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Footsteps In The Snow is one of the best examples of this, demonstrating a perfect balance between Hodgson’s delicate singing and Piggott’s driving fiddle playing, whilst Hodgson’s personal stories contained within the lyrics of songs such as Hetty’s Waltz, writ- ten about her grandparents’ romance, give these tracks new levels of meaning which engage and draw the listener in.


One challenge for Hodgson is keeping the sound fresh and interesting throughout the album’s eleven tracks. Though this is in the main achieved, there are points where the pace does seem to lag. With some songs running for more than four minutes, the lis- tener can becoming aware of waiting impa- tiently for the story to wrap itself up and move on. However, apart from these few instances, Hodgson’s songwriting skills are impressive with a huge range of topics cov- ered from the job of midwifery to an inter- pretation of the legend of Tristan & Isolde. An entertaining and thoroughly engaging release, Rise Aurora is definitely a successful first album for Rosie Hodgson.


rosiehodgson.com/ Ben Ray


MERRY HELL Bloodlines Merry Hell Music MHMCD0116


Just now I’m looking at a photo of the cur- rent Merry Hell, all eight of them lined up, grinning or smiling with a knowing confi- dence, a trait that fixes Merry Hell as spot-on commentators for the present. They know what the rest of us should stand for and their lyrics, actions and intentions spring from a spirit which seems unfashionable, though totally relevant in post-referendum Britain. I could merely produce the lyrics for this album as a review and political statement but I’ll quote one line, “raise all your voices to defend our democracy for equality, justice and community”: Come On England. That John and Bob Kettle continually produce apposite anthems for marching and fist-in- the-air protest is wonder enough, but then to conjure such poetic images as “my life has been blessed by thunderstorm summer times, by misty gold autumns, by fires in the snow, by rainbows, by bluebells, by radiant spring times, in the wild windy meadows where the dandelions blow” is the work of writers who not only watch the seasons turn, but walk the roads and paths of the country around. The pictures that Bloodlines conjures are both intimate and inspirational.


Yet as they hone their social scythes with wit and wisdom, count We Need Each Other Now and Stand Down as truths to hold close to your heart. The band’s maturing at an exceptional rate, five of them are actively involved in writing, solo or in various combi- nations. Widening their palette, vocalist Vir- ginia Kettle supplies doses of reflection, observation and surreal Armageddon. Blood- lines itself taps into the rush to family history. Well observed, it’s a delightful foil to When We Are Old, a melodic waltz and glance back over the shoulder to times in the autumn of life when cares and responsibilities lessen. However, her forte is Sweet Oblivion, a duet with gravel-voiced Andrew Kettle which – in the light of Trump – may come sooner than we think; dance, party, drink and repeat until we all go nuclear! Magic!


Elsewhere they’ve taken on obvious folk-


ish forms. Bob’s a cappella Coming Home sounds like an old-time hymn that the Water- sons might have offered up on an old Topic album, whilst new fiddler Neil McCartney (provider of the cover design) takes Merry Hell off at a Cajun tangent on the downhome Chasing A Bluebird, as well as thrusting dash- es of trad reels liberally across the album.


Take a breath and consider this one of


the albums of the year without doubt. It’s stacked with thrilling music that’s bursting to spring out and make your existence brighter. Which begs the question, why aren’t Merry Hell playing major stages? I mean what does a band have to do to get noticed and appreci- ated? This crew are out there gigging, get- ting audiences excited and they know what it is to graft. More relevant is the fact that Merry Hell sum up life. Period!


Brother, sister give them your attention and appreciation, save us all.


www.merryhell.co.uk Simon Jones


VARIOUS ARTISTS Hillbilly Blues Rough Guides RGNET1357CD


This is a compilation of recordings from the 1920s and ’30s that would originally have been released in the ‘hillybilly’ series. (To place them in context, think George Clooney singing I’m A Man Of Constant Sorrow in the film Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?). Whether a track was released as part of the ‘hillbilly’ series or the ‘race’ series depended only on the colour of the musician’s skin; their music was often shared and interchangeable. The tracks have been cleaned up as far as possible and remastered.


