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BELLOWHEAD
Broadside
Navigator 073
****
The fantastic juggernaut Bellowhead predictably won Best Album Of The
Year in this years’ Folk Awards for this swaggering, sizzling CD in
January, and it’s all emphatically there in its two vivid meanings;
the massed hordes of musicians fire off a blistering broadside on
folkdom in general with a welter of breathtaking, crazy songs and
tunes, fired up with a myriad of jaw-dropping arrangements,
interspersed with some rollicking “penny broadside” ballads from the
street sellers – all rumbustious and entertaining (if a little bit
confusing) stuff.
Bellowhead are one of the folk scene’s 21st-century success stories.
An 11-piece folk orchestra dreamed up by duo John Spiers and Jon Boden
when they were stuck in an M25 traffic jam in 2004, they've played
Proms, won seven Radio 2 Folk Awards, and their last album, Hedonism,
sold 60,000 copies, becoming the best-selling independent folk CD of
all time. Broadside saw the band travel to Monmouth's legendary
Rockfield Studios, down here in the beautiful Welsh countryside, with
the band’s usual producer John Leckie, famous in pop circles for
producing The Stone Roses and Radiohead. You can understand
Bellowhead’s motives for plumping for John, because this producer has
generated a whole new way of thinking in capturing the commercial pop
sound. The words, however, do get sacrificed especially in the
ballads, the narrative of which is essential; you are meant to hear
and understand the story, but Jon Boden’s magnificent and strong voice
is drowned in the sheer force of the instruments.
Bellowhead are famous for choosing well-known folk songs, forebitters
and shanties and delivering them with such verve, abandon and crazy,
brilliant scoring that audiences wouldn’t recognise venerable pieces
if they bit them on their collective bums. Byker Hill and The Old Dun
Cow get a magnificent, really dramatic makeover; the shanty Roll The
Woodpile Down takes off like a rocket; the emigration chorus-song Ten
Thousand Miles Away is given a supercharged facelift; while an
unnerving, gurgling cackle heralds Black Beetle Pies. However, the
words of the ballad The Wife Of Usher’s Well are lost in the
overwhelming welter of instruments, and there’s a nagging feeling
about What’s The Life Of A Man? - are Bellowhead really taking the
piss?
But voices, massed horns, ‘cello, oboe, percussion, fiddle, melodeon
and banjo power into the Purcell composition Lillibulero, and the
ultimate track, the shanty Go My Way, is a swaggering chorus-roarer
which brings Broadside to a satisfying and thoroughly exhausting
conclusion.
Mick Tems
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DANA & SUSAN ROBINSON
American Hornpipe
Threshold Music TM1012
****
What a lovely album, positively dripping with the sight, sound and the
smell of rural America, liberally sprinkled with songs that Dana and
Sue have picked up on their travels across to Britain. The CD cover is
a beautiful painting by Charlie Hunter which depicts an empty tractor
resting in a farm field; The Robinsons are the originators of this
precious, lazy banjo-and-fiddle-led groove, and Dana is unique among
songwriters for devising original music which gives the impression
that it’s age-old folk but is bright, sparkling and modern as hell.
For instance, the traditional English nursery rhyme Who Killed Cock
Robin, with references to Robin Hood’s funeral, is catapulted several
thousand miles away to become a chunky, razor-sharp western ballad,
and Yorkshire’s Chris Coe is lauded for her song Fashioned Of The
Clay, a new twist on the Child ballad The Grey Cock. Dana has written
a gorgeous song, The Invitation, about a peaceful old farmhouse near
Galena, Illinois, where he and Sue spent three days happily
disconnected from mobile phones and the internet - and cracker cowboy
poet Hank Mattson asked Dana to put his original poem to music; the
product is When This Old Hat Was New. The cracker cowboys were early
frontiersmen, who gained a reputation as great boasters and
tale-tellers; a cow-hunter was a horseman who rounded up cattle which
had become separated from the herd.
Dana and Sue make a delightful job with Lui Collins’ Farmers Market
A-Z, from her Kids’ Jam collection, and Dana is totally electrifying
on his version of the traditional Raleigh And Spencer, enhanced by
slinky banjo and crouching, springing acoustic bass. All in all, it’s
a fabulous collection of written and traditional songs, carefully
woven together to portray Dana and Sue’s obvious love and respect for
their lifestyle – an outstanding album.
