In the middle of last year, we caught up with Devon folk act Harbottle & Jonas (read the interview here) who were showing no signs of slowing down following the release of ‘The Sea is my Brother’, an album which was reviewed by Mike Davies for Folk Radio here. Mike declared it was “awash with strong songs and excellent musicianship and fully deserves to carry the duo aloft on a wave of acclaim and success.”
For all you beat generation lovers, yes, the album does share a link to Jack Kerouac’s novel of the same name which was written in 1946 but not published until 2011, many years after his death in 1969. In our interview with the duo, Freya from the band explained “Yes, there is a bit of a link. I read the book years ago and enjoyed it but more than anything the title really stuck with me. I feel it sums up humans relationship with the sea well and encapsulates the feeling of familiarity and comfort that I find from the sea. The song also loosely draws on the story of Kerouac’s time in the navy as written about in the book.”
They are still riding the wave of the album’s success and have dates booked throughout the year along with an imminent tour of Germany to prepare for. You’d think they’d be glad of the brief rest over the festive period, but David and Freya have put their downtime to good use: writing new material, rehearsing with other musicians, and recording a new live performance video of their track ‘Liverpool City’.
A rare personal love song in the duo’s output ‘Liverpool City’ was written by David for Freya and tells the story of how they first met in Liverpool whilst studying at university.
The song has become a staple of their live shows and, in the course of 170 performances in 2019, Freya has had plenty of chances to consider what the song means to her:
“It’s wonderful! I think a song is probably the greatest gift you can give someone so it feels very special to have one written about you”, she says.
“When I sing it at gigs I feel quite proud… not of myself, but proud to be married, working and writing with such a wonderful and loving man. Cheesy maybe, but it’s true!”
The video (which also features Annie Baylis who has appeared many times on these pages and who is set to join the duo on tour for several dates throughout the year, adding her fiddle playing and close harmony singing to the duo’s compelling live signature sound as they perform as the Harbottle & Jonas Trio). The video was made filmed by LoFiHiLife, Annie’s father whose previous work has also featured on Folk Radio.
Looking back on the previous year of hard work which included returning to Dartington International Summer School in Devon, performing at Sidmouth Folk Week for the first time and being invited to Costa Del Folk festival in Portugal, Freya is grateful for the chance to take stock:
“We’ve been on the road solidly since the album launch last February,” says Freya, “but we’ve really appreciated our rare times at home.”
David agrees: “Yes we need those spaces to sit and breathe and relax. Having said that we had our first day at home for ages yesterday and we wrote 4 new songs!”
“We’re excited to be heading back to Germany. It’s also great to be writing new songs for the album and arranging them for the trio,” says Freya.
David agrees: “I’m looking forward to getting in front of as many people as possible and sharing our music!”
2020 is shaping up to be another busy year for the pair, building upon the successes of 2019 and with a raft of festival and folk club bookings across the UK and beyond and the addition of Annie Baylis to the lineup, it looks to be one full of exciting and new music with a richer, fresh sound that still remains unmistakably Harbottle & Jonas.
Visit their website for full tour dates here: https://www.harbottleandjonas.com/live
Photo Credit: Matt Austin