Shovel Dance Collective / C Joynes – Betwixt & Between 7
Betwixt & Between Tapes – Out Now
The Betwixt & Between tapes are put together by Jacken Elswyth, a London-based banjo player. Actually, just saying ‘banjo player’ does not do Jacken justice as it is her explorations of tunes, work with other performers, and compiling the Betwixt & Between tapes that are just as important as her playing. In previous tapes, Jacken has worked with other artists but here the two sides are slightly different. One is given over to the Shovel Dance Collective, of whom Jacken is a member, and the other side is devoted to the solo work of guitarist C Joynes.
The Shovel Dance Collective’s first track My Husband’s Got No Courage In Him, is an underperformed song and it is perhaps easy to see why as the husband also underperforms causing the wife to lament that he has no ‘courage’ in him and would like to get a replacement. This is followed by a lively Merrily Kissed the Quaker/Johnny’s So Long At The Fair set and then a version of The Foggy Dew, a song in need of a research grant judging by the amount that has been written about it. I love the musical rendition here, slow and emphatic, a processional dance that also gives a nod, in essence, to its Irish roots.
C Joynes is one of a group of excellent guitarists that are appreciated amongst those that know about these things but deserve greater awareness. A recent edition of Guitarist Presents Acoustic had Davy Graham, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn in a list of 12 essential UK guitar albums. You probably could have guessed them and a few others from that era but would you have placed Nick Jonah Davis, Gwenifer Raymond, dbh and C Joynes in that list? OK, regular readers of Folk Radio would have done…
The thing about C Joynes is that you don’t really know what you are going to get until it comes along and hits you. On Betwixt & Between 7 his first two tracks give no hint whatsoever, being titled First Medley and Second Medley. You know you are going to get something special and lo, you do. His fingerpicking style and his creativity are breathtaking, and you could be on the edge of your seat wondering where he is going next with his ideas. This real, or apparent, ‘seat of the pants’ stuff gives the music a freshness that is there on each repeated listen. The third track, Tigers and Lions, is a much shorter piece but the speed picks up considerably and I would really welcome the opportunity to watch his fingers flying around this.
There have been many attempts to ‘locate’ Joynes’ style and points of reference – John Fahey or the aforementioned Graham – and yes there are elements, as you would expect that are common to all, and yet the result, even in these three tracks, illustrate the depth and breadth of his playing and the unique nature of his ability to take tunes where you might least expect them to go. Betwixt & Between may only be a small sample of his oeuvre that dates back at least to 2005, but if you want an introduction alongside a sample of a new Collective approach to traditional tunes, give this a listen. Excellent.
Order via Bandcamp: https://betwixtbetweentapes.bandcamp.com/album/betwixt-between-7