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2 Victoria Klewin & The True Tones Dance Me To Heaven (Victoria Klewin & The True Tones). Bristol-based Victoria is a professional singer in every sense, equally adept as a session singer or leading her own outfits and has written the album’s eleven songs. While her band faultlessly plays the great arrangements and Victoria handles the jazzy and melodic elements to perfection, it needs the vocal power of an Aretha Franklin to do total justice to the soul elements of this otherwise superb album. vk-tt.com


@ Thursday’s Band All We Have In Common (Clunk & Rattle Records CRLP 010). Promising much with a proudly ‘no genre’ fun mix of folk, country, Cajun and classical, but material doesn’t always deliver; lyrics often can’t seem to decide whether serious or pastiche. Ultimately, slight on ideas and depth. thursdaysband.co.uk


2 Caoimhin Vallely Caoimhin Vallely (Caoimhin Vallely CVCD006). An exploration of mood and melody prevalent in traditional music rendered on piano by Buile member Caoimihn Vallely. Multifarious tunes entwined in extended suites display his manifold technical accomplishment while Karan Casey and Fiona Kelleher’s vocals add some subtle delights. caoimhinvallely.ie


1 The Way Down Wanderers The Way Down Wanderers (Way Down Wanderers 81451902184). Decent enough debut from midwestern, eclectic roots hounds, stirring up an acoustic hornet’s nest. Wouldn’t hurt to let a little more of their pop sensibilities show as on Wildfire where they motor with five stars. They’re young with masses of appeal, which can only benefit them. Discover them at waydownwanderers.com


1 Pippa Reid-Foster Driftwood Harp (Pippa Reid-Foster PRF2016CD). Debut album of solo harp music (mostly self-composed) from talented young Argyll harpist. Reid- Foster’s soothing, crystalline, chill-out compositions are new-age in style, with a Scottish traditional flavour. Easy to understand her popularity playing at weddings, funerals and private receptions. pippareidfoster.com


2 Eddie & Luc Tirade (Brig Records, EDLUC02CD). Debut album from Eddie Seaman (highland bagpipes, whistles, bouzouki) and Luc McNally (guitar, vocals) with guests on bass, percussion and fiddle. They perform Scottish, Irish and English traditional tunes and ballads with energy, feeling, nimble suppleness and interesting, rhythmic complexity. birnamcdshop.com


1 Various Japanese Traditional Music: Songs Of People At Work And Play (World Arbiter 2019). Final album of five of recordings originally released by the government organisation KBS in 1941 to promote cultural exchange between Japan and foreign countries. 24 folk songs from throughout Japan. The vital, fascinating notes put each song in context of music from a bygone era. discovery-records.com


@ Jackalope Tales Let Me Tell You A Story (Jackalope Tales). Somewhat cutesy cover art conceals self-penned Americana- styled ruminations from Sheffield-based trio. Despite authentically tasty playing and strong lead vocalists (Linda Lee Welch and Tony Broadbent), the songwriting lets the side down by being altogether too lightweight and sometimes over-repetitive. jackalopemusic.co.uk


2 Bert Jansch Live In Australia (Earth Records EARTHCD017). Fifteen-years-on remastered reissue of vintage 1998 live set on which Jansch debuts two (then) new songs pre-Crimson Moon and intersperses his own standards with ’90s material. Warm, intimate and engaging, with intuitive embellishment from Pete Howell on double bass. earthvinyl.com


Karen Tweed’s Merrie Melodies Vol 1


Karen Tweed May Monday Horizons Publications (ISBN 978-0-9933943-1-7)


Karen’s 54-page ring-bound publication is a delight that bristles with enthusiasm and expressions of her joy at living. It contains eighteen of her own compositions written out by hand and lavishly illustrated by herself and usually accompanied by the handwritten story of how each tune came about, whether inspired by incident or meeting or the result of a commission.


The rest of the space is crammed with recipes, poems, song words, brief stories of friends and young relatives who all clearly bring her a lot of happiness. There are trib- utes to people who have meant a lot to her and also quite a number of references to how much she enjoyed her two-year stay in the Isle of Wight – not the ideal base for a full- time touring musician, one would have thought!


She is very open about the way her tunes printed here should be treated. She is happy for them to be reproduced and wide- ly used provided her authorship is properly recognised.


Her inspiring introduction basically tells musicians to play whatever way they feel comfortable and at the end of a lot of good advice she writes, “Music is a joy and bound- less. Let it be so. I don’t care how it’s played


Karen Tweed


or what it involves or what anyone says… music makes out hearts sing.”


www.karentweed.com Vic Smith The Train Kept A-Rollin’


Spencer Vignes Soundcheck Books (ISBN 978-0-9932120-9-3) Paperback £14.99


Subtitled “How The Train Song Changed The Face Of Popular Music”, whilst the subject matter may be of interest to fRoots readers, I doubt that the book will be. Although there are claims of it being “painstakingly researched” it reads more to me like a selec- tion of random interviews and quotes from anyone who wrote songs connected to trains. Even better if they were also a trainspotter in their spare time. Therefore you get pages devoted to the likes of Soul Asylum, Kraftwerk, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Bronski Beat and others to balance against stories about Steve Goodman, Dave Goulder, Chas McDevitt and Lonnie Donegan.


Interesting is the detailed account of Paul


Simon’s Homeward Bound and its connection to Widnes Railway station. Also welcome is the oft-told account of Arlo Guthrie picking up on Steve Goodman’s City Of New Orleans. But sadly no mention of Vernon Dalhart’s Wreck Of The Old 97, arguably the first coun- try music record to sell over a million copies and, even more surprising, no reference to the author having read Norm Cohen’s Long Steel Rail, over 700 pages devoted to “The Railroad In Folksong”. In the final barrel- scraping exercise of listing 200 train-related songs, almost unforgiveable is the omission of Jean Richie’s L And N Don’t Stop Here Any- more and Guy Clark’s Texas 147, two of the train songs high in my top ten.


In truth the train song did not really change the face of any musical form. It pro- vided a source of influence, but in terms of the genres of music influenced, Vignes and I run on different tracks.


soundcheckbooks.co.uk John Atkins


Photo: Richard Faulks


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