British Folk (and Revival)

FWIW - a few of my favorite original British folkies:
Shiley & Dolly Collins
John Kirkpatrick (early 70s stuff is great)
The Watersons
Andy Irvine & Paul Brady
A L Lloyd
Nic Jones (criminally unsung!?)
...and many more...

- Espers
- the return of Vashti Bunyan

I would recommend these records as a way of getting into folk, or just for any reason whatsoever bcz they're fucking amazing:

Fairport Convention - Liege and Lief (Tam Lyn is amybe my favourite song ever.)
Steeleye Span - The Lark in the Morning (a two CD comp. of their first 3 LPs which is all you need by them - includes a transcendent version of When I Was on Horeseback. These LPs are also a big fave with Simon Reynolds)
Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band - No Roses (the only folk album to feature someone to have played on a damned LP)

They should all be able to be found cheaply.

Alasdair Roberts - Farewell Sorrow is an excellent modern LP and on Drag City/Rough Trade so easy to find for indie kids.

The show might've been talking about Spiers and Boden or Eliza Carthy, who're more part of folk music 'proper' or anyone though, so this may be of no help.

If anyone can point me toward good books on this subject I'd be very happy.

"English-rose front-man, Moray, laces the lyrics of folklore with powerful Matrix-styled guitars, film-score piano and a backing band which grinds together electric double bass and thundering drums. His presence on stage is something to behold. He looks scruffy on his website but he's beautiful in person.

Don't confuse this fresh indie approach with the folk rock of Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span, but rather be surprised to sense impressions of Ben Folds greets Depeche Mode greets Evanescence. It's all here, whichever musical genre ticks your box, Moray can offer it up without confusion or the awkwardness of musical experimentations. He even played the piano with his arms crossed at one point."

Re: Jim Moray - I suppose the artists that provoke the strongest reactions are the most interesting... I like the idea that folk can be moved in new and strange directions, but what I've heard of Jim's music does nothing for me - the beats and sounds seemed a little clichéd and it all felt a bit MOR to me, I'm afraid. Shame, because I'd really like to like him! :(

I don't know how helpful it will be to the original poster, but http://www.theunbrokencircle.co.uk/ might turn up some interesting stuff, although it's more concerned with psychedelic, odd and abstract folky stuff (oldies like Incredible String Band, Comus, Forest and new stuff like the 'New Weird America' thing).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0747553300/qid=1134640482/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/026-1867087-2774036

... and this is significant in what way exactly?

The Eighteenth Day of May come closer than anyone else I've heard to that late 60s / early 70s British folk-rock sound. They're good.

Lucky Luke (from Glasgow) are great, though... go see them live and/or anticipate the next record.

Okay, so we're talking about folk rock here right,rather than straight-up trad folk, which can hot and heavy enough in its own addled way? I would love it if I could stumble on some decent bands that were ploughing the same sort of furrow as peak-era Fairport or Trees or whatever and that didn't suck outright. I know it's sort of backwards looking of me, but there's a certain clanging and organic feel and texture and god damn guitar sound that I never really feel I can hear enough of. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. All I can think of right now that fit the bill in any way are Ghost and Acid Mothers Temple ca. La Novia. Certainly no British bands that I've come across.

X-posts: I don't mind Espers, but they seem rather too gentle for me. Lucky Luke I've heard of, but am yet to hear.

this is the place to go: http://www.thegreenmanfestival.co.uk/

for all your brit-folk needs!

also worth looking out for, a new compilation called Strange Folk, with tracks from the aforementioned Vashti, Tyranosaurus Rex, Donovan, Espers, Incredible String Band, Lucky Luke (iirc) and loads of other ace people I can't remember cos i left it at home.

-- We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (dadaismu...), December 15th, 2005 9:56 AM. (Dada) (later)

I just thought it was ILM law to mention Reynolds whenever possible.

