'Lyrically brilliant' Julian aims to bring joy
Toronto music scene staple and musical chameleon, Julian Taylor has decided to present his new record sooner than its autumn scheduled release date, in the hope that his songs may bring joy to listeners in troubled times.
The award-winning singer songwriter releases The Ridge (Howling Turtle Inc.) on June 19th 2020. Described as 'lyrically brilliant' and 'exuding innocence' by American Songwriter magazine, the album was co-produced by Taylor and longtime collaborator Saam Hashemi, mixed by Hashemi, mastered by Noah Mintz; and recorded at the studio of alt-country stalwarts Blue Rodeo, The Woodshed.
Embracing Taylor's signature cinematic approach to storytelling; The Ridge taps into the vein of shared experience by way of a personal stories with striking effect, creating an aurul result of a songwriter clearly embracing his prime. The raw and honest nature throughout enables listeners a myriad of personally relatable entry points into his enlightening narrative tales.
Each song on The Ridge represents an acoustic-driven mixture of styles that reflects Taylor's range as a creative force building on the templates forged during his tenure fronting chart-topping collective Staggered Crossing as well as the fine funk and R&B driven foundation Julian Taylor Band. From the hopeful swoon of 'Over The Moon' to the tribal-energy landscape that permeates 'Ballad of the Young Troubadour', to the Tex- Mex Canadian-Western vibe of 'Love Enough'. Lead single and title track 'The Ridge' opens the album straight into a core of Taylor's songwriting, guiding us through childhood memories of his grandparents Maple Ridge farm.
Listeners can instantly notice the breadth of Taylor’s lyrical acumen on The Ridge, something born out of the more personal approach the man has taken toward the album’s core subject matter. “Words are very important to me, and I’ve worked really hard on my lyrics here as this entire album is about my family”.
Taylor’s inherently cinematic approach to his storytelling has a lot to do with his heritage and upbringing - “It’s an interesting thing to be part Mohawk and part West Indian, because I’ve always had this feeling that I never fit in anywhere,” he admits. “As a mixed person, it’s like, oh, where do you go, and how do you connect with people? That’s all I’ve been trying to do, and my life experience as a person who is mixed helps me do that. These stories are all coming from a person who tries to fit in, but doesn’t quite fit in. That’s really what my work has always been about — that longing to be a part of something.”
For more information visit the website www.juliantaylormusic.ca
The award-winning singer songwriter releases The Ridge (Howling Turtle Inc.) on June 19th 2020. Described as 'lyrically brilliant' and 'exuding innocence' by American Songwriter magazine, the album was co-produced by Taylor and longtime collaborator Saam Hashemi, mixed by Hashemi, mastered by Noah Mintz; and recorded at the studio of alt-country stalwarts Blue Rodeo, The Woodshed.
Embracing Taylor's signature cinematic approach to storytelling; The Ridge taps into the vein of shared experience by way of a personal stories with striking effect, creating an aurul result of a songwriter clearly embracing his prime. The raw and honest nature throughout enables listeners a myriad of personally relatable entry points into his enlightening narrative tales.
Each song on The Ridge represents an acoustic-driven mixture of styles that reflects Taylor's range as a creative force building on the templates forged during his tenure fronting chart-topping collective Staggered Crossing as well as the fine funk and R&B driven foundation Julian Taylor Band. From the hopeful swoon of 'Over The Moon' to the tribal-energy landscape that permeates 'Ballad of the Young Troubadour', to the Tex- Mex Canadian-Western vibe of 'Love Enough'. Lead single and title track 'The Ridge' opens the album straight into a core of Taylor's songwriting, guiding us through childhood memories of his grandparents Maple Ridge farm.
Listeners can instantly notice the breadth of Taylor’s lyrical acumen on The Ridge, something born out of the more personal approach the man has taken toward the album’s core subject matter. “Words are very important to me, and I’ve worked really hard on my lyrics here as this entire album is about my family”.
Taylor’s inherently cinematic approach to his storytelling has a lot to do with his heritage and upbringing - “It’s an interesting thing to be part Mohawk and part West Indian, because I’ve always had this feeling that I never fit in anywhere,” he admits. “As a mixed person, it’s like, oh, where do you go, and how do you connect with people? That’s all I’ve been trying to do, and my life experience as a person who is mixed helps me do that. These stories are all coming from a person who tries to fit in, but doesn’t quite fit in. That’s really what my work has always been about — that longing to be a part of something.”
For more information visit the website www.juliantaylormusic.ca
Charlie's new album explores what makes us tick
For her tenth album ‘Like Animals’, Charlie Dore turns away from the expansive science and space metaphors of 2017’s ‘Dark Matter’ to focus on the internal landscape of the human brain and just what makes us tick.
Although best known as a respected songwriter for others, Charlie enjoys a multi-faceted career that includes acting, comedy-improvisation, writing for radio and composition for film and TV as well as performing live with her band.
After drama school, regional rep and a stint in childrens' television Charlie formed a bluegrass band playing Monday nights in a west London pancake house.
