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Plague Magazine

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The world according to folk
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9
ISSUE ZERO TREMBLING BELLS HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF WALSH & POUND OLIVIA CHANEY THE UNTHANKS SAM LEE SHIRLEY COLLINS JACKIE OATES THE BELLES OF LONDON CITY MICHAEL TYACK
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ISSUE ZERO

TREMBLING BELLS HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF WALSH & POUND OLIVIA CHANEY THE UNTHANKS SAM LEE SHIRLEY COLLINS JACKIE OATES THE BELLES OF LONDON CITY MICHAEL TYACK

louisenauntonmorgan
louisenauntonmorgan
ignore roughly knocked up cover in terms of bits I havn't rubbed out

Upon setting up the only folk club in South East London run by two hot, young fillies, looks of bemusement from peers and beyond were rife. One close friend patted my head adding, “I don’t know what this is or what you’re doing, but… well done.” In general, the move was welcomed amongst the folk community, but having dipped my toes further in, I discovered that ‘youngsters’ are feared amongst the staid old guard through dread of dilution or pastiche of their venerable folk collection, (like how an older sibling might react to you thumbing their Beano annual: “don’t touch it, it’s mine, you’ll break it.”) Yet such nitpicking fails to deter most, as discoveries of contemporary artists turning to the traditional music of these shores for song crafting inspiration continue. To whom, from San Fran doom rockers Sleepy Sun to psych-folk progenies Trembling Bells, revivalists like Shirley Collins and travellers like Davie Stewart are demigods. And only those without access to electricity will have failed to notice the arrival of the Mumford clan. So Plague is here to unify, carouse or put simply, enjoy this varied world of folk music in all its bizarre and resplendent glory.

Katie WeatherallEditor

Editor In ChiefCrispin Parry

Associate EditorsRupert Morrison & Dan Ford

Sub-editorSatu Fox

DesignLouise N.Morgan

Front Cover Illustration Patrick Savile

Back Cover Photograph Dan Ford

US DeskGabe Soria

ContributorsAlex Neilson, Crispin Parry, Will Hodgkinson, Sam Lee, Jackie Oates, Alex Merry

Photographers Jonathan Stewart (Trembling Bells), Alleyn Evans (Hurray for the Riff Raff), Anika Mottershaw (Becky & Rachel Unthank), Judith Burrows (The Unthanks)

Printed on Riso by Hato Presswww.hatopress.net

Paper supplied by Paperbackwww.paperback.coop

Acknowledgments Ben Jones, Tom Bridgewater, Adam Greenup, Seven of Diamonds, Helen Morris, Boat Band

Correspondence address 60 – 62 Clapham Road, SW9 0JJ E: [email protected]

Whilst every care has been taken in the preparation of this magazine, the publishers cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information or any consequence arising from it. This magazine is a labour of love made possible with the support of Sound And Music.

The World According To Folk

The Road To Ruin by Alex Neilson from Trembling Bells 4

The Woodshed with Hurray For The Riff Raff, Walsh & Pound and Olivia Chaney 6

The Plague Interview with The Unthanks 8

The Revelator with Sam Lee and Shirley Collins 12

The How-To by Alex Merry from The Belles of London City 13

The Plague House with Jackie Oates 14

Back To The Garden with Michael Tyack Back Cover

Sound and Music

louisenauntonmorgan
I have only put the 'P' on the first few pages as personally I am not sure about it. I think it is a bit fussy and weirdly distracting. Too many elements on the page.

4 5

Folk music almost ruined my life. Growing up as a pluke-farming teenager in Leeds with an obses-sion for old men in cloth caps with fewer teeth than lungs singing songs about tarry sailors, night visitations and transvestite soldiers meant only one thing; no girlfriend until I was 25. But these anachronistic ballads held more relevance to me than anything as delicious and spurious as mere sexual union. They enlivened the environ-ment around me and forced me to reassess it through their remote, fusty prism. Suddenly regions such as Sussex, that had previously felt little more than pretty, took on Land-of-the-Giants proportions as I imagined myself retreading the same hallowed sod that the Copper Family, Shirley Collins, Pops Maynard and numberless Traveller singers had eulogised in song.

