Jon Wilks – Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost

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The multi-talented Jon Wilks returns with his fourth solo album, the rather glorious Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost. It’s a different tack Wilks explores here from his previous releases, though, stepping away from his curation of Birmingham folk songs and with more of a focus on traditional tracks alongside a few self-penned tunes too.

At the heart of the album is friendship, and among the collaborators, both past and present, are Jackie Oates, Lukas Drinkwater, Tom Gregory, and Wilks’ regular keyboard player Jon Nice. The memory of Wilks’ old friend Paul Sartin is especially felt, particularly so in two key tracks.

‘Erin, Sad, Erin’, featuring the violin of Akito Goto, is a particularly lovely track. Back in October 2022, we sadly lost the irreplaceable Paul Sartin. This track had originally come about via a request from Sartin for Wilks to take part in a concert for refugee aid earlier that July. It’s a beautiful, effective arrangement of the traditional song, layered with yearning and an added poignancy in Wilks having lost his good friend.

‘Haymaking Song’ is also inspired by Sartin, having been a song that they played together regularly. It’s a sweet and fun song, and easy to see its appeal for both. As a tribute, Jackie Oates joins Wilks playing the fiddle to his memory of Sartin’s part. It’s a lovely little song celebrating spring, new blooms, and the beginnings of youthful romance:

‘Twas was in the merry month of May

In the springtime of the year

When down in yonders meadow

There runs a river clear

To see those little fishes

How they do sport and play

Calling many a lad and many a lass

All there to making hay

Wilks and Oates collaborate in a sweet harmony prompting lovely memories of Sartin and his joy in folk song.

The majority of the songs on the album are traditional and sourced from Roud, but there are a few self-penned songs and a nifty cover too. Wilks has a real talent for refreshing traditional songs, but his talent as a songwriter is also considerable. Here he contributes two songs, opener ‘Tape Machine’ and ‘Greek Street’.

‘Tape Machine’ presents a short biography of Wilks’ emergence as a writer. It’s a fine opener to what proves to be a beautifully affective album. ‘Greek Street’ provides the album with its title too, in a tale that tells of a Soho morning.

And I would recommend
And I’d write it in a song
A night that ends on Greek Street
To anybody young

Sings Wilks’ in a narrative that explores an early love affair. It’s a sweet, uncomplicated song, beautifully and sensitively delivered by Wilks, Drinkwater, Nice, and Oates. Both songs present a refreshing openness, and fragility, in the first-person’s narrative, which is characterised in Wilks’ sublime song-writing. There is an honesty and compassion in Wilks’s writing and performance, which is entirely charming.

There is a rather imaginative cover too, of a track from John Spiers and Jackie Oates – ‘Gallons of Brandy / Fox Tell’ is a bouncy instrumental with a childlike nature but a complexity that belies its playfulness. It also features the mysterious Knees Thompson, who is surely a new star in the making (just ask Wilks for Thompson’s bio!)

‘The Fowler’, also featuring Oates alongside the double bass of Lukas Drinkwater, is a more boisterous track. Some may recognise the song by its alternative title, ‘Polly Vaughan’, and Wilks’ enjoyment of the song is tangibly clear, with a lovely sweeping melody. As Wilks states, it is a treat to sing, but it is also an equally enjoyable treat to listen to in the capable voice of the man himself.

‘Johnny Sands’ is a particular stand-out track featuring a chorus by the legend that is Martin Carthy. It’s a raucous, unapologetic and full-bodied song of a battle between Sands and his wife Betty Hague, rich with a clapping rhythm and arch viola from Oates, all accompanied by Wilks’s guitar. Add in a fun singalong chorus provided by Carthy, and it is impossible to resist.

Of the other tracks, ‘Will Watch’ is a sweeping broadside, almost orchestral track with a rousing rhythm which demands the listener to join in. ‘Lofty Tall Ship’ is a softer, more reflective sea song with a quiet, reflective intimacy. Following the sea theme is ‘The Boatswain’, another boisterous broadside. ‘The Old Miner’ is splendid too, a traditional track layered with a more contemporary vibe. Wilks admits its sound came about as a result of listening to traditional folk and Massive Attack at the same time, and it works absurdly well.

Closer, ‘Banjo Therapy’, which originated through the kindness of fellow musician Martin Simpson’s gift of an instrument to Wilks to help him recover from a serious illness, is a joyous touch of bluegrass and folk. It provides a superbly hopeful and joyous closure to what is an inventive, playful, and thoroughly alluring listen. Wilks also proves himself to be a rather fine banjo player.

With Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost, Wilks proves once again what a stand-out talent he really is. Wilks’s love of traditional song is evident; he knows his stuff and is always open to experimenting, but there is also a sensitivity here and a quiet innovation, which effortlessly woos the listener. Add in Wilks’s fine, warm voice and his genuine talent as a guitarist, and you have a captivating combination. Wilks is a rather special performer with an authentic and abiding love of traditional song. His enthusiasm for its history, and sheer joy at new discoveries, is palpably irresistible. Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost is an album of celebration, a record about recovery and hope, and the history and legacy of folk traditions. At its soul is the love of song, of collaborating with friends, and of discovering old tunes and creating new ones. Above all, it is a bloody good listen.

Pre-Order ‘Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost‘ via Bandcamp: https://jonwilks.bandcamp.com/album/before-i-knew-what-had-begun-i-had-already-lost