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he felt was right. I knew he knew the kind of stuff I love to sing and the things that are important to me. And then later he said, ‘I’ve got a song for you but the words are by Hugh Lupton. I took one look at them and I knew they were for you. But if you don’t feel it’s right then we don’t need to use it.’ But I heard it and I knew there was not another song that could be more perfect for me to do. It’s one of the most special songs I’ve been privileged to sing.”

T

he Birds Of Salim Ali/On The Breathing Road/The Soar- ing Seas – Brian Finnegan (commissioned by Lillias): “The thing about Brian Finnegan is he’s been such an influence on me since I was still at school and when I started to really hear traditional music that wasn’t just

the ceilidh band stuff I’d grown up with. I used to listen to the Flook! album over and over again. I wanted something really happy because I always feel about his music there’s a real joy for life. We were talking about our mutual love of travelling. I’d just come back from cycling through the south of India and he’d also spent time in India, so the idea came from there that he’d compose a piece of music like a road trip – or bike trip. I did ask him not to write any- thing too fast, and it was really fast! But it’s really fun to play.”

Jasper’s/Dance With Me – Martin Simpson (commissioned by Laura-Beth): “It dawned on me that I’d never actually sung an English song, even though I’m from Lincolnshire. I grew up listen- ing to bluegrass so feel more comfortable singing American songs usually. I thought maybe I could use this commission as a way to sing something from England. Martin Simpson was from Lin- colnshire as well but has a real grounding in American traditional music, and I love his songwriting. We didn’t know each other. Rachel knew him from the Elizabethan Sessions so she approached him for me first. It took quite a few months before I heard back and he rang me in September last year. He was on a beach some- where and he said, ‘I think I’ve got the song, do you mind if it’s sad?’ And he explained that the song was going to be about the loss of his mother. It’s just beautiful.”

theshee.com The 2009 Shee F

ZEN AND THE ART OF BANJO

The Derroll Adams story begins with growing up in the back seats of cars in 1930s America, listening to early country and old-time music on the radio. The 1950s found him on the West coast where he wrote his celebrated song Portland Town and his life intersected with Pete Seeger, Odetta, Guy Carawan, Woody Guthrie, James Dean, Lord Buckley and eventually Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, with whom he came to Europe in 1957, never to go back.

He became a folk hero in Britain and Europe in the 1960s, appearing in the Bob Dylan Don’t Look Back film and with fans of his zen banjo playing and singing including Donovan, Bert Jansch, Wizz Jones, Billy Connolly, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Lane, Long John Baldry and many more. In 1972 he recorded his best album, Feelin’ Fine, for cult English label Village Thing.

Here it is on CD for the first time, in a triple- fold digipak, expanded with six tracks from another mid ’70s release and with guest musicians including Wizz Jones, Tucker Zimmerman, Roland Van Campenhout and Maggie Holland.

ghostsfromthebasement.bandcamp.com

Photo: Dave Peabody

Photo: © Judith Burrows