An album of reflection and optimistic anticipation
Lockdown might have been a time of few physical journeys, but for Simon Mayor & Hilary James, free of concert commitments, it was a chance to journey back to their roots and revisit favourite songs and tunes, as well as to write new material.
For Simon, it was a time to rosin up the bow with a passion. His treasured 1740 violin (yes, it’s that old!) had long played, err... second fiddle (sorry!) to his international reputation as a mandolinist, but, as a diversion from his Russian studies, he’d been inspired to teach himself both instruments (the two don’t look related but they're tuned identically) in his late teenage years. Here, the violin is heard on intricate arrangements of the traditional songs Sumer Is Icumen In and Lovely Joan, on his own swing-tinged composition Jerry & Tom, but perhaps most strikingly on The Buttermere Waltz, a frequently requested mandolin piece on gigs, now heard on violin for the first time.
But there’s no shortage of mandolin too, or its big sisters the mandola and mandocello. All three feature on the starkly beautiful arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Barcarole, and on the original tunes The Kissing Gate & The Strawberry Tree, written for the Classical Mandolin Society of America’s annual convention 2020 held ‘in the clouds'.
For Hilary, revisiting the title track When Summer Comes Again, a song she wrote and recorded some thirty years ago, seemed an appropriately optimistic way to hail the emergence from lockdown. It’s re-recorded here with her sister Janet Giraudo's harmony vocals arriving from France courtesy of cyberspace!
For all her reputation as a singer, it’s a little ironic that Hilary’s unusual taste in bass instruments attracts as much attention. Her mandobass (bass mandolin) was made by luthier Robin Greenwood in Bournemouth; she found it selling second-hand quite by chance just a week before the duo started their mandolin quartet The Mandolinquents. It’s become something of a calling card ever since, although she plays double bass on the album too.
No surprise that traditional songs, Hilary’s first passion, feature too. There’s also an excursion into Italianate opera in JC Bach’s Al Mio Bene, and a live recording of the duo’s own setting of William Barnes’ beautiful poem Linden Lea. Oh, and on the subject of poetry, Simon makes his spoken word debut with his own The Stick (possibly the only poem about a stick).
For more information, visit mayorandjames.com/
For Simon, it was a time to rosin up the bow with a passion. His treasured 1740 violin (yes, it’s that old!) had long played, err... second fiddle (sorry!) to his international reputation as a mandolinist, but, as a diversion from his Russian studies, he’d been inspired to teach himself both instruments (the two don’t look related but they're tuned identically) in his late teenage years. Here, the violin is heard on intricate arrangements of the traditional songs Sumer Is Icumen In and Lovely Joan, on his own swing-tinged composition Jerry & Tom, but perhaps most strikingly on The Buttermere Waltz, a frequently requested mandolin piece on gigs, now heard on violin for the first time.
But there’s no shortage of mandolin too, or its big sisters the mandola and mandocello. All three feature on the starkly beautiful arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Barcarole, and on the original tunes The Kissing Gate & The Strawberry Tree, written for the Classical Mandolin Society of America’s annual convention 2020 held ‘in the clouds'.
For Hilary, revisiting the title track When Summer Comes Again, a song she wrote and recorded some thirty years ago, seemed an appropriately optimistic way to hail the emergence from lockdown. It’s re-recorded here with her sister Janet Giraudo's harmony vocals arriving from France courtesy of cyberspace!
For all her reputation as a singer, it’s a little ironic that Hilary’s unusual taste in bass instruments attracts as much attention. Her mandobass (bass mandolin) was made by luthier Robin Greenwood in Bournemouth; she found it selling second-hand quite by chance just a week before the duo started their mandolin quartet The Mandolinquents. It’s become something of a calling card ever since, although she plays double bass on the album too.
No surprise that traditional songs, Hilary’s first passion, feature too. There’s also an excursion into Italianate opera in JC Bach’s Al Mio Bene, and a live recording of the duo’s own setting of William Barnes’ beautiful poem Linden Lea. Oh, and on the subject of poetry, Simon makes his spoken word debut with his own The Stick (possibly the only poem about a stick).
For more information, visit mayorandjames.com/
Two versions of new single from And Did Those Feet
And Did Those Feet were formed in 1995 as a vehicle for the songs of Richard Ellin which are esoteric and spiritual in nature. Since its formation there have been six albums and several singles with a few live concerts on the BBC and various cd launch events. They are currently working on their seventh album to be called ‘I AM God of Einstein.’