The band, with school friend Julian Littman, graduated to the pub circuit from where she was signed by Island Records in 1978. She made her first album in Nashville and London and released a single, Pilot of the Airwaves, which became a hit in the US.
A new collection, sewn through with Dore’s trademark dark wit, lyricism, and distinctive melodic voice, Like Animals explores some of our most basic instincts and how we’re often hi-jacked by our emotional responses. Fear, anxiety and aggression figure but on the plus side, intense joy and love are in the mix as well.
Charlie says: “I’m the first to admit I’m merely an interested bystander when it comes to the workings of the human brain, but when I started reading about the Amygdala and how it shapes our emotional behaviour, decisions and even our memory I was completely riveted. You don’t need a degree in psychology to notice that however sophisticated we imagine we are, we haven’t evolved all that much. We’re still animals, it’s just that we wear suits and we know how to make gunpowder”.
Recorded with her long time co-producer-writer and friend, the multi- instrumental Julian Littman of Steeleye Span, the album also features contributions from folk icon Jackie Oates, esteemed double bass & cello player Gareth Huw Davies, leading UK trumpeter Quentin Collins and the highly celebrated violinist Jessie May Smart. Founding member of The Magic Numbers, Michele Stoddart is also featured, duetting with Charlie on ‘A Hundred Miles of Nothing’, which they wrote together.
The album's release date is 19th June 2020 and pre-orders (with a free one-track download for early birds) are now possible via Charlie’s website, charliedore.com
Although best known as a respected songwriter for others, Charlie enjoys a multi-faceted career that includes acting, comedy-improvisation, writing for radio and composition for film and TV as well as performing live with her band.
After drama school, regional rep and a stint in childrens' television Charlie formed a bluegrass band playing Monday nights in a west London pancake house.
The band, with school friend Julian Littman, graduated to the pub circuit from where she was signed by Island Records in 1978. She made her first album in Nashville and London and released a single, Pilot of the Airwaves, which became a hit in the US.
A new collection, sewn through with Dore’s trademark dark wit, lyricism, and distinctive melodic voice, Like Animals explores some of our most basic instincts and how we’re often hi-jacked by our emotional responses. Fear, anxiety and aggression figure but on the plus side, intense joy and love are in the mix as well.
Charlie says: “I’m the first to admit I’m merely an interested bystander when it comes to the workings of the human brain, but when I started reading about the Amygdala and how it shapes our emotional behaviour, decisions and even our memory I was completely riveted. You don’t need a degree in psychology to notice that however sophisticated we imagine we are, we haven’t evolved all that much. We’re still animals, it’s just that we wear suits and we know how to make gunpowder”.
Recorded with her long time co-producer-writer and friend, the multi- instrumental Julian Littman of Steeleye Span, the album also features contributions from folk icon Jackie Oates, esteemed double bass & cello player Gareth Huw Davies, leading UK trumpeter Quentin Collins and the highly celebrated violinist Jessie May Smart. Founding member of The Magic Numbers, Michele Stoddart is also featured, duetting with Charlie on ‘A Hundred Miles of Nothing’, which they wrote together.
The album's release date is 19th June 2020 and pre-orders (with a free one-track download for early birds) are now possible via Charlie’s website, charliedore.com
Live in Lancashire will quench the drought
Exeter-based contemporary folk artist Ben Morgan-Brown, winner of Purbeck Rising 2019 and described as ‘the brilliant Ben Morgan-Brown’ by Tom Robinson of BBC6 Music, is pleased to announce the release of ‘Live in Lancashire’, a seven track live album recorded at the beginning of March.
Ben Morgan-Brown is a singer songwriter and accomplished finger style guitarist who is quickly gaining recognition in the UK’s contemporary folk and acoustic scene.
Ben is also highly regarded within the online acoustic guitar community as the Editor and Presenter of Acoustic Review, a UK-based website focussing on independent reviews of acoustic guitars and associated products.
Since launching in 2018, his YouTube reviews have amassed nearly 400,000 views and, in January 2020, he was invited to attend the NAMM show in Anaheim, California where he was a guest at events hosted by, amongst others, C.F. Martin & Co and Taylor Guitars.
Like many musicians currently, Ben’s career has been hit by multiple gig and festival cancellations due to the escalating Covid-19 pandemic, but with this release he hopes to be able to connect with his fans until he is able to get back out on the road again.
Featuring five new songs, old favourite ‘No More Fooling’ from the 2017 Cold Rooms EP, and a driving reimagining of the Bob Dylan song ‘Blind Willie McTell’, ‘Live in Lancashire’ is a timely document and reminder of the intimacy and warmth of Ben’s live shows. It should help quench the thirst of gig-goers during this pandemic-induced drought.
'Live in Lancashire' is available as a high-quality digital download or as a Limited Edition CDR version of 100 signed and numbered copies from www.benmorganbrown.bandcamp.com
Ben Morgan-Brown is a singer songwriter and accomplished finger style guitarist who is quickly gaining recognition in the UK’s contemporary folk and acoustic scene.