I wish there were more songs like Tam Lyn by Fairport, i.e funky Black Sabbath. Swedish doom band Witchcraft get there sometimes.

most of the the wyrd-folk stuff is only surface level weird. The second Steeleye recording of The Blacksmith is so much more bizarre than any of them, and that isn't even what it's trtying to do - what an amazing arrangement it has. Modern wyrd-folk types too much like Colin Hunt types... "You do have to be mad to work here but it doesn't help" etc.

You're right

The message I'm getting from this thread is that newer musicans aren't up to the standard of older musicians in folk music? Obviously ppl like mattacks, dransfield, guys from gryphon, thompson etc are hard to follow (evidence on eg Fairport's ROCKING live album "House Full") but I had kind of thought folk would be a genre where powerful/expressive musicianship/group playing would still be at some sort of premium. Dissapointing if not so.

Anyway, "No Roses" by Shirley Collins/Albion band is fucking great, and should get more props, basically.

AFAIK the terrible term wyrd-folk was coined by Stone Breath's Tim Renner.

But, before I begin to sound like a prog rocker, you don't have to be a brilliant musician to play folk music - in fact, one of the reasons I got sick of that whole scene was its muso-ishness (especially, fiddle players who only want to play as fast and as twiddly as possible!). To play like Fairport you have to be pretty good tho of course!

Morris On I like, other Albions stuff I'm not mad on, really. Perhaps the drums are why? I haven't listened to any for a while.

That's a good record that is. 'Lay Me Low' or whatever it's called just kills me. Totally tramples over any sort of aesthetic barriers I might have erected against that sort of soppy twaddle and stomps all over my jaded old heart. Sniffle.

Didn't really know there was any "revival" of British folk right now in terms of new bands playing it. I knew there was a revival of interest in the last few years, otherwise I wouldn't really know who Fairport Convention was, honestly.

I've often thought that 60s British folk revivalists treated folk music with much more respect and subtlty than their American counterparts did (who went for "simplicity" and "rawness"). This might also explain why I find Brit bands better at playing blues than their white American counterparts.

search: Shirley and Dolly Collins "Plains of Waterloo."

and sweet heavens, some forty posts in let me be the first to say the hallowed name of Davy Graham.

Have you seen them? Because they fucking do. Or did when they opened for Devendra in Edinburgh. But crap.

Espers draws far more influence from Pentangle and Bread, Love and Dreams.

Sorry. But you drew a very poor comparison.

I rewatched Olivier Assayas's Something in the Air last night and really took notice of Amazing Blondel's "Fantasia Lindum" (1971). Afterwards, was able to order it and another of their albums as a twofer CD.

from Post-Fahey etc. Pt 2 thread:
Just listened to John Rebourn's The Attic Tapes, out Oct. 16. They go back at least to '62---he died before getting all the dates, but his commentary is really fluent, analyzing some of the songs, without getting pedantic, and talking about how several of them came together, incl. ones whose (probable) sources were unguessed way back when he learned 'em: who knew "Can't Keep From Cryin'" was a Blind Willie, and it's one of several familiar titles who sound really different from any version I knew.
He also talks about finding traces of the UK songster Davey Graham in various cities, ideas that lodged in the heads of musos who may well have had no reel-to-reels, or anyway didn't need one to summon the bits that JR puts together here. Mind you, he does give Graham the writer's credit for the opening tightly loose bedsit version of "Anji"(that's from the box marked "1962").
Most are like that, as he says up front, with no thought they'd ever be heard---apprentice JR, but he's already got it, and the audio's a lot better than I expected: just whoosh on the hemp carpet, and You Are There. Ditto the live tracks, where you can tell he knew somebody was listening.
He's an okay-to-good singer, maybe more the former, but we also get a couple of nice jolts from Beverly Martyn, on young Donovan's Jansch-y "Picking Up The Sunshine." JR mentions her being on the cover of a Jansch LP...need to check out more of her stuff; I only know her from the album with hubbie John. She's even better on a tight blues. Though actually most of this is pretty concise--20 tracks in 60'48"---with no lack of atmosphere.
Also a couple guest shots from the Hurdy Gurdy Man, Mac Macleod (vocals and guitar only), and the grand finale teams JR with Graham himself, on "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out": jazzy-bluesy, duh, and rawther magical. What other Graham should I check out?
Oh yeah, audio and more info here:
http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/TUG1089/
PS: speaking of Jansch, this also has an intriguing solo Renbourn version of "Courtship Blues," which Renbourn says is Jansch's first song--they hadn't met then, and the writer hadn't recorded it yet, but Renbourn heard it when Tom Paley came down from Edinburgh.
Wantin those Graham tips yall.

