From Albion And Beyond

06/12/2024

Here's 48 minutes of brilliance... I'll bet you bookmark it after watching it! :-)

The album 'December Songs' performed live in St Giles' Church, LondonDecember Songs is out now on Reveal Records: https://thelittleunsaid.bandcamp.com/album/...

29/11/2024

This week on FAAB...

Jon Doran Music & The Northern Assembly - Kitty Of Ballinamore - Jon Doran & The Northern Assembly - Independent Release www.jondoranmusic.co.uk
Socks in the Frying Pan - The Siberian Set - Waiting For Inspiration - Independent Release www.socksingthefryingpan.com
Hannah Scott - Bigger Than My Body - Absence of Doubt - Independent Release www.hannahscott.co.uk

David Starr - Waiting In The Dark - Starr & Stucky - Cedaredge Music www.davidstarrmusic.com
HANK DOGS - Arrows - Fiveways - Scratchy Records HANK DOGS
Pa Sheehy - My Old Friend John - Maybe It Was All For This - Independent Release www.pasheehy.com

Jon Doran & The Northern Assembly - Bold Wolfe - Jon Doran & The Northern Assembly - video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLTMp-s4MVo
Socks In The Frying Pan - Beetlejig Beetlejig Beetlejig - Waiting For Inspiration - video: www.youtube.com/channel/UCs60oUPBgJsvy9kfCXzjACA
Hannah Scott - Lines - Absence of Doubt - video: www.youtube.com/

David Starr - Night Rolls Around - Starr & Stucky - video: www.youtube.com/
Hank Dogs - Logic - Fiveways - video: www.youtube.com/channel/UCTTLKbDdq8PsRYTffyHl9GQ
Pa Sheehy - By The Side Of The River - Maybe It Was All For This - video: www.youtube.com/channel/UC7gsLPXfuyIt8wOimu_bFFA

Jon Doran & The Northern Assembly: " is a Newcastle-based folk singer and multi-instrumentalist from Gloucestershire. He was a 2019 finalist on BBC Radio 2's Young Folk Awards and a recent winner of Bromyard Folk Festival's 'Future of Folk' competition.

Jon’s sensitive approach to arranging and performing traditional songs on guitar and Irish bouzouki is often said to draw a likeness with revivalists Nic Jones and Andy Irvine. He has a powerful and intricate accompaniment style but never fails to place the narrative at the forefront of his arrangements. His stories focus on all human experience throughout history, whether that be humorous tales, or woeful retellings of tragic events, Jon never fails to capture the beauty and excitement that lies within traditional music.

Although Jon’s roots lie within the English folk tradition, after a year of studying Norwegian fiddle technique in Universitetet i Sørøst-Norge and six years as one half of the Anglo-Scottish duo, Janice Burns and Jon Doran, Scandinavian and Scottish influences now enrich his playing and teaching.

Jon Doran is that rare kind of musician who is equally happy leading a song with his strong and tuneful voice or backing other musicians with great sensitivity. A true all-rounder, and a lovely person into the bargain. - James Fagan" - www.jondoranmusic.co.uk/about
Socks In The Frying Pan: "Socks in the Frying Pan, a multi-award-winning trio from Ennis, County Clare, Ireland—the mecca of Irish traditional music—was formed in 2014. Forged together by a fire of pure joy and passion for their art, the band comprises Aodan Coyne on guitar and lead vocals, Shane Hayes on accordion, and younger brother Fiachra Hayes on fiddle. Their ‘Socks Sound’ combines virtuosic musicianship with a burning passion for the music and
tradition, pitch-perfect harmonies, and a big splash of quick wit and banter. Their electrifying performances and on-stage charm have established them as the kingpins on the Irish Traditional Music scene today.

They have toured extensively, capturing hearts in 46 US states, dozens of countries, and every continent, showcasing at renowned festivals such as the Walnut Valley Festival in Kansas, Electric Picnic in Ireland, Tønder Festival in Denmark, and the world-famous New Orleans Jazz Festival. To date, Socks in the Frying Pan have released five studio albums including Socks in the Frying Pan (2012), Return of the Giant Sock Monsters from Outer Space (2015), Without a Paddle (2016), Raw & Ríl (Live) (2019), and Waiting for Inspiration (2024), each adding to the band’s list of accolades including ‘Best New Band‘, ‘Best Live Band‘, ‘Album of the Year‘, and ‘Best Live Performance of the Year‘. Their release, Raw & Ríl, recorded live at Glór Theatre, was immediately awarded ‘Best Live Album‘ by the 2020 Celtic Music Awards." = Waiting For Inspiration PR

Hannah Scott: "“Your music moved me to tears.”

This is the refrain contemporary folk artist Hannah Scott regularly hears as she leaves the stage.

The best stories elicit profound personal reactions and in the 15 years she has been writing and performing, Hannah has become a consummate storyteller. Her music is shaped by human stories, with family, in all its chaos and glory, sitting at the heart of her work. Her lyrics are powerful and poignant, and her voice feels strangely familiar, though you can’t quite put your finger on why. Her writing may be deeply personal but her music has a universal appeal that extends beyond the melodies you catch yourself humming days after listening to her songs.

The connection she forges with her audiences often finds its most profound expression in the stories shared by audience members after her performances: the woman whose elderly mother lost a sibling in childhood and is moved to tears by Boy In The Frame; the young father who, upon hearing My Dad & I, realises he wants to spend more time with his small children; the adoptive parents who, like Hannah as a step-parent, may not have been the first person to hold their child, but Love You Like I Did. A deep-rooted desire for this connection has always been the driving force behind her songwriting and live performances.

Born in Suffolk and raised by an artist mother and an eccentric entertainer father, with music going back three generations to her songwriting great-grandmother, creativity was always destined to be an integral part of Hannah’s life. At the age of four, her father bought a second-hand piano for £70 from a friend in the pub and she didn’t look back, falling in love with both playing and listening to classical music. Picking up a guitar in her early teens as the influence of her peers and more contemporary music took hold, Hannah taught herself some simple chords that would lay the foundation for her earliest attempts at songwriting.

