Den Miller and Gabriel Moreno - two singer-songwriters that stand out from the crowd

Den Miller's album
'Join All The Dots'

This summer, for the third year in a row, I’ll be attending the Purbeck Valley Folk Festival in Dorset. The line-up includes a lot of great acts – Senegalese kora virtuoso Seckou Keita, Quebec folk powerhouse Le Vent du Nord and exquisite folk Americana duo Hannah Saunders & Ben Savage – not to mention another of my favourite duos Good Habits (who’ll also be collaborating with the trio The Trouble Notes in the guise of Good Trouble!)

But I’m particularly excited about the return to Purbeck of two of my favourite singer-songwriters, Den Miller and Gabriel Moreno.

I first saw Den Miller on the Purbeck Rising stage two years ago and was struck by his humour, his songwriting skill and the fact he performed live, not only with guitar and piano but also with the much-underrated autoharp. Den is from Keighley in Yorkshire and there’s something in his North of England intonation that reminds me of the rather unfashionable songsmith Gilbert O’Sullivan. I’m very fond of unfashionable singer-songwriters and Den’s style has similarities with other artists from the 1970s and early 1980s, artists like Duncan Browne, Clifford T Ward and Dan Fogelberg.

Den Miller

Den is about to release a much-anticipated new album – much-anticipated because its predecessor, 2021’s Join All the Dots, is an absolute gem. For me, the standout track is It Matters If It Matters to You. It could be bracketed with The Roches’ song, Keep On Doing What You Do/Jerks On The Loose, in that it seems to me to be a hymn to taking joy in persevering at one’s art,  with its rousing chorus: “It matters if it matters to you / Don’t expect anyone to care the way you do / cos nothing really matters like it matters when it matters to you / you know all the things you’ve been through / You’ve joined all the dots to get where you’ve got to / And nothing really matters like it matters when it matters to you...”

Opening track Too Many Choices is typical of Den’s skill at making political points with great humour, not to mention his ability to cram as many words as possible into a verse. One of the verses comments on the current plethora of singer-songwriters: “Once upon a time your tribe sang songs, a couple of dozen that everybody knew / Each one special enough to hand on, as each generation came through / and now every dumb singer-songwriter comes to add to the millions already around / and you cling to the hope as you listen that it may just be the one that’s saying something new and profound...” 

Den’s forthcoming album, out this autumn, is called Bless the Rains, many of the songs inspired by the time he’s spent in Kenya. I look forward to hearing the new songs and to seeing Den live at Purbeck once again.

Gabriel Moreno

Gabriel Moreno is another artist I’ve championed on this blog. I first discovered Gabriel’s music through his 2022 album The Year of the Rat. I then had the pleasure of seeing him live at Purbeck (both as part of a ‘songwriters’ circle’ and performing with his band The Quivering Poets.) It’s wonderful that he’ll be back at Purbeck this year and, amazingly, since I last saw him live, Gabriel has not only released another outstanding album, Wound in the Night, but he’s also published his twelfth collection of poetry, Heart Mortally Wounded By Six Strings. Gabriel is a Gibraltarian singer-songwriter and poet, currently based in London. He's often compared with Leonard Cohen. This is partly because there aren’t that many singer-songwriters who are also respected published poets but, stylistically too, there are similarities both musically and lyrically. Gabriel plays a nylon-stringed guitar and his arrangements often use a simple piano and bass accompaniment, sometimes with female backing vocals. The title track of Wound in the Night is a deep, dark waltz which could be a cousin to Cohen’s Take This Waltz.

While comparisons with Cohen are natural, Gabriel has also been compared (in a sometimes-snooty way) to Peter Sarstedt. Again, as a fan of unfashionable singer-songwriters, I would suggest there is definitely something about the timbre of Gabriel’s voice which sounds like Peter Sarstedt – but there’s more to it than that. Sarstedt was far more than a 'poptastic' one-hit wonder; he had a talent for striking, poetic lyrics and song titles. For example, in his 1968 song, I Am a Cathedral, Sarstedt muses: “I am balanced well, you see / I am a Cathedral locked in stain glass windows / I am a Cathedral dimly lit...” Sarstedt was also a distinctively pan-European singer-songwriter, singing about boulevards and St Moritz and Don Quixote; he was an internationalist, not just an English songwriter.