― dow, Tuesday, September 8, 2015 6:11 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

lots of davy graham releases i've yet to hear but...

the comp that came out on see for miles is a great place to start, picks and chooses from most of his decca albums. not sure if this has been superseded by a more recent collection or not.

favourite dg lp of mine: large as life & twice as natural. stretched out folk blues jazz raga (love the joni both sides now cover that kicks it off), cd reissue has good notes from john renbourn himself.

& if you don't want to hear him sing (i like his voice personally) the collaboration with shirley collins is a+

― no lime tangier, Tuesday, September 8, 2015

This was mostly good too:
Artist: John Renbourn & Wizz Jones
Title: Joint Control
Catalogue No: TUGCD1095
Barcode: 605633009521
Label: Riverboat Records
Release date: 9 September 2016

Wizz is among a host of performers appearing at a special John Renbourn Tribute concert on Thursday 22 September at Cecil Sharp House, London.

Riverboat Records is delighted and proud to be releasing Joint Control whose 13 songs wonderfully embody the fruits of that friendship, capturing the two great artists and consummate guitarists performing together live and in the studio. The album is all the more poignant because it represents the final recordings by John Renbourn, the final tracks made just days before his death on 26 March 2015 from a heart attack at his home in Hawick in the Scottish borders.

At the time of John’s death, Joint Control was almost entirely finished. The pair had been working together since the start of the year in a small studio, about an hour from John’s Hawick home. Alongside the sheer artistry of their playing you can’t but escape the warmth of the camaraderie permeating these performances. Most of the songs are drawn from a repertoire honed through their touring together since 2012; the only original composition, Wizz’s instrumental ‘Balham Moon’, was recorded at the insistence of John, who also gave it a title.

Of course, many of the songs date back to that extraordinary period of the 1960s when Wizz and John first met, reflecting the ideas and techniques that were shared by all the young British pickers and the influences which neither Wizz nor John would have hesitated to acknowledge - Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Josh White and Davy Graham.

The version of ‘Glory Of Love’ here is one of two performances taken from a brace of Edinburgh shows in 2014; it was learnt via a version performed by Big Bill Broonzy rather than the million-selling hit by The Five Keys. Broonzy’s ‘Hey Hey’ also fittingly opens Joint Control. The other song taped at these shows, ‘Great Dream from Heaven’, is from the repertoire of Bahaman gospel singer Joseph Spence. John was a great admirer of Spence’s work but the song was also a staple of Davy Graham’s set. “It was through Davy that we knew it,” recalled Wizz to Peter Paphides whose fine notes grace this collection. “We didn’t know much more about it than that, but then John researched it and went back to the roots of it a bit more.”

Joint Control is fundamentally steeped in the history of British folk music in the 1960s with many songs by Wizz and John’s contemporaries such as Al Jones and Archie Fisher. Another on the scene was Jackson C. Frank who first arrived in London in 1965; his most famous song, ‘Blues Run The Game’, was one Wizz had never got round to recording. It was only in more recent years that he started to play it, albeit it from Bert Jansch’s version.

Bert Jansch himself is appropriately represented on this album by no less than three performances each one bearing the hallmarks of his unique technique and great songwriting. The unreleased instrumental ‘Joint Control’ is an early example of the reflective, intricate filigree work that would dramatically bear fruit on 1966’s Bert & John album. It was actually recorded for Jansch’s It Don’t Bother Me the previous year but inexplicably left off the final selection. Masterfully interpreted here by John with Wizz, it makes it’s presence here all the more special and significant.