Hannah’s career highlights include having her song No Gravity featured on the hit international TV series Grey’s Anatomy, recording a live session on BBC Radio 2 with Dermot O’Leary and opening for Madeleine Peyroux, performing to an audience of two thousand. She has also shared the stage with folk luminaries such as Seth Lakeman, Cara Dillon and Fairport Convention and has performed at festivals including Cambridge, Sidmouth and Manchester Folk. Equally at home in small venues, she thrives on the intimacy of performing in spaces where she can look audience members in the eye, and, of course, speak with them after the show.

Hannah has just released “Absence Of Doubt”, her third studio album and the first she has self-produced alongside acclaimed engineer/producer Adrian Hall (Tori Amos, Anna Calvi). These songs are inspired by the greatest of human emotions – love, parenthood, grief – and an unwavering yearning for life, even during its darkest moments.

“I’m sorry, but also not sorry,” Hannah replies to the audience member moved to tears, so pleased her songs have connected in just the way she hoped they would.

“She reduces women and children to tears – in a good way.” The Guardian “And grown men.” Tom Besford, CEO, English Folk Expo & Richard Haswell, Liverpool Philharmonic" - www.hannahscott.co.uk/

David Starr: masterful Arkansas producer, multi-instrumentalist Americana singer-songwriter, and former owner of Little Rock's River Front Marketplace guitar shop Starr's Guitars, returning to Little Rock Folk Club Saturday Dec 7th 2024

Hank Dogs: "No pressure then. You’re a budding modern folk act starting your career in the mid-nineties – three musicians hoping for the best. Then suddenly your music is heard by none other than legendary Nick Drake producer Joe Boyd – who said that the band were the first British act he’d loved in 30 years. The band were a trio consisting of Andy Allan, Piano Pace and a daughter Lily Ramona from Allan’s previous releationship. Now there’s some pretty impressive lineage here – Allan played with The S*x Pistols after Sid Vicious died and was in Lightning Raiders and The Professionals and Lily’s mum was a member of The Slits. Allan’s dad was a TV legend – Elkan Allen – who produced and created Ready Steady Go!

So we’re now in the late nineties and Boyd produced their debut album ‘Bareback’ which was well received, but stardom eluded them. and ‘Half Smile’, their second Boyd-produced album, followed in 2000 and whilst they made some impact in America, healthy sales and success didn’t come their way. Following this, sadly, Allan and Pace split up and the band were forced to disband.

A third album – ‘Fiveways’ – was recorded before the band split up – and finally over twenty years after it’s recording the album is at last getting a deserved release. Their performances were renowned for their intense feel and the harmonies were stunning. This fourteen-track release captures the trio in splendid form. Piano’s voice is superb – think Suzanne Vega meets Tracey Thorn – and you can tell Allan is a seasoned musician – Lily’s backing vocals and drumming adds real depth.

Opener ‘Arrows’ is a wonderful tune with Pace’s ethereal vocals instantly grabbing attention and some gorgeous guitar strumming keeping the tune alive and assured. ‘Logic’ has some gloriously pensive lyrics and beautifully haunting guitar work. The fact that this is an album from a couple about to split haunts the music and is best demonstrated on ‘Nut’ – “you had me when I was sweet as a nut, not sweet enough”. Their live act apparently included infamous argumentative banter between the couple and this sort of tension imbues these tracks. Another standout is ‘Daddy’ with more cracking guitar strumming and lovely percussion surrounding Pace’s vocals.

This is a strong set of modern folk songs and even now you can see why Boyd was so impressed with the trio – it’s great to see the album finally getting a release and it sounds as strong now as it did two decades ago." - album review by Paul Russell at www.americana-uk.com/hank-dogs-fiveways

Pa Sheehy: "Ex-Walking On Cars man Pa Sheehy on how his Di**le upbringing informed his stellar new album Maybe It Was All For This, quitting drinking and supporting Bruce Springsteen.

“The deeper I go, the more I realise the workload involved,” reflects Pa Sheehy.

At the time of our conversation, the Kerry native is on the cusp of a watershed moment – set to release his first full-length album as a solo artist since parting ways with chart-topping outfit Walking on Cars in 2020.

“I’m learning loads,” he continues. “The biggest challenge was being decisive – things were moving slowly because I was overthinking. I wanted things to feel organic too. With Walking On Cars, we focused on radio hits and anthems. They were great at the time, but now I cringe a little. This album is about creating something rich and long-lasting, something that feels real, which I can listen to 10 or 20 years from now.”

The debut LP in question, Maybe It Was All For This, fuses the artist’s pop sensibilities with a newfound knack for detailed storytelling.

“It’s developed that way,” he reflects. “My older stuff was more metaphorical. I’ve listened to a lot of Phoebe Bridgers in the last couple of years and I love the way she tells her stories, so I’ve become more detailed in my own. I just wanted to create something cool. There were no rules, the pressure was off.”" - Interview with Ricardo Dwyer at www.hotpress.com/music/pa-sheehy-i-just-wanted-to-create-something-cool-there-were-no-rules-the-pressure-was-off-23054455

https://www.mixcloud.com/FromAlbionAndBeyond/from-albion-and-beyond-241130

22/11/2024

This week on FAAB:

Al Stewart - Old Admirals - Past, Present & Future [50th Anniversary Limited Edition] - Esoteric Recordings www.alstewart.com
Amy Papiransky - Comfort In Grey (Featuring Lewis McLaughlin) - Friday's Daughter - Mik-Ellen Music www.amypapiransky.com
Molly Donnery - Pull Me Under - Times We've Shared In Innocence EP - Independent Release www.mollydonnery.com

David Starr Music - Cabo San Lucas - Starr & Stucky - Cedaredge Music www.davidstarrmusic.com
Joseph Carmichael - Jan & Jim's - Desiderium - Independent Release www.josephcarmichael.bandcamp.com
Hands of the Heron - Pieces of Me - Quiet Light - Cuculi Records www.cuculirecords.com/artists/handsoftheheron/

Al Stewart - Terminal Eyes - Past, Present & Future [50th Anniversary Limited Edition] - video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5ZUFa_F3No
Amy Papiransky - Still - Friday's Daughter - video: www.youtube.com/
Molly Donnery - She Hates Me In The Morning (w. Cathal Crowley) - Times We've Shared In Innocence - video: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUjrGr-nh8w-Uz2kgAbte9w

David Starr - The Head And Heart - Starr & Stucky - video: www.youtube.com/
Joseph Carmichael - Sovay - Desiderium - video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=brvucGSOhQQ
Hands of the Heron - Which Waters - Quiet Light - video: www.youtube.com/

Al Stewart: superb Scots born, Dorset raised, LA-dwelling S/S whose pre-Year of the Cat catalogue is brimming with superb albums such as PP&F...

