Spiers and Boden "Fallow Ground"
Hudson Records, 2021
This album marks the welcome return of a very popular English duo: Melodeon player John Spiers and fiddler Jon Boden. They paused their duo work back in 2014, when work with Bellowhead kept them particularly busy - both are founding members (see also review below). This new album was recorded just after the Covid lockdowns and this real sense of joy of playing together again is very evident in the recording. With predominately traditional material, it is perhaps unusual that not a single song is about death - as Jon says: “I guess we were looking for songs during lockdown with a sense of fun and light relief.” The album offers a convincing mix of songs and tunes, and as I write this, the duo is getting ready for lots of summer touring to showcase the music in the way it works best- live.
© Michael Moll
Bellowhead "Reassembled"
Hudson Records, 2021
Talking of Bellowhead, here’s another good news story of the Covid period: the lockdowns inspired this groundbreaking folk big band in 2021 to come out of retirement – originally just for a one-off performance streamed live, in 2021. The performance has now been published on CD - and the public response to the livestream convinced the band to come out once more on a tour this November (2022).
The album features many of the favourite tracks of Bellowhead freshly recorded by an all-star line up of eleven English folk and brass musicians - including Spiers and Boden, Sam Sweeney, Benjamin Kirkpatrick, Rachael McShane and many more. What makes Bellowhead so special is the combination of trad English material and instruments (e.g.bouzouki, melodeon, fiddle, cello, bagpipes) and a powerful brass section (with sax, helicon, trumpet, trombone). A fantastic “best of” collection of Bellowhead’s songs and tunes with a wonderfully fresh sound.
© Michael Moll
Isabelle de Spoelberch "Appel a la source" (Double CD)
Seyir Muzik, 2021
Isabelle is a Celtic harp player, composer and a builder of historic harps. Having studied instrument building at a reputed school in Austria, she now has her own workshop in Brussels where she builds historic harps. Her debut album is evocative and spell binding. Here the Celtic harp meets and interacts with instruments from other world traditions such as the Armenian Duduk, the saz, the oud or the tombak. Weaved in are vocals by singers of various origins, in languages including Persian, Senegalese and even German. Through the 75 minutes of music, Isabelle is joined by a range of 12 guest musicians, of various musical backgrounds from across the world as well as Belgium. And Isabelle not only plays the harp but also the Finnish kantele, the Tibetan bowl and the santur.
The music is meditative, mystical, improvised and full of beauty.
© Michael Moll
Joe Broughton’s Conservatoire Folk Ensemble "Not leaving quietly"
SAE Records, 2020
As we all know, 2020 was in no way a normal year, with COVID disrupting all of our lives – and in this case also the studies of young musicians at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. In March 2020, the Conservatoire’s Folk Ensemble had just recorded this album and was about to set off on tour when lockdown stroke. The decision was nevertheless taken to press on and release the album even if the ensemble was never to be heard on stage.
And releasing this powerhouse of an album was a great decision although it is sad that this brilliant music will never again be heard live. Under the musical direction of Joe Broughton (Urban Folk Quartet), the album features (if I have not miscounted) 60 young musicians - on violins, cellos, flutes, saxophones, French horns, trumpets, acoustic and electric guitars and various percussion instruments. The album title is taking from an event at the EU Parliament set up by a then UK MEP called “Not leaving quietly” that this ensemble played at early 2020. And what an appropriate title for this album: This is often loud and powerful music, with excellent arrangements of traditional and newly composed material. The full orchestra sound is interspersed with a couple of smaller ensemble pieces, and a very subtly backed song. The music is brimming with talent and joy of playing, and it can only be hoped that these young musicians won’t be put off by the constraints of the lockdown years with pursuing with music in their lives.