The anthemic ‘Strolling Down The Highway’ first appeared on Jansch’s debut which in the hands of Wizz and John - as eloquently described by Peter Paphides: “now sounds like a careworn validation of the bohemian aspirations parlayed by Bert and all the contemporaries for whom the guitar represented an escape route from the expectations of their forebears.” The other Jansch song, ‘Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning’, from his LA Turnaround album, always provided one of the most moving moments in Wizz and John’s shows together; Wizz would usually look skywards at the song’s close. In the wake of John’s death, this recorded version becomes even more heartfelt and moving.

As much as Joint Control is steeped in the celebrated history that its two participants shared, these genuinely historic recordings also sound utterly fresh and contemporary. John and Wizz had only rarely appeared on record together in the past. John produced (and played a little) on Wizz’s 1972 album Right Now, as well as on 2011’s Lucky The Man so we can be particularly thankful that these recordings were made. As Peter Paphides concludes: “Joint Control is a fitting testament to two musicians who never forgot the spirit of joy and exploration which made them pick up their instruments in the first place; two fires of more than fifty years standing. We’re very fortunate that they managed to capture it in time.”

should be tracks from this and The Attic Tapes here:
https://soundcloud.com/world-music-network/

― dow, Monday, July 4, 2016 5:18 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Re "Glory of Love," John Martyn used to do a good extended version of it also.

― dow, Monday, July 4, 2016

Oh, here's what I said about it later:
Listening to that John Renbourn & Wizz Jones set, Joint Control, which I posted info about recently. Somehow not yet into the opening and closing instrumentals---though appreciating the latter's it-ain't-over-yet diligent picking-as-digging as an end---but the one in the middle, Jones's "Balham Moon," is pretty cool, and the singing x playing of the others also bring several cycling shades of blues-as-a-feeling vs. purism, even in the Renaissance Faire come-on, "Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning," JR's notes got thee pangs. Mostly, though, it's closer to the relatively expected sort of UK and American rare birds, "Buckets of Rain" aside. Distinct approaches, but very cohesive (think Renbourn plays most of the solos).

― dow, Tuesday, July 12, 2016

And this:

Listened to this---circle of friends on the living room carpet, late night but not too laid back---agreeable vocals, lyrics add roadmarks, guitars keep it moving through my attention (same label that put out those aforementioned posthumous Renbourns, the most recent a live set w Wizz):

