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73 f
the vast information that Pete Elliott could it and file it next to Greil Marcus and William
have provided about the family. Though this Least Heat-Moon.
www.faber.co.uk
is all documented painstakingly, Wood is
Paul Vernon
careful not to make his work a piece of adula-
tion, so that things like important family dif-
ferences and rows are not left out.
The most useful section is the Singing
Traditions chapter where he gives a clearly
thought out and precisely written résumé of
the development of interest in English folk
song through the work of the early song col-
lectors and then assesses why the north-east
was relatively neglected in this early work. He
relates the relative importance of local and
The Elliotts Of Birtley regional songs to this area and then he
Pete Wood Herron Publishing ISBN 978-
assesses the Elliotts position within it.
095406-823-3 £15.99
This valuable book ends with 20 of the
family’s songs and an appendix of memories
Pete’s book is a fascinating and very well writ- written by Doreen Elliott.
ten account of a family that occupies a unique
www.petewood.co.uk
position in the history of the folk revival. Are
the Elliotts a traditional singing family? Well,
Vic Smith
THE STRAWBS
not really. So are they purely the product of
Lay Down With… Secret Films DRIDE84
the folk revival? No, they are not that either.
The origins of the family are traced back
It Still Moves – Lost
Say what you like about the Strawbs but
to a foundling in 1832 and he was the grand-
Songs, Lost Highways
they've got quite a game plan and it appears
father of Jack, the man whose inspiration
to work handsomely. A canny knack of hav-
and influence shines through the family’s his-
And The Search For The
ing no actual settled line-up but using the
tory and indeed all the book. Pete shows us Next American Music
name more as an umbrella, finds them able
that singing and music had always been a
Amanda Petrusich
to constitute acoustic/ electric versions of the
Faber & Faber ISBN 978-
part of the Elliott family but that the reper-
band almost at the drop of a hat. Consider
0-571-23420-2 PB £14.99
toire of mining songs was only added in
that here, the Strawbs who cut Hero & Hero-
Jack’s generation. I freely admit that when this book arrived I
ine, their first obvious move to cater for
The Elliotts were, of course, lionised by
looked at it and thought “Ah yecchh, another
American tastes as opposed to British in
MacColl, Seeger and Lloyd. Here was just
self-discovery road trip journal with added
1974, reunite having made a comeback CD
what they wanted to find: a family with
soundtrack”. Not for the first time in my life,
and give it some to the collected faithful at
authentic County Durham pit credentials who
however, I was wrong.
Robin 2 in Wolverhampton.
performed music and song and shared radical In fact this is a very engaging read, even
They open, as you'd probably expect,
political opinions. However, the family kept if the ground covered is so well-worn that
with their legit cert Lay Down, even after all
their distance and their independence and there’s little left to discover. Petrusich reveals
this time it still sounds sharp and chugs along
Pete quotes Colin Ross as seeing in them a knack for insight that draws this book away
with all the force of an approaching steam
“more a pride in being working men than from that great trash heap of self-indulgent
train. Dave Cousins, ever the raconteur, pref-
political agitators”. One comment by MacColl on-the-road self-discovery writing. Her
aces most tracks with reminiscences, some
obviously rankled with the family: on a sec- approach is honest, unpretentious and very
overlong but you can forgive him such ram-
ond visit down to the Singers Club when readable, always a good combination for the
blings as he leads his merry men, some aged
Ewan observed that he didn’t feel that Jack over-deluged punter.
well, others looking a bit like retired history
“had moved on” since their first visit.
The work ranges over many topics, blues,
teachers, through a convincing catalogue of
There are details of the important mile- country, rock in many of its guises, but even if
well meant folkish prog. The harmonies are
stones in the family’s musical and social histo- you are a blinkered genre-specific fanatic
occasionally shot but with their hearts in the
ry: the impact of Jack’s first album, the (surely not an fRooter then?) you’ll gain
right place who cares? Dave Lambert remains
involvement in The Big Hewer radio ballad,
one of the great unsung lead players and with
something from this. And what she has to say
the closing of the ‘Cotia Pit, the involvement
the presence of John Ford on bass during an
about where American music could be going
in the miners’ strike of the 1980s and the
unplugged segment as well as the predictable
is especially trenchant when viewed from the
story of their folk club in its various venues
encore Part Of The Union, rockers of a certain
perspective of the Obama administration’s
and the impact that it had on various seminal
vintage will find comfortable familiarity here
“New Morning In America”. It’s also adorned
that makes for a pleasant, undemanding
figures in the north-east. There is plenty of with some authored photos that deserve to
diversion.
www.secretrecordslimited.com
detail though the author regrets that he be better reproduced, and gains further
started the project too late to be able to use points for including notes and an index. Buy Simon Jones
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