© Michael Moll
Damien McGeehan "Kin"
Music Network, 2021
This is new Irish folk music, full of new ideas and innovation, put together and led by Irish fiddler Damien McGeehan. Many of the tunes, largely composed by Damien, have Irish trad at their heart – but this is rarely all to the tunes: for example the traditional “Dulaman na Binne Bridhe” features rockabilly guitarist Darrel Higham; “Runnin on Bourbon” blends Irish with New Orleans musical influences and features trombone and trumpet; “Moonlighting” improvises with some groovy folk rock arrangements. Yet other tunes like “Errity’s Jigs” have a very traditional feel to it. Three songs intersperse the tunes, featuring the soulful voice of Shauna Mullin: A beautiful Richard Thompson song (“Strange Affair”), a folk rock/soul number of the Henry Sisters’ “ James Munroe” and a stunning version of Tom Waits “The briar and the rise” reminding me of the great singer Niamh Parsons. A great album with a superb bunch of 12 guest musicians.
© Michael Moll
Anna Tam "Anchoress"
Own label, 2021
Wilde Roses "Woven"
Rubicon, 2020
Wilde Roses play medieval and renaissance music from the British Isles – on this album, these will be largely songs, in old English, Welsh and Scots. The songs all feature the sopranos of Anna Tam and Emily Baines, which may be for a folk audience not necessarily that accessible. The trio (the third member is Angeir Hauksson) play nyckelharpa, hurdy gurdy, viola da gamba, recorder, lute,gittern, percussion and bagpipes (on three tracks).
The material on Anna Tams solo album – which was her lockdown project - is similar, combining her interesting backing instruments of hurdy gurdy, nyckelharpa etc with soprano singing. The songs and arrangements are perhaps more traditional/folk rather than the renaissance music of the Wilde Roses, featuring also a number of classics such as “Braes of Balquidder” the Gaelic “Fear a Bhata”, “If I were a blackbird” or “She moved through the fair”.
© Michael Moll
Ritva Nero "Immortal tradition"
Nordic Notes, 2022
The Finnish folk scene quite frequently brings us new approaches to their traditions, but perhaps this band has still found a new music style to coin: Finnish metal folk! With a set list of traditional Finnish dance tunes, this incredibly cool five piece outfit plays the old dance tunes with a heavy metal attitude: this is noisy, sometimes shrill, often head banging - yet unmistakably traditional. The band features soprano saxophone, bagpipes and nyckelharpa with electric bass and drums – who would have thought that this make a perfect heavy metal lineup! While there are moments that are perhaps more gentle, usually even these tunes have an explosive finale. With such a bundle of experimentation and talent, it is perhaps not surprising that the band has its origins in the Sibelius Academy. I’d love to check this amzing band out in live.
© Michael Moll
Oysterband "Read the sky"
Runningman Records / Westpark Music, 2022
This heavyweight of the English folk/rock scene looks back to some 45 years of band history, and has released 23 albums to date. Since the last full album, it took the band eight years to release this follow-on (with a “tour momento” with June Tabor inbetween) – and the wait has been worth it.
“Read the sky” has the classic and unmistakeable Oysterband sound – as fresh and sharp as ever. Founding members, singer and melodeon player John Jones, guitarist Alan Prosser and fiddler Ian Telfer continue to go strong, both in their musical and composing abilities. The rest of the current line-up is Al Scott (bass/mandolin/guitar), drummer Sean Randle and Adrian Oxaal on cello and telecaster.
The lyrics of the 10 songs are often political, societal, angry and reflective; the glum topics make generally not the most uplifting lyrics, but they are brilliantly and refreshingly presented. A number of them have the trademark Oysterband catchy choruses. Perhaps the strongest song on the album, with the most desperate plea for action on climate change put in a catchy chorus, is “The time is now” – the song was originally released as a single for the UN climate summit in 2021.
The sound of this album suggests that the Oysterband is on the height of their career - after more than 45 years that is quite an achievement indeed. Here’s to the next 45 years!
© Michael Moll
Olivier Demers "A l’envers d’un Monde"
Own label, 2020
Perhaps I should not mention in this review that Olivier Demers is one of the fiddlers of Le Vent Du Nord? As the reference to Le Vent Du Nord may mislead the reader - as there is no resemblance of this album to the music of his band.