Two versions of 'What It All Was Worth' from the forthcoming album have now been released; an instrumental, and a single featuring the voice of Ina Williams.
The last four releases have featured Ina Williams as principal singer with Harvey Summers taking more responsibility in the arranger role. Tracks have been licensed by Time Warner and Readers Digest Europe with videos played on Classic FM TV.
The name of the band is taken from the Blake/Parry song ‘Jerusalem’ and reflects aspects of the unseen and sometimes difficult to fathom side of the English and British nature. Ellin was envious that Woody Guthrie had ‘This Machine Kills Fascists’ written on his guitar so he had a young girl photographed with a guitar that said ‘ This machine goes one way but not the other’ and was the cover of their 5th album called ‘We are Just Beginning.’ One reviewer noted that the key to this band is Dreaming, not in the way of fantasising but in the Albion equivalent of aboriginal dream time. And Did Those Feet walks that very thin line between the two.
“I always thought that ‘The Bonny Bonny Broom’ was a Scottish tune but after digging around it seems it could be English," said Richard Ellin. "I don’t think we will ever know for certain. A reference to the song first appears in Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy in 1538 and the first notation of the tune appears in 1651 in Playford’s Dance Master , London. It is reckoned that the gipsy singer Alice Boyce sang it for Queen Elizabeth I."
The first appearance in a Scottish collection was seventy five years after Playford. I have always doubted that many people could follow the meaning of the original words . A heavy dialect shot through with melancholia had lost some relevance, the melody was perfect for the voice of Ina Williams and I felt it could use a new text………
Weary from the days of callousness in the dance to the tune of make it pay.
What would I give for a moment in time to make these troubles go away
Yet this fool compelled to work this land, a victim of circumstance and birth
Will come to know at the end of his days precisely what it all was worth
Two versions of 'What It All Was Worth' from the forthcoming album have now been released; an instrumental, and a single featuring the voice of Ina Williams.
The last four releases have featured Ina Williams as principal singer with Harvey Summers taking more responsibility in the arranger role. Tracks have been licensed by Time Warner and Readers Digest Europe with videos played on Classic FM TV.
The name of the band is taken from the Blake/Parry song ‘Jerusalem’ and reflects aspects of the unseen and sometimes difficult to fathom side of the English and British nature. Ellin was envious that Woody Guthrie had ‘This Machine Kills Fascists’ written on his guitar so he had a young girl photographed with a guitar that said ‘ This machine goes one way but not the other’ and was the cover of their 5th album called ‘We are Just Beginning.’ One reviewer noted that the key to this band is Dreaming, not in the way of fantasising but in the Albion equivalent of aboriginal dream time. And Did Those Feet walks that very thin line between the two.
“I always thought that ‘The Bonny Bonny Broom’ was a Scottish tune but after digging around it seems it could be English," said Richard Ellin. "I don’t think we will ever know for certain. A reference to the song first appears in Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy in 1538 and the first notation of the tune appears in 1651 in Playford’s Dance Master , London. It is reckoned that the gipsy singer Alice Boyce sang it for Queen Elizabeth I."
The first appearance in a Scottish collection was seventy five years after Playford. I have always doubted that many people could follow the meaning of the original words . A heavy dialect shot through with melancholia had lost some relevance, the melody was perfect for the voice of Ina Williams and I felt it could use a new text………
Weary from the days of callousness in the dance to the tune of make it pay.
What would I give for a moment in time to make these troubles go away
Yet this fool compelled to work this land, a victim of circumstance and birth
Will come to know at the end of his days precisely what it all was worth
The role of nature, myth and superstition
The Last Inklings (Leonardo MacKenzie and David Hoyland) are both accomplished multi-instrumentalists with a solid folk background having both previously been members of Kadia.
The band's innovative sound crosses genres, centred around cello, mandolin and vocal harmony, layered with guitar, piano, strings, synths and percussion. With vibrant backstories and creative musicianship, their songs have a modern flavour that is rich with imagery and narrative, exploring at their core what it is to be human.
The 12-track debut album, ‘The Impossible Wild’, explores the role of nature, myth and superstition in the modern world. The album is a wonderful celebration of storytelling that uses symphonic arrangements and narrative lyrics to conjure up a variety of themes and imagery. Through the lens of music and metaphor, The Last Inklings explore modern life contemporary issues including mental health, personal wellbeing and growth, and our impact on the environment.