JONES, BERRYMAN & JONES
Come What May
Artist: Wizz Jones, Pete Berryman &
Simeon Jones
Title: Come What May
Catalogue No: TUGCD1102
Barcode: 605633010220
Label: Riverboat Records
Release date: 26 May 2017
RIVERBOAT RECORDS PRESS RELEASE
Fellow acoustic guitar innovators and long-time friends Wizz Jones and Pete Berryman have
unmistakable styles that beautifully complement each other. With textured accompaniment
by Simeon Jones on saxophone, harmonica and flute this is an album of great song writing and
seamless musicianship.
Inspired by hearing Big Bill Broonzy and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Wizz Jones learnt his guitar licks from
the likes of Davy Graham and Long John Baldry whilst playing in the coffee bars of London’s Soho
in the late 1950s. He then followed the time-honoured buskers trail from the streets of Paris to the
markets of Marrakech during the early 1960s and returned to Britain with a unique acoustic guitar
style, an eclectic repertoire and a right hand worthy of Broonzy! Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and John
Renbourn have all named him as an important early influence and in May 2012 Bruce Springsteen
opened his Berlin show with Wizz’s song ‘When I Leave Berlin’.
Back in 1960 a be-suited reporter Alan Whicker had filmed a piece for the BBC’s ‘Tonight’ programme
reporting on the ‘beatnik menace’ in Newquay, Cornwall. It included two musical offerings from Wizz,
one of them a song in the style of Woody Guthrie called ‘Hard Times In Newquay’ (if you’ve got long
hair!). The youthful Wizz explained to Alan ‘All I’m interested in is playing the guitar and travelling.’
Unfortunately for the local councillors who spoke about how they were trying to expel the beatniks,
the latter had already had a profound effect on the local youth in the shape of Pete Berryman; Pete’s
first experience of live acoustic guitar was seeing the very same Wizz Jones, barefoot and busking on
the beach in Newquay.
Pete Berryman arrived on the music scene in the 1960s with the Famous Jug Band which also
featured Clive Palmer of the Incredible String Band. At this time, he also recorded with Ralph McTell,
Al Stewart and in 1971 his influential LP with John James,
Sky In My Pie, was released.
Simeon Jones often travelled with father Wizz during the 1960s and 1970s to Cornwall in a variety of
jalopy VW buses and Citroens as well as to numerous festivals in the UK and Europe. Avoiding the
guitar (perhaps sensibly!) he developed into a superb sax, harmonica and flute player and has been
playing since the 1980s a wide variety of music in sessions and on tours with countless blues bands.
The music on this album results from three musicians who have nothing to prove, getting together
for a few days and playing assuredly on a few songs and tunes they all love. There are original songs
from both Pete and Wizz along with Bert Jansch’s ‘Moonshine’ and Fran Landesman’s wonderful
‘Ballad Of The Sad Young Men’.
Wizz’s song ‘Alone In My Car’ perhaps sums up the overall mood; driving through the night, heading
for Cornwall, looking forward to playing some music with Pete and other friends. ‘Playing the guitar
and travelling’ – still doing it after all these years. Long may it continue - come what may!
For more information, visit www.worldmusic.net

― dow, Monday, May 1, 2017 5:08 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

booklet:

01 YOU’RE BLASÉ
(Hamilton/Sievier) pub Chappell Music Ltd
A song composed in 1933 and featured in a
stage musical called ‘Bow Bells’. Hearing this
on a cassette transcription from an old 78
rpm disc played and sung at the piano by that
old rascal Leslie ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson reminded
me of musical evenings when as a child at
home in Croydon, listening to the BBC, the
wind-up gramophone and my mother jauntily
playing the piano during the dark winters of
the 1940s.
02 SEE HOW THE TIME IS FLYING
(Tunbridge) Copyright Control
I make no excuses for revisiting this beautiful
Alan Tunbridge song yet again. There must be
so many generations who’ve yet to hear it!
03 POACHER’S MOON
(Jones) pub Year Zero Music
One cold night in November somewhere in
Germany back in the 1970s I was carousing
with the double bass master Danny Thompson.
‘That’s called a “Poacher’s Moon”, Wizz,’ he
said looking up at the Harvest Moon which
was briefly visible between the clouds. I
misunderstood and thought that a ‘Poacher’s
Moon’ meant a dark night with no moon,
hence the lyrics in my song. He then went
on to wax lyrical on his wild times on tour
with the guitarist John Martyn - up to their
waist in freezing water at midnight, fishing
in the Scottish Highlands. I just had to write
something to keep that vision in my mind!
04 A RED PAPER ROSE
(Berryman) Copyright Control
Pete’s imagining the story from another side.
05 BEWARE OF CHARMING FRIENDS
(Jones) pub Year Zero Music
I guess sometimes my songs get too personal!
06 THE BALLAD OF THE SAD YOUNG MEN
(Landesman/Wolf) Copyright Control
Davy Graham, a great inspiration to all
acoustic guitarists in the 1960s, recorded this
Fran Landesman poem on his second album
and I’ve always wanted to sing it.
07 ANOTHER CHRISTMAS WITH YOU
(Jones) pub Year Zero Music
Not to be taken too seriously. A blues riff that
came out of one of my favourite guitar tunings
– EADEBE.
08 COME WHAT MAY
(Berryman) Copyright Control
Pete’s letter to his daughter
09 MOONSHINE
(Jansch) pub Leola Music Ltd
It was the great Bert Jansch who presented
a nine-year-old Simeon with an old wooden
flute, thus starting him off on a never ending
musical journey. When I heard Simeon’s son
Alfie playing Bert’s song, naturally I persuaded
him to come into the studio to play on this
track.
10 SEA SONG
(Berryman) Copyright Control
Some maritime musings from Pete.
11 ALONE IN MY CAR
(Jones) pub Year Zero Music
Heading for my beloved Cornwall for the
thousandth time.
BONUS TRACKS:
12 THE KING OF ROME (BONUS TRACK)
(Sudbury) pub Cloud Valley Music
13 THE NEW MOON’S ARMS (BONUS TRACK)
(Lowe/Sanders) pub Lowe Life Music
14 ALBATROSS (BONUS TRACK)
(Green) pub BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd
MUSICIANS:
Wizz Jones: acoustic guitar, vocals
Pete Berryman: acoustic guitar, vocals
Simeon Jones: tenor saxaphone, flute, harmonica and
vocals
Guest Musicians:
Alfie Jones: acoustic guitar on track 9
Anne Sumner: vocals on tracks 8 and 11
Produced by Wizz Jones and Andy Levien
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Andy Levien at RMS
Studios, London, 2016
Track notes by Wizz Jones
Sleeve notes by Maggie Holland

