The latest Propermusic podcast features Sam Lee and three of his band who will be playing tracks from their new album Ground Of Its Own comprised mainly of songs learned 1st hand by Sam from the Gypsy Traveler community. Sam chats to Trevor Dann about collecting songs from source singers, creating sound collages and meeting Michael Jackson, while Jonah Brody unveils the secrets of the Japanese koto.
Ground Of Its Own is “a new musical manifesto, reflecting Sam’s unique artistic journey. Winner of the 2011 Arts Foundation Award, he is fast becoming accepted as a new pioneer, defining the sound, sight and texture of folksong today. Likewise his band ‘Sam Lee & Friends’ perform unconventional and contemporary interpretations challenging all preconceptions of what ‘traditional folk’ should sound like.”
Shirley Collins on Ground of Its Own “Its is wonderful. The singing is sublime and exquisite! It’s gentle and despairing, trancelike and tender. Strokes of genius there I think!”
“A wonderful singer and fascinating character. He’s working with musicians in a very interesting and unusual way, his arrangements are unlike anything anyone has ever really heard before”
Joe Boyd
Ground of It’s Own is out now on Proper and can be purchased here.