Ben is also highly regarded within the online acoustic guitar community as the Editor and Presenter of Acoustic Review, a UK-based website focussing on independent reviews of acoustic guitars and associated products.
Since launching in 2018, his YouTube reviews have amassed nearly 400,000 views and, in January 2020, he was invited to attend the NAMM show in Anaheim, California where he was a guest at events hosted by, amongst others, C.F. Martin & Co and Taylor Guitars.
Like many musicians currently, Ben’s career has been hit by multiple gig and festival cancellations due to the escalating Covid-19 pandemic, but with this release he hopes to be able to connect with his fans until he is able to get back out on the road again.
Featuring five new songs, old favourite ‘No More Fooling’ from the 2017 Cold Rooms EP, and a driving reimagining of the Bob Dylan song ‘Blind Willie McTell’, ‘Live in Lancashire’ is a timely document and reminder of the intimacy and warmth of Ben’s live shows. It should help quench the thirst of gig-goers during this pandemic-induced drought.
'Live in Lancashire' is available as a high-quality digital download or as a Limited Edition CDR version of 100 signed and numbered copies from www.benmorganbrown.bandcamp.com
Second album from folk improv duo
The Ciderhouse Rebellion is an exciting new duo bringing together violinist Adam Summerhayes and master accordionist Murray Grainger. 'The InCider Sessions' is the second album they have released this year, following up on February's 'Untold.'
This is a limited edition of 100, signed and numbered CDs; a compilation of an extraordinary new body of music: 12 traditional and original tunes born of social distancing, forged in lockdown and created despite isolation. The album represents a refusal by master accordionist Murray Grainger and fiddle player Adam Summerhayes to let the potential to connect musically with each other, and with the world, be wiped out.
We have all watched as live music has moved from the world’s live stages onto our computer screens and phones in the form of online gigs and festivals. The particular problem for this duo was - how can two musicians, separated by 50 miles (Adam in Derbyshire and Murray in Lincolnshire) and in a time of social distancing, enforced isolation and reduced travel, collaborate in real time when they can’t sit in the same room, react to each other in real time, and engage in a true musical conversation? One of them cannot send a track to the other for them to lay down their part on top. These two need to be able to hear each other in real time, with no lag, in order to be able spark off each other and flow together as they create music spontaneously on the spot.
In this high-tech age of fibre broadband and multiple Gs, you’d have thought it would be as simple as starting a video call and hitting record. But no, the issue of latency - the time lag between creating the sound and the other person hearing it, both ways round - raised its head, and so for both to hear each other in the same time as they are creating the music seemed impossible.
"There is no internet technology by which The Ciderhouse Rebellion could interact to make their music in real time: no apps function without appreciable time delay except with the very highest existing internet speeds and bandwidths - not available to most of us. So we had to create our own way”. says Murray.
Without real time interaction the duo’s trademark style of reactive, communicative music making was impossible. The solution? Two landline telephones, a complex sequence of microphones, wires, mic’d up earpieces and headphones wrapped in blankets, creating a real-time musical connection - appalling sound quality, sometimes impossibly so, but just enough to connect and intuit what the other was playing - and, magically, what they were about to play.…
And that's how nearly all of the tracks on this CD were recorded - fifty miles apart and connected only by a cracking landline, each instrument recorded where it was played; the audio and video files combined later to be broadcast on the popular InCider Sessions on Facebook and YouTube. The exceptions are two tracks recorded two weeks into social isolation and six hours before lockdown was announced - when shopping was suddenly impossible and deliveries were hardly to be found. Adam had managed to get some essential supplies delivered - including things for Murray's two week old child. Adam arrived on Murray's drive, a bag of supplies was left on the doorstep, Murray appeared with cables, laid them on the floor, Adam applied alcohol wipes and an impromptu studio was created in the back of the car - in strict social isolation, but in complete musical connection
"Neither of us really understands how we managed this - it feels almost miraculous to listen back and hear that we have created real music. It was always a struggle against technology and reality and sometimes impossible - and sometimes we achieved it even though it was impossible. And that is what seems like a kind of magic.” says Adam.
And so was born a series of 9 x 30 minute video broadcasts on FB and YouTube, released to the world every Tuesday evening from March 23rd to May 13th 2020. Each broadcast was a varying mix of the duo’s take on trad tunes, some of their pure improvisations starting from a single note, contributions from a chicken called Jeremy Bird and some original poetry from Adam’s daughter Jessie as well as plenty of banter in between from Adam and Murray.
These InCider Sessions broadcasts were very well received, and felt so special that the duo decided to select and release 12 tunes from the series as The InCider Sessions CD. For more information, visit the website adamsummerhayes.com/the-ciderhouse-rebellion
This is a limited edition of 100, signed and numbered CDs; a compilation of an extraordinary new body of music: 12 traditional and original tunes born of social distancing, forged in lockdown and created despite isolation. The album represents a refusal by master accordionist Murray Grainger and fiddle player Adam Summerhayes to let the potential to connect musically with each other, and with the world, be wiped out.
