I'm really loving this version of Fair Annie (child 62) off Burd Ellen's latest album, which pairs folk songs (and one Alasdair Roberts song, which feels like a worthy exception) with major arcana. Enjoy!
One can write so many essays on how folk songs offer a voice for women's pain and rage at the injustices they face, and you could certainly write one about Fair Annie, first documented as a ballad in the 1800s but linked to Marie de France's "La Fresne" probably written around 1194. How rare and wonderful to have a source date and and initial author for this one, for all that we can't track all the hands that carried it through the intervening centuries.
Nick Jonah Davis lives in Derbyshire, England, which is a place where evidence of older editions of England is always easy to find. Successive eras likewise coincide in his music. Davis plays acoustic and electric guitars, drawing on both American and English folk and instrumental traditions. He has worked with like-minded folk, such as C. Joynes and Sharron Kraus, and is also an established guitar teacher and provider of therapeutic musical interventions. He’s been recording the occasional solo record since 2009, and in 2016, Dusted’s Bill Meyer had this to say about House of Dragons: “the Nottingham-based guitarist isn’t living in bifurcations of the past, and he isn’t asking us to either. Rather, he invites the listener into a world bounded by the resonance of his tunings and the vividness of his evolving melodies.” Thread Recordings is about to release a swell new LP, When the Sun Came, and Davis has compiled a list of sounds made by some of his favorite associates.
Even for solo guitarists, music is a collaborative, social thing. For this list I’ve picked some music by artists that I’ve collaborated, recorded or gigged with over the last decade or so. Members of the NJD home team.
Kogumaza — “Ursids”
WAAT048 Split 7" w/Hookworms by Kogumaza
When I lived in Nottingham, Kogumaza were my favorite band in town. They play deep, droning riff-based cosmic guitar music which draws on their backgrounds playing with local heroes like Lords, Rattle and Bob Tilton. They’ve also done their homework, having sat in with heavy hitters like Glenn Branca, Damo Suzuki and Boredoms. This tune was recorded in Nottingham, with Nathan Bell of Lungfish sitting in on bass. I was the assistant engineer on this session, and remember getting a pleasing headful of Katy Brown’s kick drum as we set up the mics. Mind-manifesting stuff.
Ex-Easter Island Head — “Large Electric Ensemble Third Movement”
Large Electric Ensemble by Ex-Easter Island Head
Liverpool’s Ex-Easter Island Head are a revelation. They repurpose electric guitars through a variety of extended techniques, with unprecedented, nourishing results. I was lucky enough to play a couple of shows as a member of their Large Electric Ensemble, a 12-guitar band powered by 1 drummer and multiple Arts Council pizzas. I learned a lot from them in terms of playing guitar with craftily-deployed allen keys and bolts. Living proof that people can and do make genuinely beautiful, ground-breaking music without being all precious and up themselves about it. Good lads.
C Joynes and the Furlong Bray — “Sang Kancil”
The Borametz Tree by C Joynes & The Furlong Bray
Joynes and I have been fellow travelers in the solo guitar realm for many years now. We’ve probably seen more of each other’s gigs than anyone else alive. I was really pleased to be invited into the making of the Borametz Tree album. Not exactly sure how you’d describe my role on that project, but it involved some bass playing, some refereeing and, in the case of this piece, heading into my cellar with Nathan Mann to process some sounds through my echo units. I really love this bizarre, swirling piece of music. It defies description and I really can’t see how it could have happened under any circumstances. Power to the Furlong Bray.
Jim Ghedi — “Bramley Moor”
A Hymn For Ancient Land by Jim Ghedi
Jim popped up a few years ago, around the same time as Toby Hay, and has been a sure source of decent sounds ever since. Jim’s initial, masterful solo guitar work has bloomed out into an exploration of both traditional folk and his own songwriting. Having sat right next to him when we played together in my village a couple of years ago, I can confirm that he has a huge, resonant chest voice. Luckily, he always commits to his guitar just as fully, as you can hear on this jaunty instrumental on which I played some weissenborn. Nathan Mann pops up again playing percussion on this one, small world…
Cath and Phil Tyler — “King Henry”
The Ox and the Ax by Cath and Phil Tyler
I first met Cath and Phil at the legendary Sin Eater festival, a 3-day weekend of fine underground music and excellent ale at an isolated pub in Shropshire. Almost everyone on this list played there actually. This is folk music as it should be played, plain and flinty with a complete focus on the song. Understatement goes a long way in this music and, I suspect because of this, Phil is one of the most criminally under-rated guitarists around. There’s a little part of me that lives for Cath’s jaw harp break at the end of this one.
