As previously revealed on Folk Radio UK, guitarist, singer and songwriter Martin Simpson releases ‘Trails & Tribulations’ on September 1st, 2017 via Topic Records. Watch the video above in which he talks about the making of the album which was produced by Andy Bell. He reveals that when he was about to book studio time to record the album he was asked to do a soundtrack for a Hollywood film. Whilst he thoroughly enjoyed making the soundtrack (which Andy also worked on) Trails & Tribulations became a very different record because of that process – in a very good way. You can hear snippets of tracks in the video and it sounds amazing.
Trails & Tribulations is his first new solo work since 2013’s widely praised ‘Vagrant Stanzas’, will be available in standard and deluxe CD, digital download and standard vinyl (the latter through Vinyl 180).
‘Trails & Tribulations’ is a collection of songs about nature, about travels and about real life stories. There are traditional songs, poems and contemporary songs by great writers, and songs that I had to write because nobody else knew what I wanted to say. I travel, I learn songs, I write and try to get better at the skills required for me to do my job. I look at the world as I pass by, on the road, out of the train window, or as I stop and pay close attention to the square foot under my nose. There is so much to see and to hear and to inspire and to try and understand. I had a huge amount of fun playing and recording these songs, using different instruments, different noises, old friends and new ones, all of whom brought so much to the mix. Martin Simpson, April 2017.
Produced and engineered by Andy Bell, ‘Trails & Tribulations’ features some of Martin’s most inventive playing yet, showcasing his virtuosity on a variety of instruments including acoustic guitars, resonator guitars, Weissenbown lap steel guitar, electric guitars, 5 string banjo, ukulele – and voice.
Guest musicians on the new album are: Ben Nicholls (string bass and electric bass guitars), Toby Kearney (drums and percussion), Nancy Kerr (fiddle and viola), Andy Cutting (diatonic accordion and melodeon), John Smith (electric guitar and backing vocals), Helen Bell (strings), Amy Newhouse-Smith (backing vocals) and his daughter Molly Simpson on vocals.
Martin will tour extensively this year, including a headline set at Cambridge Folk Festival in the summer and London’s Kings Place in autumn, following the release of ‘Trails & Tribulations’. For full tour details: http://www.martinsimpson.com/gigs/
Trails & Tribulations tracklisting (standard edition):
- Blues Run The Game
- Bones & Feathers
- Thomas Drew
- East Kentucky
- Katherine Of Aragon Interlude
- A Ballad For Katherine Of Aragon
- Maps
- St. James Hospital
- Jasper’s/Dancing Shoes
- Ridgeway
- Rufford Park Poachers
- Reynardine Interlude
- Reynardine
Deluxe Edition CD2 Bonus Tracks:
- Joshua Gone Barbados
- Dillard Chandler
- Willy O’Winsbury
- Heartbreak Hotel
- Blues Run The Game Interlude
- Blues Run The Game (Radio Edit)
Pre-order link: http://smarturl.it/umdp3x