We have all watched as live music has moved from the world’s live stages onto our computer screens and phones in the form of online gigs and festivals. The particular problem for this duo was - how can two musicians, separated by 50 miles (Adam in Derbyshire and Murray in Lincolnshire) and in a time of social distancing, enforced isolation and reduced travel, collaborate in real time when they can’t sit in the same room, react to each other in real time, and engage in a true musical conversation? One of them cannot send a track to the other for them to lay down their part on top. These two need to be able to hear each other in real time, with no lag, in order to be able spark off each other and flow together as they create music spontaneously on the spot.
In this high-tech age of fibre broadband and multiple Gs, you’d have thought it would be as simple as starting a video call and hitting record. But no, the issue of latency - the time lag between creating the sound and the other person hearing it, both ways round - raised its head, and so for both to hear each other in the same time as they are creating the music seemed impossible.
"There is no internet technology by which The Ciderhouse Rebellion could interact to make their music in real time: no apps function without appreciable time delay except with the very highest existing internet speeds and bandwidths - not available to most of us. So we had to create our own way”. says Murray.
Without real time interaction the duo’s trademark style of reactive, communicative music making was impossible. The solution? Two landline telephones, a complex sequence of microphones, wires, mic’d up earpieces and headphones wrapped in blankets, creating a real-time musical connection - appalling sound quality, sometimes impossibly so, but just enough to connect and intuit what the other was playing - and, magically, what they were about to play.…
And that's how nearly all of the tracks on this CD were recorded - fifty miles apart and connected only by a cracking landline, each instrument recorded where it was played; the audio and video files combined later to be broadcast on the popular InCider Sessions on Facebook and YouTube. The exceptions are two tracks recorded two weeks into social isolation and six hours before lockdown was announced - when shopping was suddenly impossible and deliveries were hardly to be found. Adam had managed to get some essential supplies delivered - including things for Murray's two week old child. Adam arrived on Murray's drive, a bag of supplies was left on the doorstep, Murray appeared with cables, laid them on the floor, Adam applied alcohol wipes and an impromptu studio was created in the back of the car - in strict social isolation, but in complete musical connection
"Neither of us really understands how we managed this - it feels almost miraculous to listen back and hear that we have created real music. It was always a struggle against technology and reality and sometimes impossible - and sometimes we achieved it even though it was impossible. And that is what seems like a kind of magic.” says Adam.
And so was born a series of 9 x 30 minute video broadcasts on FB and YouTube, released to the world every Tuesday evening from March 23rd to May 13th 2020. Each broadcast was a varying mix of the duo’s take on trad tunes, some of their pure improvisations starting from a single note, contributions from a chicken called Jeremy Bird and some original poetry from Adam’s daughter Jessie as well as plenty of banter in between from Adam and Murray.
These InCider Sessions broadcasts were very well received, and felt so special that the duo decided to select and release 12 tunes from the series as The InCider Sessions CD. For more information, visit the website adamsummerhayes.com/the-ciderhouse-rebellion
Confessions from 'a scholar of roots music history'
Three-time Canadian Folk Music Award nominee, Sarah Jane Scouten's latest album, Confessions includies two of her popular singles 'Ballad Of A Southern Midwife' and 'You Are The Medicine'.
Originally written for Sarah Jane's first album ten years ago, first single, Ballad of a Southern Midwife (released in August last year) comes from the imagination of a young and naïve songwriter, cured with age, and once again released with more hell-fire than ever.
“It is also one of the most relevant songs I've written. ... This song is about the overlap of religious intolerance and sexual oppression and a woman's fight to live on her own terms, regardless of the consequences,” said Sarah Jane.
Like any songwriter worthy of the name, Sarah Jane easily explores love with a fine-toothed comb, although not limited to romantic love, she confesses ... Perhaps more than I'd like to admit, Confessions is a break up record. There was a quick change over from letting go of a past love and making room for a new one which would end up becoming my marriage. Her classic country soul epitomised in love song You Are The Medicine, an ode to her healing medicine, her husband.
Steeped in North American and British Folk music, Sarah Jane's music delivers a signature mix of vintage folk and country, with modern sounds and subjects. It has ticked boxes with folk and American press on both sides of the Atlantic. “Observant, outspoken, and at the top of her craft ... a gifted songwriter, a scholar of roots music history and travelling musician, ” said Folk Radio UK
Raised in a musical family on Bowen Island BC, where harmony singing was more common than watching television, Sarah Jane commits to her roots, using her warbling voice and knack for storytelling to captivate and transport her audiences. Her songs run the emotional gamut, creating a world of characters who come alive in her often haunting and equally whimsical ballads.
Sarah Jane's fourth album, "Confessions" was recorded in Toronto with veteran producer Andre Wahl (Light Organ Records), and is a further exploration of Americana sounds and song forms. It is a collection of revelatory songs -- a series of confessions -- which valorise, condemn and eulogise the most important relationships of her life to new harrowing heights.