"Having already released four albums and become a popular attraction on the UK live music scene, this was All Stewart’s breakthrough album which he would tour extensively in the USA and the UK. ‘Past, Present And Future’ saw Stewart focus lyrically on various historical themes, including ‘Old Admirals’, ‘Warren Harding’, ‘The Last Day of June 1934’, ‘Roads to Moscow’ and ‘Nostradamus’ and was Al Stewart’s first US hit album. It firmly established his reputation as one of the most imaginative and accomplished songwriters of his generation.

Featuring guests such as Rick Wakeman, Tim Renwick, Bruce Thomas, Dave Swarbrick, Francis Monkman and Queen’s Roger Taylor, the album is now regarded as one of Al Stewart’s finest works, with much of the material still forming a part of his live concert sets.

This 50th Anniversary boxed set edition of this special album features the original 1973 album mix (newly remastered from the original master tapes), along with wonderful new stereo and 5.1 Surround sound mixes of the album by Stephen W Tayler. The set also includes a full concert recorded at The Howff in Hampstead, London in 1974, newly remixed from the original multi track tapes by Stephen W Tayler, which includes a guest appearance by Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, and additional bonus tracks drawn from singles.

This limited edition boxed set also features an illustrated 68-page book with a new essay by Al Stewart aficionado Neville Judd and a facsimile promotional poster and a set of four postcards and is a fitting tribute to a much treasured and legendary masterpiece by a consummate song writer and performer." - www.esotericrecordings.com

Amy Papiransky: "Since making the final of the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year, Amy Papiransky has continued to carve her name in the Scottish music scene. Originally from Keith in the North-East of Scotland, and now residing in Glasgow, Amy – a music teacher by trade – has been writing and recording her own material for the last eight years.

“A bit of Dolly and a bit of Carole King with the piano, and a real tie in with good country writing over her stunning Scottish accent!” – BRIT and Ivor Novello Award Winning Singer/Songwriter KT Tunstall.

A classically trained and infinitely talented multi-instrumentalist with folk roots, Amy has toured in Canada, America, Ireland and Germany and played at the prominent Lotus Temple in New Delhi. She has also performed live on BBC Radio Scotland’s Hogmanay Show, at BBC Proms in the Park and Roddy Hart’s BBC Quay Sessions. “A born storyteller, with the ability to bring emotions to life through her songwriting” – Roddy Hart, BBC Radio Scotland.

Amy’s debut album Read Me Write was released in September 2019 – a lesson in flawless vocal dexterity and heartfelt song writing, the result of which is a contemporary, hypnotic and soaring sound with a side of sass, funk and class – the product of the Scottish songbird’s musical maturity and growing confidence. “Read Me Write is something of an astonishing debut – the lyricism of the songs, the singing, the arrangements and the emotions explored are of a sort one would expect to hear from a much more mature artist.” – The National

A young woman with plenty to say, Amy has carefully crafted a collection of new mellow, uplifting pop songs and effortless ballads which tell tales of love, loss, heartbreak and strength and she is looking forward to sharing them with the world in 2023. “A natural song writer with a cracking voice” – Archie Fisher" - www.amypapiransky.com

Molly Donnery: "Hailing from the heart of Ireland's midlands, Molly Donnery had an obsession with music. Coming from a background of traditional Irish music, she quickly fell into pop, musical theatre, and grew a fondness for performing. Her mix of contemporary ‘modern’ music accompanied by a harp proved successful, as she was invited to play on national television for a talent competition at just 13 years old.

When in college, Molly started dabbling with different genres and narrative styles, ultimately settling and finding her place with contemporary folk. Her current music is a testament to her deep appreciation of Irish music and heritage, infused with her honest and poetic lyrics. Listeners are left with a sense of nostalgia, after having been plunged deeply into melancholia." - www.mollydonnery.com

David Starr: masterful Arkansas producer, multi-instrumentalist Americana singer-songwriter, and former owner of Little Rock's Marketplace guitar shop Starr's Guitars returning to Little Rock Folk Club Saturday Dec 7th 2024

Joseph Carmichael: Dallas Texas multi-instrumentalist, former member of the brilliant Flashpoint and The Here And Now with whom he visited LRFC on a number of occasions; "Desiderium" is my debut solo album, which was recorded mostly in early 2020 just before the start of the pandemic, and finished over the course of the last 4 years.

Featuring myself on whistles, flutes and guitars, and an all-star cast of guest musicians to form a supergroup backing band, this album is the culmination of all of my musical influences up to now." - www.josephcarmichael.bandcamp.com

Hands of the Heron: "Bristol-based psychfolk trio Hands of the Heron is a long-running collaboration between Bec Garthwaite, Beth Roberts & Claire Vine , each of whom brings a signature songwriting style to the band. Moving effortlessly between sparse choral folk and shimmering instrumental textures, their interlocking vocal harmonies are a constant thread running through the various hues of their dreamlike, mercurial songs. Their third album Quiet Light (Cuculi Records, 22 Nov 2024) is a seamless expression of blend and balance that explores the tension between tending for yourself and connecting with others.

The band founded Cuculi Records together as a DIY space to release their own albums, as well as music by friends & collaborators from the grassroots alt-folk community. Esteemed jazz critic Ted Gioia recommended their second album 13 Moons as one of his top recordings for 2021, which has also been described as “a wondrous collection of curious story-songs, choral singing and carefully layered instrumentation” (Joyzine) with “exquisite versatility and insight” (God Is In The TV Zine) and “songwriting mastery that perfectly delivers reverberating folk-pop” (Tap The Feed).

They’ve played a diverse range of festivals, including Fire in the Mountain, Purbeck Valley Folk, Green Man, Summer’s End Prog Festival and Fanny’s Meadow. In 2023, they sold out a double bill with Rachael Dadd at St Ambrose Bristol, as well as gigs at Exeter Library, The Barrelhouse, Plymouth Aquarium and Outlandish Nights. In 2024, they’re headlining prog event Eppyfest, alongside gigs at Bristol Folk Festival and The Harrison All-Day Folk Fest in London, before embarking on a UK album release tour in the autumn with support from songwriter & labelmate Anna Anise." - www.cuculirecords.com/artists/handsoftheheron/

www.mixcloud.com/FromAlbionAndBeyond/from-albion-and-beyond-241123

A 50th anniversary box set (3CDs/1DVD) of Al Stewart's 1973 absolute masterpiece "Past Present & Future" opens each half of this week's program; superb Scots S/S Amy Papiransky follows on from her brilliant "Friday's Daughter"; & Irish S/S Molly Donnery's exquisite 6 track EP "Times We've Shared In....

16/11/2024

Coming up this week on FAAB...

Damien Dempsey - Hold Your Joy - Hold Your Joy - Sony Damien Dempsey
Rob Harbron (Leveret)- Sixteen Hours Forty-Two - A Week In June - Hudson Records www.robharbron.com
Ellie Gowers - You, The Passenger - You, The Passenger EP- Gilded Lily Records www.elliegowers.com

David Starr - Alive Again - Starr & Stucky - Cedaredge Music www.davidstarrmusic.com
Marla Fibish & Rebecca Richman - Johnny C's~The Hag At The Churn~Connie The Soldier - Playdate - Noctambule Music www.marla-becca-music.com
Sean Kiely - Irises - Postcards Of The Reckoning - Multiple Logo Records www.seankielymusic.com

Damien Dempsey - Factory John - Hold Your Joy - video: www.youtube.com/
Rob Harbron - Rose Moon - A Week In June - video: www.youtube.com/channel/UCmFGWTnc09aVpWpWqNLUi8g
Ellie Gowers - A Moment - You, The Passenger EP - video: www.youtube.com/channel/UCI9kkm0n9dTUmld1C4fOqdg

David Starr - Rise Up Again - Starr & Stucky - video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUXL1VUnLmE
Marla Fibish & Rebecca Richman - Return Of The Ducks~Fae's Fancy~Arthur Darley's - Playdate - video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gg6T1RREIs
Sean Kiely - Oh, Sarah - Postcards Of The Reckoning - video: www.youtube.com/

Damien Dempsey: "writes songs about social issues with a remarkable passion and openness, enabling his live audiences and fans to let go. Following a number of individuals who have been strongly influenced by his message, beautifully shot new documentary ‘Love Yourself Today’ unearths their stories of overcoming pain and finding solace in his music. The film successfully explains the Dublin singer-songwriter’s appeal by focusing on what his songs mean to fans and is in cinemas now.

“Singing and music are two of the few spiritual entities in the physical world, so we need to harness them and get people immersed in them,” Dempsey explains, “because when people lose themselves at a gig, when everyone sings together, they carry a vibration away from the gig that spreads out like a ripple into others, it’s a way of healing.”

Damien Dempsey’s importance as a singer and songwriter of great passion, conviction and beauty has never been more prominent. He is that rare gem of an artist, an ex boxer – with the soul of a poet, whose heroes and influences are as diverse as Christy Moore, Shane McGowan, Luke Kelly and Bob Marley. With themes of addiction, loss but also hope and positivity, Dempsey’s music often reflects his fans’ pain, alleviates their anguish and ultimately provides peace as they ‘sing all their cares away’. Damien Dempsey’s debut album in 2000, They Don’t Teach This Sh*t in School, set him apart as a unique and important voice. The follow-up, Seize the Day, marked the beginning of his relationship with producer John Reynolds, producing many more albums, picking up awards and leading to extensive international tours." - www.dmfmusic.co.uk/artists/damien-dempsey/

Rob Harbron: " is a uniquely skilled player of the English concertina, described by The Guardian as a ‘concertina wizard’ and renowned for his highly individual and harmonic style of playing. He is a member of Leveret (alongside Sam Sweeney and Andy Cutting), with whom he has toured extensively and released four landmark albums.

Known for his work with a wide range of artists including Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings, Emma Reid, and The Full English, he has also worked extensively with the National Youth Folk Ensemble and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Now he is exploring solo playing with a repertoire which includes settings of rediscovered traditional tunes as well as his many fine compositions. His debut solo album Meanders was released in 2019 and he has recently published a tunebook containing 54 original and adapted tunes." - www.robharbron.com/biog

Ellie Gowers: "“Ellie Gowers is, quite literally, an all-singing, all-dancing folk polymath” (Jon Wilks, TradFolk).

Emerging onto the UK folk scene with her debut album, ‘Dwelling by the Weir’ (2022), Ellie explored folklore and stories of her hometown, Warwick, through ecological, sociological, and personal themes (‘Full of delicacy, precision, and gentle delight’, The Guardian). It connected with wider audiences and secured her a place on the UK touring circuit.

Following the release of her latest single, ‘The Stars Are Ours’, BBC Radio 2 beckoned for a ‘really impressive’ (Mark Radcliffe) live session which was widely lorded (‘absolutely beautiful’, Zoe Ball), before heading out on a successful Autumn 2023 tour. Ellie has also composed music for BBC Radio 3’s production of ‘Middlemarch’ and toured as support act for a number of artists including Blair Dunlop and Elephant Sessions.