For “A l’envers d’un Monde”, Olivier has composed twelve guitar tunes - beautiful, calm and atmospheric. He is joined by string quartet “Le Quatuor Trad” (who sometimes also join Ve Vent Du Nord on stage). The resulting sound is perhaps at times closer to classical than folk music, and is sophisticated and delightful.
However the music is not all that there is to this album - Olivier commissioned for each tune a poet or author to write a short piece inspired by the tunes. These can be found (in French language) in the booklet.
© Michael Moll
Blåmann Blåmann "Blåmann Blåmann"
Grappa, 2001/2021
Norwegian contemporary folk band Blåmann Blåmann caused a bit of a stir when they toured in the late nineties/ early noughties - particularly on the German scene where they became well-known after their music was used in adverts promoting Norway as a tourist destination.
This album was originally recorded in 2001 and has been remastered and re-released. The album offers a massive 1hr 16 minutes of music. The material is largely traditional, with a mix of tunes and songs. Instrumentally the music is dominated by hardanger fiddle, flutes, guitar, accordion – and whilst some tunes are trad in style, the band also frequently venture into contemporary folk and folk rock (with guests on percussion and bass).
Unfortunately, Blåmann Blåmann is no more - the band only existed for 5 years. So whilst it is good to have the opportunity to discover this band, if it whets the appetite for more, then you’ll be left disappointed.
© Michael Moll
Soig Siberil "Les Sentiers partages"
Coop Breizh, 2021
Soig Siberil, for many decades one of the leading guitarists on the French folk scene, was in the last century involved in some of the most important Breton folk bands, including Gwerz and Pennou Skoulm. In the last couple of decades, his focus has been on solo and duo guitar playing.
On his latest album, Soig’s current main duo partner, guitarist Jean-Felix Lalanne, can be heard on several tunes, yet there are many more guests, on guitars, bass, vocals, violin etc. A majority of the tracks on the album are Soig’s own compositions, and they are sometimes closer to trad but more often drifting towards easy listening. My highlights of the album are when the instrumentation is scaled back to fully focus on Song’s brilliant guitar skills.
© Michael Moll
Curly Strings "Rahu meis eneses - Tranquility within"
Own label, 2021
Curly Strings, the band with an English name but fully Estonian repertoire, has established itself in recent years as one of the leading exponents of contemporary Estonian folk music. And for me, at least since their memorable performances at Rudolstadt Festival a few years ago, they are a favourite. Their attractive blend of Estonian lyrics, folk, pop and gentle bluegrass music is catchy and, whilst radio friendly, still has the edge to also appeal to more “hard core” folk music audiences.
The band name refers to the hair of three of the three band members and the strings of their fiddle, guitar, double bass and mandolin. The songs are centred on the beautiful voice and playful singing of lead singer Eeva Talsi. All songs are original compositions - poetic ballads often turned into hymns. I just have not quite worked out how the old lady on the cover photograph relates to the album - there’s no reference to it in the album.
© Michael Moll
The Cumbrian Duo (Ed Heslam & Jean Altshuler) "Bleckell Murry Neet"
Willowhayne Records, 2020
The combination of harp and guitar has a special magic, and the two instruments are perfectly blended in harmony on this album. The Cumbrian Duo brings together American born and now Cumbrian based harpist Jean Altshuer and Cumbrian guitarist Ed Heslam. Both are classically trained, but have been, as a duo, exploring folk music ever since they met in 2016. The tunes on this album are all traditionally based but freely interpreted and arranged, bringing in classical but also jazzy styles into the traditional tunes and instrumental arrangements of songs. Probably the most familiar tunes are in an instrumental medley of traditional playground songs.
A rather beautiful album.