For more information visit the website www.sarahjanescouten.com
Originally written for Sarah Jane's first album ten years ago, first single, Ballad of a Southern Midwife (released in August last year) comes from the imagination of a young and naïve songwriter, cured with age, and once again released with more hell-fire than ever.
“It is also one of the most relevant songs I've written. ... This song is about the overlap of religious intolerance and sexual oppression and a woman's fight to live on her own terms, regardless of the consequences,” said Sarah Jane.
Like any songwriter worthy of the name, Sarah Jane easily explores love with a fine-toothed comb, although not limited to romantic love, she confesses ... Perhaps more than I'd like to admit, Confessions is a break up record. There was a quick change over from letting go of a past love and making room for a new one which would end up becoming my marriage. Her classic country soul epitomised in love song You Are The Medicine, an ode to her healing medicine, her husband.
Steeped in North American and British Folk music, Sarah Jane's music delivers a signature mix of vintage folk and country, with modern sounds and subjects. It has ticked boxes with folk and American press on both sides of the Atlantic. “Observant, outspoken, and at the top of her craft ... a gifted songwriter, a scholar of roots music history and travelling musician, ” said Folk Radio UK
Raised in a musical family on Bowen Island BC, where harmony singing was more common than watching television, Sarah Jane commits to her roots, using her warbling voice and knack for storytelling to captivate and transport her audiences. Her songs run the emotional gamut, creating a world of characters who come alive in her often haunting and equally whimsical ballads.
Sarah Jane's fourth album, "Confessions" was recorded in Toronto with veteran producer Andre Wahl (Light Organ Records), and is a further exploration of Americana sounds and song forms. It is a collection of revelatory songs -- a series of confessions -- which valorise, condemn and eulogise the most important relationships of her life to new harrowing heights.
For more information visit the website www.sarahjanescouten.com
Stroll On, Steve's acclaimed debut album, was first released in 1974.
In the early 1980s Steve made two albums for the UK Peace Movement called the 'Demo' Tapes. They were released on cassette only.
The 1990 album Mysterious Ways featured the Steve Ashley Band.
Stroll On, reissued in 1999 with a new cover and extra tracks.
Everyday Lives, album number seven, was released on Topic Records in 2001.
Time and Tide was Steve's ninth solo album, released in 2007.
Fire and Wine: An Armchair Guide to
Steve Ashley by Dave Thompson (Biography, paperback, published 2013) Covering Steve’s fifty year journey, the book includes interviews with many old friends, including Fairporters, Dave Pegg, Chris Leslie, Bruce Rowland and Maartin Allcock, plus Shirley Collins, Linda Thompson and Colin Irwin. Now he has a book to sell on gigs along with his many albums, and after successful duos with Al Fenn and Dik Cadbury he’s made a renewed commitment to live performance, pared down now to just the man and his guitar. For further details visit steveashley.co.uk |
Steve Ashley: still strolling on, 40 years on!
 Simon Nicol and Steve Ashley at Dave Pegg's 60th birthday concert
Steve Ashley is one of the most enduring singer-songwriters on the contemporary folk scene. It's now forty years since the release of his groundbreaking album Stroll On - a collection of thoughtful self-penned songs which drew on the tradition of English folk, but added a cutting edge and reached out to an entirely different audience.
Over the years Steve's material has been covered by many leading folk artists including Fairport Convention, Martin & Jessica Simpson, Anne Briggs, Maggie Boyle, Grace Notes, Wizz Jones, The Bushwackers, St Agnes Fountain, Phil Beer and The Owl Service. The songs are just as relevant today - and four decades on he is still writing, performing and considering recording 'one last album.' I first interviewed Steve in the late 1970s, before a concert in Cheltenham which previewed his forthcoming album Rare Old Men. He was still at the vanguard of the British singer-songwriter scene, yet the album was never released; after meeting him again forty years later, I found out why. "The first two albums, Stroll On (1974) and Speedy Return (1975) were put out on the Gull label, which was a subsidiary of DECCA. Then, to my great surprise, the company did a marketing and distribution deal with Motown in the USA. So both albums were released in the states through Motown. And two extensive tours of America were arranged for me.” said Steve. “I supported Gene Clark, The Chris Hillman Band, Tracey Nelson, Jimmy Buffet, Leon Redbone and many others. The gigs were mostly along the east coast and down into the south. There were also a couple of nights in Toronto.” "But just after the release of Speedy Return and immediately before the start of my second US tour, Motown pulled out of its agreement with Gull. Shortly after that the label had to cut back on its commitments, so along with others on the label I lost my contract with them and the project was shelved. But quite a few of the songs made it on to later albums." Yet his solo performances in the States didn't go un-noticed. After his 1975 solo performance in Greenwich Village, Variety Magazine said "Steve Ashley of London is a delightful surprise ... The performer not only sings his originals well, but has one of the funniest of dry stage raps. His voice is good. His originals are sensitive, ex-of the Albion Country Band, Ashley can hold an audience." But getting himself heard in America wasn't always easy. "I found myself in Dallas, singing a song about an English winter in a state where the seasons and weather patterns are very different . A few songs in, there was an awful lot of noise and I was beginning to wonder how I could get them to listen. I tried a blues number on the harmonica, but even that failed to cut through. Then I lowered the volume and quietly sang 'The Foggy Dew' unaccompanied. There was complete silence for that with solid applause at the end. From then on, once I’d got their attention, the rest of the songs went down well." Listening is the key to appreciating Steve's music. The songs are always delicately structured, under-pinned with a strong message delivered through thought-provoking lyrics. He was an active peace campaigner in the 1980s, and his gently persuasive messages still cut through his music today. His present live tour features a diverse set with songs about Iraq, Trident, racial harmony, atheism, apples, orchards and loving relationships, all couched in his irrepressible good humour. "Although many of my songs are controversial, I try to present them in a way that makes them accessible to everyone. But inevitably there are challenging moments. After one gig where I sang the Trident song, ‘Ships of Shame’ I was approached by a former submariner who had served on one of the subs and to my amazement he was very courteous and friendly. He said he felt no shame on board but then said he thought it was a very good song." After a career in which he secured the respect of his peers, played in various bands and wrote music for a number of projects - including television - Steve took an eight-year break from live performance in 1992. After his return one of his best-loved songs Best Wishes, was written as a blessing to his fellow musicians, many of whom had seen their careers grow and prosper during his long absence. "The folk scene had lost its edge for me at that time and I stopped recording and performing, turning my attention to writing and designing campaigns for various charities and pressure groups. But in the end, with the reissue of Stroll On I was drawn back to the stage and now I’m happy to be on it again. When I turned sixty I had a big concert party with many old musical chums. Just prior to their arrival I realised how important those friendships were to me and the value that live music held for us all and I managed to express that in Best Wishes." Fairport Convention later concluded two albums with the song, first on Sense of Occasion and then a live version on Live At Cropredy 08. In 1999, the re-issue of Stroll On was welcomed by the music press, especially Mojo, who said "The passing of time has confirmed two things about Steve Ashley's debut. First, it's up there with Liege and Lief, the first Steeleye Album and Christy Moore's Prosperous, a masterpiece of its kind. Second, it is still a best-kept-secret. A beautiful, rich and deeply atmospheric collection of songs, very English - like a musical impression of Dickens, Victorian Christmas cards and Thomas Hardy's Wessex..." Following the re-release of the album, Steve contacted Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention. "Peggy” - he said, I'm coming back. Can you put me on at Cropredy?" "I'm afraid we're fully booked, said Peggy, but why don't you join us on stage." "So I did...” Steve explained: "...first at the traditional warm-up gig in the Mill Arts Centre at Banbury, and then on the Saturday night headliner. After an eight-year break I was very apprehensive facing 20,000 people gathered in the field - but it was great to be up there with Fairport to sing Fire and Wine." Two years later, Steve's seventh album Everyday Lives was released on Topic. "I was pleasantly surprised when they took it on. I’d always admired Topic but it is the quintessential traditional label, and the purists hadn't always been open to my songs. In the early days it was very difficult for young songwriters to break into traditional folk clubs, and although things have improved, there is still a lot of daft prejudice towards original songs. However, Topic were very supportive and enthusiastic about both the albums I made for them and I think they are among the best I’ve made" The second one for Topic was Steve's ninth solo album in 2007 (the eighth was a live one, released the previous year). The ninth - Time and Tide - was described as 'a modern day masterpiece' by fRoots magazine. The Guardian said "... sturdy melodies are matched with a rare blend of emotion and anger. Ashley may not be prolific but his songs are worth the wait." A fresh interest in Steve's music generated thereafter and resulted in many more artists covering his songs. He marked forty years of recording with a special concert at Cheltenham Town Hall in 2009 - with strings arranged by Nick Drake’s arranger, his old friend Robert Kirby, a long-time musical collaborator, who sadly died later that year. In 2013 the respected rock author Dave Thompson published a musical biography called Fire and Wine - an armchair guide to Steve Ashley; the title taken from one of Steve's most popular songs. (See column left for further information). "I'm back where I was in the Stroll On days, just me and the guitar out on the road. But I’m 68 now, and like everyone at my age things aren't quite what they once were. I’ve developed a circulatory disorder called Raynaud's which affects the finger tips in cold weather. So it makes it difficult to play a full set during the winter." But Steve is on the road this side of Christmas - and will be out there again next Spring and through to the Autumn. That one last album seems to call. He played me his latest song, ‘People In Love’ which is quite wonderful. There are, I am convinced, a lot more where that came from. "I've been thinking of doing another album. And if I do it will probably just be me and the guitar; that's more or less how I play now. I've done many big productions on previous albums but the new songs are very direct and intimate and if I can, I’d like to present them in that way - stripped back, clear and simple." Finally: the state of the nation. Who is out there to take up the baton and carry it forward? "Oh, I don’t know. There are lots of hugely skilled young musicians out there and some talented songwriters too. There are college courses in traditional music now, and a high level of musicianship is emerging. In many ways these are exciting