I would travel the length of this good, grey island making pilgrimages to the Seven Bells pub in Peacehaven (purportedly once owned by the Coppers). Or put paid to days in Robin Hood’s Bay drinking real ale in the shadows of the Water-son/ Carthy homestead. Or make frequent visits to that veritable Mecca of folk miscellany, Cecil Sharp House, and acquire under-the-counter items from the sympathetic librarians. These formative rovings would serve to strengthen my connection to the mighty river of song that is the British folk canon and also invest my own expanding repertoire with a little more experien-tial croak. The next step from this was to actually track down the titans of the 1960s folk revival (Shirley Collins, Anne Briggs, Mike Waterson, Martin Carthy, and Richard Thompson) who had provided a Technicolor portal to this sepia-tinted old, weird Britannia. This seemed to validate my interest as I went beard-to-beard with the old masters, grilling them over ‘field singers’ like Margaret Barry, Davie Stewart and Fred Jordan and learned about what had attracted them to traditional music, where they had sourced their material and meanings of certain lines of songs (such as the portentous parrot in The Outlandish

Knight). One of my keenest queries when meet-ing anyone of that Golden Generation is ‘what was Peter Bellamy (the flamboyantly dressed/voiced singer of the Young Tradition who tragi-cally took his own life in the early 90s) like?’ It seems that few people had a good word to say about him, which only goes to fuel my interest and reinforces a theory that I have about the most obstreperous personalities often making the best music.

Whilst scouring the folk clubs of Great Britain I encountered a general lack of tolerance towards eccentricity, showing reluctance to toe-the-party-line and even having interest in other forms of music. Mention of rock n roll, psychedelia or (whisper it) free jazz would be met by incom-prehension and derision, as if I’d just told them I was signing up for the Taliban’s Child Moles-tation Regiment. The folk orthodoxy expected slavish updates of the old forms in terms they could easily understand, which in a vast section of contemporary folk music means sanitized, reverb-soused, Fairtrade-folk. For me, it is the extraneous snap, crackle and pop of those old recordings and the profound dignity in their untutored voices that invests the music with such vitality and reflects its inherently organic nature. It felt like these self appointed custo-dians of the flame were the same people who were trying to cut the cable at Dylan’s Newport concert and would do it again 45 years later given half the chance.

It was this disenchantment that eventually lead to a break away from the tyrannical grip that traditional music had held over my creative will. After a long, initiatory process of immersion in the half forgotten lore of Britain, I managed to crawl out the other side and write my own material. And now faced with the unattractive lot of all overgrown boys limping towards 30, with waistline expanding and hairline retracting and the ravages of a long term love affair with real ale taking itself out on the reddened tip of my hooter, I can confidently say that folk music almost ruined my life.

myspace.com/tremblingbells

TREMBLING BELLS’ ALEX NEILSON RECALLS HIS JOURNEY INTO TRADITIONAL MUSIC

“ It felt like these self appointed custodians of the flame were the same people who were trying to cut the cable at Dylan’s Newport concert .”

ALEX’S SONGBOOK

Steeleye Span, Hills of Greenmore (from Hark! The Village Wake) Quintessential folk rock from a band in their earliest and most potent form.

Shirley and Dolly Collins, Bonny Cuckoo (Anthems in Eden) A gloriously ascending symphonic miniature about fidelity,taking in a rapture of bells, shawm and pipe organ.

Davie Stewart, Merchant’s Son and the Beggar Daughter’(eponymous) & The Scottish Blind Willy Johnson(in my mind at least); Wild, self-taught accordion style propping up that sandpaper-bray of a voice and a beautiful melody.

Margaret Barry, Galway Shawl (Her Mantle So Green) Freewheeling banjo and wonderfully soaring vocal illuminate this gorgeous tune.

Sarah and Rita Keane Lord Donegal (Once I Loved)Indescribably eerie recording of two decrepit sisters singing in unison that sounds utterly timeless.