© Michael Moll
Jarek Adamow and Marcin Kozac "In search of sources"
Folken Music, 2022
Jarek Adamow and Traditional Polish Vocal Ensemble "Sami Sowie" / "Expedition to the lost world part II - spring"
Folken Music, 2022
Music that „was created on its own, as if accidentally“ in the Polish Carpathian Mountains. The album sounds shamanic, archaic - ancient sounds closely interlinked with nature. Between Jarek Adamow, a graduate of the Polish Conservatoire in Lodz, and Marcin Kozak, who played for a while with the Warsaw Village Band, they play interesting instruments: a finger-holed pipe, a pipe without finger-holes (short and long), hurdy gurdy, jews harp, foot tapping, clarinet, frame drum and darbuka. What we hear on this album is perhaps less music - although it has deep roots in Polish traditions - it is more of a soundscape, of sounds deeply rooted in the landscape and culture.
Jarek Adamov, the same musician as in the previous album, but here with a completely different project, though equally deeply rooted in ancient traditions. Jarek has recorded and played with four tradition bearing old singers of Sami Swoi, a vocal ensemble for the last 30+ years, preserving their singing on a recording, and it appears that since the recording, two of the four singers have sadly passed away. The songs and singers come from the Polish-Ukrainian border; as the sleeve notes say, "in the past a place of one of the most bloody conflicts in European history (…) Those who survived rarely came back to look into the past“. The album captures very traditional, archaic singing traditions, some solo singing, some harmony singing - sometimes a capella, sometimes accompanied by Jarek on accordion, bass drum and cymbal. The recording is simple and sounds at times more like a field recording, giving the album even more authenticity. Perhaps more of an important record of traditions before they are forgotten, rather than an album that is readily accessible to larger audiences.
© Michael Moll
Spoil the Dance "Returning Home"
Own label, 2022
This album by English quartet Spoil the Dance is focussed on songs, presented by the gentle voice of the band’s singer Gaynor Brook. The songs are largely traditional, some well known (e.g. “The Flower of Magherally”), others less so. The songs are tastefully arranged by the three instrumentalists in the band, on flute, bouzouki, guitars, mandolin, whistles, bodhran. In-between the songs, three lively Irish tunes (a set of jigs, reels and slip jigs), driven by a confidently played flute, liften the spirits. A pleasant album.
© Michael Moll
Topette!! "Bourdon"
Own label, 2022
Did you know that the French word Bourdon has both the meaning of bumblebee and the drone of a bagpipe? On Topette!!’s new album you hear both: the album starts with the hum of a bumblebee, and once that has flown away, there’s plenty of bagpipe drones to be heard!
Topette!!, the band with the two exclamation marks, deserves its two exclamation marks, as its music is special indeed. Bringing together five brilliant musicians from England and France, Topette!! plays joyfully through dance tunes inspired by British and French traditions - although most are actually composed by band members. Bagpipes and banjo (Julien Cartonnet), accordion (Andy Cutting), fiddle (James Delarre), bodhran (Tania Buisse) and acoustic bass guitar (Barn Stradling) create a happy and full sound. The music easily inspires the listener to dance around their living room - and the band does play regularly also in ceilidhs/bal folks. Yet the quality of the music is of such a standard that you’d equally happily just sit and listen to the music, in concert or from CD. The band’s raison d’être is „in the spirit of European friendship and cooperation“ and who (if you read these lines!) couldn’t agree that this the kind of cooperation we desperately continue to need.
© Michael Moll
Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys "The Wishing Tree"
Pure Records, 2021
Only 10 years ago, the then 19 year old Sam confidently made it with his folk songs as finalist of Britain’s Got Talent - and fortunately that didn’t put him onto any musical paths away from folk music. With the Lost Boys, the Norfolk singer gathered around him for the past 7 or so years some of his most talented peers in the country, and over the past few years, Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys established themselves as one of the most popular festival and live bands in England.
