sirens are playing in the Acapela Studio, Pentyrch on Thursday, March 27; Abbe Wood and Hannah Walker are Exeter-based singer-songwriters who have carved out a distinct place in the UK acoustic scene in their 11-track offering The Other Me (self-released, no catalogue number). The album consists of razor-sharp creative music and head-swiveling in-your-face harmonies which are designed to make their audience sit up and think; they fly wide of the folk ambit, dabbling wildly towards rock-pop material – but they always come back with a bang. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
►Leeds-born singer-songwriter Andy Tagger parades his debut eight-track album, Ponte Carlo (independent release, AT532119), and cites a diverse range of great artists such as Joni Mitchell, Jake Thackray, Leonard Cohen and Stephen Sondheim as an inspiration for his music-making; unfortunately, he’s not the greatest voice and songsmith in the entire planet, and his performance does not float my boat. Sorry, but I won’t be buying this CD. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs down
►Wonderful acoustic guitarist and extremely accomplished songwriter Rupert Wates was born in London but has been based in New York City since 2007, the winner of well over 50 songwriting and performing awards. His 13th and latest solo album, Father to the Man (Bite Music BR12119), is 12 songs concerning his four-year-old son, Gabriel, whose face is displayed on the front sleeve; Rupert divides his songs into two sections, ‘The Child’ and ‘The Man’. He’s a brilliant lyricist, a masterful fingerstyle player and a powerful but persuading voice; every track is an absolute gem. David Pomeroy is almost imperceptible in accompanying him on the double bass; Rupert’s music has a timeless quality, and he oozes sheer class. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
STEVE TILSTON
Last Call
Talking Elephant Records, TECD504
So, this is it – after more than five decades of delighting audiences, impressive guitarist, lovely singer and great songwriter Steve Tilston is finally bowing out with his 20th solo album, Last Call. Steve, who was born in Liverpool and brought up in Leicestershire, was celebrating his 75th birthday on March 24 this year; his debut offering, An Acoustic Confusion, was released in 1971. Apart from his amazing solo work, there are a pile of recordings that he made when he was collaborating with many artists. He made two albums (Of Moor and Mesa and All Under the Sun) with the late Maggie Boyle, whom he married in 1984; both he and Maggie had separated in 1999. He joined John Renbourn’s Ship of Fools and recorded an eponymous album in 1988, and he became a member of WAZ!, with Pete Zorn and Maartin Allcock (Fully Chromatic, 1999); Steve played with alt-country band The Durbervilles and made The Oxenhope EP (2012); and with the Steve Tilston Trio, he recorded Happenstance, (2013). He made The Janus Game with Jez Lowe, which came out in 2016 – and there’s also a DVD, Sound Techniques – Guitar Maestros #5, which was released in 2006.
Steve lives in the city of Bristol, but this time he’s in Slow Moor Studio in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire; engineer Richard Woodcock recorded, mixed and mastered Last Call. Steve calls on some good friends and long-term musical collaborators as he lays down 11 really meaty tracks. First off, the Richard Curran string quartet and Hugh Bradley (flute) accompany the singalong ‘Apple Tree Town’; and Hugh returns to his double bass for the second song, the bluesy ‘Biding Time’, the gig-weary ‘One More Day’ and ‘As Night Follows Day’ – Steve describes it as “a worm of an idea born of insomnia and homesickness in a distant hotel room.” The backing personnel for the album – in no particular order – includes Martin Groarty (electric guitar), Keith Warmington of the Steve Tilston Trio (harmonica), Tony Orrell (percussion), Jonny Fewings (banjo), Alan Cook (pedal steel guitar), Steve Andrews (piano) and Richard Curran (fiddle).
Steve’s intelligent and acerbic writing are songs to be savoured; ‘Never Could Have Asked for More’ praises the awe-inspiring locations on this wonderful earth, ‘Time and Tide’ is sheer musical poetry, while he vents his contempt with ‘Hard Cheese’. The instrumental ‘Last Call’ shows his artistic prowess on solo guitar, and ‘Get Away from My Door’ recounts a hopeful candidate from the then party of misrule door-knocking him; could he count on Steve’s vote? He writes: “He can, but not for him…”
Steve ends his very fine album with ‘Sweet Primroses’, a traditional chestnut which he says comes reputedly from the West Country; however, he misses out the celebrated South Wales folk singer Phil Tanner, ‘the Gower Nightingale’, who sang the classic ‘The Banks of the Sweet Primroses’ in a recording made in November 1936, released by Columbia Records in 1937 on a 78rpm disc. Last Call is Steve’s farewell to his fans all around the world – and one of his best.
HARTWIN
Unfolding
Trad Records, TRAD036
This album is soooo stunningly beautiful and very moving in a serenely peaceful way; Hartwin is a diatonic accordionist, a composer and a member of Trio Dhoore, three Belgian brothers who performed together for 11 years and are now taking a long rest. Hartwin, hurdy-gurdy player Koen Dhoore and guitarist Ward Dhoore recorded four amazing albums, Modus Operandi (2013), Parachute (2015), Momentum (2016) and August (2019). Between 2015 and 2021, Hartwin lived on the Baltic island of Saaremaa in Estonia, marking six of the most important years in his career as a writer of melodies. The stunning landscapes and untouched nature on the island moved him to write a plethora of new songs that mirror the many moments of solitude and reflection during his time there. Even though he is currently living back in Belgium, he says that he carries inspiration and wisdom, gathered in Estonia forever in his heart and soul; he finds beauty all around him wherever he travels, a dreamy distillation of a constant flow of writing new music.
He composed a clutch of tunes while in Saaremaa; afterwards, he sought out Gabriel Hollander, a respected and valued conductor with a wealth of theoretical knowledge and craftsmanship. They embarked on a unique collaboration with Gabriel and a classical string trio consisting of violinist Nicolas Dupont, viola player Clément Holvoet and cellist Julius Himmler. The result is a wonderful album that bridges the divide between folk, classical and film musics.
