fR321 PAGES 18-19_Layout 1 27/01/2010 16:43 Page 2
root salad
19 f
Kearney & Farrell
Yes, yes, more Newcastle alumni – this time nurtured in
Unthankland. Colin Irwin meets some upcomers.
“Y
es, we do get compared to He went to school with Peter Tickell “We’d been used to Sandra [Kerr] and
a lot of people,” says Lucy and played rhythm guitar with him in a Nir- everyone saying ‘beautiful’ and Chris
Farrell, all wide-eyed and vana-inspired rock band called The Felons. Wood came in and said ‘What are you
conspiratorial. “Let’s see… It was Tickell, in fact, who suggested he doing? Why aren’t you playing in tune?’ He
somebody said we were like Jake should go on the folk degree course where made us question everything. It was really
Thackray and Annie Briggs… I think that his sister Kathryn tutors. “It was really
good. It had felt very safe, like a family,
may have been Chris Wood… Jonny’s good,” he says. “I was painfully shy but the
then all of a sudden this mean uncle came
dad said we were like Oprah Winfrey people there really encouraged me to get
in. I think it was what we needed.”
and one of her troubled souls on the out of my shell. I’d written bits and pieces
show… and someone else said we were before but the course helped me give the
like patient and carer…” songs structure. I write quite randomly. I
Anyone who caught Jonny Kearney
don’t think ‘Now I’m going to sit down and
T
he six-track The North Farm Sessions
– including Hares On The Mountain,
one of Lucy’s songs To The Boy and
their most popular stage number,
and Lucy Farrell’s memorable support slots
write a song’ – it’s just when I want to cap-
Benjamin Brown – is a good taster,
on the Unthanks’ recent UK tour – and very
ture something. I listened a lot to Bob
though Jonny has reservations about his
likely made a beeline for the merchandis-
Dylan and Woody Guthrie and I always
singing. “It leaves something to be
ing stall afterwards to grab a copy of their
liked fables which have a more universal
desired,” he says. Lucy elaborates,
debut mini-album The North Farm Sessions
meaning. Chris Wood as well. Songs where
“Sometimes he wants his voice to be
(which ended up outselling the Unthanks’
the meaning is bigger… eternal ideas
angelic and sometimes he wants it to be
latest CD by a considerable distance) – will
about love, death, jealousy or whatever.”
like Tom Waits, so he’s never happy.”
understand the bizarre references. Aside
The daughter of a dancer with the
from Lucy’s gorgeous voice and Jonny’s
semi-legendary Seven Champions side,
The Unthanks spotted them on a
nimble guitar and gently alluring songs,
Lucy Farrell has been attending folk festi-
Vicars Of Blyth gig and, enthused by the
there lurks an eccentric kind of magic.
vals since she was a kid. Despite an ongo-
enthusiastic reaction to their slots on the
Unthanks tour, Lucy and Jonny are begin-
They have an offbeat chemistry that
ing adoration of all things Richard
gives them immense charm on stage and
Thompson, her first love was always danc-
ning to dream that they may be able to
transcends to their slightly surreal banter
ing. She played fiddle but did little singing
make it professionally, with a full album
off it. From Maidstone in Kent, Lucy met
as a teenager and was on an art degree planned later this year.
Jonny – from Hexham – on the folk degree
course in Hereford when she came across
“The plan is not to get a proper job,”
course in Newcastle but the way she tells
some information about the Newcastle
says Lucy. “We’re trying to get more
it, nobody noticed he was there for the
folk degree and found herself heading for
organised. People keep telling us to be on
first two years because he didn’t say a
the North East. She hasn’t looked back
Twitter.”
word. Suddenly presented with a song-
since, introducing the odd traditional
writing module, he exploded into action,
item into their repertoire, notably their
“I don’t know what that is,” says
producing sensitive, slightly idiosyncratic
beautifully yearning arrangement of
Jonny. “It’s so you can follow what
songs. They subsequently formed a group,
Hares On The Mountain.
Stephen Fry is doing,” says Lucy.
the Vicars Of Blyth with Edinburgh harp
Acknowledging the contribution of
“It would be amazing to make a living
player/ singer Rachel Newton, and when
all those who helped them along the way
at music,” says Jonny.
Rachel opted out they continued as a duo.
(which in Lucy’s case includes a three-hour
Lucy isn’t sure, “It would be, but I’m
The shyness that paralysed Jonny in
mentoring session from Shirley Collins in
not sure about living on a bus all the time.
his first two years on the degree course
Lewes), they both talk in awe of the time I quite like it now but if it was just me and
hasn’t entirely left him – he recoiled in
Chris Wood arrived in their third year on Jonny living on a bus I think I might go
horror when somebody in the audience
the course to shake them out of their mad…” myspace.com/jonnykearneyand
asked him a question and early gigs were
comfort zone. lucyfarrell F
marked by an outbreak of involuntary
Loudon Wainwright leg twitches – and he
was given a concentrated bout of media
training by the Unthank sisters in prepara-
tion for his first interview. There follows a
certain degree of mumbling and random
rambling – punctuated by odd exasperat-
ed exclamations of “Oh Jonny!” from a
giggling Lucy – but he comes up with a
lucid account of his personal history.
“I just liked to listen to music in my
bedroom rather than going to festivals or
anything like that,” he says. So what were
you listening to in your bedroom, Jonny?
“Oh… American guitar players mostly:
Mississippi John Hurt, Rev. Gary Davis, peo-
ple like that. Then I got into Davy Graham,
Nick Drake, John Martyn and Nic Jones –
and Bob Dylan. I didn’t talk much at
school, I just listened to Bob Dylan for
three years.” Photo: Adrian McNally
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84