Ellie marks her return this summer with long-awaited new music. After the release of her celebrated album, Ellie has continued to firmly root herself in the songwriting scene. However this time, her new music amplifies her writing; referencing the more contemporary sounds of MIPSO, Gemma Hayes, and Jeff Buckley. After a heavy year of touring away from home, themes of absence, push/pull, and longing emerge from this new and exciting direction." - www.elliegowers.com

David Starr: masterful Arkansas producer, multi-instrumentalist Americana singer-songwriter, and former owner of Little Rock's Marketplace guitar shop Starr's Guitars returning to Little Rock Folk Club Saturday Dec 7th 2024

Marla Fibish & Rebecca Richman: "Though residents of the same larger music community for all our musical lives, we really only found each other in the last few years. The joy in that connection is the driving force behind our music together. We’re so grateful our busy and varied lives made the space for this to happen! We are also immensely grateful for the great gifts our musical pals brought to this endeavor.

Rebecca: Coming to music at a very young age, Rebecca was influenced by the diverse traditional music scene of Northern California. In her playing are elements of Old-Time American, Contra Dance, Scottish, Irish and other traditions. After her time studying at the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College, Rebecca took a long hiatus from music, returning over a decade later with a new found love for the art form, and a renewed understanding of her own place in traditional music. Since her return, Rebecca has explored many collaborations including her work with Kyle Alden, Jerry Hannan, Roxanne Oliva, Michael Harmon, Riggy Rackin, Amelia Hogan, Rory McNamara, Heath Curdts, The Baybillies Stringband, and many more.

Marla: ’s is a distinct voice of the mandolin in Irish music. She brings her own musical sensibility to the tradition on one of its lesser heard instruments. With very few role models on the instrument, and an utter absence of teachers, she developed her voice on her own, focusing not on the mandolin itself, but on the music she loved so dearly. Her influences come, quite naturally then, from favorite fiddlers, pipers, flute and accordion players, and her style one that aims to capture the movement and flow of the music on those instruments, while highlighting the particular beauties the mandolin can bring to the table.

Over the years, and as the instrument has gained popularity in the tradition, she has become a respected and sought-after teacher, and loves nothing more than nurturing newer players and helping them find their own voice on the instrument.

In this project, she also explores her more recent voice as a tunesmith, contributing multiple compositions to the album, with endless gratitude to Rebecca, who was game to explore them together, bringing so much to them! " - www.marla-becca-music.com

Sean Kiely: "is one of Jersey City's most exciting and original singer-songwriters. His music contemplates the world with a keen ear for unusual and compelling beauty. Tris McCall writing for the Jersey City Times says, "Sean Kiely's folk-rock songs grow like beautiful brambles. He takes compositional risks and chases beauty into the sonic thickets, and he loves to astonish and surprise. Some of his songs are as winsome and delicate as snowflakes, others are barbed, and more than a few are quite funny - in a dry, knowing sort of way." In addition to performing his own music, Sean is a producer, educator, and in-demand sideperson on the NYC area scene, performing and recording regularly with Abbie Gardner, Jeff Taylor, the Go Bailers, Chris Luquette, and more. " - www.seankielymusic.com

https://www.mixcloud.com/FromAlbionAndBeyond/from-albion-and-beyond-241116

Superb Dublin S/S Damien Dempsey opens each half of this week's program from his excellent "Hold Your Joy" replete with joyous songs & the odd grim reality reminder; Stroud,UK multi-instrumentalist & concertina maestro follows on from his superb "A Week In June" EP of original compositions ; & Birmi...

08/11/2024

Coming up this week on FAAB:
Kate Meaw - Borthwick - Umbelliferæ - Meaw Records www.kateyoungmusic.com
Kathryn Tickell - Sycamore Gap - Return To Kielderside - Resilient Records www.kathryntickell.com/
Fionn Regan- Islands - O Avalanche - Nettwerk Music Groupwww.fionnregan.com/

Shovel Dance Collective - Kissing's Nae Sin / Newcastle / Portsmouth (Come, Come, My Brave Boys) - The Shovel Dance - American Dream Records www.shovel.dance/
Roddy Woomble - Still Painting A Picture of You - Sometime During The Night We Fell Off The Map - www.roddywoomble.net
Paul Kelly - Love Has Made A Fool Of Me - Fever Longing Still - Cooking Vinyl www.paulkelly.com.au/

Kate Young - Mountain - Umbelliferæ - video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXcEJHBrSrw
Kathryn Tickell - Dick Moscrop's Fiddle~The Steel - Return To Kielderside - video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD9z7Qk-ESE
Fionn Regan - Farewell - O Avalanche - video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfnFbV62rtE

Shovel Dance Collective - Four Loom Weaver - The Shovel Dance - video: www.youtube.com/channel/UCXt4NJBZcRpRpOPSV7E8DBg
Roddy Woomble - I Can Make Sense of It Now - Sometime During The Night We Fell Off The Map - video: www.youtube.com/channel/UCuEa30rAaq4ut5i_79oqhCw
Paul Kelly - Taught By Experts - Fever Longing Still - video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t0msWtT0DI

Kate Young: "Growing up immersed within a Folk music background in Edinburgh, Kate Young has emerged as one Scotland’s most innovative composers and musicians. She is driven by the exploration of new sounds found in traditional musics around the globe, which feed into her compositional world. As a musician, Kate combines voice with fiddle-playing techniques to conjure intriguing soundscapes as she navigates her way across musical genres.

A recipient of the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award for Composers 2018, Kate has also toured globally with bands such as Moulettes, (Eliza Carthy MBE) Carthy, Hardy, Farrell & Young, Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening, Hannah James’s JigDoll Ensemble. In 2015-16 she collaborated with ten folk musicians from Scotland and England, all women, for Songs of Separation, a record which gained ‘Album of the Year’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award in 2017. Her own band (previously known as Kate in the Kettle) is focussed on her combining of composition for string quintet and song.

