Listening to the different voices and arrangements of The Sandy Denny Project. Current line-up is Sally Barker, guitarist PJ Wright, Marion Fleetwood, Gemma Shirley, Mat Davies and Mark Stevens. A reinterpretation rather than a tribute band.
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I greatly enjoyed the Eighteenth Day of May who were together for three years and produced one album. From time to time I look to see what individual musicians are doing. This is Alison Cotton who was commissioned by the BBC to produce music for Muriel Spark’s ghost stories. ‘The House of the Famous Poet’
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Interesting, thanks @Stokie. I saw her performing her most recent record, Engelchen, last year and it was captivating
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Thanks! I’ve not heard Engelchen yet - available from Rocket Recordings or digital downloads from Bandcamp.
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I am dipping into this album only because of Anne Clark’s version of Yeat’s’ the stolen child. I’ve not come across her music before, but her voice is captivating.
Following the Yeat’s thread led me to this … not to my usual taste, but worthy of a listening.
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Katy J. Pearson made an EP of the songs in The Wicker Man in 2022. Wet Leg and Broadside Hacks are among Katy’s friends. ‘Fire Leap’ is especially effective.
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Try also Old Adam and The Full English.
Her website has disappeared, so not sure what she is currently doing.
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As a matter of interest @IainO and @catswhiskers I attach an article by Fay Hield (surely it’s a pseudonym or her parents had a sense of humour?).
It follows her research after the release of her second album. I wonder, as music lovers listening at home, whether there is another aspect to her thesis?
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Free BMD says Fay Emma Hield was born in the Halifax registration district in the March quarter 1978
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It was a banjo related article which drew me to Wrackline, rather than the folk aspect. For some reason I love a bit of skilfully played banjo.
I will check out those other albums.
I actually read the full Phd thesis following a conversation with her.
I’ll do this one later.
She comes across as deeply committed in preserving “folk” music and heritage at the same time developing that into a modern idiom, the work that must go into taking a piece only heard, or written as a melody line a couple of hundred years ago, translating it to a group piece as it might have been performed, then adapting it to what we hear in her recordings must be immense.
Then as well as the day job she works in the community, helps run folk clubs.
She seems to cover all the bases.
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Banjo! Banjo? There are some who will decry that, they don’t know what they are missing.
If you haven’t found them already, try Rhiannon Giddens/ Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Hot Club of Cowtown and Bela Fleck.
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Aware of those, thanks.
I listen to a lot of bluegrass etc.
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Found an interview transcript on line which says
‘And it would be remiss of me not to ask about her name but I think I can hear a sigh at the other end of the line as I raise it. “My parents didn’t really notice [that it’s a spoonerism of hay field]. But by the time I was about seven, people were starting to mention it. I’ve always thought that I should be a gardener really - like Pippa Greenwood, Bunny Guinness or Alan Titchmarsh. And then I’ve had a few people who assumed it must be a stage name. But no.”’
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I do like her voice and it suits the banks of the Nile; and I think her research is interesting from a cultural perspective. I will read more of it. I’m grateful for @catswhiskers pointing her work out.
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That is kind of you. I like to share.
I’ve just read the link about Old Adam. There are quite a few parallels with music in my life. I’m trying to prepare a talk for U3a classical listening group, of course that concentrates on classical, then the Old Adam paper reminds me of childhood outings. We had no car, so trips were with paternal grandparents. Grandmother would sing, lots of Ten Green Bottles, Bobby Bingo but interspersed with story songs that she learned at school, from farms and family around Blockley and Moreton in Marsh where her father was a stocking weaver.
So, I might argue that it is in my blood. In my teens I could easily get to half a dozen song or dance clubs without going into Bristol. I guess I fall into performance, active and passive listening camps. Yes, I enjoy the research, the social and performance history. Perhaps not so dedicated as Ms Hield, definitely not as talented.
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Singing was part of my upbringing: school and church in the Cotswolds.
My mother and her sister lived near Moreton; the latter ran the Redesdale Arms.
However, I never learnt an instrument and sang by ear. Now I appreciate music at home, as I prefer to avoid crowds. I prefer tunes to lyrics, but a good voice makes up for an uninspiring tune.
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RIP John Gladwin
I confess I have an album from Amazing Blondel, whose founder has died.
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