‘Unfolding’, the opening work of the same album name, is a marvellous revelation; the string trio gently ebbs and flows, leaving the solo accordion to play the finest and the sweetest melody of all. Hartwin names his compositions ‘When at Ease’, ‘Floating’, ‘Illumina’ and ‘The Forest Knows Where You Are’; all nine works are carefully designed to lull and soothe the listener into absolute quiet contemplation. ‘White Light’ is a hymn of hope, ‘Prayer for Brightness’ still shines on, ‘Head in the Clouds’ is carefree and charming and ‘Nightfall’ draws the curtain on the day. Violin, viola and cello caress, shape and mould the accordion, seemingly floating together on a river that flows to the distant sea. It is utterly delightful, and refreshingly invigorating and inspiring as well.
As Hartwin writes in the CD cover: “Creating this album was a significant process, helping me to unfold my true self to the world. I am grateful that it has found you, and I hope it brings you to a place where you can connect with yourself, find peace and ‘unfold’.”
STEVE KNIGHTLEY
Positively Folk Street: Dylan, Carthy & Me
Hands On Music, HMCD55
There’s a very interesting billing when Tredegar House Folk Festival kicks off on the weekend of May 9-11, 2025; Steve Knightley and Phil Beer top the list – but these two are only performing solo. Folk roots legends Show of Hands announced their ‘indefinite break’ last year, and it very much looks like the break is permanent. The band’s formidable frontman, applauded for the sheer diversity and impact for his award-winning songwriting, lost no time in stepping out last autumn with his first album in 17 years, The Winter Yards; and he salutes two of the most iconic influences which made him go on the road and become a folk singer in his new offering, Bob Dylan and his great mentor, Martin Carthy.
Steve writes on the sleeve of Positively Folk Street: Dylan, Carthy & Me: “When I first picked up an acoustic guitar in my mid-teens, my repertoire was very limited – and then I discovered The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. That album was a revelation! At the time, I had no idea that Dylan had drawn so deeply from our own folk traditions to shape many of his songs. Later that same summer, I found myself at Sidmouth Folk Festival, where I saw Martin Carthy perform live for the first time. Another moment of discovery!
“Carthy is name-checked on the back cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan as a source of some of Dylan’s melodies, and suddenly, the music I had assumed was purely American revealed its deep British roots. These songs – woven from a tradition stretching across the Atlantic – felt both familiar and transformative. It was an inspiring time, a period when Dylan’s poetic sensibility collided with the narrative power of folk music.”
In Positively Folk Street, produced by Jolyon Holroyd at the Valvetastic Studio in Exeter, Steve stands alone and sings six of Dylan’s songs and five of Carthy material, plus ‘Just As The Tide Was Flowing’ – you can strike me down if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that Martin recorded this. (In actual fact, it was his daughter, Eliza Carthy, who recorded the very same song on her album Anglicana.) Steve accompanies himself with eloquent guitar, harmonica, quattro and concertina, and his impassioned, crystal-clear voice fills out and colours the Dylan and Carthy catalogue, from ‘Girl from the North Country’, the classic ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’ and ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’ to the traditional ‘Broomfield Hill’, ‘Polly on the Shore’ and ‘Lord Franklin’.
It’s a 30-year journey that perhaps would have been unfolded, had it not been for Steve’s revelation of two of the most important figures in folk history, the ground-breaking revolutionary Dylan and the hugely influential Carthy. Their paths famously crossed when Carthy helped Dylan to navigate the London folk scene in the 1960s; they influenced each other and became friends. Dylan learned traditional songs from Carthy – including ‘Scarborough Fair’, which inspired him to write ‘Girl from the North Country’, which appeared on his 1963 debut album. Years on, Dylan’s light is on the ascendency once more with the hit film A Complete Unknown, especially for actor Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar and BAFTA-nominated performance as the man himself.
Steve sings the final track, the Carthy-arranged rousing reading of ‘Seven Yellow Gypsies’; this song recounts the true story when, 300 years ago, Lady Jean Hamilton was married to the grim puritanical Earl of Cassilis, but fell in love with John Faa, leader of a Scottish gypsy band. The lovers ran away and eloped, but the band was pursued; John Faa was captured and hanged. History is silent about this incident, but this Child ballad – number 200 – has survived in several forms all over England, Scotland and America.
Steve is currently on an month-long tour, playing theatres, arts centres, village halls and folk clubs the width and breadth of England, but Wales and Scotland are missing out. However, I’ll have to wait until next May at Tredegar House; hopefully, I’ll be on the front seat.
FLOOK
Sanju
Flatfish Records FLATFISH007CD
***** FIVE STAR CHOICE! *****
The mighty Flook, that truly wonderful, exciting and utterly unique quartet, celebrate 30 years of jaw-dropping music with this short and very sweet release; the brand-new Sanju is a marvellous addition to their already impressive string of ground-breaking and highly acclaimed albums, the debut Flatfish, which came out in 1999, Rubai (2002), Haven (2005) and Ancora (2019).
When Flook were formed back in 1995, there was nothing to compare them with; they were a flute-driven phenomenon, not Irish nor English, perfectly comfortable in their musical skin and free to go as the wind blows – so boldly go they did. Armagh-born Brian Finnegan plays a stunning whistle and wooden flute, Sarah Allen amazes audiences with her alto flute, Ed Boyd is a tremendous acoustic guitar master while journalists hail Mancunian John Joe Kelly as being the most creative bodhràn percussionist on the planet.
In their 30 years, Flook have greatly matured, like a expensive fine wine; it just gets better. Sanju has only five tracks and the album is just short of 30 minutes, but the band cram in a load of beautiful airs, joyous jigs and breathless reels into it. The tunes are deliciously strung out, and they invite guest musicians to pad it out and enhance the sound; fiddler and viola player Patsy Reid is there, Konstantine Turmanov plays piano while cutting-edge producers Stevie L. Jones and John Calvert add a plethora of instruments including synths, ukelele bass, percussion and Wurlitzer. The album was recorded in North London at The Shelter, between October 3 and 5, 2024.
