Featuring: Lau, Lleuwen, Liz Green, Nancy Elizabeth, King Creosote, Sweet William, Dick Gaughan, Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan, Anna & Elizabeth, Tommy Reck, Serious Sam Barrett, Jim Ghedi, Kathryn Tickell & Corrina Hewat, Bendith, Fernhill, The Ciderhouse Rebellion, Dave Burland, Lal Waterson, Lisa O’Neill, Nic Jones.
I’ve included extensive notes about the music played on this week’s show which you can read below (I don’t always have the time to offer such extensive background, but I made an exception here – I really enjoyed pulling this one together).
Enjoy
Alex
Music Played
- Lau – Sunken Waltz (Calexico)
- Lleuwen – Lle Wyt Ti Heno Iesu Grist?
- Liz Green – Battle
- Nancy Elizabeth – Cornfield
- King Creosote – Diamantina Drover
- Sweet William – Rambleaway
- Dick Gaughan – MacCrimmon’s Lament/Mistress Jamieson’s Favourite
- Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan – The Parting Glass
- Anna & Elizabeth – Orfeo
- Tommy Reck – The Kilfrush The Trip To Durrow
- Serious Sam Barrett – The Waggoner
- Jim Ghedi – Ah Cud Hew
- Kathryn Tickell & Corrina Hewat – Brose
- Bendith – Mis Mehefin
- Fernhill – Llif
- The Ciderhouse Rebellion – setting iv
- The Ciderhouse Rebellion – Rose
- Dave Burland – The Bleacher Lassie O’Kelvinhaugh
- Lal Waterson – To Make You Stay
- Lisa O’Neill – No Train To Cavan
- Nic Jones – Annachie Gordon
Folk Show 106 Liner Notes
This week’s Folk Show opens to Lau covering Calexico with Sunlen Waltz; a track featured on the deluxe version of their fourth studio album, The Bell That Never Rang, released in 2015. The album was produced and mixed by Joan Wasser – best known to most as Joan As Police Woman; the album took its title from the city of Glasgow’s coat of arms and also featured The Elysian Quartet on its title track.
We then take you back to 2011 with Lleuwen‘s Lle Wyt Ti Heno Iesu Grist? from her album Tân, the Welsh and Breton word for fire, something this album had plenty of. The album was made with the experimental double bass player, Vincent Guerin – they played all the instruments on this album which, alongside instruments like the zither, included pots and pans.
Battle is taken Liz Green‘s 2014 album Haul Away, her second album, which was, as suggested by the title, a sea-inspired sequel to her earthbound debut. Liam Watson produced it at his analogue recording studio located in Hackney, London, where Emily Barker recorded her Toerag Sessions album on which she left a secret message on the lead-out groove of the vinyl release.
The unmistakable vocals of Nancy Elizabeth deliver a gorgeous cover of Lal Waterson’s Cornfield. It’s taken from a Lal Waterson tribute album called Migrating Bird that was released in 2007 on Honest Jon. There’s another great compilation from Honest Jon later on in the show as well, which features Lal. We recently shared the news about the plaque unveiling at 160 Park Avenue in Hull to mark her former home – read more here.
Also taken from a deluxe edition release is King Creosote’s Diamantina Drover, which can be found on his 2009 release Flick The V (Ltd Edition). Although covered by a fair few, including Christy Moore on Ordinary Man, which featured Eithne Ni Bhraonain on vocals, to be later known as Enya, it’s a Redgum song, first recorded on their 1983 album Caught in the Act.
Rambleaway is covered by the new ballad duo Sweet William featuring Jacob Book and Eileen O’Connor. Despite performing (very well) in the English and Irish folk tradition, Jacob resides in Kentucky and Eileen in Ohio. You can get their EP ‘If the World Had Been Ended’ on Bandcamp here. The ballad featured on Shirley Collins‘ ‘Heroes in Love’, her 1963 release on Topic Records, which was later reissued as a 7″ in 2014 as part of their 75th Anniversary. We interviewed David Suff about the label that year; you can read it here. Johnny Flynn also covered the song on a Shirley Collins tribute album Shirley Inspired.