Visit www.worldmusic.net to hear sound samples of all
albums on Riverboat Records.

― dow, Monday, May 1, 2017

Interesting background, Davey Graham, he was mixed race: Scottish and English, no, seriously, his mother was Guyanese and his father was Scottish. I saw him play once and he was pretty terrible, I'm sure I must have posted about it on here.

I saw John Renbourn playing with Robin Williamson too, which was much better!

Ah, here we are...

Glad to say that I saw Bert Jansch (a few times), Davy Graham (which was, er, interesting) and John Renbourn live before they died, John with Robin Williamson... don't die yet, Robin!

― Betel-chewing Equipment of East New Guinea (Tom D.), Friday, 27 March 2015 07:51 (four years ago) link

Tom, curious about Davy Graham, what was the like? From what I've read he was an intense person

― kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 27 March 2015 12:27 (four years ago) link

Intensely fucked up on something or other - booze, pills, smack, who knows what. He basically couldn't play anymore but he couldn't play in a bewildering variety of styles and genres, Buxtehude to raga to calypso, his set must have covered about 6 centuries. At one point he brought a guy he was teaching to play guitar up on stage and, to be honest, it was a relief to have someone play without bum notes, fluffs, fumbles etc.

― Betel-chewing Equipment of East New Guinea (Tom D.), Friday, 27 March 2015 12:51 (four years ago) link

... that's all I could find but that's like 10 years after the gig and I'm sure I posted something about at the time. I remember turning up for the gig a bit early and seeing him stood on his own at the back of the venue, bolt upright and completely still, for an unnaturally long time.

See the Ken Russell thread for folk documentary.

I'm devastated by the death of my friend and collaborator Celia Ford Drummond, formerly Humphris, singer for folk band Trees. I was honoured to have her beautiful voice on my Dodson and Fogg albums, to share vinyl space with her, and to know her. A kind, caring lady. RIP xxx pic.twitter.com/ap1kyrrmPU

— Chris Wade (@dodsonandfogg) January 11, 2021

RIP! Been on a major Trees kick since that box set came out. Great voice / vibe.

i missed out on the box, but catching up on all the extra tracks now via spotify. such a lovely band, horrible sad news this

more of a reminder to myself, but there's a big 1991 terrascope interview with celia here that i need to sit down and read:

http://terrascope.co.uk/MyBackPages/The_Trees.htm

gosh, her voice still sounds great on those 2018 live cuts

jesus christ, that bit where they come back in after the fake-out ending on murdoch *always* gets every hair in my brain standing on end

Sad top hear about her passing.
I'm hoping that a copy of the box set is actually going to arrive having now been told taht it was on its way to me as an Xmas present.