Sarah and accordionist Phil Cunningham wrote the tranquil ‘The Father Shore’, and Ed sets the high bar with his opening solo guitar; then Brian rings the changes with his written ‘Winter Flower’, and both he and Sarah are spot-on and razor-sharp with their whistle-flute unison. The second track is a dizzying six-and-a-half minuter, with the whistle driving the band on with a brace of fierce Finnegan jigs; then Patsy’s blazing fiddle jumps in with Liz Carroll’s exquisite ‘Jonny D’s’, and both Ed and John Joe play an absolute scorcher. The whole piece is brought to an end with Brian’s multi-tune ‘Timewaver’. Brian’s delicate and thoughtful ‘Koady’ tributes a shattering loss of a bright light, and his ‘The Burning Lion’ represents solidarity with musician friends in war-torn Ukraine. ‘Tie the Knot in Georgia’ and ‘Faqqua’, written by Brian, sends a message of love for newly-wed friends in Tiblisi and proud defiance for an occupied land in ‘Faqqua’. Sanju triumphantly bows out with a tone poem of hope and two joyful jigs, all composed by Sarah; ‘Where There Is Light’, ‘The May Waterway’ and ‘Ninety Years Young’ capture carefree summer days and celebrate our elders.
Virtuoso musicianship abounds, and the exhilarating music has catapulted them to the highest of heights. Flook are not just a band; they’re an artistic tour-de-force. More power to their elbows!
MICK’S QUICKS
► Aberdeen-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Colin Macduff says he was lucky to be brought up in a music-loving family; he was exposed to folk, classical, jazz and pop up such songsmiths as Boo Hewerdine, Ralph McTell and the great Archie Fisher for his inspiration. He releases his third delightful and totally feel-good album, the 10-track Halfway to Summer (independent release, CNM20241), which Colin invites a number of impressive guest musicians including Angus Lyon on accordion, bass, cello and midi mellotron. Guitarist and mandolinist Anna Massie, fiddler Jenna Reid and composer Findlay Napier throw in a couple of numbers, while fellow songsmiths Maria Quinn, Shirley Barr, Susy Wall and Swedish multi-instrumental wizard Gustaf Ljunggren help out. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Brilliant and strikingly good polyphonic trio Wise Woman are Charlotte Vaughan (who comes from Port Talbot and Porthcawl), Anna Pool and Lydia Bell; Maddie Cutter is on leave because of family commitments, but they perform in many different configurations. Their five-track EP Hold the Wonder (5056826848857) was recorded live in Blaxhall Village Hall, Suffolk, and contains totally original and jaw-droppingly quirky songs, including ‘Smiley Face’, ‘Whole Truth Five’, ‘Mara’ or ‘Hymn to a Genius’ – their whiplash vocal range is razor-sharp and dizzyingly complicated. They are currently touring now, finishing off at Cardiff Bay’s Wales Millennium Centre on May 31. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Madrid-based folk-Americana-roots quartet Track Dogs celebrate 20 years of old and new songs and raising the roof with their 40-track double album, Tracks Laid, Tracks Covered (Mondegreen Records, MGR1125). The eclectic band consists of two Irishmen, a Brit and an American: Garrett Wall (vocals, guitar), Dave Mooney (bass), Howard Brown (trumpet) and Robbie K Wall (cajon); over the years, they have added banjo, ukulele and mandolin and have been building their reputation with many cracking gigs, including the Costa Festival in Ibiza, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Wickham Folk Festival, Beardy Folk and Broadstairs Folk Week. Nine new tracks include ‘Amor De Mi Vida’, ‘Beauty in the Mud’, ‘Ruby, Are You Mad at Your Man’ and ‘Wine on the Piano’. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Distinguished baroque violinist Holly Harman has spent a lifetime exploring the strong connection between baroque music and folk; she specialised in the Royal Welsh of Music and Drama and cut her teeth on the London folk scene, releasing an acclaimed album with The Twisted Twenty. She has toured and recorded with some of Europe’s premier orchestras and ensembles and created her own record label, Penny Fiddle Records. Her new album Ground (PFR2510CD) is an absolutely dazzling and unique concert of baroque mixed with traditional music, featuring early composers Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Nicola Matteis and Marco Uccellini, and including the lyrical ‘Fairy Queen’ by harper Turlough O’Carolan. Holly is joined by Sid Goldsmith’s cittern for Sid’s commendable medley, ‘Air Like Wine/Half of Shandy’; and Sid’s voice is also linked to her for the surprise bonus track, ‘The Parting Glass’. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Born in New York City and based in Massachusetts, singer-songwriter and guitarist Rees Shad has recorded an impressive 16 albums of his super-prolific songs; but his 17th, Porcelain Angel (Shadville Records, no catalogue number) he veers into the dreaded Americana-cum-pop style with the big electric band, all drums and electric guitars, accompanying him. It’s a shame as well, because he creates a lot of ear-catching and very eloquent material. Nah – it didn’t float my boat. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs down
DYLAN & MIKE JAMES
Dyma
Compagnie des Possibles EP0013
www.compagniedespossibles.bzh/
Mike James was a long-serving anchor of the legendary band Swansea Jack; he was born in Ealing, West London, to Roy and Gwyn James, and it was his parents’ love of folk music that shaped his soul. He went to Swansea University and moved to an old cottage in the Swansea Valley village of Ynysmeudwy – right next to my cottage, as it happens. Mike was extremely active in the Valley Folk Club, based in Pontardawe, and Pontardawe Festival; however, he upped sticks and emigrated to Brittany years ago, where he is making a living singing and performing on his beloved diatonic accordion. He keeps in touch with the folk club and Wales; he lives in the commune of Ploërmel in the Morbihan department, half-way on the N24 road between Lorient and Rennes. His son, Dylan, is a double-bass player who has been in several Breton bands, including the lovely An Tri Dipop, the project L’abrasive and the impressive trio Planchée (with singer and fiddler Emmanuelle Bouthillier and accordeon player Yannick Laridon.)
Dylan and Mike’s 10-track debut album is mesmerisingly delightful; it was recorded, mixed and mastered by Olivier Renet at Studio La Barrique in Peillac, Morbihan, a commune near to Ploërmel and the home of La Compagnie des Possibles, record company-cum-artists’ cooperative. First up is the Cornish version of the Child ballad ‘The Three Knights’; Mike listened to the great Cyril Tawney, which he says opened his imagination to the fascination of the ‘big ballads’. Dylan’s stark and minimal hypnotic accompaniment throws the spotlight on the sombre ‘honour killing’, where the future bride’s brother had not been consulted for her choice of husband and kills his sister for vengeance. Mike also heard the late Malcolm Wray of Derry singing the second song, ‘The Yellow Bittern’, when he played with the Irish band Quilty; and he learned the Welsh bagpipe tune ‘Marwnad y Heliwr’ (The Huntsman’s Lament) from flautist Lawrence Fry (who is no longer with us) and fiddler and crwth player Bob Evans, Aberystwyth-born and but living in Cardiff.