Over the last five years she has developed her interests in British plant lore and folktales, learning directly from books and then weaving information into her songs and compositions as a means to perpetuate and empower traditions at high risk of being lost. In 2016 she completed a significant commission for Celtic Connections’s New Voices and wrote a suite of pieces around the theme of the natural world. Her response – a complete repertoire of songs inspired by British medicinal plants, set to string quintet, with harp, double bass and percussion – was met with wide acclaim.

More recently, Kate has endeavoured to continue extending her creative and compositional research by studying a Masters’ degree in Scenography in Utrecht, Netherlands." - www.kateyoungmusic.com/about/

Kathryn Tickell: "In 1984, while still at school, Kathryn Tickell released her first album ‘On Kielder Side’. 40 years on she revisits some of those tunes and responds with new material specially composed for this anniversary release ‘Return to Kielderside'.

Kathryn says “it is such a delight to take that old-school approach to recording an album – get a load of tunes together, and a group of good friends – play through the tunes…and go and record them. No studio trickery. No messing!”

Return to Kielderside is a gentle return to a more traditional sound for Kathryn. The album is a departure from the drums, samples and heavy bass beats of Kathryn’s current touring band ‘The Darkening’ although three tracks do feature The Darkening’s Amy Thatcher on accordion. Other contributors include melodeon player Julian Sutton, who played on several of Kathryn’s earlier albums, guitarist Ian Stephenson who last recorded with Kathryn back in 2007 and pianist Andy May (who also played Northumbrian pipes on Kathryn’s 2002 album ‘Back to the Hills’). Alongside these long-time friends and musical collaborators Kathryn is pleased to welcome young fiddle player Jem Quilley, making his recording debut.

Return to Kielderside contains old tunes like ‘Kielder Castle’ interspersed with contemporary tunes in traditional style such as the waltz Yearning Law and the rollicking accordion and pipes duet ‘Roman Wall Rambo’, composed for one of Kathryn’s relatives. The evocative air ‘Border Spirit’ is one of several tunes making a return from the original ‘On Kielder Side’ track list, all with new arrangements.

This time last year the iconic Sycamore Gap tree was felled. The tree, a symbol of the Northumbrian landscape, was cut down in an act of vandalism, leaving a deep void in the hearts of many in the region and beyond.

Kathryn says: "It all started nearly a year ago when I woke up to an avalanche of messages. The news of the Sycamore Gap tree being cut down had spread like wildfire and everyone was in shock. People started asking me if I was going to write a tune for the tree, and I realised that this was something I could do to honour its memory."

The tune will also be on the forthcoming album 'Return to Kielderside', but this is a different, less traditional mix incorporating field recordings from around Hadrian's Wall. Return to Kielderside was recorded in Thropton, Northumberland in Summer 2024." - www.kathryntickell.bandcamp.com

Fionn Regan: "Although he'd been releasing high-quality independent EPs since 2000, Irish singer/songwriter Fionn Regan rose to prominence in 2006 with his Mercury Prize-nominated debut album The End of History. His literate, often poetic indie folk subsequently earned him praise in the U.S. as well, with Lost Highway issuing it stateside a year later. When Lost Highway refused to release his follow-up, Regan shelved it and returned to Ireland where he released a trio of well-received LPs including 2010's more rock-driven The Shadow of an Empire and the self-recorded and entirely acoustic The Bunkhouse, Vol. 1: Anchor Black Tattoo. After a temporary hiatus, he returned in the late 2010s with the atmospheric folk-pop of 2017's The Meetings of the Waters and 2019's dreamy Cala.

Born and raised in the coastal city of Bray, Ireland, Regan absorbed folk and blues influences alongside the usual rock & roll (in interviews, he has claimed inspiration ranging from Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie to the Velvet Underground and Nirvana) due to his artistic family's bohemian existence living and working at a seaside resort hotel. Picking up piano, violin, and guitar at an early age from his musician father, Regan was performing in public before he reached his tenth birthday and busking across the country by his mid-teens. Resettling in Brighton, England, he signed with the small indie Anvil Records and released two EPs, 2003's Reservoir and 2004's Hotel Room, before connecting with the more established Bella Union imprint. In search of a live, natural sound, Regan recorded his debut album, The End of History, largely in an abandoned stone barn. The album was released in Great Britain in the summer of 2006, garnering considerable praise and regular comparisons to both Damien Rice and Nick Drake, as well as two hit singles in "Put a Penny in the Slot" and "Be Good or Be Gone." Lost Highway scheduled the American release of The End of History for summer 2007. Regan set about recording a follow-up in 2008 for Lost Highway, but upon its completion they refused to release it. The record, often referred to as The Red Tapes, has never seen an official release. Regan chose to retreat to Ireland to record his next record without the involvement of a label. The Shadow of an Empire was eventually released in 2010 via Heavenly Recordings and was warmly received by the music press. 2011 and 2012 saw the release of two further records, the expansive 100 Acres of Sycamore and the spare, lo-fi The Bunkhouse, Vol. 1: Anchor Black Tattoo. This prolific period was followed by a five-year gap which saw Regan charting a new creative course. When he emerged in 2017 with The Meetings of the Waters, he had shifted toward a deeply atmospheric, electronic-laced sound that embraced shimmering pop as much as pastoral folk. 2019's Cala was a more intimate affair, meditating on themes of nature and the sea." - Fionn Regan Biography by Stewart Mason www.allmusic.com/artist/fionn-regan-mn0000935894

Shovel Dance Collective: "The Shovel Dance, the second LP from London's nine-piece folk group Shovel Dance Collective, is their most powerful release to date, bringing studio fidelity and trickery to the rich arrangements and soaring vocals of their concerts. While their work has always had an inventive bent, The Shovel Dance unifies the band’s experimentation with their live immediacy. Indeed, what sets The Shovel Dance apart is the Collective itself. The album revolves around their interplay and close listening, no matter how many members of the band play on a given song or how many instruments feature (there are twenty-five instruments and eight voices). The band are attentive to the English, Irish and Scottish sources they reference, which date back to the 1600s and beyond. At the same time, they give their arrangements an experimental edge—as close to Scott Walker or Swans as Shirley Collins or Bert Lloyd—that situates them on the bleeding edge of folk music.

