f122 VARIOUS ARTISTS
A Distant Land To Roam Musical Traditions MTCD516
ROBERT LENG AND JOSSY 'POP' MAINPRIZE,
WITH JIM ELDON Songs And Tales From Flamborough Head Musical Traditions MTCD203
Two new additions to the ever-stimulating Musical Traditions catalogue, and they could scarcely be more different, given the label’s remit. A Distant Land is flagged ‘Anglo-Ameri- can songs and tunes from Texas to Maine’, and comprises cuts from a variety of commercial 78 rpm recordings expertly curated by Mike Yates and mostly from the South. Well-known names like the Skillet Lickers and the Stanley Brothers – both in electrifying form here – and less celebrated artists like cowboy singer Dick Devall or Ridgel’s Fountain Citians contribute great localized versions of Tom Sherman’s Bar- room (The Unfortunate Rake) and Babes In The Wood, while various dance ensembles add fiddle tunes like Old Molly Hare (Fairy Dance) and Mountain Rangers (Haste To The Wed- ding). Notable highlights are two quirky African-American reworkings of English songs: Blind Boy Fuller’s Cat Man Blues renders the Seven Nights Drunk tale as a 12-bar, and Fox Hunter's Song by one Will Starks, which turns out to be a version of folk club favourite Dido, Bendigo! Fascinating and great fun.
Robert Leng and Pop Mainprize were befriended by the inimitable musician and collector Jim Eldon thirty years ago, during his time as a pleasure cruise entertainer on the Yorkshire coast. The two fishermen, long married to the sea but firmly down to earth, sing in unison songs of fishing and of ship- wrecks, sentimental and comic pieces, plus the seamen’s favourite Sankey and Moody hymn, Pull For The Shore, clearly enjoying every moment. Song historians will relish their interestingly different versions of Roll The Old Chariot and The Scarlet And The Blue, and especially their party piece, A Thun- nerin' Sort Of A Lie – a salty variation on the tall tale trope best known in The Derby Ram. As a bonus, Jim Eldon leads off Windy Old Weather and Heave Away The Trawl Warp with fiddle to the fore. The last quarter of an hour is taken up with stories and reminis- cences: a young man’s first day at sea, poach-
Los Texmaniacs
ing, and odd fishermen’s superstitions – it was bad luck to mention pigs, carry a naked light or cross the path of a nun, apparently! Folk song in its natural habitat, and all the better for it.
mtrecords.co.uk Brian Peters LOS TEXMANIACS
Cruzando Borders Smithsonian Folkways SFW 40576
With tejano music you usually know what to expect: polka and waltz rhythms, close har- mony singing, and of course a diatonic accordeon leading the band. Los Texmaniacs don’t burst apart that mould, but they are particularly good exponents. Led by bajo sexto player Max Baca, who was once recruit- ed by Flaco Jiménez to play in the Texas Tor- nadoes, they are a very tight outfit with plen- ty of instrumental flair. The accordeon is in the hands of Baca’s nephew Josh, whose role model was Flaco himself, and who has absorbed the great man’s precision and some of his riffs, while adding many terrific licks of his own. He continually conjures up delicious and extended solos and fills that stand com- parison with the very best, doing a fine job of the polka La Chicharronera and the intricate redova El Porrón. Behind him Uncle Max is rock-steady on the bajo sexto (which is recorded beautifully, by the way) and throws out some wonderfully inventive lines of his own.
Their repertoire mines a familiar seam of old compositions by Narciso Martinez, Santia- go Jiménez and Los Pingüinos del Norte, and adds a healthy dose of country-flavoured songs by contemporary writers, often high- lighting the uncertain status of Mexican- Americans and the topical issue of undocu- mented migrants. I Am A Mexican, written and sung by guest Rick Treviño, sums up the community’s sense of pride: “You say my back is wet; I say it’s honest sweat”. Their interpre- tation of Guthrie’s Deportees, with Lyle Lovett contributing an expressive guest vocal, is outstanding, and there’s a lovely Across The Borderline too. All in all the best slice of Tex- Mex that’s come my way in a long time.
folkways.si.edu Brian Peters SERIOUS SAM BARRETT
Where The White Roses Grow YaDig? Records YD007
First question: who the heck is Serious Sam Barrett? Let’s open the CD cover and see what it says. “I’ve been making records for 10 years now and playing shows for 15…” OK, second question: how come I’ve never man- aged to hear this ‘Serious’ feller before? Because he’s seriously good…
Hailing from Leeds, Barrett distils the spirit of the American old-time songster tra- dition and filters it through a Yorkshire accent. His well-crafted original songs like Where The White Roses Grow, I Don’t Need To Wait For Heaven and Last Of The Yorkshire Outlaws are accompanied by his own sparkling clawhammer banjo or dexterous 12-string guitar picking. Everybody Needs A Helping Hand is one of those uplifting, ear- worm songs that could and should be picked up by any one of those singers who perform with The Transatlantic Sessions, while the commissioned song Bramhope Tunnel Monu- ment sensitively tackles a slice of social histo- ry in Otley.
A strong and engaging singer, he’s at his most American when accompanied by Alaba- ma fiddler Jamie Barrier on Tennessee Line and his most English on the unaccompanied Holmfirth Anthem and on Waters Of Tyne (learnt from The Watersons and Robin & Barry Dransfield, respectively). The two styles are fused together perfectly on the solo voice and banjo performance of Robin Hood And The 15 Foresters.
An attractive monochrome package with cover artwork by Sami Graystone completes this excellent release by an artist who should be getting a lot more festival bookings. Seri- ously.
serioussambarrett.bandcamp.com Steve Hunt
THE TANNAHILL WEAVERS
Òrach: The Golden Anniversary Album Compass 4717
BEINN LEE Osgarra Osgarra BL18
TRAIL WEST From The Sea To The City TW01CD
DOWALLY Somewhere Dowally DW02
It was a nasty shock when the Tannahills’ album tipped up – where did the last fifty years go? And unlike some other long-lived bands, there have been no long breaks in ser- vice. To mark the occasion they’ve roped in a bunch of friends (such as Aaron Jones, Innes White and Russell Hunter) to round out the sound while various ‘old boys’ guest, in a highly entertaining musical journey. The opening Òrach set starts with a pipe march and strathspey played very much as they might back in the days, before opening the tap labelled ‘wildness’ for a rather more con- temporary approach to some reels. And then it slows right down with a delightful take on Matt McGinn’s Jenny A’ Things (with their original vocalist John Cassidy).
And so it goes… Sunset Over The Somme is a lovely slow air (featuring Dougie Maclean and several erstwhile Tannahill pipers) and Billy Connolly’s Oh No! harks back to early days touring with The Big Yin. Burns, Robert Tannahill and Stan Rogers all contribute material, before the closing Gordon Duncan
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