Mick Tems
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KEITH KENDRICK & SYLVIA NEEDHAM
Well Dressed
WildGoose Records WGS387CD
***
The title of this CD has a double meaning; Keith and Sylvia are well
dressed for their role as concertina-playing musicians for the Winster
Morris Dancers, and the ancient Derbyshire custom of giving thanks to
the fertile earth ensures that a well will be dressed. Whatever the
interpretation, Well Dressed is a cracking collection of 16 English
folk items, including Banks Of The Nile, which refers to the Battle of
Abukir Bay in 1798; Turpin ‘Ero, a song painting a misleading picture
of the vicious thug Dick Turpin, which Keith learned from the great
Roy Harris of Ely, Cardiff (who is celebrating his 80th birthday this
June); and the Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll trilogy (The Riddle
Song/Lover’s Tasks, Five Gallon Jar and One More Day/Shallow Brown),
which celebrates the life and work of the American John Longstaff and
his studies on British folk music.
Surprisingly, Keith and Sylvia have only come across two songs that
even mention well dressing, given the significance of the custom;
Keith says that no-one knows how long ago people began dressing wells
as an acknowledgement to the earth for the constant supply of spring
water to her communities, but it was certainly before Christianity
became associated with it. Talented writer and musician Sarah Matthews
composed Well Dressing Song as part of the Mills and Chimneys
songwriting project, commissioned by Derbyshire Libraries in 2009, and
as Keith says: “We think it’s rather special.”
The Ensemble is an unbeatable mix consisting of Bob Axford on guitar,
Jon Loomes (of the three-piece Heretique band) on hurdy-gurdy, fiddle
and upright piano, Johnny Adams on piano, harmonium, melodeon,
trombone and fiddle, and Gilly Loomes on cornet and hammered dulcimer.
Copious notes make for an absorbing read – and these two can sing in
glorious harmony! Standout tracks include The Spire The Aspired, about
Chesterfield church; Turtle Dove, a version of the classic Ten
Thousand Miles; and morris dance tunes Blue Eyed Stranger/Joe Peas.
Well done, chaps!
Mick Tems
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KARINE POLWART
Traces
Hegri Music
****
www.karinepolwart.com
Cementing her position as one of Britain’s finest singer-songwriters,
Karine Polwart’s fifth solo album finds her once again in the company
of regular collaborators, accordionist Inge Thomson and guitarist
Steven Polwart, on a collection that ranges from politically charged
to deeply personal.
The album opens with Cover Your Eyes, where Polwart gently but
powerfully lays her scorn at the door of Donald Trump, pricking the
balloon of his arrogance at destroying the Balmedie Dune System to
build a golf course, and suggesting that the environment may yet prove
his undoing. That she can do this within the space of a
three-and-a-half-minute song speaks volumes about her skills as a
writer.
Further into the album, we’re treated to a history of the City of
London inspired by The Occupy Movement (King Of Birds), a translation
of a Russian poem (Tears For Lot’s Wife) and a song that explores the
effects of the death of his daughter on Charles Darwin (We’re All
Leaving).
Clearly not your usual songwriter fare, Polwart’s stunning lyrics
bring these disparate themes vividly to life, especially when they’re
set against the sympathetic contributions of her accompanists and the
production of Iain Cook who skilfully knits everything together to
create a beautifully atmospheric sound that‘s hauntingly powerful.
That’s particularly true of two of the albums most personal songs.
Strange News, written in the immediate aftermath of learning of the
sudden death of her younger cousin, is both a celebration of a life
and a howl of rage at the cutting short of it, while Half A Mile tells
the chilling story of Susan Maxwell, the schoolgirl murdered in 1982
on her way home from tennis practice. It’s a beautifully observed song
with an underlying sense of menace that’s hard to shake off, even
after the final notes have faded away.
Dave Haslam
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LAUREN McCORMICK
On
Bluestockings
WildGoose
WGS391CD
***
Matlock-born
Lauren McCormick used to sing with the coffee-rich voice of Jim
Causley and Emily Portman as the stunning harmony trio The Devil’s
Interval, until Jim announced that he was leaving the group to sing
with the Essex “boy-band” Mawkin and to pursue other projects. The
loss of Jim proved to have certain compensations, however; for her
debut CD, Lauren recruited two members of Mawkin, James Delarre on
violin and Dave Delarre on guitars, to play alongside cellist Roz
Gladstone. With Lauren’s dancing flute and strong, assured voice, the
combination is just delightful – in fact, with the Child ballad Lady
Isobel, the musicians invent many inspired arrangements to accompany
the myriad of verses; and the old chestnut The Cuckoo, from The Seeds
Of Love book, was (according to Lauren): “quite a pretty version until
it was Delarred. It’s much prettier now!”
Lauren easily
interprets Bob Dylan (One Too Many Mornings), Leonard Cohen (Everybody
Knows) and her own affectionate song to her mum (A Song For My
Mother), but her chosen path is the British tradition – and what an
exciting path it is. May Bradley, the Welsh Romany, contributes the
unusual song Trees Grow High, which Lauren has fleshed out with some
verses from the George Butterworth Collection. Joseph Taylor’s A Sprig
Of Thyme (with extra verses by Pop Maynard) is Lauren’s favourite, and
she says: “Emily Portman, Jim Causley and I realised that between us
we knew about seven versions of it, but I believe this is the most
beautiful.” Yet another score chalked up by Doug Bailey and the
impressive WildGoose Studios; the ambience and the scenery are truly
fantastic, too!