I've been listening to a lot of Davy Graham in the last few days and god I'd forgotten how transcendent he can be. Midnight Man in particular is sending me to all sorts of places. Anyone have any experience with the recent Bread & Wine reissues? I can't find much in the way of information about them anywhere (even the Hoffman forums seem empty of news or opinion!).

Been on a Spotify kick of Scottish travelers and some English stuff:

Belle Stewart
Davie Stewart
Jeannie Robertson
Fred Jordan
Sam Larner

Way upthread, I reposted my from one of the post-Fahey threads about xpost Davey Graham re Renbourn's early 60s-travelling The Attic Tapes, and no lime tangier provided me with some Graham tips:

(in the notes, Renbourn) also talks about finding traces of the UK songster Davey Graham in various cities, ideas that lodged in the heads of musos who may well have had no reel-to-reels, or anyway didn't need one to summon the bits that JR puts together here. Mind you, he does give Graham the writer's credit for the opening tightly loose bedsit version of "Anji"(that's from the box marked "1962").
...the grand finale teams JR with Graham himself, on "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out": jazzy-bluesy, duh, and rawther magical. What other Graham should I check out?
Oh yeah, audio and more info here:
http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/TUG1089/
Wantin those Graham tips yall.

― dow, Tuesday, September 8, 2015 6:11 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

lots of davy graham releases i've yet to hear but...

the comp that came out on see for miles is a great place to start, picks and chooses from most of his decca albums. not sure if this has been superseded by a more recent collection or not.

favourite dg lp of mine: large as life & twice as natural. stretched out folk blues jazz raga (love the joni both sides now cover that kicks it off), cd reissue has good notes from john renbourn himself.
& if you don't want to hear him sing (i like his voice personally) the collaboration with shirley collins is a+

― no lime tangier, Tuesday, September 8, 2015

I'd not heard Large As Life - brilliant. The Joni cover is magnificent. Davy's magic aside, Danny Thompson is in imperious form, Jon Hiseman too.

The live set from Hull University is pretty great. Or athat is to say the dorms after I think an earlier gig.
ITs called After hours at Hull or something

I could really do with getting Caedmon but i think the current release had no cd version.

Thought would be about next week’s release of Beeswing.

Next week?
Right time flies by.
There was an extract in the last Uncut the VU covered one.
Seemed to fly through some time that I would have hoped was more thoroughly covered so hope it was more of an intro.
But yeah do think it is pretty essential

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/13/carthy-folk-dynasty-appeals-for-financial-support-after-income-dried-up-during-pandemic Also, Martin and Eliza Carthy are due to play live throughout the UK this winter, with an intermittent run of dates kicking off in Durham on 27 January. Eliza wrote that she had recorded a new album during the pandemic, proceeds from which would also help the family. No mention of Norma's participation; hope she's okay.

Sad to read that story, will definitely bung them a few quid as soon as I can

Eliza posted that Norma passed away yesterday. RIP.

;_; RIP Norma

Tragic news. I'd gone to the record shop to buy a copy of For Pence and Spicy Ale, and was informed of her death by the shop owner.

That version of Hal-An-Tow on Frost and Fire, I don't even know what half of it means tbh, but that to me is one of the most joyful and life-affirming songs I can think of, that song basically banishes death and that is how I will always think of her. RIP Norma

oh :(

coming at it from the opposite direction to Nick, I feel like every word of Red Wine & Promises off of Bright Phoebus is seared into my brain and I feel as though I understand what she meant exactly, down to the last nuance, and it is one of the saddest and most beautiful songs I've ever heard. one of those rare songs i've listened to repeatedly at moments of crisis in my life, just poured my soul into it and internalised it and made it all about me and my parents. a fucking wonder of a song.

but yes, Hal-An-Tow is joyful, A Souling Song is terrifying.

