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The English Tradition 2005
The report of it's death was an exageration!
Christian Mayne plays all aspects of the vibrant English Traditonal Music Scene as it stands in 2005 from the big band workings of BellowHead, to the living tradition of Morris Tunes, via the infusions of world music into traditional English song, while keep in one ear open for those re-releases. |
| The English Tradition 2005 |
Eliza Carthy & The Ratcatchers - Cobblers Hornpipe
Rough Music (2005 Topic Records)
Eliza Carthy & The Rat Catchers are Eliza carthy, John Spiers, Jon Boden & Ben Ivitsky. Cobbler's Hornpipe is a tune in 3/2 time from the north of England which Elza learnt from her mother, Norma Waterson, who in turn learnt it from the Cumbrian musician Greg Stephens. Rough Music was releasesd in April 2004 on Topic Records and is Eliza's Sixth album under her own name on the label. www.elizanet.org.uk |
John Spiers & Jon Boden - Sportman's Hornpipe
Tunes (2005 Fellside)
Jon &John are possibly the hardest working men in the business at the moment, appearing as a duo, as a part of the ratcatchers and as a part of Bellowhead, their big band project. Sportman's Hornpipe is from the first CD release in what will ultimately be a two CD set. The Second CD "Songs" is due for release in October. www.spiersandboden.com |
Mary Humphreys & Anahata - Blow The Candles Out
Floating Verses (2005 Wild Goose)
Mary Humphreys & Anahata are truly accomplished perfomers who have been performing in folk clubs for many years, specialising in rare variants of traditonal songs and tunes. Their third album "Floating verses", was released in March this year, and you can still find them singing in pub sessions around East Anglia most Sunday evenings.www.treewind.co.uk/mha |
Jon Loomes - Jacky Tar
Fearful Symmetry (2005 Fellside)
Jon has recently released his first album on a 'major'label, and very good it is too, featuring tracks such as "The Ride In The Creel", "All For Me Grog" and "The Seeds of Love", as well as this recording of "Jacky Tar" (sometimes recorded under the alternative title of "Do Me Ama"). Jon Plays guitar, fiddle and hurdy-gurdy across the album which saw a release in the first months of 2005.www.jonloomes.com/ |
Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer - Donald MacLeod Reel
Scatter Pipes (2005 Wild Goose)
Despite playing instruments often associated with Scotland and the Borders, Vicki & Jonny's new album on Wild Goose brings a varied selection of traditional Englidh traditional tunes combined with a number of their own compositions.www.wildgoose.co.uk/ |
Bellowhead - The Rochdale Coconut Dance
E.P Onymous (2004 Megaphone Records)
The third track to feature the dynamic duo of Spiers and Boden, whose energetic performances have won them legions of fans and helped introduce traditional music to a new young audience. The nine piece "BellowHead" big band project of their's has been a huge hit at The festivals for the last two years despite only commiting five tracks to disk. Word is there's a new album in the offing, so watch this space! www.bellowhead.co.uk |
Susan McKeown - Eggs in her Basket
Sweet Liberty (2004 World Village)
In 2003, Susan McKeown was in New York where she met Members of the NYC-based Mexican group Mariachi Real de Mexico. They join her to provide a rich and nostalgic accompaniment on her rendition of the traditional song "Eggs in Her Basket". This song was nominated for "Best Traditional Track" in the BBc Radio 2 Folk Awards 2005, and it's not difficult to hear why!www.house-of-music.com/susan/ |
John Kirkptrick - Bow Down To The Bonny Broom
Song Links 2 (2005 Fellside)
Martyn Wyndham-Read follows his "Song Links" project - which looked at the links between English Folk Songs and their Australian variants - with "Song links 2: A celebration of English Traditional Songs and their American Variants". Here, John Kirkpatrick sings a variant of the Child ballad "Riddles Wisely Expounded", with verses taken from both Child's 1880 collection, and verses collected in Wiltshire some years later. Fellside Webpage |
Andy Turner - Packington's Round
Anglo International (2005 Roots Records)
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John Watcham - Morris Tune Medley
Anglo International (2005 Roots Records)
Two tracks from the new Anglo Internation Triple CD dedicated to the versatility of the Anglo Concertina compiled by Alan Day. The album contains a number a huge variety of material from John Kirkpatrick playing music hall numbers to Andrew Blakeney-Edwards Mozart renditions and the 16 year old Regardt De Bruin playing Afrikaans songs. Much of the album is put aside to music in the traditional album and thelikes of Scan Tester and Noel Hill are also well represented. Availabilty of the album is currently unknown - it was due for release at the end of July, but this is to be confirmed. |
Peter Bellamy - Ramblin' Robin
Fair Annie (Fellside)
One of the most distinctive performes in the English Tradition with his bleating voice, strange guitar tunings and vamped concertina chords, It's been almost fifteen years since Peter Bellamy tragically cut short his own life. Availabilty of recordings can be tricky to come buy, but Fellside have thankfully put out a number of CDs over the last few years to complement the Free Reed Triple CD "Wake The Vaulted Echoes". Ramblin Robin, originally from a 1975 USA only release has now been made available by Fellside on a double CD bringing together two virtually unobtainable albums "Peter Bellamy" and "Fair Annie" onto one reasonably priced double CD. A very Welcome reissue. Peter Bellamy - A celebration (note, this webpage has sound which my interfere with your enjoyment of radiobritfolk.co.uk) |
The Oysterband / The Big Session - Country Life
The Big Session Vol 1 (2004 Westpark)
In May 2004, a small audience gathered in London's Bush Hall to watch The Oysterband, Show of Hands, June Tabor, Eliza Carthy, Ben Ivitsky, Jim Moray, James O'Grady and The Handsome Family attempt to replicate the feel of an after-hours pub session. They chose their songs, semi-rehearsed the arrangements and left the rest to chance. The results appeared as The Big Session Vol 1 which went on to win the BBC Radio 2 Best Group award.www.oysterband.co.uk |
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