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who could be playing that sprightly banjo on Nancy Kerr’s song! Very good fiddle playing from Rowan Piggott throughout, and plenty of vocal harmony – reminded me of the Young Tradition’s harmonisations at times. Various aspects of beelore are covered, including telling all your secrets to the bees and the tradition of the beekeeper’s coffin being taken to the hives for them to say goodbye. It’s not all flowers and honey, though – the twin scourges of habitat loss and neonicotinoids both feature.
The CD doesn’t appear to have a serial
number, but you can buy it directly from the website. There are a couple of sample tracks to listen to there, although they both have fairly minimal instrumentation so don’t really give an idea of how good the playing is.
songhive.co.uk Maggie Holland
DAMIEN O’KANE & RON
BLOCK Banjophony Pure PRCD 48
Two banjos are better than one. I am sure that sentence is used here for the first time ever, but it is no banjo joke waiting for the punchline. The combination of O’Kane on tenor banjo and Block on five string works to perfection. In their many passages together it is almost impossible to tell one from the other. All of the tunes are new compositions, mostly by O’Kane and Block, and all of them are strong, thankfully passing the opportuni- ty for banjo pyrotechnics.
Occasionally they almost take off, on
Potato Anxiety, O’Kane’s tune on the first set, following Block’s more gentle Miller’s Gin, but nowhere better than on the set of Lucky Rogues and Frantic Inspiration, where two banjos have never sounded more dynamic and two styles never welded together better. Block’s Battersea Skillet Liquor is a showcase for his mastery of bluegrass banjo, but com- plemented by O’Kanes Irish triplets and, as with many other cuts, also by the skill and taste of Stuart Duncan on fiddle and Sierra Hull on mandolin, who add even more colour to the tunes. Just two more tunes to high- light, and both fit into the category ”deli- cate” – an adjective rarely, if ever, allied to the banjo. It is afforded to O’Kane’s Brown Eyes and Block’s Leipers Fork. Here are two master musicians who have written some memorable tunes and produced an outstand- ing acoustic record.
ronblock.com damienokane.co.uk John Atkins JEFF WARNER
Roam The Country Through Wildgoose WGS 425 CD
It is rather odd that in such a peculiarly British institution as the folk club, some of the most consistently popular and successful artists are Americans. An impressionistic listing gives, amongst many others, the late Tom Paley, as well as Sara Grey, Dana Robinson, Bruce Mol- sky... and of course, Jeff Warner.
This release, his second solo for the English company finds him on very fine form. He chooses two very different British accom- panists to work with here and clearly he is sparked into elevated performances by the empathy he achieves in their company.
In particular, his banjo heard alongside Ben Paley's fiddle is an inspired combina- tion and fresh life and enthusiasm are brought to old favourites like My Dixie Dar- ling and Gypsum Davy.
Dave Evans
A different quality is brought by the singing and keyboard playing of Alice Jones, and the contrasting quality of two reed instruments – his concertina and her harmo- nium – is particularly pleasing.
As with his live performances, a lot of thought has gone into the programming of the album; the pace, key, mood and instru- mentation are all varied effectively.
Having worked with Jeff on the technical side of the multimedia show about his par- ents' great song collecting work, it comes as no surprise to hear a number of these includ- ed here, In particular he always expressed a great admiration for one of his parents' infor- mants, John Galusha, and there is something very affectionate about the way he treats the three learned from this excellent singer who had a number of tremendous songs in his repertoire. In particular, Lass of Glenshee weaves a fine spell and it is the song that rings in the ears after each listening.
wildgoose.co.uk Vic Smith
DAVE EVANS The Words In Between Earth EARTHCD025
If you can even find a copy of the original 1971 Village Thing vinyl version of Dave Evans’ first album, you’ll have to pay telephone-number sums for it (though I got it dead cheap in a Broadmead shop way back then). So Earth’s re- release, on both CD and vinyl, is more than welcome, as it showcases one of the best tal- ents that the acoustic guitar-slinging late ‘60s and early ‘70s folk scene produced.
Simply, Evans was unlike anyone else: let alone having made his own gorgeous-sound- ing guitar, his style didn’t emulate the blues or baroque stylings prevalent, but had unlike- ly twists and turns, echoed in his personal tunings: brief big-band-style chords could resolve into limpid picking, for example, and the guitar always supported and framed the vocals, which themselves were refreshingly different, both in delivery and subject matter. Rosie and City Road are sharply observed but loving slices of modern life, while Grey Lady Morning and the title track are pastoral stretchings-out… and then there’s Insanity Rag, the guitar solo that broke more would- be imitators’ fingers than almost any other (how does he do it?).
Although Evans’ talents were recognised at the time by players and audiences alike, he opted out of the musical career spectrum to
become a luthier and repairer in Brussels, emerging for the odd performance (his take on The Cutty Wren was possibly the highlight of a Cecil Sharp House bash some years back); this release should bring his fine talents, both as writer and performer, to a new audience. Give it to a young guitar player you know.
earthvinyl.com Chris Frederick
SVÄNG Sväng Plays Tango Galileo GMC 081
Tango began in Argentina, of course, but it spread worldwide, and took root in Finland so much that it’s long been, and remains, an essential strand of Finnish folk music, indeed popular among those who profess no interest in folk music.
The Finnish version is distinctive – the
tangos aren’t translated Argentinian ones, they’re by Finnish composers and lyricists, vir- tually always in a minor key. Finnish tango dancing is a considerably more stolid sight than the flash and sexiness of the Argentini- an form; indeed, as this album’s press release says, “The Finnish tango dance is not too complicated. It is actually quite close to cross- country skiing or Nordic walking”. The lyrics are of love, and love of the Finnish landscape, and give an outlet for even tough guys to express themselves emotionally.
The extraordinarily skilful, suits-and- sneakers harmonica quartet Sväng, now in their fifteenth year, have always played at least one tango. Now they’ve made a whole album of them: six composed in Finland, mostly in the mid-20th century, four by three band members – Jouko Kyhälä, Eero Grund- ström and Eero Turkka – and one, uniquely in a major key, written quite a few years ago by colleague Arto Järvelä for JPP for Kaustinen festival’s dance on, or beside, the bridge over the river Perho. And on the penultimate track, his composition Kaipustango, Turkka bursts into authentic manly tango singing.
As always, Sväng’s sound is a big, surg- ing, churning rich thing, covering all the fre- quencies from the top end of diatonic and chromatic instruments through Kyhälä’s cher- ished vintage button-chording Hohner Har- monetta, to Pasi Leino’s bass harmonica, which gains a supra-acoustic beefiness from the cunning close-miking systems Kyhäla developed for the band.
galileomusic.de Andrew Cronshaw
Photo: Jo Gedrych
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