In this week’s Folk Show we have music from a number of our current Featured Albums of the Month including Kitty Macfarlanes‘ Namer of the Clouds (out 21 September), Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith‘s Many a Thousand (out now), Assynt‘s Road to the North (out now), Northern Flyway‘s Self-titled album (out now) and new in, The Breath, with their new album Let the Cards Fall which was released on Friday. Plus, another tune from our Artist of the Month, Richard Thompson, taken from his latest album 13 Rivers, read our recent interview here.
We also have forthcoming releases from Waterford singer Karan Casey who makes a return on November 2nd with her new album ‘Hieroglyphs That Tell the Tale’ which sees her return to a mix of traditional and folk song imbued with a modern twist, sitting alongside some new self-penned songs. She is joined on vocals by some of her favourite singers, including Karen Matheson, Niamh Dunne, Pauline Scanlon, Maura O’Connell and Aoife O Donovan.
Also featured is a track from the new Shooglenifty & Dhun Dhora album set for release on November 9th. A’Bhriogais Uallach is a humorous ‘puirt a beul’ originating on 19th Century South Lochboisdale in South Uist. It mocks ‘the trouser’ as he tells the story of getting a pair made by the tailor. The wearer found them so big and ridiculous that he disappeared inside them! Kaela Rowan is joined on this track by Dayam and Sardar singing Raag Des.
All By The Quay, is a lovely song from Yorkshire-based songwriter Kevin McSherry from his forthcoming new album ‘You Know Me’ (out on October 26th). Tradition looms large on this opening track as Irish emigrants prepare to set sail for a new life in England (a lyrical theme that will re-occur in a different format later on the album).
Sam Hall is the new single from Rusty Shackle, a five-piece folk-rock band from South Wales, set for release on October 5th. The song features on their new album ‘Passion, Death & Joy’, an album inspired by the last two years they have spent researching folk music and taking inspiration from what they read. ‘Sam Hall’ is a story from the early Eighteenth century about an infamous English highwayman. Condemned to death, he spends the song looking back on his life – from being sold as a chimney sweep to becoming a thief and then eventually getting caught.
The 5/8 Set is taken from Solasta‘s debut album A Cure for the Curious (21 September). A bold reimagining of Celtic sounds, and a meeting point between virtuosity and curiosity. Firmly rooted in tradition, the trio draw upon elements of classical, jazz and early music in their evocative and exhilarating arrangements. Fiddle, cello and guitar blend together seamlessly, taking the listener on a spellbinding journey from raucous plate smashing at a Greek wedding to the songs of water sprites from the shores of Inishvickalline. The album was recorded by Dylan Fowler at Stiwdio Felin Fach and mixed by Ben Walker, mastering was by Nick Watson at Fluid Mastering and Solasta self-produced the album.
Wolf, is the title track of the debut EP from folk/acoustic singer songwriter Katherine Priddy. She has a great depth and maturity to her music that belies her age, most certainly a name to watch for.
The powerful I Burn But I Am Not Consumed is taken from Karine Polwart’s forthcoming album Laws of Motion (out October 9th on Hudson Records). The song takes the clan motto of Donald Trump’s maternal Scottish family as its title, deflating the POTUS’s blustery posturing in the process. In an age with no shortage of artists taking aim at The White House’s incumbent, Polwart is presumably the first to so via the voice of the ancient rock beneath the Isle of Lewis, the birthplace of Trump’s mother, Mary Ann Macleod. It’s anything but twee. Lamenting a wayward island son, “a broken boy”, Polwart skewers Trump’s narcissism with both precision and humour (“In the name of progress, profit and executive golf / He would pit himself against time & tide”), whilst retaining the vestiges of his humanity.
What Do I Know? is the final new offering, this one taken from the Jaywalkers new album ‘Time to Save the World’ which is out on November 5th and whose songs spring from personal experiences and adventures.
Folk Show: Episode 38 Playlist
00:00 Kitty Macfarlane – Seventeen
03:51 Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith – Hawks Call
07:15 Norma Waterson – Black Muddy River
11:26 Kevin McSherry – All By The Quay
15:59 Karan Casey – Sixteen Come Next Sunday
19:59 Shooglenifty & Dhun Dhora – A’Bhriogais Uallach
25:44 Assynt – Conal McDonagh’s
29:05 The Breath – All That You Have Been
33:29 Rusty Shackle – Sam Hall
37:08 Solasta – The 5/8 Set
43:39 Niall Hanna – Erin’s Lovely Home
46:26 Northern Flyway – The Eagle
50:05 Katherine Priddy – Wolf
54:12 Karine Polwart – I Burn But I Am Not Consumed
59:35 The Jaywalkers – What Do I Know?
01:03:56 Richard Thompson – My Rock, My Rope
01:07:10 Dave Van Ronk – The Old Man (Live)
01:09:11 Michael Hurley – Move It On Over
01:12:31 Niall and Cillian Vallely – The Singing Stream
Photo by Andreas Wagner on Unsplash