'Recordings' Category
The Elf Princess
This song’s a couple of years old now, and was played frequently by my former group. When I wrote it, it was arranged for acoustic guitar, fiddle and mandolin, but I thought it was high time for it to rise phoenix-like from the ashes and change shape somewhat. So, gone are the nice lilting rhythms [...]
Sam Hall
Finally, I’ve got round to starting to record again. Out came the electric guitars, the trusty Roland synth (for drum duties only) and the terrifying Danelectro “French Toast” distortion pedal, which is an engineering marvel. It seems particularly good for producing a really rough fuzz bass sound.
So, here’s a very rough electric version of Sam [...]Will Beckett’s March (reprise) on forthcoming compilation
A Place In Space, the new compilation from Invisiblegirl Records features Will Beckett’s March (reprise) from the album Mother’s Thinking Bath.
The album will be an iTunes release; here’s a trailer featuring all the artists.Something I Can’t Have
I was reminded of this song while learning the traditional song Pretty Saro the other night, and it just goes to show that whether you’re a feedback-laden guitar group from Scotland or a singer in the Appalachian mountains, you still share the same concerns.
“Something I Can’t Have” is possibly my favourite Jesus And Mary Chain [...]Jack O’ Diamonds
Here’s a song I was reminded of, in a roundabout way, by performing “On Ilkley Moor ‘Baht ‘At” to the tune of The House Of The Rising Sun last weekend at the Wolverley Summer Of Love festival.
And, just like The House Of The Rising Sun, it’s a song in which a gambler laments his ruined [...]If You Could Read My Mind
The two singers who inspire me most are Johnny Cash and Scott Walker, and ever since hearing Cash’s version of Gordon Lightfoot’s If You Could Read My Mind on his posthumously-released “American V: A Hundred Highways” album, it’s been simmering away at the back of my mind. It’s a gorgeous song of regret.
I took [...]I Can’t Find Brummagem
As heard previously on Brumcast!
As this recording is now out and about “in the wild” I thought it time I put it up on here too. As I mentioned before in the previous plug for Brumcast, there’s some blurb about the song in this post. I’ve edited out the mildly incomprehensible verse I wrote about [...]
Debut album now available!
The debut album, on Swainsthorpe Records, is now available to buy. Go to the “Buy CDs” page to hear samples and order your copy now!
Pink Floyd recordings with Steve Bradley
This weekend (18th-20th of May) saw yet another fabulous Swaledale Squeeze, organised as ever by Jane Edwards. It’s a really special weekend, with concertina players from all over the country - and beyond - descending on a youth hostel in Yorkshire to make music together. The evening sessions carry on well into the night, [...]
The Cruel Mother - version 2
And so to another version of The Cruel Mother, this time collected from Elizabeth Wharton, a gypsy, in Shropshire, by C.S. Burne, on the 13th of July, 1885. This is again taken from the “Songs of the Midlands” book edited by Roy Palmer.
Palmer offers the following notes:
The clerk in the ballad was no doubt a [...]