Bill Price
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CAHELEN MORRISON & ELI WEST
Our Lady Of The Tall Trees
(No catalogue
number)
****
Based in the
North-West Pacific city of Seattle, Americans Cahalen and Eli did a
one-off debut appearance at The Old Post Office in Rosebush,
Pembrokeshire in 2012; this is their highly-rated second CD, after
their promising debut album, The Holy Coming Of The Storm, was
released in December 2010.
Cahalen was born
in the high desert of northern New Mexico, starting on guitar at the
age of nine, going on to study jazz percussion in college, playing
drums in the roots/reggae, Mexican, country and New Mexico genres, as
well as nurturing his bluegrass, old-time and celtic music interests.
Moving to Seattle, he traded in his drums to pay for recording his
debut written album, Subcontinent, and he hit the road for three
years, living out of the boot of his trusty Toyota. In 2009, he
recorded his live show in Colorado Springs, which became his second
well-received CD, Old-Timey And New-Fangled. He joined forces with
Seattle guitar player Eli, and the two of them just clicked
spectacularly.
This CD is
incredibly rich in vibrant alive-and-kicking composed new material,
which draws heavily on timeless folk tradition. Intricate banjo and
guitar licks stick close together like a warm glove; crystal-clear
harmonies jump out at the listener, Cahalen’s stark vocals creating a
perfect match for Eli’s cushiony and full-on voice. The duo’s
recording of Loretta seems almost as if Townes Van Zandt had written
the song with Cahalen and Eli in mind. The excellent title track is
harmony heaven, with the sizzling instruments urging on the song. The
album is a breath of fresh air from a unique and totally original act,
who transform bluegrass and old-timey music into acoustic Americana
for the future.
Bill Price
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DAVY CARTWRIGHT
I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today
Old Boot Records
OB04
***
Circle Of Fire
and Seafall musician and guitarist Davy, based in the Vale Of
Glamorgan town of Llantwit Major, joins his illustrious friends for
another self-penned set, including Moira Jayne Morgan (of Moira And
The Mice, Circle Of Fire and Seafall), Elaine Morgan and her husband
Derek (of Circle Of Fire), Xenia Porteous (of Seafall) on fiddle and
John Turner (of Rose Among Thorns.) The opening track, Management
Drive, is a belter: while Moira and Elaine are crooning a harmonic:
“Drive, drive, drive!” Dave’s soft vocals are threatening: “You’re not
working hard enough… I want more of that gold stuff… I don’t care if
my words cut you like a knife; I don’t give a shit if I ruin your
family life.” And again: “I like to have a shakedown – I don’t give a
shit if I give you a nervous breakdown… I don’t give a shit if I push
you into a six-foot hole…” While Lady Thatcher and all the Tory mafia
may nod approvingly at giving the lazy workers a sharp taste of the
whip, Davy’s song is a stark protest against looming bully-boy tactics
which have grown even more vicious – and the red-hot guitar paints a
stark picture of the rat-race from hell.
However, with
Davy’s songwriting creating such interest, it’s unfortunate that his
voice should be mixed down to the point where the words are very
indistinct – and his guitar is over-prominent, too. But the
instrumental Daisy’s Chain is a delight, and Davy gently moulds the
stark and hypnotic song Ghosts. The cover info lists a following
offering called With A Little Hell From My Friends, but you can’t see
the join; what you hear is a 10-minute soundscape.
Bill Price
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UP IN THE AIR
Moonshine
Journeyman Recordings
****
www.gavinmarwick.co.uk/upintheair
In 1994 Jonny Hardie, Gavin Marwick and Davy Cattanach released Up in
The Air, an album of modern interpretations of traditional Scottish
tunes. At the time Hardie (fiddle, guitar & vocals) and Cattanach
(percussion, guitar & vocals) were members of Old Blind Dogs and
Marwick (fiddle) was plying his trade with The Iron Horse, and it
would be another five years before the follow up, The Blue Lamp, would
see the light of day. Cattanach didn’t appear on that album; but he’s
back this time around for this long awaited third outing, for which
they’ve adopted the name of their debut release.
Once again, these outstanding musicians have brought together
traditional and contemporary tunes, as well as a few songs for good
measure on an album that oozes class from the opening notes of Rector
At The Feis to the closing Thomas McElvouge’s set.
Instrumentally Moonshine is about as good as it gets with the twin
fiddles of Hardie and Marwick (interspersed with guitar and supported
by Cattanach’s lively percussion), leading the trio through a set of
reels, airs, strathspeys and marches drawn from traditional
collections and from the pens of some of Scotland’s finest
contemporary composers, including Phil Cunningham and Brian MacAlpine.