„The Wishing Tree“ is the band’s third album, recorded in, as usual, the powerful line up of Toby Shaer (Flutes/whistles/fiddle/cittern), cellist Graham Coe, accordionist Archie Moss, percussionist Evan Carsson and Jamie Francis (Guitars, bouzouki, piano etc). I have to say that this is an album that needed a little bit of time to grow on me, but on repeated listening I have concluded that this is a brilliant album of indie folk.
Most of the songs are written by the band, falling into two categories: Songs with the kind of jolly traditional themes such as love and murder, tinker’s potion, wolves and nature’s law - and uplifting contemporary folk songs. Amongst the latter, both "My guiding light“ and „Bluebird“ stand out with their catchy choruses with uplifting messages, and the Titel track „The Wishing Tree“, celebrating a favourite place in nature, wins with its beautiful lyrics. Amongst the three traditional songs, the perhaps more unexpected one is a superb, beautiful version of the Gaelic „Mo Ghile Mear“. Musical arrangements are well thought through, with the imaginative percussion being the backbone, the cello sometimes adding earthiness, wonderful melodic parts, as well as sometimes straight folk rock. The only thing I can honestly criticise of this album is that the order of the pages in the booklet got completely mixed up - but this is something I will happily cope with.
© Michael Moll
Tamsin Elliott „frey“
Penny Fiddle Records, 2022
Frey is the impressive debut album of talented folk musician, composer and film maker Tamsin Elliot, who may be known to British folk fans through her work with the Spanish/world music fusion band Solana. As she says in the sleeve notes, Tamsin wrote the music on this album „as a balm for myself in the aftermath of a couple of years of quite severe health issues (…) The resulting fourteen tracks explore themes of limbo, pain, healing and acceptance, reflecting the microcosms of my personal experiences alongside wider themes of societal disconnection and environmental destruction.“ Over the last two years of COVID most of us will have gone through difficult times, and perhaps it is just this music that we all need to help healing some of those wounds that we will all have suffered.
This is beautiful evocative music, calming and inspiring. Often, the melancholy and tension builds up in a tune to be released in lighter themes. Some of the music would be perfectly suited as film music, some ventures into Arabic influences. The music is full of ideas and themes that need repeated listening to fully explore and appreciate.
Not only a talented composer, Tamsin is a gifted player on accordion, lever harp, flute and whistles. For the album, Tamsin is joined by a few familiar faces on the folk scene: Sid Goldsmith on cittern and double bass, Rowan Rheingans and Rowan Elliot both on viola and fiddle, percussionist Ricardo de Norohna and guest out player Soufian Saihi.
An album that effortlessly crosses boundaries between music styles, between tension and relief, to create a stunning overall experience. This is a talented young lady to watch out for.
© Michael Moll
MANdolinMAN & Ansatz der Maschine "Houtekiet"
Trad Records, 2022
MANdolinMAN is a Belgian quartet of mandolin players, taking an eclectic and innovative approach to interpreting traditional Flemish tunes. Playing just on four mandolins, it takes four talented musicians to create from this limited sound range an exciting and new way of interpreting the traditions in a contemporary way.
After two albums as a quartet, this time the four mandolinists take another leap to give their music an extra breathe of life: They have joined up with „Ansatz Der Maschine“ alias Mathijs Bertel to add beats, samples and soundscapes. While this brings a new dimension to their music, the four mandolins remain centre part, as, wisely, the beats and samples are not overdone. The music on the album is meant to form a soundtrack for Jonas van Thielen’s transcription of a classic Flemish novel, „Houtekiet“.
Obviously, you will have to like the sound of mandolins to enjoy this album - but if you do, you are in for a treat.
© Michael Moll
Zefiro Torna "Time Crawls"
Home Records, 2022
This Belgian ensemble reinterprets and composes new music based on themes of baroque and traditional 17th century European music. The album looks to create a continuation and reinvention of the 17th century Broken Consort - one of the most popular instrumental chamber music forms around 1600. The album and the compositions are the brainchild of Belgian composer and flautist Jowan Merckx. The ensemble features flutes, violin, Baroque harp, viola da gamba, violin, baroque bass and lutes. Hence the music is more on the classical than the folk music spectrum. The compositions are carefully crafted, and range from melancholy to bourses and gigues. Recorded in a church, the acoustics of the recording are special as well, and give the music the space is requires.
