Shelagh’s Song is the new single (May 21) from Joshua Burnell, taken from his forthcoming new EP Storm Cogs (July 9). The song is inspired by the life of Scottish singer-songwriter Shelagh McDonald, the headline-hitting Seventies folk singer who went missing for 30 years.
Joshua first became aware of Shelagh a few years ago which he told us about in a 2018 guest post. His ‘Folk Quest’ began with the song ‘The Dowie Dens of Yarrow’ – a border ballad which narrates the heart-breaking tale of a ploughboy who ventures up into the bleak hillside to prove his worth in combat against nine suitors for his right to marry the woman he loves – a lady of noble birth.
He continues:
“…my real love of this song comes from my own adventures surrounding my discovery of the song itself.
“I went on a day trip to Haworth to visit the home of the Brontë family. I’d already recorded Spellbound, a song by Emily Brontë to a medieval tune, so I was particularly inspired to go and look at the very upright piano that Emily used to play. Before we headed home, I spotted an old record shop on the high street, so I did my usual thing of keeping everybody waiting while I leafed enthusiastically through the old, dusty vinyl records. There was even a folk section, so I hastily looked for some songs to harvest for the Seasons Project. I bought a couple of records but wrote down the titles of a few others that caught my eye but couldn’t afford. One of these was Stargazer by Shelagh McDonald, priced at £80. Extortionate! I thought, and wrote it down in my iPhone to eBay when I got home.
“When I got home, however, I could only find one copy available on the whole of the internet and it was priced at $300. I’d made a terrible mistake. I listened to some of the tracks from it on Youtube to reassure myself that it probably wasn’t that good and not worth it anyway, but it was bloody beautiful. I researched her further, and she’s like some kind of character from mythology! After rocketing to folk stardom in the early 70s, she took LSD and had a bad trip which lasted days and then disappeared into a nomadic existence for some 30 years, during which everyone assumed she was dead.”
He included the song in his Seasons Project but the story didn’t end there…
“I joined a facebook group dedicated to Shelagh, in the hope I could try and get in touch with her to thank her for the inspiration she’s provided, as I couldn’t find any other means of contact. Then, out of the blue, it was announced she was doing a concert! Dutifully, we went on a pilgrimage to Scotland and watched in awe as this small, humble lady proceeded to blow us away with remarkable finger-picking and a voice just as strong and hauntingly beautiful as the one which had been cut into the grooves of my dusty vinyl record from 1971. Frustratingly, this was before I’d even begun to record Dowie Dens, so couldn’t say a proper thank you. I did, however, show her the various compilations I’d managed to find since (‘Dungeon Folk’ being my favourite – who came up with that idea!?) and we had a fantastic chat about her ‘pals’ who pose together for a group photo on the back cover. It just so happens that most of her ‘pals’ happen to be everyone else’s heroes in the folk world!”
Joshua went to see her again – “A second announcement of a concert sprang up…so once again, we travelled up to see her with Nigel H Seymour, this time with my family in tow, and I was able to proudly hand her a copy of Songs From The Seasons with a big grin on my face. I was taken aback when the first thing she said was that she’d already heard my rendition of Dowie Dens and how much she enjoyed it.”
That was then…
Now, he has been inspired to write write a song in her name. “After all the music and inspiration Shelagh has given us I thought she deserved a song of her own.
“I’ve written Shelagh’s Song in the same style as some of her own songs on Stargazer which were about the lives of musicians she knew who had taken off on their own travels – Rod’s Song, Liz’s Song.”
As well as capturing her amazing life…it also features some unexpected sound of cows at the end…Joshua: “The cows are there on purpose. When Shelagh picked up a guitar after 30 years she played to fields of cows as a tester audience. If they stayed, she figured it was a good song – if they wandered off she did some more practice. She might have been on to something we are all missing!”
Watch the accompanying video for the single that was filmed by Hinterland Creative at Young Thugs Studios, York.
Joshua is a natural storyteller and he will be telling the full, intriguing tale of how Shelagh’s Song came to be on his Instagram channel www.instagram.com/joshuaburnellmusic/
He was able to track her down recently and send her the single and was delighted when she wrote to say she thought it was ’sheer perfection’.
Her letter concluded: “No artist could ask for a better tribute from a fellow artist such as this gem of a song”.
We couldn’t agree more.
Recorded by a guitar, keys and percussion-playing Burnell at home during lockdown, it was mixed by himself and Edward Simpson at Moon Glue Studios and will be released on May 21 on Spotify and other streaming platforms.
It forms part of an EP entitled Storm Cogs which will be released on July 9 when Joshua Burnell Band plays Ely Folk Festival’s main stage.
Order a physical release via https://www.joshuaburnell.co.uk/shop
Joshua says: “There is a limited run of just 50 signed and numbered CDs of ‘Storm Cogs’. It’ll come with some other collectible goodies and there’s two themed bundles to choose from. If you’d like one, don’t hang about as they won’t last long!”
Digital versions are available via Bandcamp: https://joshuaburnell.bandcamp.com/album/storm-cogs-ep