Based in the North East of England, Rachael McShane is a singer, cellist, fiddle and viola player. She was an original member of the folk big band Bellowhead for 12 years until the band ended in 2016. Bellowhead recorded five acclaimed albums, won eight BBC Folk Awards and appeared on national television flying the flag for British folk.
In 2017, Rachael sang the role of Susannah Holmes in a new adaptation of The Transports alongside The Young’uns, Faustus, Nancy Kerr, Greg Russell and Matthew Crampton.
Rachael’s brand new album – her first since 2009 – sees her reworking traditional songs with a new band, The Cartographers, featuring guitarist Matthew Ord [Assembly Lane] and melodeon player Julian Sutton [Kathryn Tickell, Sting]. Their album When All Is Still came out last year on the Topic label to much acclaim. It was a Featured Album of the Month on Folk Radio UK, you can read the review here.
We caught up with Rachael recently at The Riverhouse Barn in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.
What’s the craziest gig that you ever performed with Bellowhead?
Rachael: We did all kinds of crazy things… big festivals like Glastonbury and things that a lot of folk bands would never do. We did lots of fun things when we were artists in residence at the South Bank. We got the opportunity to do lots and lots of daft stuff. One of my favourites ever was the Dirty Weekend. We did lots of rude songs. All the boys dressed up as women, and I was dressed as a man. Things a few people probably weren’t expecting us to do.
A few members of Bellowhead play on your album, was it nice to be working with them again?
I would love to say yes, but I didn’t actually see any of them during the recording. They all got sent stuff and recorded it in different studios. We were up in rural North England near Rothbury when we did the recording. It was a beautiful place. We recorded in an old church that’s been converted into a studio. It was January. It was freezing and it snowed. But it was great up there. Completely isolated so we just got on with the job.
You were also part of the Transports tour [a stage show featuring a myriad of British folk luminaries performing Peter Bellamy’s legendary 1977 folk ballad] how was that experience?
Yeah, it was really good fun. I was definitely apprehensive before it all kicked off. Because it seemed like quite a random bunch of people. Members of Bellowhead, Faustus, The Young’uns, Greg [Russell] and Nancy [Kerr]. It felt like that’s a lot of big personalities. It could be a nightmare but, actually it was brilliant. We all got along really well and enjoyed touring together.
What’s your musical background?
I grew up in quite a musical household. My dad did a lot of playing, he still plays for ceilidhs and things like that. He plays banjo, mandolin, ukulele – all sorts of stuff really. He’s got a ceilidh band that’s been going for years that I used to play with when I was a kid. So I just kinda got into the folk thing that way. They always took me to folk festivals when I was young. I did the classical route a little bit at school. Because there wasn’t much opportunity to do anything else. Then I went up to Newcastle and did the folk degree. I was in the first ever year in 2001.
Is that how you ended up living in Newcastle?
Yes. There’s quite a lot of people actually that were in that first ever year group that have gone on to have a career in folk music.
Matthew and Julian from the Cartographers are also based in Newcastle. Are they people that you’ve played with before?
I met Julian when I went up to Newcastle. I’d possibly come across him at festivals before. But I got to know him when I moved up to Newcastle. He was always busy playing with lots of different people. I never really did any playing with Julian before. But me and Matt played in another band. It wasn’t our band, we were just in it. I left that band and said to Matt, do you wanna come and be in my band? So I pinched him.
When Bellowhead finished people started asking what was going to happen next and what everybody was doing. Some people were quite cagey about that. Most of us had no idea what we could do after something that had been so big. So I left it for a little while and mulled over what I might want to do. I decided after a year or so that it would be nice to play some music and get a band together. Something quite folky.
Is life easier now you are in a band with people who live nearby?
Absolutely yeah. Bellowhead was an absolute nightmare for that – just to get us all in one room cost a fortune. Because it was me up in Newcastle, others down in Brighton… Wales… all over the place. Just being able to go, ‘Thursday night? Meet in town?’… really is great.
Why the name Cartographers, what are you mapping?
I think it came about because, like most band names, we drank endless cups of coffee and went, ‘What about that?’ ‘No… I don’t like it.’ We all sort of liked that one. I think Matt is doing some kind of mapping… Matt’s quite clever, he does lots of research. I think he is making some kind of map about something. I absolutely don’t know what it is! I’m sorry.
You must be really excited to be signed to Topic Records (who are celebrating their 80th Anniversary this year). That’s a seal of approval for a British folk act. How did that come about?
I sent them a demo and said I’m doing this thing that you might be interested in. They came back and said they’d like to sign me up. Then they just let me get on with it, which is amazing. They’ve been really supportive. It is a total honour because there are so many albums on Topic Records that I love.
Your material is mostly traditional folk songs, how do you go about selecting the material?
It’s different for every song. It takes you on a journey. And I love that about folk music. You come across something and you think, I really like the idea of that. Then do a bit more research. For me, I love digging through old books. I’ve got a massive collection of old folk song books at home. So I just hunt out different versions. Our version of The Outlandish Night came from a book called Songs of North America. So it’s a slightly different version to many recordings. It’s got a different melody, and we added a bit of tune to it as well. I like begging and borrowing.
You seem very in tune with each other as musicians, is that how the arrangements come about?
Even while we’re playing things, I wonder how we got to where we are. It’s usually me that finds a song and I’ll work on it a little on my own. And come up with a melody, and maybe a bit of a tune to go with it. Then I’ll bring it to the others. But it never goes where you’re expecting it to, which is the great thing about working with great musicians.
When All Is Still was released on 10 August via Topic Records
Order it here http://smarturl.it/whenallisstill
This Rachel McShane and The Cartographers’ gig was part of an excellent programme of folk music at The Riverhouse – a beautifully converted 19th-century barn – in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.
Upcoming dates at the Riverhouse:
27 January at 12:15: Alden, Patterson and Dashwood
24 February at 12:15: Jacob and Drinkwater
24 March at 12:15: Ninebarrow
30 March at 20:00: Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman
4 May (12pm-22:30): Walton Folk Festival featuring Daria Kulesh, Megson, Trials of Cato, Lukas Drinkwater, Hannah Ashcroft and False Lights