There are lots of old friends and familiar tunes here; most of the songs have been plundered for inclusion in the repertoires of Hot Vultures and the Hokum Hotshots, to name but two! There’s Frank Hutchison doing Stackalee (the version Dylan does on World Gone Wrong), Bayless Rose doing Black Dog Blues and the Dixon Brothers’ Weave Room Blues, Jimmie Rodgers doing Mule Skinner of course, and a great Buck Dancer’s Choice from Sam McGee. There’s some great driving guitar picking, lots of bottleneck playing and a certain amount of banjo and fine scratchy fiddle for good measure. Darby and Tarlton supply some advanced yodelling and nice lap- steel guitar and there’s some wild (spooky!) harmonica playing on Tom Ashley’s Haunted Road Blues.


Fragments of the lyrics keep drifting into my head… “Here comes Sal with her nose all tore, doctor says she can’t smell no more… (I’m simply wild about my good cocaine…)” “Love like water it turns off and on, when


Frank Hutchison – hillbilly bluesman


you think you got it, it’s turned off and gone…”, “Saw my sweet daddy, dressed in a tailor made suit and a John B Stetson hat…”, “My girl up town, she’s crocheting all the time…”, “Woke up this morning, had to whistle to keep from crying…”, “Cat’s got the measles and the dog’s got the whooping cough, Doggone a man let a woman be his boss…”.


A John B Stetson hat is mentioned in at least three of the songs; in fact poor Billy Lyons gets killed over one in Stackalee. The lyrics to the Allen Brothers’ Bow Wow Blues sound somewhat risqué (sister Kate particu- larly) but perhaps fortunately I can’t make them out clearly. And I’d forgotten how much Dock Boggs’ distinctive yelp on Down South Blues reminded me of Peter Bellamy (I think Peter would be pleased with that!).


I particularly love Clarence Greene’s


clever, syncopated picking on Johnson City Blues and Larry Hensley slightly wistful Matchbox Blues. The album ends with Emry Arthur’s wonderful Reuben, Oh Reuben which has a tune limited to a five-note scale sung over one chord – sounds utterly primi- tive in a very good way. Arthur was also the source of the aforementioned Man Of Con- stant Sorrow.


The only slight turkey is the attempt at vaudeville humour by Chris Bouchillon, but that leaves 24 thoroughly excellent tracks. A splendid collection!


worldmusic.net Maggie Holland


VARIOUS ARTISTS


Celebrating Cicely Barleycorn Productions BP104


The English poet Cicely Fox Smith spent her last years in Bow in Devon and died there in 1954. 60 years after her death there was a concert in a church in Bow to mark this anniversary. The 38 performances, 174 min- utes and 25 performers on this double CD represent the full concert.


Cicely wrote over 600 poems, the majori- ty of them concern nautical subjects and it is clear that she had a very deep understanding of sailors and sailing ships to make her work so convincingly realistic. These sea poems make ideal material for setting to tunes – either traditional or written to suit the metre of the poems. Strangely enough, it is not these but settings of two of her World War I poems that have become the best known on the folk scene and they also provide the best performances here with Martyn Wyndham- Read singing Farewell To Anzac and Moira Craig singing Sarah Morgan’s tune for Home, Boys, Home.


The better known names amongst the other contributors would be Peter & Barbara Snape, Danny & Joyce McLeod and Tom Lewis.


folk@bowstation.com Vic Smith SOPHIE RAMSAY


The Seas Between Us – Scots & Gaelic Songs Sophie Ramsay SRAM003


Ramsay’s deeply-moving third album is influ- enced by a tragic event in her life. The album contains twelve old Scots and Gaelic songs, but feels like an artistic whole, a chamber- folk suite in twelve movements, telling a story of love, severance, grief and recovery. Ramsay (vocals, guitar, piano) is accompanied by Matheu Watson (guitars, fiddle, mandolin, harmonium, synthesiser), Fraser Fifield (low whistle, lowland pipes, kaval), Jim Rattigan (French horn) and Ben Cashell (cello).


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