As well as a bundle of new and forthcoming releases, this week’s Folk Show rewinds the clock for a few numbers. A number of those tracks aren’t available digitally, so the vinyl was fetched out for the likes of Peter Bond who opens the show with The Baron and the Busker from his 1977 debut album “It’s All Right For Some”. It’s a song that focuses on poverty [as do several songs in this week’s show) and how people shut their eyes to its existence…some things never change. He says that the last verse is about his “grandfather, whose love of walking was owed to trekking about looking for work during the depression, something I didn’t realise to well after his death”.
There are also a couple of tracks from Pete & Chris Coe‘s 1976 album Out of Season Out of Rhyme. I only recently acquired a copy of the album, which has been on the turntable a lot over the past week. Pete and Chris play a wide assortment of instruments, including guitar, bouzouki, dulcimer, melodeon, duet concertina and percussion. It also features quite an extensive list of guests, including Dave Burland (also featured in the playlist) and Tony Rose. Janet Kerr is credited with banjo – Janet seemed to do a lot of the photography and sleeve designs for quite a few of the Trailer album’s I’ve acquired around this time, while label owner Bill Leader is also credited with the triangle alongside Helen Leader for “teapot”. Young Benjie is a supernatural ballad that they first heard sung by Mike Bramich from the Old Crown folk club in Birmingham. The final track, Welcome Cold November, was written by Pete and Chris and related to Peter’s home town of Northwich in mid-Cheshire.
Dave Burland‘s self-titled 1972 album is his second, the first, A Dalesman’s Litany, was released the previous year. Captain Ward and the Rainbow is a “ballad concerning Captain Ward’s efforts to join the King’s Navy, when refused, he exacts vengeance. The King’s ship in the song is called “The Reindeer”. From Gavin Grieg’s Last Leaves of Aberdeen Ballads and Ballad Airs.”
We leap to 1993 and 1995 for a double helping from a Doc Martin-wearing young Eliza Carthy and Nancy Kerr, both albums (Eliza Carthy & Nancy Kerr/Shape of Scrape) were released on Mrs Casey Records. On I Know My Love, they Eliza thanks “Ivy Poole and my mum for this. Ivy learned it from the McPeakes of Belfast.” An Old Man Came Courting is “from the singing of Jeanie Robertson, possibly the greatest singer in the British Isles.”
The track from Dick Gaughan featured on True and Bold – Songs of the Scottish Miners (1986) and was released by the Scottish Trade Union Congress. In the liner notes written by Alex Clark, the Arts Officer of the STUC, he says: “DIck has produced some fine records, but none better than this one and the reason is not hard to seek. His heart and his mind, his whole being, was given to produce this disc, for it follows from his relentless uncompromising work for, and in support of, the miners throughout 1984-85…”
Moving onto new and forthcoming releases, we have the new single from Bristol-based French folk singer Julie Abbé. Her latest single, “Derrière Chez Nous”, which we premiered earlier this week, is a deeply romantic new take on a French folk classic, enriched with 3-part harmonies, Amy Cox’s warm cello and exquisite guitar solo by Nick Rasle (from the band Me and My Friends).
Julie is followed by Dom Prag and one of two tracks from his new album Needle & Thread. Foster’s Mill (also featuring Rowan Piggott and Rosie Hodgson on vocals) is based on an 1812 Luddite riot that descended on Foster’s textile mill near Wakefield to destroy the shearing equipment that had replaced the workers.
The Brisk Lad is a poaching song from the early 1800’s sometimes called The Sheepstealer or Dorset Sheepstealing Song. As Dom says in his liner notes: “Far from evoking the bravado of a fearless poacher, the song describes a desperate, poverty-striken man trying to feed his family, bringing to mind the enclosure acts of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries”.
Stephen Cracknell’s The Memory Band returns with a welcome new album titled Colours which features musical contributions from longstanding members Liza Bec, Helene Bradley, Olie Brice, Hannah Caughlin, Tom Page, Fred Thomas and Nancy Wallace. There are also contributions from Dee Byrne, Alex Bonney and Howard Cottle with horn improvisations, Sam Ewens on trumpets and flugelhorn. And John Andrews, Liam Bailey and Lisa Knapp make spoken word contributions. The album is available now via Bandcamp: https://thememoryband.bandcamp.com/. I couldn’t resist sharing The Trees They Do Grow High as I’m a complete sucker for Nancy Wallace’s gorgeous vocals.
The McDades have taken the title of their new album ‘The Empress’ from the tarot card of the same name that represents the richness of the subconscious, the germination of new ideas and who inspires strong bursts of creative and artistic energy. On Willie Reilly, they put that to the test.
The following Grain Thief track Sarah Armstrong’s Paddy on the Turnpike keeps that same creative energy flowing through the old-time fiddle – a track taken from their new album of fiddle tunes Something Sour, Something Sweet.
Glasgow based singer/songwriter Robin Adams‘s new album is a completely unexpected detour, but what a beautiful one it is as he shifts away from his usual more serene offerings with Wrong Road Home (due for release on Holy Smokes Records DECEMBER 2021). He draws inspiration from some of his favourite songwriters, channelling “his American songwriting heroes from the story telling of Hank Williams to the eerie atmospheres of Michael Hurley” and featuring a number of special guests, including Kacy and Clayton.
We also have new music from Liverpool-based Danny Bradley, who is more often found in the liner notes of other artists. On his solo debut Small Talk Songs (out 22 Nov), he finally gets the opportunity to showcase his beautiful finger-style guitar playing and a voice to match. For a debut album, this has incredibly strong notes of originality that will resonate with many.
Unseen Course is the new album from Cologne-based Stereo Naked, set for release at the end of this month. The band features Julia Zech (Fierce Flowers) and partner Pierce Black, backed by a full band that delivers a heady and delightfully vibrant sound. This infectious release is sure to gather a full head of steam ahead of their planned UK tour dates in October 2022.
And finally, Helen Cherry, Anna Cornish, Eleanor Dale and Daisy Johnson return as The Norfolk Broads on Yonder Green Grove with their tales of ‘leafous love, loss, mischief and folk justice’ (order it here).
Music Played
Peter Bond – The Baron and the Busker (It’s All Right for Some)
Eliza Carthy & Nancy Kerr – An Old Man Came Courting (Eliza Carthy & Nancy Kerr)
Julie Abbé – Derrière Chez Nous (new single)
Dom Prag – Foster’s Mill (Needle & Thread)
Dave Burland – Captain Ward and the Rainbow (Dave Burland)
Pete & Chris Coe – Young Benjie (Out of Season Out of Rhyme)
The Memory Band – The Trees They Do Grow High (Colours)
Eliza Carthy & Nancy Kerr – I Know My Love (Shape of Scrape)
The McDades – Willie Reilly (The Empress)
Grain Thief – Sarah Armstrong’s Paddy on the Turnpike (Something Sour, Something Sweet)
Stereo Naked – There We Go (Unseen Course)
Robin Adams – Deep Down (Wrong Road Home)
Danny Bradley – All Over The Floor (Small Talk Songs)
Dom Prag – The Brisk Lad (Needle & Thread)
The Norfolk Broads – Slieve Gallon Braes (Yonder Green Grove)
Dick Gaughan – Drunk Rent Collector (True and Bold)
Pete & Chris Coe – Welcome Cold November (Out of Season Out of Rhyme)
Photo Credit: Fortepan / Kriss Géza