Mike and Dylan both share a love for the singing of Joe Heaney, master of the sean nós old-style ornamented singing; ‘The Rocks of Bawn’ highlights the frustrations of the Irish farmers, driven off their land by colonists introduced by the English landlords. Mike’s mother Gwyn is recorded singing Ewan McColl’s radio ballad ‘Freeborn Man of the Travelling People’ 40 years ago, and Mike also takes up and raises his crystal-clear voice for the conclusion. Phil Tanner, the Gower Nightingale, was born in 1862 and died in 1950; The BBC recorded his ‘The Bonny Bunch of Roses’ in 1949 – however, on his death they shamefully deleted all his vast repertoire, leaving a tiny handful of Phil’s songs. Mike and Dylan both share an admiration for his voice, which reverberates down the years; together, they swap vocals for this tribute, and the squeezebox and bass segue into the Doc Watson tune ‘Bonaparte’s Retreat’.
Mike’s diatonic accordion and Dylan’s bowing dive into a clutch of Breton ‘Ridées’ from the Pays Gallo of Eastern Brittany, while Mike does a mavellous job on the late local ballad singer Eugénie Alloyer, from Ploërmel, on ‘Y’a Bien Un Mois ou Cinq Semaines’ (A Month or Five Weeks Have Gone By). When he was ten or 11 years old, Mike’s parents took him to see The Watersons in concert, and the thrill of hearing them has been seared on his memory; in ‘Sorry the Day I Was Married’, Mike and Dylan sing harmonies with guts and conviction. The final track is the beautiful chestnut ‘The Galway Shawl’; Mike learned this song from Lynne Gent, a Valley Folk Club floor singer with a incredible voice; in fact, Lynne joined the final combination of Swansea Jack. Mike believes she got this song off Sean Cannon, soon to be recruited for The Dubliners, when he was appearing solo at the club. Both father and son perform together for the grand finale, and their utter love of the folk song echoes loud and long. It’s a reassuring and comforting philosophy that the next generation can proudly carry the flaming torch for tradition as well.
FEBRUARY 2025
MICK’S QUICKS (Part 2)
► Here is a completely unusual and unique experience: A year ago, contemporary freeform double-bassist and electric guitarist Aidan Thorne and Jason Ball were recorded live at the Oriel Davies Gallery in Newtown, Powys, on Dydd Dewi Sant, St David’s Day – and these seven tracks are set for release in their debut digital album Archwilio’r Traddodiad: Exploring the Tradition (Cambrian Records, CAM032) on March 1. Aidan, who has collaborated with a number of musicians, including Burum and Julie Murphy, has picked some of his favourite traditional Welsh tunes as stimulus, from the introductory ‘Pan o’wn y Gwanwyn’, through ‘Ffarwel i Aberystwyth’ to the monster 14-minute ‘Mynwent Eglwys’. If you enjoy listening to well-known melodies, be warned; the wafer-thin tunes are almost smothered in their flights of discovery. There again, the guitar shimmers and glitters in ‘Yr Haul’. This is a totally new concept to take in; but I’m going to give them the nod of approval. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Living in Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands, Greenshanks (aka Will Boyd-Wallis) is a singer-songwriter, woodworker, ecologist and land manager working with the National Trust for Scotland. His debut EP, Stormbird (independent release, GMEP001) are a passionate, poignant and powerful five songs themed on emigration and the sea; the opening track, ‘Fistful of Sand’, is centred on Will’s great-great-grandfather and the unjust clearance of the community from the Isle of Rum, while the title track describes the lone Storm Petrel on the cliffs of St Kilda. His six-string ‘guitalele’ and acoustic guitar are very prominent in the mix, and the session musicians are composer Hamish Napier (harmonium, organ, piano), James Lindsay of Breabach (double bass), James Macintosh (percussion), Ross Ainslie (low whistle), Iain Forrest (slide guitar) and Becky Doe (viola, violin). Watch out for a head-turning new talent. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Quebecois harmonica player and fiddler David Brunelle is based in Montreal, Canada; his delightful album, Vieux Aires Neufs (Old New Looks, independent release, no catalogue number) is chock-full of 16 wonderful dancing tunes, some traditional and some he has composed himself – with the all-important driving rhythm of the pieds. Supporting musicians accompany him, from the opening appetiser of the ‘Deux Grondeuses’ to the glorious build-up of the closing ‘La Dernière Drave’ – an intriguing, bright collection that’s so addictive. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Singer-songwriter Dorie Jackson is a member of Kaprekar’s Constant, a folk prog band that formed in Kent in 2015; she has released her second album, Stupid Says Run (Talking Elephant Records), an eye-opening and beautifully arranged collection of 12 folk-flavoured tracks; Kaprekar’s musicians accompany, including Dorie’s father, former Van der Graaf Generator saxophonist David Jackson who adds flute, horns and whistles throughout the album. She writes with care and precision; ‘Sun Horse’ is the breathtaking opener, followed by ‘The Daylight Gate’ and ‘Wild Thyme’. The closing nine-minute song, ‘The Hypnotist’s Watch’, shows her storyteller’s art. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
MICK’S QUICKS (Part 1)
► Aberdeenshire multimedia artist, singer and producer Fiona Soe Paing has recorded her second mysterious and moving album of North-East Scotland’s ballad tradition, Sand, Silt, Flint (independent release, FSPCD202401) which she re-imagines and composes ancient stories and songs from the darker side. She uses shimmering electronic textures coupled with traditional Scottish sounds as she weaves her hypnotic web; Alice Allen (cello), David McKay (drums), Irene Watt (clarsach), Joanna Nicholson (clarinet) Paul Anderson (fiddle) and Thee Manual Labour (guitar) are included in the dreamy mix, and a detailed map showing the ballad sites is on the CD cover. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► The scintillating highly-original heady jazz of stunning London-based trio Gavin Fairhall Lever’s second album Tearing Down Walls (Sleight of Hand Records, SOHR2501) does exactly that – a jaw-dropping, inspiring palette. The band consists of brilliant fiddler, multi-instrumentalist and composer James Patrick Gavin, soaring tenor and guitarist Adrian Lever and double bass musician Tim Fairhall, who comes from a background in contemporary jazz, improv and post-classical electronica. Highlights are the opening and head-turning ‘Taurus’, the passionate ‘Night Sky with Exit Wounds’, the cacophonous but quickly resolving work ‘Set Sail’ (with esteemed guest singer and accordionist Méabh Ni Bheaglaoich in harmony) and ‘Polkas’, a dizzying whirlwind of glittering notes, all three taking complete control. In the immortal words of Star Trek: It’s folk, Jim, but not as we know it… FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Celebrated flute player and All-Ireland medal winner Frances Morton has compiled a wonderful plethora of jigs, airs, strathspeys and marches from Ireland and Scotland on her welcome solo debut album Sliocht (Ollamh FM2024CD), translating as ‘trace’ or ‘heritage’. Her parents emigrated from Ireland to Scotland and settled in Glasgow; she has performed at festivals across Europe and the USA, appearing in BBC and TG4 TV programmes. Produced by Solas’s Eamon McElholm, the album also features Ciaran Tourish (ex-Altan) on fiddle and sean-nós singer Diomnic Mac Giolla Bhride; Mark Maguire (Deaf Shepherd) and Seamus O’Kane play bodhrán, while Ryan O’Donnell and Malcolm Stitt (another Deaf Shepherd) perform bouzouki and Mayo fiddler Julie Langan joins Frances in 12 tracks of mighty fine musicianship. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Hailing from the West Coast of Scotland and a member of the folk band Barluath, intriguing big-voiced singer/songwriter Ainsley Hamill takes the audience on a musical journey through the mystical realms of traditional Gaelic and Scots heritage in her latest storytelling album Fable (independent release, AVH003CD). Her smoky vocals resemble pop star Adele; Sam Kelly (of The Lost Boys) produced the 11 tracks, and drummer Signy Jakobsdottir, bassist Euan Burton, Alistair Iain Paterson on keyboards and multi-instrumentalist Toby Shaer whip up a gorgeous sound. Highlights are the opening ‘Ailein, Ailein, ‘S Fhad an Cadal’, ‘Machir Bay’, ‘Leave Her, Jonny’ and the hypnotic puirt à beul tongue-twister ‘Beamer Puirt’; in fact, all her songs have guaranteed wrap-around Scottishness between them. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
►Veteran sideman, wonderful singer-songwriter, pianist and accordion player Richie Laurence releases his fourth solo album, Moving at the Speed of Trees (Big Book Records, BBR20); with the sensuous voice of his wife Katie Thomas taking the lead and harmonising, this is blues-roots Americana of at least 50 degrees proof. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, moved to Colorado and emigrated to Los Angeles, Richie is now in Sacramento, California; his super-intelligent music re-echoes and resounds, including such highlights as the opening storyteller ‘On the Boat’, the pedal steel whine of ‘Oh Me Oh My’, the lonely solitude of ‘Lone Freighter’s Wail’ and the exquisite grace of ‘The Wonderful Waltz’ – in fact, all 12 tracks are guaranteed sure-fire winners. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
JANUARY 2025
BROES
Belgica
Independent release, 2025-001
***** FIVE STAR CHOICE! *****
On Thursday, January 9, 2025 at the Minardschouwburg Theatre in the Belgian city of Ghent, scintillating and inspiring quintet Broes and an enthusiastic sold-out audience celebrated the release of their third album, Belgica – and it really was quite a night.
Broes was founded in the autumn of 2009 from the creative minds of violinist and mandolinist Anouk Sanczuk and acoustic guitarist Florian De Schepper, stage nick-name Flo. Mind-blowing musical grooves and exploring improvisations quickly became their trademark, and Broes was awarded many prizes and also received a lot of acclaim in Europe and abroad. Breathtaking chromatic accordionist Elke De Meester joined the band, and the line-up was broadened in 2019 with percussionist Gielis Cautaers on percussion and bassist Zjef Van Steenbergen, both writing as composers and boosting the band’s enviable musical repertoire. Broes can boast an impressive list of performances at nearly all major folk festivals in Belgium, including Gooikoorts, Dranouter, Na Fir Bolg in Vorselaar, Labadoux and Boombalfestival, near Ghent); but they have also made a resounding splash abroad, including at folk and jazz festivals in Belarus, China, Hong Kong, Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, France and Romania.
Belgica is a fascinating account which zeros in on the Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlache, who was born in 1866 and died in 1934; he undertook the very first Belgian polar expedition by ship to Antarctica. In 1896, De Gerlache brought the old whaling ship, the Patria, which had been built in Norway; after renovations, he renamed it Belgica. A year later, Belgica was fitted out and ready for the expedition. De Gerlache and an international crew of 23 sailed from the Belgian port city of Antwerp, down the River Scheldt to the North Sea and the English Channel, passing exotic places such as Madeira and the Azores, the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro and the port of Montevideo in Uruguay. In 1898, the ship reached the northernmost part of the Antarctic peninsula; unfortunately, they became trapped in the ice, forcing them to winter there for almost a year and three months. In this gripping story, Broes drew inspiration for their new album, the places the Belgica passed, the melting pot of cultures on board, but also the emotions the crew must have felt: a longing of homesickness and sometimes despair, but most importantly wonder and ecstasy.
The whole album is entirely instrumental, save only for guest rapper and singer Mich Walschaerts who voices Anouk’s composed track, ‘Water Meem Ne Mee’; the narrator struggles with a bleak existence on the streets and longs for the freedom of the sea and a life under the stars. The opening tune, Florian’s ‘The End of the World’, simply explodes with a whirlwind of dazzling guitar and heart-stopping accordion, liquid and flowing percussion, prowling bass and madly dancing violin – what a wonderful start. The Gielis composition, ‘Flora’ (written for the drummer’s daughter) describes the discovery of new plant and animal species which was one of the results of the expedition; the crew collected various samples to take back to Belgium. With no sun for almost two months and the rest of the crew in bad health, Lecointe, Amundsen and Cook were given permission to take a sledge onto the ice to hunt penguins but hoped to reach an even more southerly point. They called themselves ‘De Orde van de Pinguin’ (The Order of the Penguin), Flo’s glittering tune. Anouk and Elke wrote ‘Dark & Stormy’, a gloomy fear that this adventure is not going to turn out well. Anouk also penned ‘Nansen & Sverdrup’, the two cats on board which did not survive the Antarctic winter; and Elke wrote ‘Poolnacht’, the long-lasting pitch-black night playing on their minds. Indeed, Elke achieves the hat-trick compositions; ‘Festa no Rio’ is a fun, Brazilian forró, which her accordion utterly takes off the swoops in the sky, and the closing track is a marvelous singalong number called ‘Café Den Arrivée’, representing the crew’s elation in coming home at last – and the extra bonus track is the band’s delighted whistles.