my Dad got me hooked, he used to play this track in the car when I was quite young and still utterly obsessed with the Libertines (and through them the Smiths, the Clash, the Jam and all of that). this, along with Poor Old Horse by the Albion Band and Penguin Eggs, showed me a completely different vision of what constituted "distinctly British music" and i'll always be grateful for that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9qlI6hQYy0

RIP

on his invaluable doomandgloomfromthetomb tumblr, ilxor tylerw sez:
...check out this fantastic 1960s documentary on the Watersons, capturing the group very early on in their folk club days. The inky black-and-white style of the film could easily fit in with those classic British kitchen sink realist films of the era — you almost expect Tom Courtenay to be lurking in the background (Instead, there’s Anne Briggs, which is even better). It’s a beautiful time capsule.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vrszb4w318

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOFsJLQZpcM

Is this book good? Hadn't heard of it.

Enjoying this book called Dazzling Stranger by Colin Harper. Connecting a lot of dots for me. Recommended if you’re into this sort of thing—British folk, Bert Jansch, blues, what have you. pic.twitter.com/8Ehg2hZMK6

— Shane Parish (@shaneparishgtr) July 1, 2022

Was out a long time ago? I read it but I can't remember much about beyond Bert saying he was never interested in the Beatles.

yeah thought it pretty great. Also looks at the Edinburgh and i think London folk scenes as they tie in with the narrative.
There is a companion cd in 2 versions one either side of the Atlantic. They change a couple of tracks presumably tie din with rights etc.
Unexpected appearance of Bruce Loose of Flipper whose dad was a promoter on the folk scene in the late 70s and also put Bert up a few times when he was drinking way too much. & Loose apparently started mimicking his behaviour.

I thought it was a good book as are the other couple of books by Harper I've read. Irish Folk, Trad & Blues: A Secret History and Bathed In Lightning: John McLaughlin, the 60s and the emerald beyond

.. Archie Fisher jumping out of a window to avoid Licorice McKechnie's dad is in there I think? Also Licorice and Bert almost getting married?

Hell yes. https://t.co/q2F50kLxBZ pic.twitter.com/Ulc1FuKKRW

— Tyler Wilcox (@tywilc) July 14, 2022

I love when a UK folk band expands their horizons to adopt the propulsive electric bass grooves and backbeat that characterized US folk-rock of the era. This LP is a great example, but Shirley Collins’ otherworldly voice and the song choices keep the vibeS trending traditional pic.twitter.com/q8v8E5zAiD

— the modern folk (@themodernfolk) August 1, 2022

Keep meaning to buy Show of Hands' Singled Out, but I'm little puzzled by what it's meant to be exactly. A compilation of assorted post-2001 songs(?), with two rare recordings from the early 90s Columbus EP and "Crazy Boy" from 1997's Dark Fields. But why? What's it for?

since the season is officially here and there has been a lot of “brit folk = chilly weather” discourse lately, here’s that uk folk mix i did for @aquadrunkard a while back https://t.co/NPzE7kYLlW

— jocelyn romo (@theeroamer) September 25, 2022

Lankum album (despite the album art) is really as good as they say

heavy, droney, druidic trad
https://lankum.bandcamp.com/album/false-lankum

Lankum are not British! And there's already a thread for them!

lol true on both counts, sorry!

Oops.

have been spinning shearwater multiple times this last week so seeing this was a nice surprise today: https://thequietus.com/articles/33584-martin-carthy-bakers-dozen-favourite-albums-jon-wilks

Lovely Martin Carthy. My grandfather played and sang with him in Bath and Sidmouth. I'm reliably informed their singing voices were very similar too.

I saw Martin Simpson at a local church last weekend. He was great as ever, and just as pissed off. He played mostly stuff off his new album; Deportee, a Woody Guthrie cover, was probably the highlight. It's a predominantly conservative area, so some of his barbed comments about Rwanda and Gaza were met with a mixture of soft applause and awkward silence.