As revealed in our recent interview with Seth Lakeman at Cropredy (read it here), Seth is set to release his new album ‘A Pilgrim’s Tale’ on February 7th 2020 which marks the anniversary of The Pilgrims leaving Plymouth and heading over to the New World.
In his interview, he told us that the alongside Cara Dillon, Benji Kirkpatrick and Ben Nicholls that the actor Paul McGann is also involved. McGann will read the between-song narration which was written by associate director of Plymouth’s Theatre Royal, Nick Stimson, with whom Seth has been working closely with for the last couple of years building up the theatre show that’s planned for June 2020.
He went on to reveal that the theatre show was the origin of the idea but “it’s turned into a record as well.” He added “The show is called This Land and the record is The Pilgrims Tale. The Pilgrim Band will be part of the production and members of the Wampanoag tribe who I met whilst I was out in America are coming over to take part. (One of the Native American tribes in the area of the Pilgrim Fathers’ landfall.) There’ll be visuals on projection and narration that will weave the story, stitch it together. So, it’s quite a specialist show.”
While celebrating the history, his website explains that “It stays sensitive to important facets of the story; the religious liberation that passengers were trying to achieve, the nefarious deeds enacted upon the Wampanoag, and the deaths that followed on both sides.”
He goes on to reveal “I didn’t have far to go for inspiration. The Mayflower Steps, on Plymouth’s cobbled Barbican streets are 20 minutes away from me. I fished from this quay as a boy, sang songs on tall ships tied up here and played music in just about every old sailors’ pub in this Elizabethan quarter.”
The announcement is accompanied by the release of the first album single ‘Watch Out’ which is out today.
Tracklisting
Watch Out
Pilgrim Brother
Westward Bound
A Pilgrim’s Warning
Sailing Time
The Great Iron Screw
Dear Isle of England
Saints and Strangers
Foreign Man
Bury Nights
The Digging Song
Mayflower Waltz
For details of Seth’s upcoming tour dates, visit: https://www.sethlakeman.co.uk/live-dates/
Photo Credit: Matt Austin