Martin Simpson will launch his splendid new solo album Vagrant Stanzas at the Cambridge Folk Festival on Sunday 28th July. Encouraged by his near neighbour, friend and co-producer Richard Hawley, Martin set out to record the album completely solo. His ambition was to record just ‘one man and his guitar’ (or banjo) close-miked and personal. Most of the performances are first or second takes. So much material went down on tape during the sessions that the deluxe edition includes an extra CD of eight out-takes – quite honestly they’d have made the cut on just about anybody else’s album.
“This is not a record of repairs and corrections, this is what I do at a gig. It’s the first time I’ve made a studio album which deliberately tries to capture the immediacy of a live performance…. in fact it is the intimacy of playing to a friend which is at the heart of this album.”
Here is a short video of Richard Hawley talking about the making of Vagrant Stanzas:
Preview Tracks
Delta Dreams
The Green Linnet
A digital single of Delta Dreams with Morning Blues – an otherwise unreleased duet with the great Danny Thompson – has just been released through iTunes.
You can get it here: