This week’s Folk Show features Janice Burns & Jon Doran, Nick Hart, Spiers & Boden, Clype, Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan, Pharis & Jason Romero, Doc Watson, Leyla McCalla, Gordie Tentrees, Grace Petrie, The Rails, Boo Hewerdine, Dan Brown, Martha Tilston and Meg Baird.
Amongst the fine tracks on this week’s Folk Show, we have music from our Artists of the Month: Spiers & Boden. Bailey Hill / Wittenham Clumps are two original tunes from their new album Fallow Ground. They spoke about the tunes in our recent interview:
‘Bailey Hill / Wittenham Clumps’, which have personal resonances to both performers. Boden’s tune, ‘Bailey Hill’, relates to a location that holds fond childhood memories. “‘Bailey Hill’ is a fort, just outside Sheffield. It’s abandoned really, covered in trees, no signage saying this is a Norman fort or whatever, but it’s lovely. It’s sort of been reclaimed. It’s covered in bracken and it’s a place we used to go for picnics quite a lot and spend quite a lot of time up there.”
Spiers’ tune ‘Wittenham Clumps’ has a similar history, providing a valuable link to Spiers’ past and early session playing. “I wrote that a long, long time ago, before I even met Jon. I was playing that in sessions in Oxford, in fact, all the old crowd in Oxford will probably recognise that tune, I used to play it almost every session!”
“It’s just one of those places I’ve always known. The clumps refer to two hills with little bunches of trees on top of them, and one of these had a poem carved in the trunk of a tree. It was legible in the 1960s. When I first saw it in the 1980s the tree had grown over the poem, and some letters were bigger than others. Now the tree’s dead, and it’s just photographs that remain.” Read the full interview here.
Order Fallow Ground via Hudson Records: here. They are also now on tour; you can find ticket links and more information via https://spiersandboden.com/
The show opens to Janice Burns & Jon Doran, an Anglo-Scottish duo formed in 2017. Sir Richard’s Song is from their self-titled debut released last year, available via Bandcamp here.
We also have another track from the excellent Landworkers Alliance compilation with “Stand Up Now”, performed by Nick Hart. The album was reviewed here.
Other new music includes:
Craigie Hill, the lead track from Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan‘s new album ‘Still As Your Sleeping’ released October 1st via Hudson Records – Pre-Order it here: http://smarturl.it/stillasyoursleeping.
The Last Man on Earth, the latest single from Grace Petrie from her upcoming album ‘Connectivity’ which is due for release on October 4th and available to pre-order on Bandcamp HERE.
British Summer Time, from Boo Hewerdine‘s new mini-album “Singularities” (Reveal Records, November 5th) featuring six exclusive new recordings made in collaboration with other artists, including Jenny Sturgeon, Vlado Nosal and Brian Johnson.
The tongue-in-cheek Danke is from Geordie Tentrees forthcoming new album Mean Old World, due for release on November 5th.
Greenside is from Dan Brown‘s debut album Rewilding which we recently reviewed here, and Western Sun is taken from Martha Tilston‘s ‘The Tape’, also her debut feature film.
The remainder features some older favourites.
Enjoy.
Music Played
Janice Burns & Jon Doran – Sir Richard’s Song
Nick Hart – The Faithful Plough
Spiers & Boden – Bailey Hill / Wittenham Clumps
Clype – Down with May
Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan – Craigie Hill
Pharis & Jason Romero – A Wanderer I’ll Stay
Doc Watson – Georgie
Leyla McCalla – When I Can See the Valley
Gordie Tentrees – Danke
Grace Petrie – The Last Man On Earth
The Rails – Grace Of God
Boo Hewerdine – British Summer Time
Dan Brown – Greenside
Martha Tilston – Western Sun
Meg Baird – The Waltze Of The Tennis Players
Photo by Alex Gallacher