By turns dramatic (Touch Not The Cat But a Glove/The Broad Reach),
lively (Culduthel House/Eileen Curren’s) and haunting (Braighe
Lochiall), the tunes account for the largest part of the album and are
beautifully complemented by a couple of excellent songs (including the
stand out take of Peter Stott’s Woe Is Me, which features a vocal from
Hardie of such lovelorn world-weariness that you feel compelled to
visit him and give him a hug.
Dave Haslam
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FAUSTUS
Broken Down Gentlemen
Navigator Records
****
www.faustusband.com
In 2010 Faustus, the band - comprised of Benji Kirkpatrick (bouzouki,
guitar, vocals), Paul Sartin (fiddle, cor anglais, oboe, vocals) and
Saul Rose (melodeon, vocals) - announced a break from performing and
recording due to other commitments. Two years later, in the autumn of
2012, they made their well-received return to touring and entered the
studio to record this sparkling new album, which finds them at the
peak of their powers once again.
Given their collective pedigree (Kirkpatrick and Sartin are both
members of Bellowhead; Rose, an in-demand session musician, was a
member of Waterson:Carthy) it should come as no surprise to learn that
although we’re only three months in, this album of beautifully crafted
songs, gleaned from the bawdier end of the folk spectrum, could easily
be a contender for album of the year.
Broken Down Gentlemen
is a folk album that sounds like folk albums used to sound before
everyone started getting clever and tricksy, adding more when less
would have sufficed. Wisely leaving the kitchen sink where it belongs,
Kirkpatrick, Sartin and Rose rely instead on their collective skills
as instrumentalists and vocalists on a set of songs inhabited by
murderers, sadists, ne’er-do-wells and wantons that, while it might
not go down well at the vicar’s tea party, will keep everyone else
thoroughly entertained.
From the morris-influenced title track through the passionate roaring
shanty like Og’s Eye Man and the dramatic menace of minor epic
Captain’s Apprentice to the rumbustious, innuendo-laden Thrashing
Machine, Broken Down Gentlemen is an irresistibly joyous celebration
of rural folk song that’s earthy, honest and quietly brilliant.
Instrumentally spot-on and with perfectly-judged vocal harmonies,
Faustus announce their return with considerable style on an album that
will appeal to old school die-hards and recent converts alike.
Dave Haslam
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MAGGIE BOYLE
Won’t You Come Away
WildGoose Records WGS390CD
****
The calm and lovely voice of Maggie Boyle heralds this truly
impressive set, on which she plays the flute, whistle and harmonium.
The fact that Maggie is held in such high regard is evident by the
stellar accompanying musicians, who can pack out the crowds; Jon Boden
on fiddle, Paul Downes on guitar and mandocello, Dave McKeown on
clarinet, bass clarinet, Melodica and wind synth, ex-husband Steve
Tilston on arpeggione and Dave Wood on arnold resonator guitar – fine
players indeed. These days Maggie is known for her part in the
breathtaking Grace Notes, but this album will ensure that audiences
will have the opportunity to hear Maggie’s solo vocals again.
Maggie was born in London to a gaelic-speaking father and grew up in
the Irish musical community of the 1960s and 1970s, joining the Fulham
branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. She performed most of the music
used in the movie Patriot Games, based on Tom Clancy's novel of
the same name, and is mother to Joe Tilston, guitarist of the band
Random Hand. In fact, she absolutely shines when she interprets Joe’s
song Liza And Henry.
Maggie’s beautiful repertoire is influenced by her Irish roots (Donal
Óg, The Green Linnet, and she learned the lovely Moorlough Mary from
the excellent Des O’Halloran.) However, she varies the interest with
Mick Ryan’s evocative Christmas In No Man’s Land, Frances Watt’s
Dawning or The Spinning Wheel; Maggie has a stylistic strength and
depth that blows young female singers clean out of the water. As
always, a big thank-you to WildGoose owner and recording engineer Doug
Bailey for his excellent choice of a singer’s singer.
Mick Tems
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 THUMBS
UP
That well-known Dorset pub folk-rock band, State Of Undress,
are gigging at Pontyclun’s Brunel Arms on Saturday, August 24;
someone had better tell Brains Brewery to stock up with rough West
Country cider to guarantee one hell of a party! Their new CD, Journeys
Of The Heart (Rosebud SOU 006) is a medley of “fakelore” material,
written by the band with the exception of Wagon Wheel and Steve
Knightley’s Are We Alright. If you see the band live, you’ll want to
buy it; the visual Charlie Rose leads on vocals, supported by her
husband Alan on guitar, Jerry Bird on violin, Malcolm Windett on bass
and Keith Fletcher of drums.
