David Ian Roberts and Henry Parker are on tour in November (dates below). To mark the occasion they recently recorded a beautiful duet titled ‘Tumuli’, their first collaborative single, which you can hear below.
We invited them to put together a joint playlist which you can also hear below (available on Spotify and Apple Music).
Henry & David on their Tour
Henry: I have great memories of the last shows that myself and David played together, they were in that ultra-vivid period of time right before the pandemic struck. David came up North to play in Shipley and Hull, and I headed South to play in Pembroke Dock and Hereford. We’d never met in person before those gigs, but musically and personality-wise, we really struck it off.
The idea of playing together felt natural, and so I came to David with this jazz-influenced instrumental ‘Tumuli’, which I had composed for electric guitar, running through a bunch of effects pedals, but ended up being performed more naturally on two acoustic guitars with myself in standard tuning and David dropped down to a low C.
On this run of dates, I’ll be playing a bunch of songs from my album Lammas Fair which came out almost a year ago now, as well as older tunes from my debut Silent Spring and a few new compositions too. I like to draw songs from the traditional folk repertoire as well and blend that with my own psych-folk-influenced material; it’s all imbued with my own finger-style technique and hopefully creates an exciting live set.
David: My album that came out this year was recorded in 2019, but we postponed the release for various reasons. At the time, I was listening to lots of Steve Gunn and William Tyler, so I think their influence comes through on a couple of songs, as well as some Nick Drake, Elliott Smith and Pentangle. I was trying to see how much I could do with just the guitar, first and foremost, as the basis of the songs. A lot of it was in DADGAD tuning, which is quite neutral, so you’re able to go off in lots of different directions with it. I’m excited to perform those older songs again, & bring in some brand-new stuff on the tour.
Henry and I played a bunch of shows together pre-pandemic, but we’re looking forward to finding some time to improvise together before shows on this tour, and we thought why not try something remotely first? Henry wrote the original piece, and I figured out my acoustic part in CGCGCD tuning to go with it. It was a new way of working for me and something I’m keen to try more of.
You can hear a track from David’s new album In Clover (available here) in our latest show.
…an artist continually honing his craft.
Glenn Kimpton, Folk Radio
Guest Playlist
Listen to the beautiful guest playlist that David and Henry put together. You can read who picked which track below.
Henry’s picks
Song for Wilde – Mark Fry
City’s Cry – Shelagh Macdonald
Shiva with Dustpan – Ryley Walker
The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood – Nick Hart
Western Tidal Swell – Iona Lane
Improvisation 2 – Django Reinhardt
The Graveyard Song – Fuzzy Lights
The Oak Man – Woody Green
March Rain – Michael Chapman
The Edge of the Land – Katie Spencer
Here in the Dark – Aoife Nessa Frances
Sloth – Fairport Convention
David’s picks
Nature Driver – Steve Gunn
I’m Gonna Live Forever (If it Kills Me) – William Tyler
Low Flyin Bird – Cass McCombs
Saviour Complex – Phoebe Bridgers
Under The Night – Bedouine
Dandelions – Kurt Vile
Fortune – Laura Marling
No Name No.5 – Elliott Smith
South Africa – Roy Harper
Morning Theft – Jeff Buckley
A Coat Of Butterflies – Kevin Morby
Late Jim’s Lament – James Elkington
TOUR DATES
Tickets here: https://henryparkermusic.co.uk/
3/11 – Rhiwbina Beans – Cardiff
5/11 – The Harrison – London
6/11 – The Globe – Hay-on-Wye
10/11 – Bloomfield Square – Otley
11/11 Bishop’s House – Sheffield
12/11 Claypath Deli – Durham
13/11 The Engine Room – North Shields
Links