“Story and myth have always helped us to define who we are”, say Leonardo and David, “and they are just as relevant today. In many ways, these old stories have lost their meaning in society and have been replaced by consumer narratives in TV and film.
Our detachment from true myth and meaning could be a reason why we have become so far removed from our natural state, which has left us more vulnerable to mental health is- sues. Yet we have the power to shape our own lives if we can learn to live outside our ego, whilst recognising and rebalancing our place in the world. All stories have power, but the stories we tell about ourselves have the most”
For more information and tour dates, visit www.thelastinklings.co.uk
The band's innovative sound crosses genres, centred around cello, mandolin and vocal harmony, layered with guitar, piano, strings, synths and percussion. With vibrant backstories and creative musicianship, their songs have a modern flavour that is rich with imagery and narrative, exploring at their core what it is to be human.
The 12-track debut album, ‘The Impossible Wild’, explores the role of nature, myth and superstition in the modern world. The album is a wonderful celebration of storytelling that uses symphonic arrangements and narrative lyrics to conjure up a variety of themes and imagery. Through the lens of music and metaphor, The Last Inklings explore modern life contemporary issues including mental health, personal wellbeing and growth, and our impact on the environment.
“Story and myth have always helped us to define who we are”, say Leonardo and David, “and they are just as relevant today. In many ways, these old stories have lost their meaning in society and have been replaced by consumer narratives in TV and film.
Our detachment from true myth and meaning could be a reason why we have become so far removed from our natural state, which has left us more vulnerable to mental health is- sues. Yet we have the power to shape our own lives if we can learn to live outside our ego, whilst recognising and rebalancing our place in the world. All stories have power, but the stories we tell about ourselves have the most”
For more information and tour dates, visit www.thelastinklings.co.uk
From Ancient Rome to Warwickshire
The music of the Roman Empire has always been a mystery…until now. Mary Ann Tedstone Glover, Glasgow born now Stratford Upon Avon resident, has spent years figuring out what the music of the Roman era sounded like and now releases an album of her findings this Autumn.
In this first volume of The Music of Ancient Rome, Mary Ann, in association with Integrity Publishing Ltd, brings the mood music of ancient Rome to life for your listening delight.
While classicists and archaeologists have pieced together a history of ancient Rome from a number of perspectives: social and cultural, economic and political, the civilisation which stands as the cornerstone of our modern history has largely remained silent.
We live our lives today surrounded by music. From the car radios and TV ads which paint the background to our day, to the music we hear on special occasions, at weddings, funerals and even music festivals. And so too it was for the Romans. But for a range of reasons, until now, there was no real comprehension as to the sound-track of ancient Rome. Ancient Roman notation existed but was not well understood.
Recently discovered instrument fragments amounted to little more than a jigsaw with no completed article to reference. Hints lay in vases, literature, paintings and pottery, but as there was no way of recording what our forebears heard, no clear road map existed to recreate it. Until now.
One solitary PhD researcher has doggedly followed the trail of clues to its ultimate conclusion.
Imagine for a moment a sonic tapestry in which long unheard instruments have been recreated, clues uncovered and notation unravelled. Imagine if world class acapella singers, whose harmonies have been heard on world class movies such as The Lord of the Rings, had received lessons in Latin from Oxford professors so that not only the keys and modes in which they sing are authentic, but their Latin accents perfect. Imagine no more.
In this first volume of The Music of Ancient Rome, Mary Ann Tedstone Glover, in association with Integrity Publishing Ltd, brings the mood music of ancient Rome to life for your listening delight.
The digital album is out now, and will be released physically on Nov 19th.
In this first volume of The Music of Ancient Rome, Mary Ann, in association with Integrity Publishing Ltd, brings the mood music of ancient Rome to life for your listening delight.
While classicists and archaeologists have pieced together a history of ancient Rome from a number of perspectives: social and cultural, economic and political, the civilisation which stands as the cornerstone of our modern history has largely remained silent.
We live our lives today surrounded by music. From the car radios and TV ads which paint the background to our day, to the music we hear on special occasions, at weddings, funerals and even music festivals. And so too it was for the Romans. But for a range of reasons, until now, there was no real comprehension as to the sound-track of ancient Rome. Ancient Roman notation existed but was not well understood.