Ayrshire-born Canadian David Francey has won a plethora of
Socan and Juno awards, and the top singer-songwriter has released nine
CDs. He was 12 when his family moved to Toronto, and his father and
mother whiled away the long Canadian car journeys by singing
traditional Scottish songs, with David his sister joining in. Late
Edition (Greentrax CDTRAX 366) is a delightful package of his
straightforward, honest material; Yesterday’s News, Pretty Jackals,
Blue Heart Of Texas, Borderlands and Long Brown Hair are truly
memorable.
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BURTON BRADSTOCK
All Upon A Lovely Summer’s Day
F-ire FIRECD 58
***
The delightful
collision between the genres of folk and jazz can be brilliantly
inspiring, or it can bellyflop painfully. The same goes for Burton
Bradstock, aka Jimmy Cannon, singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer
and teacher; he was born in Wimbledon 40 years ago, moved to Cornwall
at the age of 11 and moved back to London to pursue his jazz studies
at the Trinity College Of Music.
Here is an album
of folk songs spiced with jazz influences, with Burton accompanied by
some outstanding musicians including Dorian Ford (piano), Riaan Vosloo
(bass), Tim Giles (drums), Pete Berryman – currently living in
Cornwall – on guitar, Iain Bellamy (saxophone) and Julian Ferraretto
(violin). The heady arrangements are simply scintillating, with piano,
drums, guitar, violin and sax soaring to greater heights; Salisbury
Plain and Train Song (composed by Pentangle, themselves folk musicians
who were affected heavily by jazz) starts off promisingly, but track
three (The Ash Grove) makes the listener wonder just whether Burton is
serious or whether he’s taking the mick. To give it its Welsh name,
Llwyn Onn is a majestic, beautiful exponent of the harp tradition,
with countless variations testing the mettle of even the most nimble
of players; but all that is dashed to pieces when Burton jazzes it up
to a staid Victorian English translation. My God, he’s even
crooning – just imagine the band all wearing penguin suits and
dickie bows…
The mix of
imaginative readings is both courageous and slightly incongruous, with
Pete Berryman’s composition The Mermaid Of Hampstead Heath just edging
it to win the blue riband. Burton is a pretty fine musician, but I get
the feeling that, wide-ranging though his jazz credentials obviously
are, his understanding of the folk tradition is still catching up. He
has chosen a well-known bunch of hoary old chestnuts (i.e. The Foggy
Foggy Dew, Early One Morning, John Barleycorn, She’s Like The Swallow
and The Water Is Wide), but although his composer’s scoring is
impeccable, I would rather hear the stunning sounds of (for example)
Siân James, Carreg Lafar, Martin Simpson or June Tabor and Oysterband;
my reasoning is that they’re thoroughly absorbed in the tradition, and
Burton could meaningfully learn from all the myriad forms of an
exciting music that is their passion. His next album should be
spectacular!
Bill Price
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REG MEUROSS
Leaves And Feathers
Hat004
****
Wow, and thrice
wow. Leaves And Feathers has left me speechless – it’s just so
beautiful, so incisive, so intelligent, so gentle. With only a guitar
providing flowing accompaniment to his stunning, high-tenor voice,
Bethany Porter enhancing the score with the ‘cello, Reg leads the
listener through a wonderland of words and a plethora of dreaming
lyrics and needle-sharp viewpoints. He’s really earned the title of
Master Storyteller; Reg even prompted Radio 2 veteran Mike Harding to
introduce him onto the stage of The Royal Albert Hall as: “One of the
finest singer-songwriters this country has produced.”
A quick biog: Reg
started his illustrious career with Richard Morton as The Panic
Brothers, formed in 1986 and Clive Gregson produced their one album,
In The Red. Reg and Richard toured successfully for five years with TV
appearances and festivals, including Glastonbury, Edinburgh and
Sidmouth; next Reg formed The Flamingoes, with ex-Graham Parker member
Martin Belmont, Bob Loveday from the Penguin Café Orchestra and Bob
Geldof’s band, and Alison Jones from The Barely Works. They recorded
one CD, Arrested. Reg has lately been a crucial member of Hank
Wangford’s band, The Lost Cowboys. His writing, performing and
composing credits include work with French composer Vladimir Cosma,
screen actor Gerard Depardieu, Not The Nine O’Clock News, Nick Lowe,
Robbie Coltrane, Charlie Dore and comedians Lenny Henry and Paul
Merton. But it’s as a solo songwriter and stage artist that Reg has
come into his own. Apart from Leaves And Feathers, he has recorded no
less than six CDs (including the critically-acclaimed The Goodbye Hat,
which was nominated for a number of music awards.)