The album’s 11 tracks are absolutely brimming over with sheer, proud in-your-face musical virtuosity which makes one leap in the air and laugh out loud. Anouk, Flo, Elke, Gielis and Zjef – we salute you!
CYNEFIN
Shimli
Independent release, no catalogue number
***** FIVE STAR CHOICE! *****
What is a shimli? Owen Shiers observes that, if you were to be cast back through time to the turn of the last century in a sleepy village in the county of Ceredigion, shimlis were gathering places in working structures like the corn mill, the smithy or the cobbler’s workshop where the farmers, the farriers and other tradespeople could pass the time in sharing a poem, a story or a song – maybe most of the night. Until the 1950s, shimlis had functioned as the seed beds of Welsh cultural life of hundreds of years; he says that in the 17th century, when the upper classes had abandoned the language to the werin, the peasantry, and the bardic order had collapsed, it was the shimli that kept Welsh folk song and the Welsh language alive.
Owen, who describes himself as a “Welsh folk singer, researcher, grain grower and cultural historian” and has taken the name Cynefin, was born in the Clettwr Valley of rural West Wales; he draws inspiration from folk artists such as The Gentle Good, the legendary band Fernhill and most importantly the beirdd gwlad, the ‘folk poet’ tradition which has honoured and lauded the bards for hundreds of years. He outlines Shimli (the follow-up to Owen’s album Dilyn Afon, which was released in 2020): “As well as living oral history and story, the album explores the intersection between music, poetry, food and the natural world. A personal dispatch from the struggle to maintain a language, culture and way of life, the album is a musical petition – a stake in the ground for the diverse and the disappearing in our age of homogenisation and mass amnesia.”
Owen says that the word ‘cynefin’ is layered with many meanings, a Welsh noun with no direct equivalent in English. Its origins lie in a farming term used to describe the constant tracks and paths worn by hillside animals: “The word has since morphed and deepened to conjure a very personal sense of place, belonging and familiarity.” Indeed, the late landscape artist Kiffin Williams described it as: “That relationship – the place of your birth and of your upbringing, the environment in which you live and to which you are naturally acclimatised.’
Shimli is a collection of incredible beauty and great peace, an utterly vanished rural way of life which has been lovingly polished and revitalised by the absolutely stunning musical arrangements. Owen’s calm and appealing voice, matched by his magical hypnotic guitar, is enhanced by Ailsa Mair Hughes’ cello and Cerys Hafana’s triple harp, a quintet of strings, horns, piano, double bass, percussion and even the Machynlleth Wind Band – but it all quite wonderfully blends in, melds and jells. Above all, Owen’s re-tuned guitar fascinatingly shines alone, like some beacon in the night.
Owen maps out and records the folk poets, all sadly disappearing; the opening song, ‘Helmi’ (Corn Ricks), words by Bryngwyn farmer Evan Jones, is reminiscent of vanishing and faded yesteryear. Before silage took over to feed the livestock, massive straw bales, like small cottages, peppered the fields. Farmer Jones speaks of autumn advancing over the bare hills; Owen supplied the fourth verse, and he composed the second song, ‘Cornicill’ – the vanishing lapwing, fast declining from modernisation and from memory. May carols were part of the tradition; groups of singers would go from door to door, and D Jacob Davies wrote ‘Mae’r Nen Yn Ei Glesni’ (The Heavens Are Greening) to welcome in the summer. ‘Shili Ga Bwd’ (Wormwood) used to treat a variety of ailments; the poet Dafydd Isfoel describes how his ailing mother slowly succumbed to the frailties of old age, and the wormwood was strangely withering as well. Richard Davies, one of Ceredigion’s folk poets who took the bardic name of Isgarn, was born in 1897 and was married to the rough pasture of his isolated farm near Tregaron; a hill shepherd by trade, he walked four miles to Tregaron and back to attend a poetry class, where he learned the age-old craft of cynghanedd. ‘Y Medelwr’ (The Reaper) was his direct response to the rapidly shifting agricultural practices that he saw during his lifetime. In many rural areas of West Wales, families lived a hand-to-mouth existence. ‘Cwrw Bach’ (Small Beer) was one way of helping those in need. A neighbour made a batch of home brew and invited everyone for a party; selling the beer provided the much-needed cash, and the 19th-century poet Rees Jones (‘Amnon’) pleads with ourselves to banish selfish greed and to give generously.
Thereby hangs a story; at the end of 2022, a community group asked Owen to compose music for a short film about Pont Llanio, a small milk processing plant near Tregaron, which grew to employ over 120 people in the 1960s. Farmers collected milk from all over West Wales and distribute it nationwide via the station which sat next to the factory. Pont Llanio became a real community hub, hosting events and concerts as well as providing entertainment for the local children; it had its own café, football team and its own bard, Phil Rowlands, who documented many happenings through verse. But Pont Llanio lies in ruins today, choked by weeds. The railway line closed with the 1967 Beeching cuts and privatisation followed soon after, and the factory closed in the 1970s. Owen says: “I was fortunate a few employees who were generous with their time and memories, including Lloyd Jones who gave me this poem by Phil Rowlands. Written on the eve of closure, it reflects both the fondness of the employees towards their fellow workers but also the potential devastation they were faced with at the time. It’s fair to say the area has never recovered.”
Added to Owen’s magnificent album, there is a very informative CD booklet with pages of wonderful illustrations and pictures for the reader; it pinpoints the desperate struggle of rural practices and the Welsh language against the relentless battering ram of modernisation, social media and selfish corporate industry.
