The Wilderness Yet is folksinger Rosie Hodgson, traditional fiddler Rowan Piggott, and guitarist-flautist Philippe Barnes. Independently, they have earned audiences’ esteem as consummate musicians; together, they weave an eclectic tapestry of traditional and original songs and tunes; from a cappella three-part harmonies to luscious instrumental arrangements. They are currently crowd-funding on Kickstarter (details below) for their debut album, which will be released in July.
They shared the following on the title track from which they also take their name:
This song started life as a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Inversnaid is three verses of beautiful nature poetry followed by the oft-quoted stanza which became our chorus:
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
This verse resonates so perfectly with our times, when nature is neglected by almost every society on Earth. When setting it to music, Rowan added a further three verses to the orignial poem which build on this theme, mourning the overwhelming debt of mankind for our natural world on the brink of collapse. The final three words, which so beautifully encapsulate the essence of this last defiant plea to humanity, we took as our band name; The Wilderness Yet.
“They combine exceptional individual instrumental and vocal abilities with a deft collective touch in their arrangements of traditional and original repertoire. Not just engaging performers, they’re also folk scene activists and advocates. File under: The Whole Package / The Real Deal.” – Steve Hunt (fRoots, Bodmin Folk Club)
The Wilderness Yet are currently crowd-funding on Kickstarter for their debut album, which will be released in July. There are a whole host of rewards on offer including album pre-orders, artwork prints, handwritten lyric/manuscript sheets, instrumental lessons, house concerts etc. Pre-order / support at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thewildernessyet/the-wilderness-yet
https://www.thewildernessyet.com/
Photo credit: Voy Okuszko