© Michael Moll
Maija Kauhanen "Menneet"
Nordic Notes, 2022
The Finnish singer and kantele player goes new ways. Together with her father she worked on her kantele, and now the bass strings are bowed downwards and can be played with a cello bow and not only be plucked. Which truly enrichens the sound. Kauhanen does not stop at this: She leaves Finnish tradition, challenges our modes of listening, includes Sami influences into her style of singing. In a way each track on this album is a surprise – in the background we hear cowbells, which should make for an alpine sound, but since our modes of listening are being challenged, it sounds Chinese. There is a type of spoken word singing, not quite rap, but the direction is obvious, and then all of a sudden the sound gets gentle, perhaps, because the tunes often are about memories or the longing for a place where we can feel safe. You don’t need to understand Finnish to enjoy this extraordinary album (but of course then you’ll enjoy it even more).
© Gabriele Haefs
Susan Cattaneo "All is quiet"
Continental Record Services, 2022
Susan Cattaneo, songwriter from the USA, is not as well-known over here as she no doubt deserves. For your orientation: songs of early Suzanne Vega will love Susan Cattaneo. Unobtrusive, withdrawn, such adjektives come to mind when you listen to the album for the first time, then the listener discovers to her joyful surprise, that the songs stay in your mind and that some lines and pieces of the melody keep popping up in your thoughts. Reading the infosheet makes for another enjoyment, the descriptions remind you of a wine list, so many lovely adjectives are gathered here: delicate, rhythmical weight (about the title song), pulsating in middle tempo, quiet, gentle mood, harmonies which long to move upwards, intimate and dreamy, who would not start dreaming now? And the texts? They are about everyday life, they urge us to make use of the tiny moments of joy, and remind us of the small mistakes we carry with us from our past, while they grow and cause new mischief all the time.
© Gabriele Haefs
Méabh "Mise le meas/Yours sincerely"
Own label, 2021
Méabh, Medb in the old spelling, was a bold warrior queen from the Irish mediaeval epics. Translated the name means „she who makes drunk“. A better name could not have been found for Irish Singer Méabh Ní Bheaglaoich, her music makes you an addict. Méabh hails from Corca Dhuibhne in Kerry, where Irish is the language of every day. Since she’s travelled far and wide she also resorts to the much less melodious English language – but even this sounds charming and poetic, the way she sings it. She plays the concertina and is a genius at picking her studio guests. On this CD she sings songs written by herself and traditionals, as well as a poem by Irish Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats, set to music by herself. Instrumentals and songs follow one another, and some tunes stick to your memory immediately, like her declaration of love for the city of Galway and the hymnlike „Amhrán na nGael“ .
© Gabriele Haefs
Annbjørg Lien "Janus"
Grappa, 2022
Annbjørg Lien, the great hardingfeleplayer from Norway, names her new album after Roman God Janus. Who is known to have had two faces in one head, which enabled him to look into two different directions. The title must be symbolic for the music on the CD – on the one hand there is the Norwegian tradition, on the other hand the music becomes pop-like and international, as if the singer were contemplating a career as a singer in hotel lounges. Which must be why she now sings in English, with selfpenned texts like „The clock is ticking“. She also composed the tunes herself, but here she stays true to the music of her homeland and can show her full virtuosity. In the instrumentals she likes to mix styles, she moves at leasure from a typical hardanger tune to a pop piece, barmusic, after all. Extremely beautiful is „A silver spoon“ which refers to the repertoire of Norwegian traveller Peter Strømsing, and where she imagines the life of Norway’s itinerant population in olden times.