Recently discovered instrument fragments amounted to little more than a jigsaw with no completed article to reference. Hints lay in vases, literature, paintings and pottery, but as there was no way of recording what our forebears heard, no clear road map existed to recreate it. Until now.
One solitary PhD researcher has doggedly followed the trail of clues to its ultimate conclusion.
Imagine for a moment a sonic tapestry in which long unheard instruments have been recreated, clues uncovered and notation unravelled. Imagine if world class acapella singers, whose harmonies have been heard on world class movies such as The Lord of the Rings, had received lessons in Latin from Oxford professors so that not only the keys and modes in which they sing are authentic, but their Latin accents perfect. Imagine no more.
In this first volume of The Music of Ancient Rome, Mary Ann Tedstone Glover, in association with Integrity Publishing Ltd, brings the mood music of ancient Rome to life for your listening delight.
The digital album is out now, and will be released physically on Nov 19th.
Daisy Chute's Secondhand Heart
Daisy Chute is an American-Scottish Folk / Roots singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and regular on the London live music scene. Daisy is excited to announce the release of her new single ‘Secondhand Heart’ - the first track from her forthcoming new EP, ‘Songs of Solace’.
A banjo-wielding multi-instrumentalist, Daisy’s musical roots are born out of her transatlantic heritage and she writes award-winning intelligent songs with stories, performing them with spine-tingling vocals & intricate instrumentation.
’Secondhand Heart’ is the first in a concept EP entitled ‘Songs of Solace’ which follows the beginning, middle and end of a relationship and explores themes of mental health and depression. The track features Daisy on guitar/piano, Midori Jaeger on cello and Elisabeth Flett on violin.
Daisy says, “’Secondhand Heart’ is about embarking on a new relationship but carry-ing with you all the baggage of former relationships. It's about that desire for intimacy and connection, but with the knowledge that it could all fall apart like it has before ...”
While her musical roots were born out of her Scottish/American heritage, Daisy has had forays and extensive training in both the jazz and classical genres. Her first album was a critically-acclaimed jazz record released at just age 15. Following encouragement from music legends like Mark Murphy and Sir Barry Gibb, she was enlisted shortly after to be a lead singer in Decca’s platinum-selling, brit-nominated classical group All Angels with whom she released 3 albums.
Fast forward to 2021, and you will find Daisy returned to her folk/americana roots and spending most of her time songwriting, selling out venues and festivals, and recording for her own projects and countless soundtracks for films, TV shows and games like David Attenborough's ‘A Perfect Planet’ and for bands like Radiohead and Two Door Cinema Club. She is also the co-founder of HEARD Collective - an artist collective who promote and support women in music, and the co-writer of COVEN - a gig theatre show about witches.
Daisy has been busy performing both in the UK and abroad with tours to Nashville, New York and LA in America, and festival appearances including Glastonbury, Cornbury, Love Supreme, Black Deer and Summertyne.
One of broadcaster and journalist Paul Sexton's 'top music tips', Daisy's music has been compared to Simon and Garfunkel and Joni Mitchell by BBC Radio Kent, likened to Cat Power by her mentor Sir Ray Davies and given the thumbs up by Sir Paul McCartney after a performance at the Royal Albert Hall.
A banjo-wielding multi-instrumentalist, Daisy’s musical roots are born out of her transatlantic heritage and she writes award-winning intelligent songs with stories, performing them with spine-tingling vocals & intricate instrumentation.
’Secondhand Heart’ is the first in a concept EP entitled ‘Songs of Solace’ which follows the beginning, middle and end of a relationship and explores themes of mental health and depression. The track features Daisy on guitar/piano, Midori Jaeger on cello and Elisabeth Flett on violin.
Daisy says, “’Secondhand Heart’ is about embarking on a new relationship but carry-ing with you all the baggage of former relationships. It's about that desire for intimacy and connection, but with the knowledge that it could all fall apart like it has before ...”
While her musical roots were born out of her Scottish/American heritage, Daisy has had forays and extensive training in both the jazz and classical genres. Her first album was a critically-acclaimed jazz record released at just age 15. Following encouragement from music legends like Mark Murphy and Sir Barry Gibb, she was enlisted shortly after to be a lead singer in Decca’s platinum-selling, brit-nominated classical group All Angels with whom she released 3 albums.