times for lovers of folk music. But a surprising amount of young folkies seem to focus on the past and disconnect from contemporary life. When I was young we were fortunate to have some brilliant elder song writers in the British folk scene like Ewan MacColl, Sidney Carter and Ian Campbell. All of them loved traditional songs as well. But they took on big contemporary issues in their songs and they inspired a passionate political and ethical engagement with the world. Our great traditional repertoire is still there of course but for the folk tradition to make any real sense in today’s world it needs to foster radical contemporary songs. From what I’ve heard in the clubs you’re still more likely to hear a song about Napoleon than a song about Iraq. There are some notable exceptions of course – and more power to them - but we are living in hard and dangerous times. And songs can bear powerful witness to them. Folk songs are songs of the people and we the people need new songs that engage with the real challenges we face today. I still believe that songs can make a real difference to the world and influence change. And we need them now more than ever.” Steve Ashley's influence is still powerful. His ability to write a song that will move your heart and make you think is as strong as it ever was. I, for one, can't wait to hear the next album (This Little Game - due for release in February 2015) Mike Weaver (August 2014) For more information visit www.steveashley.co.uk |
Bright Morning Star will shine again this Christmas
It's one of our favourite Christmas traditions (well, since last year): listening to Bella Hardy's wonderful album Bright Morning Star. The good news is that Bella is on the festive road again this December. She took time out of her busy schedule to talk to Armandaleg Music's Mike Weaver. (Interview: Dec 2013)
MW: For me, Bright Morning Star was one of the musical highlights of last Christmas, with some magical interpretations of classic songs. Will this year's tour feature any new material?
BH: Well that's very kind of you! Yes, there's some new material this year; I've actually finally managed to write my own original Christmas song! This is the fourth year of the tour, so it's taken a while…There's so many Christmas songs that I love, I try to include a few different ones each year so there's always something new. So many of them encapsulate the emotions of the season so well. I think Christmas itself causes a kind of concentration of feeling, be that positive or negative sensation. The job of any great song is to translate these feelings, so I think Christmas music has an amazing head start, and this results in very powerful songs.
MW: Battleplan seemed to take your songwriting into a new, more personal direction.Will the upcoming Christmas tour reflect this too, or are you sticking to a more traditional flavour?
BH: Battleplan is definitely more overtly personal than my previous records, but actually the songs I've recorded have always been very personal to me, I just tend to hide myself into lyrics so you can't tell! In every song, be it one of my own, traditional, or a cover, I'm putting myself into the character or the story, finding Stanislavski's 'chink in the armour'. If I can't do that, I don't sing it. I make every song about myself, I'm very egocentric! But hopefully I'm taking the listener with me as well, and they're putting themselves into the story too. I think it's the only way to achieve any suspension of disbelief. And nobody wants to watch a faker. I don't think I've every managed to sing 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' without fighting back tears.
MW: So, what influenced your choice of songs for Bright Morning Star? Are they tunes which remind you of family Christmas traditions or songs which have any particular nostalgic connections?
BH: There's a whole mix of influences when it comes to the Bright Morning Star songs. The first is definitely the festive traditions back home, the carols of South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire. Castleton is my local traditional carol village, it's just over the hill from Edale. I recorded 'Down In Yon Forest', collected in Castleton by Vaughan Williams in 1908, on my debut CD Night Visiting, and then another Castleton song 'All In The Morning' on 'In The Shadow of Mountains'.
It seemed only natural to take these carols on the road. Christmas and the singing that goes hand in hand with it is very much a community experience for me; we've always sung in the village choir, and done carols door to door back home; I'm really just trying to take this great feeling of community and home and belonging on the road with me. I pick any songs, old or new, that can communicate that.
MW: You've just returned from a grand musical tour of Canada; did you learn anything of Christmas traditions there?
BH: I'm afraid not! I was there September to October, I really missed the season! Well actually Cara Luft sang a couple of beautiful Canadian Christmas songs to me, so who knows what Christmas crossovers the future holds...
MW: The Bright Morning Star tour looks like a heavy schedule up and down the country, in a variety of different venues. Do you try and select more intimate settings to add to the atmosphere?
BH: There's always a great variety of venues, from front rooms to churches to formal theatre spaces. We create the intimacy with the music (of course), but I give it a helping hand with a ridiculous amount of baubles and fairy lights! I basically spend the whole month untangling the things! But that's an important Christmas tradition, right?
MW: Right! But will you be 'Christmassed Out' by the end of the tour, or will you still be up for more songs around the piano in Edale?
BH: I have never managed to get 'Christmassed Out'. Not a chance. I try and put off any festivities until advent starts to avoid over stretching it. Well, apart from tour preparations, plum brandy and Christmas Cake making in November that is. OK, who am I kidding!
MW: So is it back to Edinburgh for Hogmanay, and straight back to work in the New Year?