“It clicked immediately when we first played together,” the band says. It traces its origins to Daniel S. Evans playing card games and tunes with Alex McKenzie and Joshua Barfoot. “Somehow,” the band says, “we always reached together towards the sublime. This was before there was a folk scene for young weirdos like ourselves.” The group grew naturally into its nine-piece membership—which, in addition to Evans, McKenzie and Barfoot, includes Fidelma Hanrahan, Jacken Elswyth, Oliver Hamilton, Tom Hardwick-Allan, and the group’s lead vocalists, Nick Granata and Mataio Austin Dean. Together, they landed on central ideas to explore as Shovel Dance Collective. Within their aesthetic commitment to acoustic instruments, “we want to play and experiment, layer and move between different spaces in recording, and extend the limits of our instruments to sing and break in new ways,” the group says. “Improvising, textural playing, and moving as one free organic organism are all part of the experiments we try and make in form. It’s all towards this one goal: constructing the Shovel Dance world and saying what we feel needs saying.”

These recordings have a confidence honed through the band’s tireless performance schedule across Europe. Take the “Abbots Bromley Horn Dance,” which leads off The Shovel Dance. Traditionally, it’s a celebratory dance for ten people, with ancient reindeer antlers and a hobby horse, and two musicians playing accordion and triangle. The band extends it into a four-part instrumental doom folk proclamation, waxing and waning between birdsong and a quiet minor-key meditation that builds into a lush, roiling crescendo. Then the bottom falls out into silence, and a quiet pipe organ introduces “The Worms Crept Out,” a World War I song about a decomposing body, as Granata sings. This is as much the album’s opening track as a musical mission statement for the band: first, folk music is living, even—or especially—when it’s about death. And interpreting folk music with emotion and present-day musical textures connects the music to its forebears. Nowhere is this more true than on "The Four Loom Weaver." Performed unaccompanied by Austin Dean, the song inhabits the perspective of a weaver who’s lost his job to steam-powered weaving machines, reduced by his poverty to eating nettles. A fellow weaver, afraid to confront their boss, says, “We might have better luck if we’d just hold our tongues.” The speaker responds, “I’ve holden my tongue ’til I near lost my breath, and I feel in my own heart I’ll soon clem [or starve] to death.” As Austin Dean moves between quiet vocal fry and the top of his baritone, he imbues the music with a piercing sense of familiarity connecting the past and the present, transcending space and time. “By having this spatio-temporal sense of folk music,” the group says, “we can reject a linear time, and promote new ways of looking at land and history to highlight the struggle of oppressed peoples everywhere.“

Shovel Dance Collective are among several working bands that function as a leaderless collective, but they’re unique for the beauty, force, and political charge of their folk music. “Folk music,” the band says, “places you in a great chain of everyday life, and how it can relate so intimately to political and emotional actions, past and present.” And what's more, “it infers a beautiful collectivity.” The Shovel Dance brings the band’s collectivity to its fullest realization yet." - www.shovel.dance/

Roddy Woomble: "Singer Roddy Woomble achieved recognition in the late '90s and early 2000s as the frontman for Scottish rock band Idlewild, who released a handful of albums before Woomble chose to explore his options as a solo artist. Born in 1976 in Scotland, Woomble traveled extensively as a child, living in France and the United States before settling in Edinburgh to study photography. It was in Edinburgh that he met the other future members of Idlewild, forming the band in 1995. They released five albums while shifting from a grungy, punk-rooted sound to folk-influenced rock. Building on that change, Woomble decided to take time out to explore his love of traditional Scottish folk and concentrate on solo material, which led to the release of his debut, My Secret Is My Silence, in July 2006. Among the collaborators on the album were Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones, vocalist Kate Rusby, and Woomble's wife, bassist Ailidh Lennon of Sons and Daughters.

My Secret Is My Silence topped the U.K. folk charts, encouraging Woomble to return to the folk genre after the 2007 release of Idlewild's fifth album, Make Another World. This time, he partnered with two other folksingers, Kris Drever and John McCusker, both of whom shared equal billing with Woomble on 2008's Before the Ruin. Continuing his musical juggling act, Woomble switched his attention back to Idlewild, who had lost their contract with Sanctuary Records after the label was absorbed by Universal Music Group. Forced to move ahead as an independent band, they completed their next album, Post Electric Blues, and released it on their website in June 2009. An "official" version of the album followed in December, courtesy of a new relationship with the indie label Cooking Vinyl. One month later, Woomble began writing songs for his second solo album, retaining the folksy flavor of My Secret Is My Silence while exploring a more electric sound. The result, The Impossible Song & Other Songs, appeared in early 2011.

Woomble put together a new band for his solo projects -- Seonaid Aitken on violin and keyboards, Sorren Maclean on guitar, Gavin Fox on bass, and Danny Grant on drums -- and took them into the studio to record his third solo LP, 2013's Listen to Keep. A 2014 concert by Woomble and his band (now featuring guitarist Maclean along with new members Hannah Fisher on fiddle, Craig Ainslie on bass, and Luciano Rossi on piano) was released as the limited-edition Live at King's Place in August 2014. Idlewild reconvened after a hiatus, and Woomble joined them to record their seventh album, 2015's Everything Ever Written, and subsequent touring. Woomble returned to his solo career, moving in a darker and more personal direction for his fourth studio effort as a solo artist, 2017's The Deluder. Following its release, he returned to Idlewild to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the release of The Remote Part before they started work on their ninth album, Interview Music. The band celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2020, but live dates to their shows were cancelled due to COVID-19. Woomble used that time to finish work on the official Idlewild biography, In the Beginning There Were Answers: 25 Years of Idlewild, and to start work on his fifth solo album. Stepping away from the acoustic folk of his previous work, he embarked on a more experimental journey, bringing synths, brass, and spoken word into the mix. The result, Lo! Soul, was issued in mid-2021. " - Roddy Woomble Biography by Kenyon Hopkin at www.allmusic.com/artist/roddy-woomble-mn0000315768

Paul Kelly: "With each song Paul Kelly writes, he feels like he’s starting anew. Every one a puzzle to be solved, a mystery that can be never quite explained. That adventurous spirit makes his 29th studio album, Fever Burning Still, as rich and rewarding a listening experience as any record he has made since releasing his first in 1981.