I’ve been meaning to include this next track for a while. I’m a big fan of Dick Gaughan, and this is one of my personal favourites, although this recording is not that well known due to its lack of availability. MacCrimmon’s Lament/Mistress Jamieson’s Favourite is from ‘No More Forever’ released in 1972 on Trailer. The album has not been reissued, and Celtic Music now owns the rights. They also own the rights to a wealth of British folk music released between 1970 and 2000, including Leader and Trailer releases. It’s a huge shame that they have not been reissued yet. Their catalogue includes Mike and Lal Waterson’s Bright Phoebus, released in 1972 on Leader Sound on its Trailer Records label. Domino Records tried to reissue Bright Phoebus in 2017 and was blocked by Celtic Music following copyright proceedings. In a press statement about winning the case against Domino, Celtic Music stated, “Since the death of its joint founding partner Dave Bulmer in August 2013, Celtic Music has been retrenching and reviewing the development of its large and varied back catalogue of recordings, and is currently planning a programme of re-releases to cast new light on valuable folk music performances from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.” We can only hope these are forthcoming – no news as yet, but if I ever hear anything, I’ll be sure to let you know. Instead, to get your hands on any of these albums, you need to pay way over the odds for secondhand copies, which are often far from mint condition.
Luckily Honest Jon managed to release this compilation gem titled Never The Same – Leave-Taking From The British Folk Revival 1970-1977 (on CD and vinyl in 2006/7). It was licensed by Celtic Music and features Lal Waterson, Nic Jones, Dick Gaughan, The Boys of the Lough, Dave Burland, Dorothy Elliott, Aly Bain, Alistair Anderson and Tony Rose. I’ve included tracks from Dick Gaughan, Dave Burland, Lal Waterson and Nic Jones.
We have another track from our current Artist of the Month duo: Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan with a gorgeous rendition of The parting Glass, a track they initially recorded following a request from Margaret Atwood which you can read about in our recent interview here.
From Anna & Elizabeth‘s 2015 debut album we have Orfeo…in his review of their debut here, Thomas Blake notes “Orfeo retains its old Scottish ballad form but sets it against a chilling drone of uilleann pipes punctuated by occasional flourishes and topped off with Roberts-Gevalt’s fiddle. The cumulative effect is simply astonishing: at once wild and claustrophobic.”
Tommy Reck is another gem from Fire Draw Near (An Anthology of Traditional Irish Song and Music), one of our Featured Albums of the Month. Released on River Lea, it was curated by Ian Lynch of Lankum. Read the album review here. From the liner notes on Tommy Reck:
Tommy Reck was born in 1921 on John Dillon Street, in Dublin’s Liberties. Tommy was taught the uilleann pipes from an early age by ‘Old’ John Potts of the well-known Potts dynasty of traditional musicians. It is hard to put a finger on what makes Tommy’s piping so fascinating and unique, but his idiosyncratic ornamentation, his gentle approach even to energetic reels, as well as his unusual settings of commonly played tunes – as can be heard on the second half of this track – all make for beautiful piping in a style that is all his own.
From Serious Sam Barrett‘s Seeds of Love (reviewed here), the album title is taken from the British folk anthology by Stephen Sedley, which was published in 1967 in association with the English Folk Dance & Song Society. He told us:
“I love the way waggoners always seem to appear as fun-loving, hardy, roguish types in these songs. ‘The Jolly Waggoner’ as sung by The Watersons describes him drinking with the landlords of the inns he delivers to and generally enjoying an adventurous life. This song seems to be sung from the perspective of an admiring lover who seemingly can’t get enough of his rugged charms and glorious imperfections. I’m pretty sure this song relates to the waggoners who pushed carts full of coal in mines rather than the beer delivering type as described in the Watersons song. In The Seeds of Love book published by EFDSS, the song is credited as coming from the text in A.L. Lloyd’s Come All Ye Bold Miners, with Bob Davenport being credited for the final verse. The tune I use is a melody I came up with but it’s pretty faithful. The guitar-playing and the melody are heavily influenced by Dick Gaughan on this one and in particular his arrangement of ‘Glenlogie’.”
As I’ve previously said, Sam’s version has a touch of northern grit which, combined with some beautiful guitar fingerwork, makes for a great modern rendition that also has a raw authenticity that’s a delight to hear in an age where it can be hard to come by.
Staying up North, we have a great cover of Ed Pickford’s Ah Cud Hew by Jim Ghedi, taken from his most recent album In the Furrows Of Common Place (reviewed here). Jim told us:
“Ah Cud Hew is a song written by North East folk singer & songwriter Ed Pickford, a song from the narrative of an ex-miner suffering the effects of coal disease, a reflection of his working life, his family & the community he was connected to.
“I first heard Ed’s version of the song on a folk compilation given to me a few years back. I remember from the opening line it completely flawed me, I had it on repeat for days and couldn’t shake it off, mesmerised by Ed’s voice and his ability with song, to tell a story with such humanity and lyrical imagery.