© Gabriele Haefs
Millpond Moon "Sweeter than wine"
Own label, 2022
A look at the Norwegian duo’s website gives reason to fear the worst: will their horrible English („they have created they’re own sound“) infect their music? Don’t worry, it does not! Kjersti Misje and Rune Hauge and their numerous studio guests deliver country-style music. All songs were written and composed by Rune Hauge. Both artists play the guitar and like to sing duets, the older among us will feel reminded of Tammy Wynette and George Jones, which is no mean comparison, after all. The singing of duets of course invites to romantic moments, which is why most tunes are soothing and pleasing, but at times the music really gets catchy in the way you’d expect from an album partially recorded in Nashville. Other places of recording were Bergen and Oslo in Norway and Andalusia (without mentioning a place name), albeit without leaving any musical trace.
© Gabriele Haefs
Jennifer Cutting’s Ocean Orchestra "The Turning Year"
Own label, 2021
Jennifer Cutting from the US (with English and Irish musically active grandfathers) served her apprenticeship with A. L. Lloyd and this you hear – while she also has developed her own style which leans heavily on English traditions. She has a penchant for anthem-like songs with wonderful harmonies. Such songs form the major part of this damn too short (less than thirty minutes!) album. In addition we get one song which to the tune of „Tramps and Hawkers“ tells the true story of Robin Hood, and a Breton ballad, unfortunately only an French translation. The singer, Steve Winick, obviously does not feel at home in this language, so he might as well have chosen the more melodious Brezhoneg! The song is about the wonderful city of Ys, which in its splendour eclipsed all other cities, so the envious French tried to build a town to equal it and called it Par-Ys („like Ys“). Two Carolan-planxties together with a song by romantic Irish poet Thomas Moore put a crown on this wonderful listening experience.
© Gabriele Haefs
Graeme James "Seasons"
Nettwerk, 2022
Graeme James hails from New Zealand and the way he spells his name reminds us of his great compatriot Graeme Allwright. This association seems to work, when the first track starts with a banjo-solo, which we could also find on an album by Graeme Allwright. But after that their musical ways part - Graeme James loves the high notes, his singing sounds very different, often much more tender and more melancholic. He writes his own songs and accompanies himself on a multitude of instruments: Banjo, as we already know, guitar, mandoline, bass, ukulele, accordeon, and if this weren't enough, he's invitded guests to the studio who play piano, drums and flugelhorn. A rich musical diversity, in other words.His songs are about everyday life, they aren't always very folky, especially "Everlasting love" would qualify for any popsong festival. But he has classical models, too, f. e. in the shipwreck ballad „The Voyage of the James Caird.“
© Gabriele Haefs
Deidre McCalla "Endless Grace"
Own label, 2022
Deidre McCalla, the name sounds Irish, and the second song at least („Shoulder to the wheel“) is Country & Irish at its best. Elsewhere the US songwriter - the infos for the press label her as "a Black woman, mother, lesbian,feminist and songwriter for almost fifty years"- presents a multitude of styles. All songs were written by herself. Deidre McCalla plays guitar and had invited a lot of guests to the recording studio, among them masterfiddler Billy Contreras. Many songs sound like hymns: "I do not walk this path alone" or "That's how we pray", but you don't need to be religious to appreciate the singer's vocal power and her message of solidarity and help for each other. Why this wonderful singer still is so little known over here remains a mystery. The album awakens memories of the golden times when, following Alix Dobkin, many songwriting Lesbians from the USA were to be heard over here, but perhaps this is the dawning of a new golden era.
© Gabriele Haefs
Hans Fredrik Jacobsen "Svadilja"
Grappa, 2022
Jacobsen, the Norwegian multi-instrumentalist (he's a genius on amoung others accordeon, bagpipes and oud) presents an instrument which he loves more than most of the others: the willow whistle. On this album he plays seven different ones, all of them carved with his own hands and knives. "To carve a good fluit is pure happiness. Sometimes in such moments I think everyone should so this, when the forest is green and full of life. There are willows galore and it does not cost a thing."To make this picture perfect the CD was recorded in a Norwegian wood calles Krokskogen, the singing of the birds in the background is not from a recording, the birds were present all the time. Most tunes were composed by Jacobsen, once he even sings, the other tunes are by his colleague Eivind Groven and by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ("Grüß Gott, du schöner Maien"). In this tune Jacobsen a few times blows the wrong note, and this makes the open air atmosphere perfect.
