John Kirkpatrick
Joy & Jubilation
Fledg’ling Records (FLED 3112)
2023
In 2006, John Kirkpatrick released his first collection of seasonal music, Carolling and Crumpets. It reflected his regular Christmas and Midwinter shows, filled with traditional carols and self-penned wintery songs. Featuring just his voice and squeezebox, it was full of tinsel-y joy.
Seventeen years later, Joy & Jubilation repeats the trick. The difference this time is that Kirkpatrick’s voice is not wholly solo. This time, he’s joined by South Shropshire’ Castle Carols’, who add delightful harmonies to half of this beautiful end-of-year treat. The Castle Carollers create a lovely base within which Kirkpatrick’s honest and earthy voice can sit.
Two tracks on Joy & Jubilation were initially commissioned by Folkworks for their Wassail! tour in the 1990s. The first is Stir the Fire, a Pagan spell to summon the sun back in the gloomiest part of the year. It’s the only track on the album that is purely vocal, Kirkpatrick and the Castle Carollers combining to lift the spirits, stoke the fires and warm hearts. To say that it helps to establish the mood would be an understatement – it’s full of joy, a no-frills, open-hearted celebration of the coldest season. The second from that original commission is Chariots, the final track on the album, and what a celebration of joy and jubilation it is. Kirkpatrick and his carollers weave together with such exuberance. Complex vocal patterns and the ever-present squeezebox usher in an overwhelming sense of Christmas exhilaration.
The first of the more traditional tracks is Cornish favourite, Our Jolly Wassail. Versions of this folk song have echoed through the pubs and the streets all over Cornwall, from Truro to Bodmin, but rarely can it have been accompanied by a squeezebox played with such fluidity, such virtuosity. It stands in almost total contrast to Kirkpatrick’s voice; the squeezebox is clever and nuanced, whereas the voice is simple and straightforward.
One of the more esoteric English folk traditions connected to Midwinter is that of sword dancing, so it is fitting that one of the outstanding tracks on the album is The Handling of Your Sword, written by Kirkpatrick and featuring his son, Benji (Faustus, Bellowhead, Steeleye Span), on mandolin, guitar and backing vocals it has an epic quality to it. Traditionally, sword dances feature a call-on song that welcomes each dancer to the stage. In the hands of the Kirkpatricks, the heroes called to the stage are contemporary, relevant, and deserving. There is something timeless here, a pitch-perfect song that could easily have come from a time of swords and sorcery, of ancient Christmas traditions. Sitting rather beautifully next to this feast of heroism is Papa Stour Sword Dance Tune, the only instrumental tune on Joy & Jubilation. A frantic triple hornpipe, it’s an absolute toe-tapper that just ladles a little more joy onto proceedings.
Another set of songs that juxtapose delightfully are The Trees Are All Bare and The Ivy and The Holly. The Trees… is a street ballad that appeared under various names from the 1750s onwards, and many have sung versions over the years, notably the Copper Family. The Castle Carollers, once again, cast a bit of New Year magic over the whole thing, wishing peace and plenty. The Ivy and The Holly is a Kirkpatrick original, first penned for a theatrical take on Boudicca’s story called For A Dark Queen; this is a newly revised version. It has a shimmering darkness, the choral call and response adding twinkles of light.
Of all the traditional songs on Joy And Jubilation, it is, perhaps, Emmanuel that is the most affecting. The tune is the traditional one, but Kirkpatrick has slightly altered the Rev J M Neale’s slightly obscure words (who translated it into English from the Thirteenth Century Latin) to allow something more fun, less scholarly. Rest assured, it is still one of the greatest carols in the canon; it’s just that it is now very singable. Kirkpatrick says, “If there’s a chance to sing, I’ll take it, if there’s a chance to sing with other people, even better”. In his treatment of Emmanuel, he gives everyone the chance to sing together – it’s hard to imagine a better Christmas gift than that.
The two songs that follow fit most beautifully together on this album. The Joys of Mary is as traditional as they come; it’s religious, wordy, earnest and counts the ways in which we should venerate the Virgin. Whilst this song can be found across Europe and the Americas, this version is based upon the one that Eliza Jane Duddridge sang to Cecil Sharp in Somerset in 1908. Kirkpatrick’s companion piece, The Joys of Joseph, is a more jolly affair. Kirkpatrick’s voice is strong and reflects his song’s “everyman” message.
John Kirkpatrick has played with everyone, was part of some of the most important bands keeping the folk flame alive in the 70s and 80s, has won countless awards and was awarded an MBE in 2021. This Christmas album is a culmination of the Joy & Jubilation that he has given over 50 years—a Midwinter treat.
Order Joy & Jubilation here: https://fledglingrecords.co.uk/product/john-kirkpatrick-joy-jubilation-fled-3112/