“Around this time, I was doing research into the history of social injustice, the Miners’ strike and more specifically the ‘Battle of Orgreave’. Watching Yvette Vanson’s powerful documentary ‘The Battle for Orgreave’ and finding a huge resource over on the ‘Orgreave truth and justice campaign’ website (https://otjc.org.uk/). Somehow Ed’s song really hit a nerve and correlated with themes I was becoming drawn towards, the starting point of political discourse into the breaking down of communities, state and police brutality and a further control and privatisation over the working classes. But the beauty of Ed’s song is he displays this through the personal perspective and the individual’s narrative connecting the listener by the raw emotion of it.”
This month, Jim was involved in a new exhibition titled From the Estate, a collaborative project with photographer Laura Merrill that explores green spaces within four council & social estates in Sheffield. Jim created a soundtrack consisting of field recordings, archive recordings from singers in Sheffield and subtle ambient musical additions to create a sound piece for Laura’s photography. I wish I’d seen news of it earlier as it’s something I’m very passionate about, the exhibition is now over but you can read more about it here: https://www.s1artspace.org/programme/from-the-estate/
I also recommend you check out the work of Multistory, a community arts organisation based in West Bromwich in the borough of Sandwell who build meaningful connections between local communities and artists to produce creative projects that tell stories of everyday life. “We believe in the power of art to reflect the times we live in and tell stories to bring people together.” More here: https://multistory.org.uk/
I was chatting to Scottish singer and harper, composer, educator, director, big thinker Corrina Hewat the other week, after which, I dug out ‘The Sky Didn’t Fall’ a personal favourite from 2006 that she did with Kathryn Tickell. Brose: Brose and Butter/Bob and Joan/Drops of Brandy is as great now as it was when I first heard it.
According to the liner notes, the tune (Brose and Butter) was reputedly a favourite air of Charles II in his exile, which dates to around 1640 at the latest. It is well known on both sides of the Border, and in Northumberland is known as “The Peacock Followed the Hen”. The words are often attributed to Burns…there are several versions of what is usually a bawdy song but they keep it clean here. Bob and Joan was first published in 1740 while Drops of Brandy is another tune popular throughout Scotland, England, Northumberland and Ireland. Together with Brose and Butter, it was one of the original tunes to which the Scottish Lilt was danced.
Mis Mehefin is taken from Bendith‘s eponymous 2016 album, a project which saw Welsh bands Colorama and Plu join forces. At the time, Carwyn Ellis of Colorama said:
“I was so happy that Elan, Marged and Gwilym from Plu wanted to work with me on this project. I really like their music and their voices blend together perfectly.”
The songs are inspired by roots – the sense of place, family and home with most of the songs based on, and named after a particular area of Carmarthenshire that’s close to Carwyn’s heart. Many other instrumentalists appeared on the album including Georgia Ruth and Patrick Rimes.
Keeping in Wales, Llif is taken from Fernhill’s 2014 album Amser. At the time, band member Julie Murphy told us:
“The double album was recorded live over 3 days in January, with producer ( and musician ) Rob Harbron, in a beautiful old house on the Welsh / English border. It is an ecstatic musical exploration of love poetry, Welsh dance rhythm and the ballad form. We’re very proud of it.
“It features many new musical settings of poetry including Thomas Hardy’s exquisite ‘The self unseeing’, while the words of Welsh poet Vernon Watkins are woven into the title track, Amser, a collision of the Winter folk customs Wassail, Mari Lwyd, Calennig and the wren hunt.”
From another Featured Album of the Month, we have Ciderhouse Rebellion’s Genius Loci 1:White Peak. There are two tracks from the album here, the first, setting iv, is a poetry reading followed by the instrumental Rose, one of the more meditative pieces. In his review, Thomas Blake noted that the whole album hangs together like a story, perhaps due to its depiction of a kind of journey that is both physical and emotional. It’s a wonderful album and comes highly recommended.
The last track to cover is from Cavan folk singer Lisa O’Neill before we lead out on Nic Jones mentioned in the Honest Jon compilation above. ‘No Train to Cavan” is from Lisa’s 2013 album ‘Same Cloth or Not’. This became such a favourite I ended up getting a vinyl copy as well, and it’s a song that’s still widely requested at her gigs. It was an eventful album getting its launch at Whelans (Dublin) on followed by a tour of Ireland with Glen Hansard and then a UK tour with James Yorkston – we reviewed one of those nights here.
The album was recorded in a beautiful rented cottage in Wicklow in the winter months with David Kitt producing and Karl Oldum engineering and includes her band Stina Sandstrom (vocals) and Mossy Nolan (bouzouki) and some wonderful interventions from London-based string duo Geese (Emma Smith & Vincent Sipprell).
That’s all folks…