Gabriel Moreno's album
'Wound In The Night'

It’s fascinating to listen to the songs on Gabriel's Wound in the Night and to read the poems in Heart Mortally Wounded By Six Strings – there’s a definite continuity between the two works. A recurring theme is the tension between making art and needing to make a living. In Gabriel’s song Suzanne Valadon the songwriter seeks counsel and inspiration from the ghost of the dead painter but ends up, it seems, being rebuked by her: “She says I’m a fool, a thief and a mule for I’m stuck to the stool of making a buck – if it’s not in your heart then don’t stand in the light...” Presumably, if you stand in the light singing something that’s not in your heart then, to paraphrase Den Miller,  you’re just one of those dumb singer-songwriters with nothing new or profound to say.

Likewise, in his extended poem Six Strings, Gabriel underlines the need for poetry and songwriting to be authentic, heartfelt: “Strum. Strum. Strum. / The blue guitar weeps / ‘coz you love cliches. / A mystic bird plummets / every time you strum / with a sterile limb.” 

Gabriel's poetry collection
'Heart Mortally Wounded
By Six Strings'

Birds – mystic or otherwise – feature heavily. One of the songs on the album is Origami Bird – “The origami bird, wrapped up in the night, glides in crazy patterns of light...” In Gabriel's poem The Sparrow, the bird seems to represent an idea that the poet can either let go of or try to capture: “I am a fool for freeing the sparrow./ More of a fool for keeping it bagged. / Just because you like how it glides / does not mean it belongs to you.”

Both Gabriel and Den are skilled practitioners of words and music. They often express profound, funny, important things about the position of the artist in a world of inequality and materialism where poetry and music can help us (to paraphrase another of Gabriel’s songs)  to open the “shutters on our eyes.”

Den Miller’s Join All the Dots was released in 2021. His new album Bless the Rains will be launched in September 2024. Gabriel Moreno’s Wound in the Night was released in 2023 and Heart Mortally Wounded by Six Strings was published in 2023 by Patuka Press.

Spring Flings, Tibetan skeleton dancers and a few songs at Captain's Bar

Me tuning a borrowed guitar
at Captain's Bar, Edinburgh

I last visited Edinburgh in June 2021 which, I think I’m right in saying, was around the time both England and Scotland were emerging from lockdown. I’d been on a six-day trip taking in Oban, the Isle of Skye and the Sound of Mull. As I wrote in my July 2021 blog post Glasgow was meant to be the start and end point of my island adventures but this was switched to Edinburgh, so I found myself with a brief stay in the Scottish capital. One of the highlights of that visit was discovering a pub called Captain’s Bar which combined my love of beer with my love of folk music. I promised myself I would return one day to Edinburgh and to Captain's Bar.

In 2022 I went to Newcastle for a gathering of dulcimer players known as the Spring Fling, organised by my good friend Steve Gray. It’s an annual event but I missed it last year so, this year, I decided I’d definitely go and, noting that Edinburgh is less than two hours from Newcastle by train, I made up my mind to follow my visit to Newcastle this time with an onward journey to Edinburgh.

Dodging downpours
in Newcastle

The Spring Fling was great fun, despite episodes of incredibly heavy rain. The phrase 'April showers' doesn't really do it justice. But I did get to explore the city a little in between downpours. I’d agreed with Steve and another good dulcimer friend William Duddy (from Belfast) to arrive a day early so I could go along to Newcastle’s famous Bridge Folk Club. The folk club at the Bridge Hotel is the second oldest in Britain. We had a great evening there doing a solo song each before combining as a trio – me and William on dulcimers, Steve on mandolin – to attempt a slightly ramshackle version of Lindisfarne’s ‘We Can Swing Together.’ Taking Lindisfarne songs to The Bridge Folk Club is as close as you can get to the idiomatic carrying of coals to Newcastle.

After three days beside the Tyne I left the ‘Spring Flingers’ to continue my journey to Edinburgh. Based on my previous trip, I’d strategically booked into the same hotel on South Bridge in order to be just a short walk from Captain’s Bar. And this time, I had my dulcimer with me!

I could have visited Arthur’s Seat, or Edinburgh Castle, or taken one of those ‘hop on, hop off’ bus tours of the city but I’m afraid, after reacquainting myself with the atmosphere, the music, the beer and the good company at Captain’s Bar, I ended up spending most of my time in Edinburgh in the cosy surroundings of that wonderful pub. On the first night I was lent a guitar and ended up playing a few songs. Artists perform unplugged so you have to project, and the audience is regularly politely reminded to “shush!”

Edinburgh-based
world music duo
Rituala

I was encouraged to return the next day when world music duo Rituala would be hosting the afternoon session. Eddy Hanson (Rituala’s viola player and a member of staff at the pub) had assured me, if I came early, that it would be quiet enough for me to be able to make my dulcimer heard.

The cast-iron drinking fountain
bearing the inscription
'Keep the Pavement Dry' -
would have been
useful in the
Newcastle rain

But first, on Friday morning, I did a more conventionally touristic thing and visited the amazing National Museum of Scotland. I was very taken by the Columbian Printing Press from 1860, the cast-iron drinking fountain from the 1880s, the vintage cars and planes, the Tibetan skeleton dancers, and what looked like a rather psychedelic dulcimer but was actually a qanbus (or folding lute) from Yemen (this one a mid-twentieth century instrument made of wood covered with striking green leather and decorated with mirrorwork and green and silver sequins. The mirror on the head almost looked like an electronic tuner.)

Check out the
built-in tuner
on this Yemeni
folding lute! 

After all that globetrotting and time travel, I was ready to pick up my dulcimer from my hotel room and return to Captain’s Bar to catch the session led by Rituala. Eddy played his beautifully expressive viola alongside the powerful and clear vocals of Brazilian Giulia Drummond (who also played percussion and shruti box.) Rituala performed a wide variety of songs - including a Ukrainian lullaby - and made all the other ‘floor spots’ (including me) very welcome.

A Tibetan skeleton dancer 
- or me travelling home
from Edinburgh?

Saturday night was, well, more Saturday-night-ish, so the dulcimer was left back at my hotel room and, once again, the hosts very kindly lent me a guitar to do a few songs. The evening involved a few pints of the excellent local ale Volcano, which is my excuse for not remembering everyone’s name - but I did have the pleasure of meeting a superb fellow singer-songwriter called Casey Birks (a fine musician and a fan of Scott Walker.)

For those who like an early night, I feel I should warn you that Captain’s Bar stays open until 1am so it was a slightly tired passenger, lugging a backpack, suitcase and dulcimer, who undertook the seven-hour train journey home. I must have looked not unlike the Tibetan skeleton dancer I saw at the museum the day before. But, for all the vagaries of train travel in the UK, one thought remains: I must plan another trip to Edinburgh soon.

 

 

 

From migratory birds to dream-folk - top music picks from Scandinavia

Some of the most refreshing music of the last year or two has come from Scandinavia. Bands from Sweden like Kolonien, blended Swedish/Norwegian bands like Aevestaden and even the Swedish/Scottish/Finnish/Norwegian melange that is Siskin Quartet. So it’s time to introduce you to some of these Nordic delights...

Siskin Quartet are a melding together of two remarkable duos. English-born fiddler Bridget Marsden and accordionist Leif Ottosson – outstanding proponents of Swedish folk – are joined with Scottish-Finnish-Norwegian duo Sarah-Jane Summers (fiddle) and Juhani Silvola (guitar), whose succession of dazzling albums have impressed music lovers and critics alike.  

Their 2022 album, Flight Paths, takes its inspiration from the theme of migratory birds, reflecting the band members’ own relocations from country to country. All four musicians contribute original pieces, and the variety of styles – and birdlife – is wide-ranging, from Summer’s jaunty opening, ‘The Peewit,’ to Silvola’s gently atmospheric conclusion, ‘Albatrossi.’

The nine tracks cleverly evoke distinct characteristics of the wildlife involved. ‘The Siskin Reel’ is a lively little tune, reflecting the eponymous yellow-green finch, while ‘Firefinch’ (a small, fiery-red African bird) is appropriately a desert blues polska, showcasing Silvola’s shimmering electric guitar, with fiddles and accordion darting hither and thither.

The backdrop is a familiar terrain of polskas, waltzes and reels but Siskin Quartet show a delightful willingness to experiment making Flight Paths, like the migratory journeys of the birds, an adventure in itself.

The first few years of this decade have been dominated by climate change, pandemics, wars... so there’s an urgent need to raise people’s spirits. Swedish band Kolonien, with their 2022 Till Skogen, bring some much-needed joy and optimism. It’s a wonderfully uplifting album, from the opening track ‘Time Will Tell,’ (a determinedly upbeat anthem, despite the climate emergency theme) to the closing ‘Unlearning.’ As invigorating as a cold, sunny, Swedish morning, Kolonien have the freshness of The Cardigans’ early albums while, at the same time, sounding like a Nordic version of Fleet Foxes.

Taking their name from a Swedish term for community gardening Kolonien is rooted in Scandinavian traditional folk music and the Swedish Green movement. It’s a family affair - guitarist brothers Erik and Arvid Rask and their cousin Anna Möller (violin, viola d'amore and Hardanger fiddle) plus percussionist Mischa Grind. (Anna has sadly recently left the band.)

For the most part, the successive tracks on Till Skogen hurtle along, driven by Grind’s ever-sympathetic and imaginative percussion accompaniment, with an atmospheric interlude – ‘Nattsudd’ – featuring Möller’s Hardanger fiddle. It’s a strikingly well-constructed album, the opening and closing tracks are sung in English, the rest mainly in Swedish, with the vocals and instrumentation blending beautifully.

When I first heard Ævestaden’s 2021 debut album Ingen Mere Gråter, I was captivated by the Swedish/Norwegian trio’s fusion of traditional instruments with electronica and vocals. Since then, the band have toured several European countries and were nominated for a Songlines Music Award, so I was excited to hear of the release of their second album, 2023’s Solen var bättre där, (the enigmatic title of which could be translated as The Sun Was Better There.)

There are three elements to Ævestaden’s sound. First, the raindrop-like, ostinato motifs plucked on traditional Scandinavian instruments such as the kravik-lyre and kantele. (Even Levina Storåkern’s violin is often plucked rather than bowed.)

The acoustic instruments are underpinned by the subtle, minimalist electronics, sounding pleasingly gritty and dirty at times, as if produced by an old analogue synth you might find in Jean-Michel Jarre’s attic.

Finally, there are the pure, clear vocals, somewhat reminiscent of Vashti Bunyan, that seem to evoke an atmosphere of lullabies and nursery rhymes. All these elements combine to make Ævestaden’s dream-folk highly original, deeply atmospheric and completely enchanting.

 

Dorchester Dulcimer Weekend - Good Company and a Good Deal of It

Tony Gillam
on mountain dulcimer
Photo courtesy of
Ross Gooding

I’ve just returned from a long weekend in Dorset where I took part in the first Dorchester Dulcimer Weekend. What’s Dorchester like? Well, Daniel Defoe, in A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain (1724–26), described the place thus: “The town is populous, tho' not large, the streets broad, but the buildings old, and low; however, there is good company and a good deal of it; and a man that coveted a retreat in this world might as agreeably spend his time, and as well in Dorchester, as in any town I know in England...” This still seems an apt description, based on my recent visit.

Since Defoe passed through, Dorchester has also become famed as the place where the Tolpuddle Martyrs – early advocates for workers’ rights - were arrested and tried in 1834. The town is also, of course, synonymous with the great novelist and poet Thomas Hardy, who based his fictional town of Casterbridge on Dorchester.

Damian Clarke on hammered dulcimer
Photo courtesy of Ross Gooding 

Sadly I didn’t get to meet The Mayor of Casterbridge nor, regrettably, did I have time to visit Hardy’s house, but I did find the streets broad, as Defoe had found – broad enough, in fact, to busk in, alongside the organiser of the Dulcimer Weekend, the irrepressible Damian Clarke.  Damian (artist, writer and consummate player of both the hurdy-gurdy and the hammered dulcimer) kindly invited me to join him busking in South Street on Saturday morning. I hadn’t been busking since about 1986 – and never before with the mountain dulcimer - so I was a bit apprehensive, but the public seemed to like it and I soon remembered how enjoyable it is to busk. In the afternoon we regrouped to the comfortable surroundings of the Shire Hall’s Café. It transpires this is in the very building (now the Shire Hall Museum) where the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ trial took place; (I’m told beneath it are the cells where prisoners were held while awaiting trial.) Nowadays, it’s a beautiful airy building with a welcoming mezzanine café which proved an ideal venue for our series of workshops and concerts featuring the two distinct types of instrument known as a dulcimer.

Magdalena Atkinson
on hammered dulcimer and guitar
Photo courtesy of Ross Gooding

Damian had invited me - and multi-instrumentalist Graham Hood - as ambassadors of the mountain dulcimer while Damian himself represented the hammered dulcimer, along with fellow composer/performers Dizzi Dulcimer and Magdalena Atkinson. Between all of us, we provided workshops for both instruments plus concerts on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. And, just when we thought the music was over, we were invited along to join the regular Sunday evening folk music session at local micropub, The Convivial Rabbit. The unusually-named pub has nothing to do with the long-eared mammal but is a place where one can have a “convivial rabbit” (i.e. a friendly chat.) Sunday also happened to be St Patrick’s Night so Damian, Graham and our mountain dulcimer friend Paul Crocker (who had joined and supported us throughout the weekend,) endeavoured to summon up some suitably Irish tunes. For my part, I became acutely aware of a huge shamrock-shaped gap in my own dulcimer repertoire. It didn’t matter. Just as in Defoe’s day, at The Convivial Rabbit there was “good company and a good deal of it.”

Many thanks to everyone who made me feel so welcome in Dorset. Let’s do it again next year!

All photos (c) Ross Gooding (Diffraction Image Ltd.)

Accordions, self-made men and cloudheads

If the Grammy Awards didn’t quite reflect your tastes in music, you’re not alone. So here’s the beginning of my very alternative take on some other artists and albums that, in my humble opinion, deserve recognition for outstanding achievements in the music industry.

I’ll start with three remarkable albums by female artists. Emergency of the Female Kind is the title of Amy Thatcher & Francesca Knowles' debut album. Thatcher & Knowles are a duo from Newcastle featuring accordion and drums. It’s quite startling to hear Amy’s accordion accompanied by Francesca’s full drum kit, and with vocals and synths thrown in, the duo create a quirky and often intense sound. In what might be a riposte to Sparks’ 1974 hit, opening track ‘This Town Is Big Enough for the Both of Us’ has echoes of Gotan Project, ‘Power to the Loser’ has some of the edginess of Garbage while the title track begins with a sprightly, traditional-sounding accordion before mutating into an old-school synth motif set against Francesca’s shape-shifting drumming. Winners of Fatea Band Of The Year 2023, I look forward to hearing more from Thatcher & Knowles in 2024.  https://www.atfk.co.uk/

Rachel Baiman moved to Nashville from Chicago when she was eighteen. Her third album Common Nation of Sorrow blends political activism and self-disclosure in an engaging folk-country style. Stand-out tracks include ‘She Don’t Know What to Sing About Anymore’ (great title) and a rewrite of John Hartford’s ‘Self Made Man.’ The video of ‘Self Made Man’ is well worth a watch and captures Rachel’s sense of fun as well as her multi-instrumental musicianship. Rachel is currently touring with a few dates in the UK. Catch her if you can. https://www.rachelbaiman.com/

I’m not sure if folk artists are ever ‘propelled to fame’ but Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow certainly achieved widespread recognition for their theme tune to the BBC drama Gentleman Jack. When I saw them perform at Shrewsbury Folk Festival last August that song certainly went down well, along with the new material from the latest album Cloudheads. Belinda and Heidi are both on the autistic spectrum and the title track to this engaging album is a glorious celebration of their experiences of growing up neurodivergent. Musically, the song evokes a dizzying feeling of sensory overload while the lyrics explain: “Too loud, too bright, just not quite right, everybody’s talking in riddles and rhymes, I need more time to process and find...” Belinda is touring the UK currently, joined at certain gigs by Heidi. https://ohooleyandtidow.com/gigs/

Follow the Passengers in Time blog for more of my ‘alternative Grammy’ recommendations!

Four seasons in one blog post

I seem to have neglected my blog since the spring and now it’s nearly the end of the year. It’s not because I’ve had nothing to report. On the contrary, I’ve been busy taking in lots of good music, doing lots of writing and travelling quite a bit - but the poor old blog has, like my garden, been left to lie fallow. Let’s hope the quality of the soil will have improved in the interim and the yield will be increased in the coming year.

My latest album, released in June 2023

One of the things that distracted me from blogging was working on – and then releasing – my new album In the Emptiness. Through April and May I was busy checking and approving the masters and artwork ready for the album’s release in June.

But life has a way of getting in the way of our plans, and so it was that throughout May, the house demanded attention in the form of some significant cracks in the ceilings of the living room and the landing. For days on end my home was taken over by plasterers - and then carpet fitters - so the concentration needed for writing was hard to find. I did manage to attend a Writing West Midlands Regional Writers’ Meet-up in Stratford, which only made me feel more guilty for not devoting more time to writing fiction. Having said that, over the course of 2023, I’ve been more active on the journalistic front, and have had twenty pieces published in a variety of magazines including Songlines and Resurgence so, with hindsight, I can see my writing energies, rather than lying dormant, have simply been redirected into journalism.  

In May I also attended the Dulcimers at Halsway weekend, (an annual event I’ve written about in the past on this blog,) but this was the first time I’d spent the Halsway week sleeping in my microcamper, which made the event feel more ‘outdoorsy’ (as well as making the trip more economical.) As always, I learnt a lot from the visiting mountain dulcimer tutors who, this year, were the wonderful Erin Mae Lewis from Kansas and Thomasina Levy from Connecticut.    

June finally saw the release of my album with a launch gig at the Swan Theatre’s Culture Café in Worcester as well as a radio ‘appearance’ on Black Country Radio (with their incomparable presenter, Billy Spakemon.)

I also managed to catch some excellent films in June at the recently refurbished Ludlow Assembly Rooms: Margy Kinmonth’s brilliant documentary about the great landscape artist Eric Ravilious –Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War – and a highly entertaining new version of The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (directed by Martin Bourboulon,) which literally left me wanting more. (It wasn't until the end credits that I realised this was the first of two linked feature films;  Part Two: The Three Musketeers: Milady, is due for release this month.) The third film I saw in June was, I’m afraid, the new version of The Little Mermaid at Kidderminster’s Lume cinema. I’m very fond of the original and felt this was a pale imitation, but it was made more entertaining by my two little grandchildren who sat – but mostly stood – excitedly in the row in front of me!

