Late last year, we premiered a video for Julie Abbé’s “A Poet to His Beloved“, inspired by one of W.B. Yeats’s finest poems. The track features on “Numberless Dreams”, her forthcoming debut album produced by Sid Goldsmith and featuring Dominie Hooper.
Taken from the same album, we have a new track to share with you which is also our Song of the Day. Kellswater is a song that I’m sure many of you may be familiar with although you won’t have heard this version before…
“I first heard Andy Irvine’s beautiful rendition of Kellswater a few years ago when he was performing at the Folk House in Bristol. I immediately fell in love with its melody, but found the traditional lyrics too lengthy and the story hard to follow. So I removed a few verses and rewrote the second one to bring more clarity to this promising love story unfairly brought to an end by a severe, unwilling father. I love the way it is told from the point of view of all characters involved, starting with the ship captain making an enticing description of Kellswater as they approach the village, then Johnny the young sailor proposing to his new love, followed by her dad threatening to hang the young lad if he doesn’t sail off, the girl daring to stand up to her father saying that she would travel “through an acre of fire” just to be with her lover, and finally the narrator’s voice wishing them both peace as their union gets abruptly interrupted. It is one of mine and Sid’s favourite songs on the album, and the short, intense cello solo after the 4th verse gets us every time we listen to it!”
Download Kellswater via Bandcamp here.
Numberless Dreams album is out on all platforms on 29th January and can be pre-ordered via Julie’s website here: https://julieabbe.com/music