He weaves
fabulous words and alluring, magnetic melodies around the 12 tracks on
this album; The life-affirming One Way Ticket To Louise; I Saw A
Woman, where the lyric centres on a rare lunch-hour of fresh-aired
freedom contrasted with a lifetime chained down as a bank clerk; the
stunning My Jerusalem; the heartbreaking I Need You; and If You Wanna
Be Mine, where the lover lays his heart on his sleeve. Reg even
audaciously throws down a gauntlet to Ralph McTell’s mighty Streets Of
London, and comes up with an even better lyric wrapped around an
unforgettable tune: “My name is London town; I’m your vision going up,
I’m your nightmare coming down… I’m the Westminster fool, I’m the
Pentonville clown...” Reg paints a vivid picture of a bundle of rags
that shivers in an Oxford Street store doorway, a stark contrast
between unimaginable wealth and abject poverty; behind the garish
lights of exotic Soho, deadly danger lurks: “I’m the bomb in Victoria,
I’m the fire in King’s Cross…”
Thanks, Reg, for
all the wondrous delight encaptured in this set, with nary a track
wasted. It’s a difficult choice, deciding which song will be scrapped
and which will go on the album; of Reg’s seven solo CDs, there’s a
limited edition called The Dreamed And The Drowned, which consists of
Reg’s rejects, the compositions that didn’t make the grade – and ALL
of them are just awe-inspiring.
Mick Tems
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MIKE VASS
DecemberWell
Rusty Squash Horn
Records RSH003CD
***
What a wonderful,
wintry record, with vivid soundscapes of bitter winds that cut through
like knives, frost, ice and snow. Mike, winner of the inaugural Neil
Gow International Composition Award and regarded as one of Scotland’s
finest fiddle exponents, was heavily influenced by a cold, dark
December; he has toured extensively in the past few years with leading
Scots Song band Malinky, in a duo with twin sister Ali and with
international supergroup Fiddle Rendezvous, featuring Bruce Molsky,
Maryann Kennedy and Gerry O’Connor. He’s fast gaining a reputation as
one of Scotland’s foremost tunesmiths, and his compositions frequently
appear in the recordings and performances of some of the UK’s top name
acts, such as Brian Finnegan and Corrina Hewat. Between October and
December, Mike built up a small, yet robust, mobile recording studio
and work began in earnest on December 1.
DecemberWell
creeps up on the listener quite slowly; but once it’s here, the
beautiful, shimmering melodies of Wintro, Looking Through, Snowfall
and Slide clamp themselves on the mind and won’t go away. Pane is
reminiscent of large hailstones which nearly stopped the recording as
they battered the windows, and the jig Melter was inspired by the
sudden thaw.
Mike is in great
demand as a performer, composer and teacher, and he recorded his 12
self-written pieces in his friends’ Glasgow flat, absolutely solo but
multi-instrumentally, with the masterful fiddle, acoustic and tenor
guitars, cittern, piano, melodica, glockenspiel, percussion and voice.
This is complex and mature Scottish composition, but with Scandinavian
and other Northern European influences; it’s exciting, brooding and
mysterious, just like dark December with a promise that Christmas is
just around the corner.
Bill Price
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THE DUBLINERS
50 Years
IMEXCD0150
****
Dublin in 1962
was a vastly different place from the proud, bustling city today.
Irish music seems to flow out of the bars and other drinking dens; but
50 years ago, Paddy O’Donoghue’s Bar was the only establishment to
welcome the weirdy-beardies who tended to gravitate there with their
instruments, vocal cords and raging thirsts. There was Ronnie Drew,
short careers as an electrician, a dishwasher and a telephone operator
behind him, just back from Spain where he mastered flamenco guitar and
Spanish; Barney McKenna, already a banjo master; Ciarán Bourke,
Irish-speaking doctor’s son; and Luke Kelly, also back in Dublin after
a period of busking and working on English building sites, where he
had become a fan of the folk club scene. As the sessions got wilder,
drinkers and interested fans flocked to the sawdust floor of
O’Donoghue’s to absorb their minds and eyes in the sight and sounds of
The Traditional Irish Scene. The Dubliners were born.
Ronnie, Luke,
Barney and Ciarán have passed away now; however, The Dubliners are a
rolling successful institution. Fiddler John Sheehan was the first to
join, and singer/musicians Bob Lynch (1935-1982), Jim McCann, Seán
Cannon, Eamonn Campbell, Paddy Reilly and Patsy Watchorn signed up as
permanent Dubliners, who are celebrating their 50th
anniversary with a marvellous three-CD package of all the Dubs’
recordings. CD1 kicks off with Seven Drunken Nights, with the
favourite ‘hits’; Carrickfergus, John Conolly’s Fiddler’s Green, The
Spanish Lady, Raglan Road, The Auld Triangle. If fact, there are 50
songs and tunes, one for each year (including Seán’s delightful
reading of the Leon Rosselson warning, Don’t Get Married, Girls.) Take
your time, listen - and enjoy!