Few songwriters find ways to keep that creative fever burning for as long and as brightly as Kelly.

The country of his birth, its emotional interior and geographical landscape, its heroes and villains, our hopes and failings, have been a constant in Kelly’s long list of Australian-set songs. From St Kilda to King’s Cross, Adelaide, Leaps and Bounds, Incident on South Dowling, Maralinga (Rainy Land), Randwick Bells, Sydney from a 747. Fromthe bus ride through the cane in To Her Door tothe childhoodmemory of Deeper Water.

He has written about the country’s greatest cricketer, Bradman, and its most infamous bushranger, Ned Kelly, in Our Sunshine.

Some songs take their time to make their mark. How to Make Gravy, a message from a prisoner who can’t be home for Christmas, wasn’t a hit at the time of release in 1996 but now is recognised as an Australian classic. From Little Things Big Things Grow, aboutthe 1966 strike by Aboriginal stockmen on Wave Hill Station in the Northern Territory, co-written with Kev Carmody, has taught more Australians about the history of the battle for land rights than newspaper headlines ever could.

And when Kelly finds a theme, he goes all in. His 2021 album, Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train, is far broader in scope than the usual Christmas standards collections, ranging from new original rock songs to an Irish folk ballad set on Christmas morning. It also reflects the experience of Christmas in the southern hemisphere in songs such as Swing Around the Sun andan Australian carol from the ’40s, Three Drovers.

In 2022 and 2023 he released new compilation albums on themes from Time to Rivers and Rain, Drinking and Poetry, including new tunes among some of his best-loved material.

On Fever Longing Still – the title is from a line in a Shakespearean sonnet – Kelly returns to the subject of many of his greatest songs, from Love Never Runs on Time and Careless to Wintercoat, When I First Met Your Ma, If I Could Start Today Again and Firewood and Candles.

Love in all its shades is the theme for an album which introduces new Kelly treasures like Houndstooth Dress and All Those Smiling Faces to that bulging songbook of songs about love. The songs arrive in various ways. Houndstooth Dress is so fresh you hear Kelly teaching the band the song. Taught By Experts is a brilliant new version of a song he has been trying to perfect for 30 years.

Variety has long been a key to Kelly’s recording career, which includes albums ranging from bluegrass and country (Smoke and Foggy Highway) to funk and soul (Professor Ratbaggy, The Merri Soul Sessions).

He set Shakespeare sonnets to music in 2014’s Seven Sonnets & a Song. This was followed by an album with guitarist Charlie Owen of songs they had performed at funerals (Death’s Dateless Night), and an album with musicians from broad-ranging backgrounds interpreting bird-inspired poems (Thirteen Ways to Look at Birds).

In 2020 Kelly released an album in collaboration with jazz pianist Paul Grabowsky, Please Leave Your Light On, and a stand-alone single, Sleep, Australia, Sleep, about Australia’s shameful response to environmental realities. In 2021 he released Every Step of the Way, a song inspired by footballer Eddie Betts and his battle with racism. In 2023 he released Khawaja, a song about Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja.

Kelly’s willingness to experiment and work with collaborators including his long-time band has played an important role in keeping that creative fire flaming.

His 2017 set Life is Fine became his first No 1 album and that year Kelly won two ARIA Awards, for best male artist and best adult contemporary album. He returned to the awards in 2018, dedicating a poem to Kasey Chambers as he inducted her into the ARIA Hall of Fame, an honour Kelly received in 1997. He has received 17 ARIA awards for recording and five APRA awards for songwriting.

The natural world flowed through Kelly’s 2018 album Nature, which featured new Kelly songs as well as his musical settings for poems by Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Dylan Thomas.

His body of work includes live albums (see the CD/DVD recording of an Australian tour with Neil Finn, Goin’ Your Way, andthe 8-CD box set A-Z Recordings, revisiting his songs with acoustic guitar, harmonica and voice). To this add thefilm soundtracks, co-writes (he co-wrote the land rights anthem Treaty with Yothu Yindi), production work and decades of touring, playing the kind of shows fans never forget. And he found time to write perhaps the finest and most unflinching autobiography ever written by an Australian musician, also titled How to Make Gravy.

Kelly’s Order of Australia in 2017 acknowledged distinguished service to the performing arts and the promotion of the national identity through his contributions as singer, songwriter and musician.

In 1997, he released best-of compilation Songs from the South. In 2019, Songs from the South 1985-2019 brought the story up to date. But Kelly’s mission is to keep creating, keep exploring, keep finding new ways to move the fingers, the music, the heart, the mind.

“Feeling dry is the normal state for a songwriter,” Kelly says of the creative process. “Most days I don’t have a song or anywhere near a song. You do anything you can to break old habits, jamming with the band to find a different riff, playing a different instrument, putting the guitar in a different tuning.

“Often I will say, ‘I have no ideas today’ so I learn a song instead. In lockdown I spent three weeks learning how to play Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael. I don’t know if it leads anywhere but at least now I can play and sing Stardust.

“You have to keep turning up and keep trying, stay open. And write things down when they come into your head or otherwise they go out of your head.”" - www.paulkelly.com.au/bio/

www.mixcloud.com/FromAlbionAndBeyond/from-albion-and-beyond-241109

Scots S/S, composer & superb fiddler Kate Young, & bespoke guests, open each half of this week's program from her "Umbelliferæ" ; Northumbrian small pipes piper/fiddler/composer Kathryn Tickell, & top drawer guests, follow on from her 40th anniversary revisit to her debut album (On Kielder Side) wi...