Toby Hay — “Now in a Minute”
New Music For The 12 String Guitar by Toby Hay
Toby has a special place in my heart for lining me up an annual show in a cafe at the wonderful Green Man festival for the past several years, meaning my family could go for free. Here’s a near-perfect example of a miniature acoustic study from his album New Music for the 12 String Guitar. The guitar in question was custom-built for Toby by Roger Bucknall of Fylde guitars. Fylde put out the word that a label was looking for a young guitarist to make a record on a custom-built Fylde that they would commission, and I immediately suggested Toby. He rose to the occasion. Reckon he owes me a handmade guitar though; I’ll give him a nudge one of these days.
The Horse Loom — “Silver Ribbon”
The Horse Loom by The Horse Loom
Steve Malley played in post-punk bands back in the day, gigging alongside the likes of Fugazi. He later picked up a Fylde guitar and went down an acoustic rabbit hole where his love of British folk and flamenco come to the fore. The DIY-or-die roots of his playing flash an occasional fin. After we met I persuaded him to come down to Nottingham and let me record his first album in First Love studio. He did the whole thing in a day and it’s awesome. This is my favorite instrumental from that collection.
Sharron Kraus — “Sorrow’s Arrow”
Joy's Reflection is Sorrow by Sharron Kraus
I started playing shows with Sharron as we were both UK artists on the Tompkins Square label at the time, so it kind of made sense. She’s a bit of an institution in psych-folk circles and eventually I began playing on her records and at live shows, which has been a real joy. This tune features some heavy drones and an occasional splish of my lap steel. It’s classic Kraus — mournful, insightful, immersive. If you want to hear someone with a bigger brain than yours talking about the weirder side of life, check out her Preternatural Investigations podcast.
Haress — “Wind the Bobbin”
Haress by HARESS
Haress is centered around the twin electric guitar work of Liz Still and David Hand. Located in downright gorgeous rural Shropshire, they ran the Sin Eater Festival and still put out essential music on Lancashire and Somerset Records. I reckon they’ve helped me out more than anyone over the years, releasing House of Dragons on vinyl and always setting me up a show when I need one. This gorgeous piece features Nathan Bell again, this time on trumpet. Those Nathans do get around.
Burd Ellen — “Chi-Mi-Bhuam”
Chi Mi Bhuam by Burd Ellen
I first saw Debbie Armour singing with Alasdair Roberts, a good start. When I went up to play in Glasgow in 2018, I asked if she’d like to open up my show at the Glad Café, which she did, alone except for a borrowed harmonium. I was mesmerized, I think everyone was. Too good for a support slot. Here’s a Gaelic vocal piece which demonstrates exactly who we’re dealing with here, a profoundly talented and committed artist with a lifelong immersion in traditional music, using it as a springboard into something entirely her own.
In Memory of John Peel Show 211015 Podcast & Playlist
In Memory of John Peel Show 211015 Podcast & Playlist
“If Ralph Steadman was a DJ he would have come up with a show like this”
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here’s the latest…
This may only be available until the end of today, so please watch it while you can. A stealthy lockdown performance from Stirling’s Tolbooth venue, featuring Burd Ellen and Alasdair, each doing two solo songs to bookend a sequence of four collaborative songs in the middle, which included two from the Green Ribbons repertoire (I hope that’s followable). Here’s the setlist:
Chi Mi Bhuam
Bushes and Briars
The Lover’s Ghost
My Geordie, Oh
Here’s a Health unto all True Lovers
The Creel
False Flesh
Song Composed in December
If you get the chance to watch and enjoy this, and if you’re able to return the favour, please buy something from the artists:
Burd Ellen
Green Ribbons
Alasdair Roberts
I don’t know how you can support the Tolbooth other than going there when it reopens!
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(RSS)Pod-Subscribe for free here or embed/listen at podomatic – itunes
Alasdair and Debbie Armour (a.k.a. Burd Ellen) performing Farther Along (which has cropped up in Alasdair’s live shows from time to time over the years), as part of the Songs of Loss and Healing project, I believe.