Mick Tems
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JOE TILSTON
Embers
Fellside
Recordings FECD255
***
Joe is the son of
that esteemed folk dynasty and separated couple, guitarist, singer and
superb songwriter Steve Tilston and Maggie Boyle, that golden-voiced
carrier of the Irish song tradition. Embers is his debut album; and
despite Maggie and Steve’s strong musical influences, this young
singer-songwriter has figuratively flown the coop and is determined to
strike out on his own. Joe gets a boost from his elder half-sister
Martha Tilston, the songwriter-guitarist who joins him in harmony in
his first track, The Railway Children; there’s a delicious hint of
that lamented mysterious weaver of songs, Nick Drake’s music and
voice, too, in a couple of later tracks.
There’s a
six-strong phalanx of backing musicians, consisting of Luke Yates on
violin and electric guitar, Matt Tweed (bouzouki/electric guitar),
Sean Howe (drums), Robin Tyndale-Biscoe (percussion), Philippa
Ratcliff (‘cello) and Hugh Bradley (double and fretless bass). Some of
Joe’s compositions are rather wide of the mark for folk club circles,
but he’s branching out and attempting to make his music heard by a
wider, younger audience.
Perhaps it’s
Joe’s brief, four-word tribute to his parents – “For Mum and Dad” -
that really says it all. When he sings the strikingly unusual Henry
And Liza, something sounds strangely familiar; it’s then that you
realise it was Maggie covering her son Joe’s song on her Won’t You
Come Away CD, a precious advertisement showcasing his writing. Maggie
has a proud reputation in selecting only the best songs, and Joe’s
writing is a real feather in the cap. I’ll look forward to his second
album.
Bill Price
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HEIDI TALBOT
Angels Without Wings
Navigator 074P
****
That
silver-voiced lass from Kill in County Kildare whose soulful vocals
and soaring, sparkling singing turn grown men’s knees to absolute
jelly, has triumphed yet again with this sizzling, bubbling CD.
Respected and loved as a singer/songwriter, she grew up in a musical
household, and began singing in the church choir her mother played
organ and sang for. She studied at the Bel Canto Singing School in
Dublin, and at the age of 18 she travelled to New York, where she
joined the Irish-American supergroup Cherish The Ladies. Her solo 2008
breakthrough In Love And Light won her international acclaim,
including a US Indie Acoustic Award which signalled her music’s
crossover appeal. Collaborations with Eddi Reader, Idlewild and Drever,
McCusker and Woomble followed, along with multiple BBC Radio 2 Folk
award nominations.
Her new album
features original songs which take their inspiration from the world of
traditional folk, tinged with country influences; the title song is a
glorious waltz, tinged with continental influences which really show
off her fabulous, trilling vocals. The body of the album is a
beguiling mix of Irish songwriting and American culture; Wine And
Roses (with Tim O’Brien providing some gorgeous harmony) and Dearest
Johnny work a treat, sweet vocals and some sizzling fiddle and banjo
from Dirk Powell, diatonic accordion from Andy Cutting and vocal
support from Karine Polwart.
Heidi’s voice
blends well with Louis Abbot on The Loneliest, which features haunting
whistle and flutes of Michael McGoldrick and the guitar of Mark
Knopfler. The album was brilliantly produced by Heidi’s musician
husband John McCusker, who features on fiddle, viola and ukulele and
accompanies her on tour; it’s bursting with musicianship of the
highest order, with guest players including Phil Cunningham, Boo
Hewerdine, Richard Bennett, King Creosote and Donald Shaw. Jerry Dobro,
Tim O'Brien and Julie Fowlis all join her on the beautiful When The
Roses Come Again.
Mick Tems
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DREVER MCGUIRE YOUNG
Gifts
Orcadian Recordings
****
www.drevermcguireyoung.com
A major player on the Scottish folk roots scene for many years,
Orcadian musician Ivan Drever is probably best known for his work with
the band Wolfstone during the 1990s and subsequently for his
traditionally-inspired songwriting. For this latest project, he’s
joined by genre-hopping Scottish percussionist Frankie McGuire,
(founder of the highly successful band Lyra Celtica) and Rich Young,
an in-demand English guitarist who’s worked with the likes of Steve
Marriott, Mark Knopfler and Loudon Wainwright III.
Gifts
is the first release from these three musicians and, given their
collective experience, it should come as no surprise that it’s a real
gem, with Drever’s excellent song-writing at its heart. Taking their
cues from the British tradition, country, blues and with rock ‘n’ roll
undertones, Drever, McGuire and Young prove to be excellent company on
an album that’s as comforting as a warm overcoat on a cold day.
From the first bars of the country blues-inspired opening track Candle
In The Night to the piano led closer You Take The Rhyth’, Gifts is an
entertainingly varied album that’s equally informed by the diverse
backgrounds and common interests of the musicians.
With nothing to prove, DMY have produced an album that sounds
deceptively simple, but which, on repeated listening reveals itself to
be a sublime combination of writing arrangement and performance that
will appeal to a broad cross-section of music lovers.