Fast forward to 2021, and you will find Daisy returned to her folk/americana roots and spending most of her time songwriting, selling out venues and festivals, and recording for her own projects and countless soundtracks for films, TV shows and games like David Attenborough's ‘A Perfect Planet’ and for bands like Radiohead and Two Door Cinema Club. She is also the co-founder of HEARD Collective - an artist collective who promote and support women in music, and the co-writer of COVEN - a gig theatre show about witches.
Daisy has been busy performing both in the UK and abroad with tours to Nashville, New York and LA in America, and festival appearances including Glastonbury, Cornbury, Love Supreme, Black Deer and Summertyne.
One of broadcaster and journalist Paul Sexton's 'top music tips', Daisy's music has been compared to Simon and Garfunkel and Joni Mitchell by BBC Radio Kent, likened to Cat Power by her mentor Sir Ray Davies and given the thumbs up by Sir Paul McCartney after a performance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Haunting folk fairytale from The People Versus
Formed in 2019, The People Versus borrow from a variety of genres and traditions. Their combined voices and instrumental lines swoop, circle and support the beguiling voice and personality of the lead singer Alice Edwards. Each song is taut with feeling and longing, with many inspired by Greek myth and tales from Shakespeare.
Explaining the background to the new single ‘Witch’, Alice says "Witch was written around the myth of Eros and Psyche through the lens of my own experience exploring my non-binary identity. From the starting point of doing drag at night to safely and privately experiment with the performance of gender (I was a boy again), this in my mind resonated with the scene of Eros asking Psyche not to look upon him when he was with her in the evenings; he could not safely let her know him. In fact, the story in which their love is not left in peace due to who they are is inherently part of the queer experience both historically and today.
The idea then of love driving us to uncharacteristic or unsafe actions, and the determination with which we dive into such situations for true happiness, is the spirit that underlines the rest of the song.
The People Versus have been quickly recognised as one of the most exciting talents coming out of the Folk Music scene in Oxford, UK with one journalist describing their sound as "haunting folk fairytales powered by sheer pop euphoria.”
Notwithstanding their recent launch on to the music scene, they nevertheless filled tents at Greenbelt Festival and Lakefest and completed runs of small venues and festivals across the UK to enthusiastic audiences. The People Versus further secured bookings for Cambridge Folk Festival, How The Light Gets In, and a rescheduled campfire show with The Nest Collective.
With a sold-out debut EP launch, their first offering, “Ground Opening”, produced by Tom Donovan, was met with excitement and critical acclaim with its opening track being played on BBC South Today and supported by BBC Introducing. Videos for the tracks were filmed by special permission in the Divinity School and Museum of Natural History Oxford offering a stunning unique setting both visually and acoustically.
Check out the band live: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMV-EOZb_Qs
Explaining the background to the new single ‘Witch’, Alice says "Witch was written around the myth of Eros and Psyche through the lens of my own experience exploring my non-binary identity. From the starting point of doing drag at night to safely and privately experiment with the performance of gender (I was a boy again), this in my mind resonated with the scene of Eros asking Psyche not to look upon him when he was with her in the evenings; he could not safely let her know him. In fact, the story in which their love is not left in peace due to who they are is inherently part of the queer experience both historically and today.
The idea then of love driving us to uncharacteristic or unsafe actions, and the determination with which we dive into such situations for true happiness, is the spirit that underlines the rest of the song.
The People Versus have been quickly recognised as one of the most exciting talents coming out of the Folk Music scene in Oxford, UK with one journalist describing their sound as "haunting folk fairytales powered by sheer pop euphoria.”
Notwithstanding their recent launch on to the music scene, they nevertheless filled tents at Greenbelt Festival and Lakefest and completed runs of small venues and festivals across the UK to enthusiastic audiences. The People Versus further secured bookings for Cambridge Folk Festival, How The Light Gets In, and a rescheduled campfire show with The Nest Collective.
With a sold-out debut EP launch, their first offering, “Ground Opening”, produced by Tom Donovan, was met with excitement and critical acclaim with its opening track being played on BBC South Today and supported by BBC Introducing. Videos for the tracks were filmed by special permission in the Divinity School and Museum of Natural History Oxford offering a stunning unique setting both visually and acoustically.