From February 28 to March 9, Owen, Alfie Weedon and Fred Harper – joined by Chris Roberts on second guitar – will be out on tour, promoting Shimli. They’ll be at The Gate, Cardiff (February 28), St David’s Place, Swansea (March 1), Neuadd Tysul, Llandysul (March 5), Welfare, Ystradgynlais (March 6), Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli (March 7), Theatr Byd Bychan, Cardigan (March 8) and Tabernacle Moma, Machynlleth (March 9).
MICK’S QUICKS
► Amazing musicians Michael McGoldrick and Tim Edey have released a stunning digital 17-track album called Jamland (Bandcamp) in December 22, 2024, with a veritable plethora of traditional and written Irish, Scottish and American airs, reels, hornpipes and jigs, composed by stellar names like Mairtin O’Connor, Phil Cunningham, Joe Carey, Tommy Peoples, Charlie Lennon, Tony Sullivan and of course McGoldrick himself. Tim and Michael have recorded completely by themselves, save only a few double-tracks, capturing Tim’s inspiring guitar and diatonic accordion and Michael’s lovely whistle and flute; the whole session seethes and bubbles, from the beautiful opening ‘Ma Theid Mise Tuileagh / St Kilda Wedding Reel’ right up to the gorgeous final ‘Larkin’s Beehive’ set. Ooh, shiver, shiver! FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► County Clare fiddler and highly-talented multi-instrumentalist Tara Breen has won 11 solo All-Ireland titles and has played with the legendary Chieftains, Stockton’s Wing and Galician piper Carlos Nuñez. Her album Sooner or Later (Liosbeg Records) contains 12 amazing tracks of traditional Irish reels, jigs, waltzes, hornpipes and airs; guests are Seán Óg Graham (guitars, bouzouki, keyboards, bass) and Dermot Sheedy (bodhrán, snare) – absolutely enthralling. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► County Donegal ambassadors Altan is arguably the most iconic band working in traditional Irish music today; bandleader, lead vocalist and fiddler Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is in fine form, her angelic voice sparkling and glittering over stunningly beautiful songs, fast and slow reels and jigs in their latest album Donegal (Compass Records). Clare Freil, Altan’s newest member, sings harmony with Mairéad and adds her fiery fiddle playing; accordionist Martin Tourish, guitarist Dáithí Sproule, (guitar), guitarist and harmony vocalist Mark Kelly and bouzouki player and mandolinist Ciarán Curran augment the band, and special guests are Jim Higgins (percussion), Steve Cooney (bass) and Graham Henderson (keyboards). Manus Lunny recorded the whole session in Stiúidió na Mara in County Donegal – an absolutely outstanding 10 tracks. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Amazing London-based Balkan band ShunTA! will get you dancing in a frenzied maelstrom of sousaphone, saxaphones, tamburica, darbouka and many whirling instruments as lead vocalist and violinist Sue Montague sings passionately in Romani, Romanian, Bulgarian and Bosnian languages in their eight-track album At The Kafana (Rakia Records). The band are taking East European Romani sounds straight to the heart; and apart from one Israeli, all the musicians are from the UK. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter Sylvie Lewis was born in London to BBC broadcaster and journalist Martyn Lewis and ex-model and presenter Liz Carse; she moved to the United States in 1995 and studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, quit music to become a teacher in Los Angeles, relocated to the Catalan city of Barcelona and finally settled in Rome, where she is currently living. Her latest album Lives Wisely (Clover Music Group, CAT1171560) was recorded in Stoke Newington, London, and it’s a 11-track collection of up-beat and beautiful songs written by herself and a few co-writers. In the last track, she salutes the late John Prine and well-known work ‘Speed of the Sound of Loneliness’; nice! FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► Iconic Pakistani singer Hadiqa Kiani releases her project Hayat (Life, on the Sufiscore label), her tribute to the legendary king of Kawwali, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-1997) and the Sabri Brothers; she shows the emotional and spiritual depth of Kawwali and records only three poem-songs, ‘Saanson Ki Mala’ (On the rosary of my breath), ‘Paisa Bolta Hai’ (Money Talks) and ‘Dil Lagi’ (The Heart Bleeds for Someone) which is just shy of nine minutes. Tabla, harmonium, backing vocals and the lovely sarangi accompany. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs up!
► American singer-songwriter Kris Delmhorst, born in Brooklyn, New York City, and now living in Western Massachusetts, is a multi-instrumentalist playing fiddle, cello, mandolin, piano and ukulele and an active member of the Boston folk scene; however, her latest album, Ghosts in the Garden (Big Bean Music, BB-07) is totally off-piste rock-band americana, harsh guitars smothering her storyline lyrics. FolkWales verdict: Thumbs down
REG MEUROSS
Fire & Dust: A Woody Guthrie Story
Hatsongs HAT026
***** FIVE STAR CHOICE! *****
A horde of Llantrisant Folk Club punters braved the extremely bitter weather to see singer-songwriter Reg Meuross showcasing Fire & Dust, his loving and outstanding tribute to American folk icon Woody Guthrie, his defiant activism, creative brilliance and unyielding hope for justice. Reg was typically amazing and wondrously hypnotic, and after the show he presented to me his brand-new album, which won’t be released until March 14 this year.
Legions of songwriters have acknowledged Guthrie as a major influence on their work, including such famous names as Steve Earle, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Phil Ochs, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Donovan, Pete Seeger, Andy Irvine, Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg, The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia and Tom Paxton. Pete Townshend, songwriter and guitarist of The Who, suggested this project, commissioned and supported Fire & Dust and he produced the album, adding bass guitar and harmonies to the mix. Stellar session musicians include Geraint Watkins (accordion, keyboards and backing vocals), Phil Beer (mandolin, slide guitar, fiddle and backing vocals), Marion Fleetwood (fiddle, additional strings, backing vocals), Roy Dodds (percussion), Simon Edwards (bass guitar), Bethany Porter (cello, additional vocal) and Reg’s agent Katie Whitehouse (backing vocal).