© Gabriele Haefs
Roving Crows "Awaken"
Own label, 2022
The Roving Crows are an English-Irish band who get their inspirations in equal shares from English and Irish traditions. Says their info sheet. We hear the Irish inspirations mainly in the truly amazing instrumentals, where fiddler Caitlin Barrett can demonstrate her virtuosity. The instrumentals are traditional, the songs were written by band members Caitlín Barrett and Paul O'Neill. The first one leads the way:: "Awaken now", accentuated by the intro, which seems to hail from the days of electric folk, it really sounds like Five Hand Reel at their best. Wake up, the crows call angrily, the state of things is atrocious, and we have to change them. To achieve this, they are not afraid of big words: „The conscience of your country is down to you!“ But though the music is wild and angry, also love comes into its own. Wonderful is "Stanhope Street", about a rendezvous at the chipper's.
© Gabriele Haefs
Buster Sledge "Call Home"
Grappa, 2022
Norwegian-American trio Buster Sledge gets their inspiration from Country and Bluegrass, especially from Flatt and Scruggs. No wonder, one of the members is Norway`s only banjoplayer with a banjo-diploma, Mikael Jonasson from Bodø in the high North of the country. Michael Barrett Donovan is from the North of California. He also has written most of the songs on the album. He sings and prefers quiet notes, a bit romantic, sometimes melancholic, even with catchy tunes. And catchy tunes are their forte. Mr Donovan is truly a devil's fiddler. The third member is Jakob Folke Ossum, with a background in jazz, who adds his own impulses to the music. The trio loves long intros, again and again you think, now here's an instrumental, but then they start singing. In all aspects an album full of interesting surprises.
© Gabriele Haefs
Umbra "Bjargrúnir"
Nordic Notes, 2022
Rockrunes, okay, with a CD of that name you expect something which sounds of fate, as if the gods had touched the strings. The booklet wich the texts in Icelandic and English explains it all. The thing about the old gods is only partially true. A song called „Ásukvæđi“, which could be translated as "song of the Æsir, tells the story of lovely Ása and her tragic love for a thrall. Charlemagne as the hero of a romantic ballad is a surprise, that songs and stories from everywhere North of the Alps have an abundance of swans who can take on human shape is not. The first songs are slow, sound like hymns or like taken from a ceremony to invoke the attention of the gods, but we also find songs full of fire and mirth. The texts all show the women's view on love, fight, treason, work and family. They were found in the collection of parson Bjarni Þorsteinsson, but the album also hols extracts from the epic poetry of the middle ages (in early stages of Icelandic) and the very first recordings of old female singers from the beginning of the 20th century. The result - a true gift of the gods!
© Gabriele Haefs
Sina Theil "Live!"
Own label, 2021
Sina Theil is from Germany, lives in Ireland and is very popular over there among the scene that follows Country 'n' Irish, as we learn from the press sheet, and the music is absolutely convincing. Sina Theil has a wonderful voice which in her best moments reminds of Dolores Keane, she plays gutiar and has a talent for catchy arrangements. The selection on this album is a sort of Greatest Hits, we hear old favourites such an„Caledonia“, „Red is the Rose“, „Grace“, „Leaving Nancy“, „Green fields of France (with a slightly changed text, and why "dead heroes" is so much more acceptable for an Irish audience than "glorious fallen" as Eric Bogle wrote, remains the singer's secret.) Since we're in Country & Irish-land all songs are arranged into waltzes, the drums in the background take care of the showband effect, and this makes the album a nice memory of the days, before the legendary Irish showbands became a thing of the past.
© Gabriele Haefs
