Lucy has a unique, modern sounding voice and she engages the listener well. The accompaniment, quite refreshingly, is often based on fiddle and melodeon, and has a bright punchy feel. Edwin’s guitar playing is also first-rate, and is particularly sympathetic in the slower tracks. You can hear the influences of the stalwarts of the English tradition here - and they list Shirley Collins, Maggie Boyle and The Albion Band among them - but you can also hear likenesses to other “young folkies” such as Eliza Carthy and Ruth Notman.


Highlights are Archie Fisher’s Dark Eyed Molly which is appended by Willie Taylor’s Snowy Monday, a fine tune which has been slowed down for the occasion and played sensitively by Tom on the fiddle. It’s not perfect - for me, the vocals are a bit over-decorated at times, leading to an occasional lack of accuracy - but the emotion in the song makes it stand out. Tarry Trousers is another cracker of a track, given a feisty fiddle and bass accompaniment. And Alfaz Del Pi is a great tune which is quite rightly allowed to shine in a track of its own.


This is a promising debut – very traditional, very English, very current, and very, very good!


Fiona Heywood


KEVIN HENDERSON Fin Da Laand Ageen Private Label KEVHENCD001


are particularly striking. Kevin has great tone, great rhythm, and a fine feel for the music. His playing isn’t as energetic here as some Shetland dance musicians, but he can certainly put fire into a tune: Faroe Rum and Oot Be Est da Vong are proof of that. I prefer other versions of one or two tunes, Da Brig for instance, but that’s just personal taste. It’s great to see a fiddler of Kevin Henderson’s calibre staying so closely in touch with his roots. Maybe that’s how he was actually able to find a Shetland tree for the cover photo. The sleeve notes are brief but informative. Although at 37 minutes Fin da Laand Ageen is slightly short, Kevin packs in two dozen excellent tunes. He finishes with the little-known Minnie O’ Shirva’s Cradle Song, powerful and captivating like all the music on this very fine CD. www.kevinhenderson.co.uk has more details.


Alex Monaghan HEDY WEST Ballads And Songs From The Ap-


palachians Fellside Recordings FECD241


though, being just what its title implies and comprises the three albums she made for Topic between 1965 and 1967. Here are Child ballads, broadsides, religious and minstrel songs. Guileless, uncontrived, she sings her songs straightforwardly to 5-string banjo accompaniment or a capella without over- emoting or displaying an iota of self-over-song.


Hedy’s voice, potent but never strident and not what one would call cosy or vulnerable, was a mixture of grit and grace. Her name, in much the same way as contemporaries such as Barbara Dane and Cynthia Gooding, is unfairly I feel, not now as well-known as those of the Baez and Collins ilk of the US revival. Paul Adams, Fellside’s CEO, patently shares this opinion and is to be applauded for making these long out of catalogue recordings available again. Simply, this is required listening.


Clive Pownceby BATTLEFIELD BAND


Line-Up Temple Records COMD2104


One of the finest Shetland fiddlers of his generation, Kevin is a familiar figure with the groups Fiddlers’ Bid, The Boys of the Lough, and Session A9. He’s recently formed a trio with fiddlers from Norway and Sweden, but on this solo debut he sticks firmly to the music of the Shetland Islands. Most of the tunes here are from the core of the Shetland tradition, documented in the collection Da Mirrie Dancers and recorded previously by the likes of Willie Hunter and Tom Anderson: Da Foula Reel, Tilly Plump, Aandowin at da Bow, Da Brig and even the air Da Silver Bow which titled a set of early Shetland recordings. This collection is solo fiddle throughout, ably backed by the guitar of Mattias Perez, except for one track where Nina Perez adds back-up fiddle.


So why has this young rising star gone back to well-known and oft-recorded material? Partly to put his own stamp on it, which he does: these versions of Christmas Day Ida Moarnin, Da Unst Bridal March and Da Bride’s a Boanie Ting


The Living Tradition - Page 44


Hedwig (Hedy) West, who died in 2005 aged 67, was an American singer and banjoist of the old school who, though college educated, was born into a poor rural background in Cartersville, Georgia. 50 years back, she was well-known to European audiences and resident for some time in the UK. Immensely popular and influential, her appearances at my local Folk Club, the Bothy in Southport, in 1966 and 1968 are still talked about in awed tones, such was their spellbinding quality.


Unlike more middle class discoverers of “folk” via the ‘60s resurgence, West was grounded in the tradition from the outset. She resisted attempts to “go commercial” and her unvarnished approach is the better for that. A listen to her most famous composition 500 Miles contrasted with the anaemic Journeymen and Peter, Paul and Mary versions, flags up instantly why A.L. Lloyd called her “far and away the best of American girl singers in the revival.”


Her repertory came initially from her family, but she performed her own material too. Her father Don had been a miner and Union activist. His politics coloured her writing and gave songs like Cotton Mill Girls a lyrical bite – social history set to music. Those songs are not contained in this double CD re-release


A new Battlefield Band CD - a new line up. Throughout their 40ish years existence this is nothing new. In fact I was at their “final” gig in Nantwich many years ago when the At The Front line up split. To say I was gutted was an understatement as it was the first time I had seen them - a true force with sheer power and rawness in their music. I needn’t have worried as they soon reformed, and I have followed them ever since. They must be the band that I have seen the most live, and I have all their recorded work. So what is different this time? Well, for the first time there is no founding member in the Line-Up!


Alan Reid has been replaced by Ewen Henderson of the well-known Henderson family. He has added another fiddle, keyboards, and whistle and is also a piper and Gaelic singer. The rest - Mike Katz, Sean O’Donnell and Alasdair White - add just about everything else.


Much has been made of their version of Otis Redding’s That’s How Strong My Love Is, but it should be remembered that for many years there were always covers either in their live set or on albums. It’s OK, but there are better tracks on here. For me the stand out track is Iain Ghlinn’ Cuarich featuring the beautiful


Sponsored by BIrnam CD


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