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912, in the small town of Okemah, Oklahoma; his parents were Charley Guthrie and Nora Belle, and they named him after the 28th President of the United States. He married at 19, but he left his wife and three children and joined thousands of ‘Dust Bowl’ Okies emigrating to California, looking for employment. He worked at Los Angeles radio station KFVD, played hillbilly music and wrote a column for the communist newspaper People’s World from 1939 to 1940. He was associated with US communist groups, but the anti-Stalin radio owners clashed with Guthrie’s political leanings. He left the station and ended up in New York, where he wrote and recorded his 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads, earning him the nick-name of ‘The Dust-Bowl Troubadour’. Guthrie wrote hundreds of folk, country and children’s songs; he penned his most famous song, ‘This Land Is Your Land’, in January 1940, a response to the over-playing of Irving Berlin’s ‘God Bless America’ on the radio. Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children, including the writer-singer Arlo Guthrie of ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ fame. On October 3, 1967, he died of complications following Huntington’s chorea, the incurable neurodegenerative disease which can be inherited; he was only 55 years old.
Reg wrote all the 13 tracks, apart from ‘So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You’, ‘This Land Is Your Land’, ‘Ain’t Got No Home’ (written by Woody Guthrie) and ‘Deportees’ (written by Guthrie and Martin Hoffman). Incidentally, in ‘This Land Is Your Land’, which Guthrie recorded for Moe Asch’s Folkways label in 1951, he wrote six verses; they were: “Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me / A sign was painted said: Private Property / But on the back side it didn’t say nothing / God blessed America for me.” He wrote about his Great Depression experiences: “One bright sunny morning in the shadow of a steeple / By the Relief Office I saw my people – / As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering / If God blessed America for me.” A seventh verse was added when he mimeographed his songbook in April 1945 and sold his compositions for 25 cents; the verse was: “Nobody living can ever stop me / As I go walking that freedom highway / Nobody living can make me turn back / This land was made for you and me”. It was generally believed that Guthrie did not record any of the missing verses; but as Jeff Place systematically transferred each master to a compact disc, he discovered Guthrie’s singing of the “Private Property” verse. It’s number 14 in Woody Guthrie: The Asch Recordings Vol 1 (Smithsonian Folkways, SPW40112.)
In the Fire & Dust album booklet, there’s an iconic image of Guthrie playing his guitar with a warning notice on the soundbox: “This machine kills Fascists”. Reg skilfully builds up the account of Guthrie’s life and the way he snares his audience, hanging on his every word, is remarkable and fascinating. He really is a great story-teller.
In the leading title track, Reg sings the memorable hookline chorus: “Is this same god in who you trust / The god of fire, the god of dust”. ‘A Folk Song’s a Song’ follows: “This is your world / Though it’s knocked you around / This land is your land / and this town is your town.” In ‘Woody Come Home’, Reg implores: “Raise up your flags, Woody, raise up your voice / Tell all the folks that the folks have a choice / Whether out in the fields or down in the mines / Come out Woody boy, out here on the lines”. In the album’s last song, as Guthrie succumbs to Huntington’s chorea, Reg sings the final verse: “But all the while the song of stars / Played gentle in my head / I went to see the gipsy singer – he whispered: ‘I ain’t dead’.”
Reg is touring Fire & Dust in 2025, with an ever-increasing list of solo dates alongside some specially selected venues and festivals for band gigs, with a changing line-up of the world-class musicians with whom he recorded the album. The band is Reg Meuross and The Strike, a combination of Marion Fleetwood, Geraint Watkins and Phil Beer – and for the album launch gig on March 12 at London’s Bush Hall, Simon Edwards and Roy Dodds. Fire & Dust has the story of Woody Guthrie running between each song, written by Reg and narrated variously by the consultant expert on Guthrie – Emeritus Professor Will Kaufman – and other special guests. Band gigs are The Ropewalk, Barton Upon Humber (March 20), Nailsea Folk Club (March 21), The Beehive, Honiton (March 22), The Stables, Milton Keynes (March 23), Stoller Hall, Manchester (June 4), Temperance Bar, Leamington Spa (June 5), Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset (June 6), St Edith Folk, Kent (June 7), The Sub Rooms, Stroud (June 19), Wickham Festival (August 3), Sidmouth Folk Week (August 4), Broadstairs Folk Week (August 10), Huntingdon Hall, Worcester (September 11), The David Hall, South Petherton (September 12) and Ropetackle Arts, Shoreham By Sea (September 13).
SUE SKINNER
Rainbows in the Road
Independently released, no catalogue number
www.sueskinner1.bandcamp.com/album/rainbows-in-the-road
Watch out for singer-songwriter Sue Skinner, who was brought up just over the Welsh border in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, and has been performing solo and in duos in and around the border town of Chepstow and in the local area for almost a decade. She runs songwriting sessions at the Chepstow Club in Moor Street every two months and Open Mic sessions at the Orepool Inn in Chepstow Road, Coleford on the first Tuesday of the month. Rainbows in the Road is her debut album, and it contains 11 tracks of her own songs which feature tales of the Forest of Dean and local material, ‘Timelord’ (written by her friend, Trevor Valentine) and the final flourish, the beautiful old Irish chestnut ‘She Moved Through the Fair’.
Sue’s fetching voice and her acoustic guitars skip around her varied repertoire, be it folk, rock, pop, traditional or country. First up is the album title song, ‘Rainbows in the Road’, and it’s a feel-good rocky little number with a soaring electric guitar breaking through the clouds. The creepy ‘In The Place Where The Lost Things Are’ follows, and the accusing ‘Secrets and Lies’; ‘Mask No Fear’, recorded in 2022, was chosen to be featured in the trailer of a short film of the same name made by the Scottish film-maker Craig Foggo-Scougall. The amusing ‘Bungalow Legs’ takes her back to Chepstow country clubland again; ‘Lonely Morning Again’ and ‘The Journey’, read and arranged by her friend Norman Paterson, is a tribute to Sue’s brother-in-law Neil Skinner, who passed away in 2022. In fact, Sue writes: “Our family’s journey over the past two years has been a hard one – but thankfully my family has received support in so many ways from the charity Missing People, and a portion of the proceeds from this album will go back to them.”
Producer Al Steele recorded, mixed and mastered the 12 tracks (excluding ‘Mask No Fear’) at Shabbey Road Studios, Caerphilly, and played piano, keyboards, bass and mandolin; Trevor Valentine adds vocals and guitars, Richard Mainwaring plays violin and additional voices come from Al’s Angels and Andy Coleman.
Reviews for 2024 and earlier have now been archived and can be found on the CD Reviews Archive (from 2020) page