25 f 12 shots from the fRoots Rocket Launcher a dozen leading questions to fire at Nancy Kerr
If you were given the funds to organise a concert bill, who would the artists be?
Elizabeth Cotten dueting with Peggy Seeger; Andy Irvine, Alistair Hulett and Woody Guthrie as a trio; Margaret Barry; The Dransfields; Sweet Honey In The Rock. To headline, either Zeppelin playing stuff from IV with Sandy Denny guesting, or The Band circa 1978, but with my kids singing lead vocals and me doing the silhouetted- Joni Mitchell-thing in the wings. And a blast of a session after with Aussie Irish band Trouble In The Kitchen.
Which totally obscure record do you most treasure and would like more people to know about?
The World Wildlife Fund put out a folk album in the early ’70s, called This Is Man’s World. It’s like Silent Spring with auto- harps. Sample lyric: “And the fish will rise with their vengeful eyes / searching then for the guilty men / in the land of the car- rion crow / where the winds of misery blow”.
What was the best live gig you ever saw?
Oumou Sangare at Cambridge in 2009 has stayed with me. I was pregnant and the baby had its first really good boogie. The incredible Rafiki Jazz played at the closing of an event I was part of in Sheffield – they inspired me so much I went home and wrote reams of songs. The best spot I’ve seen recently was Steve Turn- er – total intense musical focus and a vast, serious repertoire.
And what was the worst?
Well, it doesn’t matter who it was, but I remember they got a standing ovation. I am such an iconoclast / grump.
What was your own best ever gig?
At the Wine Bar at the Australian National Festival in 2011, with Andy Irvine, Rens Van Der Zalm and Bruce Molsky, Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton, and James Fagan, playing Mozaik numbers and old Wobbly songs in the frosty Canberra air around midnight.
And what was your worst?
Almost anything with “Guinness Bar” in the venue title.
What’s the professional achievement you’re most proud of?
I only ever really wanted two things: to write songs, and to have musicians I admire want to play music with me. I’ve finally written and recorded a solo album, and this year I’m part of several collabora- tions all of which I absolutely love.
What’s the most embarrassing thing you ever did in public?
When I lived on a boat I was always falling into the canal, usually on sunny
weekends when there was a big audience. Also once, at a busy playground, I shouted to my oldest child: “OK the baby’s done a poo, let’s go home and make cupcakes!” which I think was misconstrued.
Which song or piece of music would you most like to have written yourself?
The Island by Paul Brady. It’s the per- fect interweaving of love song and peace song. Its themes of conflict and righteous- ness never stop being relevant, which is testament to the writing as well as an indictment of the continuing state of the world. If I could have any writer’s complete command, it would be Leon Rosselson – his is a rare gift. His recent box set The World Turned Upside Down is divine.
Who was the first musician or singer you were inspired to emulate?
The Shetland fiddler Debbie Scott. I was about seven, and I saw her in a village hall in Northumberland – it was the classic role model thing: young woman, playing traditional fiddle music and swinging it, so powerfully – my heart and brain just went Helloooo!
Who was the last-but-one musician or singer you lusted after?
Well there are types of lust, aren’t there? Like “I love your work!” kind of lust, or “I inexplicably had a dream about you that now means I can never meet your eye” lust. There’s a women’s morris side in my town that in fact tick both those boxes. Last-but-one…? I would have to check the spreadsheet, but I’m absolutely sure it was totally doomed.
If you had a rocket launcher, who or what would be the target, and why?
I’m a pacifist, and I like to think I can achieve as much with a really withering look as with actual projectiles… but I’ll make an exception and say a certain ultra- nationalist ‘political party’, whom I am not prepared to publicise further by naming here. Go away!
Nancy Kerr’s new solo album is Sweet
Visitor. She’ll be touring that in the autumn, Her new trio with Andy Cutting and Martin Simpson can be seen at Sid- mouth Folk Week.
www.kerrfagan.com F
root salad
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