At the beginning of this year, the Harbottle & Jonas Trio, featuring David Harbottle, Freya Jonas and Annie Baylis, released their new album The Beacon, which was reviewed here on Folk Radio by David Pratt. Like many recent albums, the lockdown provided the impetus for its creation “It has been a journey of discovery and has taught us the importance of love, compassion and empathy, whilst discovering the needs and delights of our inner creature.”
Those sentiments shone throughout this release which had its moments of “breathtaking beauty” (Black Is The Colour) and anthemic highlights with closing harmonies that were “celestial in their impact” (Shelter).
They recently teamed up with Phil Beer of Show of Hands for a brilliant Grateful Dead cover; you can watch them performing Black Muddy River below. The song was written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter and features on The Grateful Dead’s 1987 album In the Dark. That said, my favourite cover is by Norma Waterson, versions of which feature on several albums, including her self-titled solo album, the Topic boxset “The Waterson’s Mighty River of Song (mentioned recently here) and Waterson: Carthy’s ‘Fishes and Fine Yellow Sand’.
Phil Beer and Harbottle & Jonas Trio do the song great justice here, especially when singing in chorus…fantastic job!
The trio have a number of live dates coming up, so be sure to check their tour dates here: https://www.harbottleandjonas.com/live
Likewise, check the Show of Hands tour page for dates including the Phil Beer Band in September: https://showofhands.co.uk/show-of-hands-tour-dates