One of the best open mic nights in Cumbria

In July I took off in my microcamper again to revisit Keswick, one of my favourite places in England. It was my first visit to Keswick without my late wife Sue, who loved the place as much as I do. It felt strange and, at times, very emotional to be back in Keswick without her, only three years after her I lost her. I was pleased to find our favourite café – the Square Orange – was still there. Visiting Keswick, and especially the Square Orange, felt like a bit of a pilgrimage to Sue. I stayed at the Camping and Caravaning Club’s excellent campsite on the shores of Derwentwater. This is only a short walk into town so I was easily able to carry my guitar to the Crafty Baa, where I had the great pleasure of playing at the Open Mic night, run by the irrepressible Darren Farnham.

Damian Clarke - hurdy-gurdy man - in Worcester 

Later in July, I performed as part of the Malvern Rocks Festival and also the Worcester Fringe Festival (where I finally got to meet Damian Clarke – hammered dulcimer player, hurdy-gurdyist, busker, artist and author.)

My August was, like the previous year, largely taken up with the Purbeck Valley Folk Festival followed swiftly by Shrewsbury Folk Festival. In between these two festivals there was more drama on the domestic front as my washing machine gave up the ghost and needed replacing.

So, first, Purbeck...

There can’t be many other festivals where, from the campsite, you can catch a glimpse of a steam train and have a clear view of a thousand-year-old castle. Nearby Corfe Castle stands sentinel, guarding the route through the Purbeck Hills that leads to this gem of a musical gathering.

This year’s headline attractions included English alt-rockers The Magic Numbers, electro-acoustic whizz-kid Newton Faulkner (who also shared insights in a guitarists’ workshop) and the ever-popular Seth Lakeman.

Alongside these big names, Purbeck excels at supporting emerging artists such as multi-instrumental songwriter Den Miller, a finalist of last year’s Purbeck Rising Showcase. Miller’s performance, switching effortlessly from ingenious parody to thought-provoking meditations on modern life, was testament to Purbeck’s nurturing spirit.

One of the more innovative acts was Mishra (more of which later,) who transfixed the audience – despite a brief rain shower – with their fusion of UK folk and Indian classical music. Accompanying themselves with foot percussion and bass pedals, the duo played banjo, low flute, bombarde and drums – and sang! On Sunday they reemerged as a full band to satisfy the audience in the Big Barn.

The kora was well-represented by both Senegalese/American duo Touki and by Sousou and Maher Cissoko (Senegal/Sweden) but the festival’s secret weapon came from Brittany in the form of Plantec whose electro-Breton sound had the euphoric crowds bouncing as if spellbound by the unlikely, high-energy combination of bombarde, guitar and laptop-generated beats.

Breabach at Shrewsbury Folk Festival 

Shrewsbury Folk Festival has a very different vibe to Purbeck. It feels busier, noisier, more sprawling and, as it runs into the very beginning of August, it can feel a bit cooler overnight in the microcamper. Highlights of Shrewsbury were O’Hooley & Tidow, Breabach, Talisk (who were amazing), my old friends Good Habits, Mishra (again) and Billy Bragg (who I’m glad to have finally seen live but who, I'm afraid, came across as rather sanctimonious.) The absolute pinnacle of the festival for me was Joachim Cooder who performed music from his 2020 homage to the songs of Uncle Dave Macon - Over That Road I'm Bound.

Red Guitars in Birmingham

As we slid into autumn, there was still some live music to be had in September in the form of recently reformed indie band Red Guitars at O2 Academy Birmingham and Scottish folk singer Karine Polwart at Huntingdon Hall, while I did a couple of gigs of my own as part of Worcester Music Festival. Then, In October I played another Culture Café gig and attended the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club’s Annual Weekend at Swanwick in Derbyshire, where I was invited to run a beginners' dulcimer workshop. Here, I had the pleasure of meeting (for the second time) outstanding dulcimer players Aaron O’Rourke and Stephen Seifert, both great players and teachers but also naturally witty and charming people.

Mishra at Shrewsbury Coffee House

In October, I also had the honour of interviewing Karine Polwart for Songlines magazine and my feature on Karine appears in the January/February issue which is already out now. 