BH: New Year's Day 2013, I wrote a newsletter and made my sister Emma design the 'Battleplan' CD cover with me… maybe we'll take the day off this time!
MW: You will be 30 next year (sorry!) and I think a special milestone tour is planned to mark the occasion. Will there be a new album to go with it?
BH: Please don't be sorry! I'm not! I'm very excited about the whole thing. Yes, I turn 30 in May, and I'm hitting the road with my band The Midnight Watch for a tour called 'Thirty for 30'; thirty gigs for my 30th birthday! There won't be an album with it, I think you've all heard quite enough from me for a while! But I will have a little EP of birthday songs to celebrate the occasion.
MW: Thanks for finding the time to talk to us, Bella. Every success with Bright Morning Star and your future projects. (December 2013)
For more information and tour dates go to www.bellahardy.com
MW: For me, Bright Morning Star was one of the musical highlights of last Christmas, with some magical interpretations of classic songs. Will this year's tour feature any new material?
BH: Well that's very kind of you! Yes, there's some new material this year; I've actually finally managed to write my own original Christmas song! This is the fourth year of the tour, so it's taken a while…There's so many Christmas songs that I love, I try to include a few different ones each year so there's always something new. So many of them encapsulate the emotions of the season so well. I think Christmas itself causes a kind of concentration of feeling, be that positive or negative sensation. The job of any great song is to translate these feelings, so I think Christmas music has an amazing head start, and this results in very powerful songs.
MW: Battleplan seemed to take your songwriting into a new, more personal direction.Will the upcoming Christmas tour reflect this too, or are you sticking to a more traditional flavour?
BH: Battleplan is definitely more overtly personal than my previous records, but actually the songs I've recorded have always been very personal to me, I just tend to hide myself into lyrics so you can't tell! In every song, be it one of my own, traditional, or a cover, I'm putting myself into the character or the story, finding Stanislavski's 'chink in the armour'. If I can't do that, I don't sing it. I make every song about myself, I'm very egocentric! But hopefully I'm taking the listener with me as well, and they're putting themselves into the story too. I think it's the only way to achieve any suspension of disbelief. And nobody wants to watch a faker. I don't think I've every managed to sing 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' without fighting back tears.
MW: So, what influenced your choice of songs for Bright Morning Star? Are they tunes which remind you of family Christmas traditions or songs which have any particular nostalgic connections?
BH: There's a whole mix of influences when it comes to the Bright Morning Star songs. The first is definitely the festive traditions back home, the carols of South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire. Castleton is my local traditional carol village, it's just over the hill from Edale. I recorded 'Down In Yon Forest', collected in Castleton by Vaughan Williams in 1908, on my debut CD Night Visiting, and then another Castleton song 'All In The Morning' on 'In The Shadow of Mountains'.
It seemed only natural to take these carols on the road. Christmas and the singing that goes hand in hand with it is very much a community experience for me; we've always sung in the village choir, and done carols door to door back home; I'm really just trying to take this great feeling of community and home and belonging on the road with me. I pick any songs, old or new, that can communicate that.
MW: You've just returned from a grand musical tour of Canada; did you learn anything of Christmas traditions there?
BH: I'm afraid not! I was there September to October, I really missed the season! Well actually Cara Luft sang a couple of beautiful Canadian Christmas songs to me, so who knows what Christmas crossovers the future holds...
MW: The Bright Morning Star tour looks like a heavy schedule up and down the country, in a variety of different venues. Do you try and select more intimate settings to add to the atmosphere?
BH: There's always a great variety of venues, from front rooms to churches to formal theatre spaces. We create the intimacy with the music (of course), but I give it a helping hand with a ridiculous amount of baubles and fairy lights! I basically spend the whole month untangling the things! But that's an important Christmas tradition, right?
MW: Right! But will you be 'Christmassed Out' by the end of the tour, or will you still be up for more songs around the piano in Edale?
BH: I have never managed to get 'Christmassed Out'. Not a chance. I try and put off any festivities until advent starts to avoid over stretching it. Well, apart from tour preparations, plum brandy and Christmas Cake making in November that is. OK, who am I kidding!
MW: So is it back to Edinburgh for Hogmanay, and straight back to work in the New Year?
BH: New Year's Day 2013, I wrote a newsletter and made my sister Emma design the 'Battleplan' CD cover with me… maybe we'll take the day off this time!
MW: You will be 30 next year (sorry!) and I think a special milestone tour is planned to mark the occasion. Will there be a new album to go with it?
BH: Please don't be sorry! I'm not! I'm very excited about the whole thing. Yes, I turn 30 in May, and I'm hitting the road with my band The Midnight Watch for a tour called 'Thirty for 30'; thirty gigs for my 30th birthday! There won't be an album with it, I think you've all heard quite enough from me for a while! But I will have a little EP of birthday songs to celebrate the occasion.
MW: Thanks for finding the time to talk to us, Bella. Every success with Bright Morning Star and your future projects. (December 2013)
For more information and tour dates go to www.bellahardy.com