Whether it’s the trad. influences of When The Blue Turns To Red, the
Christy Moore-esque My Father’s Son or the rock ‘n’ roll of Roll Over
Stonehaven (a lovingly-crafted paean to the much-loved Aberdeenshire
seaside town), these talented musicians demonstrate an innate mutual
respect and understanding resulting in an album of understated
brilliance.
Dave Haslam
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JOHN KIRKPATRICK
Every Mortal Place
Fledgling FLED3089
****
I always look forward to “Squeezebox King” John’s albums; his
commitment and love for traditional music and his sheer instrumental
art are a delight. This album focuses on songs and dance tunes from
Shropshire, the county nestling next to Wales where John has made his
home since 1973; and it’s an extraordinary and quite magnificent solo
gem. John’s wife, Sally, lends harmonising vocals, but otherwise it’s
John by himself, occasionally multi-tracking where there’s a demand.
For instance, he kicks off with button accordion with dance tune
Wednesday Night, and multitracks beautifully with bass and tenor
concertinas on The Great Eastern Polka.
The album’s title comes from the mysterious folk carol, Under The
Leaves Of Life; John labels it “A CD of Shropshire Folk Music”,
although it could quite easily be called “Folk music found in
Shropshire”; Old Father Fox is a interesting Shropshire version of the
well-known West Country folksong, Tommy Suet’s Ball is George Fradley
of Derbyshire’s Mrs Merry’s Ball, and Sweet Swansea comes from the
extensive repertoire of the Welsh traveller May Bradley, who moved to
Ludlow (in the 1970s, I took down a song called I Was Born To A
Travelling Notion by a Swansea gypsy who was one of May’s relatives;
both May’s song and his are virtually the same, but his had an extra
two verses tacked on.)
Soul, Soul comes from the family of Welsh and English border souling
songs, but John’s is so much better! The album ends triumphantly with
the magnificent folk carol While Shepherds Watched, sung to one of the
most uplifting of all its 20 tunes. John’s album was produced by Ollie
Knight in Panda Sound in North Yorkshire, one who can always be relied
on to ignite that special folk atmosphere.
Mick Tems
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VARIOUS ARTISTS
Folk Awards 2013
Proper Music Properfolk 14 (3-CD set)
****
The Radio 2 Folk Awards jamboree is over and done, and the winners
will have basked in the glory and the artists who have been beaten
into second place will try again for another year. The usual suspects,
Bellowhead, who took Best Album, roar in with the blistering shanty
Roll The Woodpile Down, and it was fabulous to see Nic Jones (Texas
Girl At The Funeral Of Her Father) awarded Folk Singer Of The Year.
Lau won Best Group (The Bird That Winds The Spring), Kathryn Roberts
and Sean Lakeman took Best Duo (The Ballad Of Andy Jacobs) while
Kathryn Tickell was absolutely brilliant in pocketing Musician Of The
Year (Small Coals).
But the artists who didn’t win the Folk Awards feature prominently;
for instance, Hannah James and Sam Sweeney weave gutsy fiddle and
accordion with The Farmer’s Cursed Wife, Duncan Chisholm plays the
Unknown Air beautifully, Luke Jackson (who has toured with Martyn
Joseph) sings Last Train soulfully, Kathleen MacInnes is enchanting
with Tha Sneachd’ Air Druim and The Unthanks radiate northern magic in
Black Trade. The third CD features 10 tracks by Young Folk Award
contenders, and Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar won it; here they have a
ball on Working On The New Railroad. However, I miss the Welsh artists
who really deserve being nominated; Let’s hope that Jamie Smith’s
Mabon and Calan get themselves noticed in the coming year, so they can
give everybody a run for their money.
Mick Tems
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KRISTA DETOR
Chocolate Paper Suites
Tightrope Records
****
www.kristadetor.com
Probably familiar to visitors here through her involvement with The
Darwin Song Project, (the 2009 songwriting project, CD and
concerts that also involved, among others, Chris Wood, Karine Polwart,
Emily Smith and Jez Lowe), singer and pianist Krista Detor is
something of a songwriting institution in her native USA.
Chocolate Paper Suites
is a collection of classy, thought-provoking, folk-influenced
contemporary writing inspired by the works of authors and thinkers
including Dylan Thomas, Federico Garcia Lorca and the aforementioned
Charles Darwin that goes a long way to explaining why she’s held with
such reverence.
Although this album has been on release since 2010, it’s one that if
it passed you originally is well worth tracking down for beautifully
atmospheric songs such as the haunting piano ballads Recklessness &
Rust and So Goes The Night, the gentle shuffle of Dazzling and the
ambitious Clock Of The World, a reflection on human existence that’s
heart-stopping in both its composition and performance.
Dave Haslam
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