November saw, on the domestic front, a major operation involving thinning out and lopping several overgrown trees in my garden. But I also got to see Mishra live for the fifth time this year – this time at Shrewsbury Coffee House with my brother Phil, who took a picture of me with Kate and Ford.

Kate & Ford from Mishra, with your humble blogger

And then Christmas arrived and I got into my usual flap, writing Christmas cards, buying presents, and trying not to be grumpy. My next blog post will share with you some of the great albums I’ve discovered in 2023 …and I'll try not to leave it so long between posting. That almost sounds like a resolution. Happy New Year!     

Graeme Armstrong, John Blek and Plu - new music from Scotland, Ireland and Wales

Some great music has been coming out of the Celtic nations over the past twelve months. Of course, Ireland and Scotland are celebrated for a vibrant music scene, Wales perhaps less so. My eye – and, more to the point, my ears – have been caught by three recent little gems: a debut album by Scottish singer/songwriter Graeme Armstrong (guitarist from the band Talisk,) the eighth studio album from Irish singer/songwriter John Blek and a new album from Welsh trio Plu.

First, to Graeme Armstrong’s stunning You Are Free. Graeme takes traditional songs like ‘Isle of France,’ ‘Fine Flowers in the Valley’ and ‘My Son David’ and presents them in fresh arrangements with nice touches of synth and electric guitar, without losing the deep roots of these songs. Alongside the traditional – and songs by writers like Dick Gaughan and Karine Polwart – Graeme includes some moving original songs of his own such as the title track, ‘William’s Song’ and ‘Sit Alone’ (which features a hip guitar sound reminiscent of the American band Beach House.) But it’s Graeme’s sensitive version of Karine Polwart’s ‘Waterlily’ that stopped me in my tracks. The original is moving enough but Graeme’s version seems even more poignant.

Next up is John Blek’s Until The Rivers Run Dry. I’m not sure how this amazing Cork-based singer/songwriter has recorded seven previous albums without me hearing about him, but I’m certainly listening now. The press release suggested John’s music shows the influence of Paul McCartney and Scott Walker but I wasn’t quite getting those flavours. In fact, trying to find points of reference for John’s sound started to drive me slightly mad – it’s so original and refreshing. There seem to be distant echoes of much older artists like Roy Orbison, a hint of Harry Nilsson, a touch of the melodic pop of the mid-1980s (Danny Wilson? The Dream Academy?) and even a nod to the wistful balladry of the Irish band Bagatelle.

The songwriting could come from an earlier era – the days of Clifford T Ward or Mike Hugg or even Dan Fogelberg – strong, unfussy, 'hooky', perfect. I love John's effortless vocals, the varied arrangements and the instrumentation. The opening track ‘St John’s Eve’ should – in any normal world – be a number-one hit with its luscious string arrangement and baritone guitar sound. ‘Lovelorn’ (and the title track) are beautiful melodies that could have been Gene Pitney hits in a parallel universe. If, like me, you were unaware of John Blek, it’s time you caught up with him.

Finally, to Wales for Caernarfonshire trio Plu with their fourth album Tri. Plu (meaning ‘feathers’ in Welsh) are siblings Elan, Marged and Gwilym Rhys. They describe their music as “alternative Welsh-language pop-folk” and have appeared at both Glastonbury and Green Man Festival. The guitar playing and vocals are impressive in their clarity and purity and the music ranges across the spectrum of folk, Americana and pop – all sung in Welsh. It’s quite a laid-back affair, more suited to a quiet evening at home rather than as an accompaniment to driving with all the windows down. As with John Blek, I spent quite a while trying to think who Plu reminded me of – and then I got it. On ‘Ben i Waered,’ and on opening track ‘Dinistrio Ni’ especially, they sound uncannily like a Welsh version of The Mamas and the Papas – and maybe that’s exactly what the world needs now.

Links: 

Graeme Armstrong You Are Free (Graeme Armstrong Records)

John Blek Until The Rivers Run Dry (We Are Rats Recordings)

Plu Tri (Sbrigyn Ymborth)