Check out the band live: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMV-EOZb_Qs
Radical self love from Prairie songstress
Resonant, acoustic chamber folk with an otherworldly edge, and a lyric presence that cuts deep. Prairie-songstress and storyweaver, Raine Hamilton releases new single Love Has Come For Me as an anthem of radical self love.
Taken from upcoming album Brave Land due for release in January 2022; Love Has Come For Me is a song for looking inside of ourselves and loving and accepting who we are. Raine explains ... “When I was writing this song, I was shining that light around inside, seeing who had been left behind, and I rediscovered some parts of myself that I had long ignored. For me, that discovery had a lot to do with queerness, and finding my way to deep love of that part. I want to release this song during Pride month as an offering to the queer folks out there, looking for an anthem of self love.”
Winnipeg, Western Canada native, Raine grew up in a musical family writing songs from a young age. A classical violinist and musicologist by training, Raine and her string trio - Quintin Bart on Double Bass & Natanielle Felicitas on Cello - offer string-quartet-like arrangements of Raine’s original songs.
Raine invites her love of the violin into the singer-songwriter genre, described as a form of chamber-folk, a hybrid of the classical tradition of string quartet chamber music, with the singer songwriter folk that comes so organically to Raine. Raine’s latest work, the full-length album Brave Land (2021-22), is a concept album about mountains, and the courage, wisdom, and otherworldly connection they represent. The new album will be released slowly over the course of a year, with the first single released in January 2021. As listeners we can look forward to roughly 1 song per month, as Raine shares her 11 song album, along with the stories of the songs and other super secret content. Raine believes that music is for everyone, and that we all have something to share.
An experienced educator, Raine offers workshops in songwriting and fiddle tune writing (EN/FR). Raine also offers concerts with American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, to help make live music and the community that comes with it more accessible to the Deaf community. Raine has released two previous albums, Past Your Past (2015) and Night Sky (2018), before becoming the recipient of the 2018 Canadian Folk Music Award for Emerging Artist of the Year. Raine has toured Canada extensively, driving, flying, and floating her way coast to coast. Highlights include: Performing songs with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, performing with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, playing a show in a cave, and playing festivals across Canada (Vancouver Folk Festival, Vancouver Island Music Fest, Atlin Festival, Home County, Filberg Fest, Lilac Fest, Harvest Moon, Trout Forest).
For more information visit www.rainehamilton.com/
Taken from upcoming album Brave Land due for release in January 2022; Love Has Come For Me is a song for looking inside of ourselves and loving and accepting who we are. Raine explains ... “When I was writing this song, I was shining that light around inside, seeing who had been left behind, and I rediscovered some parts of myself that I had long ignored. For me, that discovery had a lot to do with queerness, and finding my way to deep love of that part. I want to release this song during Pride month as an offering to the queer folks out there, looking for an anthem of self love.”
Winnipeg, Western Canada native, Raine grew up in a musical family writing songs from a young age. A classical violinist and musicologist by training, Raine and her string trio - Quintin Bart on Double Bass & Natanielle Felicitas on Cello - offer string-quartet-like arrangements of Raine’s original songs.
Raine invites her love of the violin into the singer-songwriter genre, described as a form of chamber-folk, a hybrid of the classical tradition of string quartet chamber music, with the singer songwriter folk that comes so organically to Raine. Raine’s latest work, the full-length album Brave Land (2021-22), is a concept album about mountains, and the courage, wisdom, and otherworldly connection they represent. The new album will be released slowly over the course of a year, with the first single released in January 2021. As listeners we can look forward to roughly 1 song per month, as Raine shares her 11 song album, along with the stories of the songs and other super secret content. Raine believes that music is for everyone, and that we all have something to share.
An experienced educator, Raine offers workshops in songwriting and fiddle tune writing (EN/FR). Raine also offers concerts with American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, to help make live music and the community that comes with it more accessible to the Deaf community. Raine has released two previous albums, Past Your Past (2015) and Night Sky (2018), before becoming the recipient of the 2018 Canadian Folk Music Award for Emerging Artist of the Year. Raine has toured Canada extensively, driving, flying, and floating her way coast to coast. Highlights include: Performing songs with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, performing with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, playing a show in a cave, and playing festivals across Canada (Vancouver Folk Festival, Vancouver Island Music Fest, Atlin Festival, Home County, Filberg Fest, Lilac Fest, Harvest Moon, Trout Forest).
For more information visit www.rainehamilton.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