Steeleye Span, Hills of Greenmore (from Hark! The Village Wake) Quintessential folk rock from a band in their earliest and most potent form.

Shirley and Dolly Collins, Bonny Cuckoo (Anthems in Eden) A gloriously ascending symphonic miniature about fidelity,taking in a rapture of bells, shawm and pipe organ.

Davie Stewart, Merchant’s Son and the Beggar Daughter’(eponymous) & The Scottish Blind Willy Johnson(in my mind at least); Wild, self-taught accordion style propping up that sandpaper-bray of a voice and a beautiful melody.

Margaret Barry, Galway Shawl (Her Mantle So Green) Freewheeling banjo and wonderfully soaring vocal illuminate this gorgeous tune.

Sarah and Rita Keane Lord Donegal (Once I Loved)Indescribably eerie recording of two decrepit sisters singing in unison that sounds utterly timeless.

76

Liverpool can be a gruesome place at three in the morning. Fleshy bodies lie across pavements while feral kids eat raw pizza and snarl. There is a stink of old booze, weed and piss. But I am in the company of Will Pound, a young man with a tough if somewhat Dickensian vibe about him and we are looking for sherry – so everything is fine. Will is a virtuoso harmonica player making a name for himself in the clubs. “I had open heart surgery twice as a young child,” says Will when asked why he chose his instrument. ”Into which I also had breathing issues. The harmonica seemed a good idea to combat the problem and improve my breathing.” He travels with a worn blue suitcase, which when opened reveals a workshop of harmonicas in all shapes and sizes. “I play a number of genres, ranging from pop to rock, Arabic to jazz, to folk and even some classical. If I could play it all day I would!” Will’s stage buddy is claw hammer banjo player Dan Walsh. We met briefly in the swankier setting of London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall after he and Will played a staggering live set. “I love claw hammer style,” Dan says “and I feel it can do almost anything. The banjo has such a distinctive sound anyway which I love, but I feel claw hammer especially can sound so full combining melody, rhythm and per-cussion all in one.” I also heard the remarkable harmonium and guitar player Olivia Chaney for the first time at the same concert series. Inspired by Joni Mitchell and Joanna Newsome and having toured the States as a singer with Zero 7, she mixes traditional, classical and contemporary ideas with a raw emotional singing style. All three artists have in common a chutzpah and diversity of influence, which they use to produce great music that straddles the borders of definition – a really tough task and one that we should raise a glass (of sherry) to.”

danwalshbanjo.co.ukwillpound.commyspace.com/willpoundanddanwalshmyspace.com/oliviachaney

Quiet, creepy, hushed, haunting and messy. Words that could describe both New Orleans and the small but thriving loose as-semblage of bands that are currently sweating it out down there. Folks are crafting a peculiar riff on the idea of chamber pop, filter-ing it through a lens fogged with humidity and a transistor radio pulling in impossible signals. From Storyville circa 1909; from a shack in Southern Appalachia circa 1931; from a joyous wedding in an unnamed Balkan country ‘round ‘bout 1897; from a café in Montmartre between the wars. A catholic collection of influences hung on a rickety superstructure of guitars, banjos, slightly disso-nant pianos, horns, accordions, drums and raucous sing-alongs. Music composed for the sidewalk and made to soundtrack a quest for a little club at the end of a narrow alleyway. Hang a name on it and call it waltzpunk if you have to.

Hurray for the Riff Raff’s name sounds (probably intentionally) like a wry battle cry, a tribute to the small army of beer-can nurs-ing musicians that ply their ill-paid hustle on the corners, in the venues and at the house parties of their river city home. Make no mistake: this is folk music, but it’s got nothing to do with the le-gions of Americana pretenders out there. Alynda Lee, the architect of HftRR’s blessed mess, is crafting something delightfully arcane and witchy with Young Blood Blues, the band’s second record. Riff Raff (along with other New Orleans artists like Meschiya Lake, the Happy Talk Band, and the equally baroquely named Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship?) are writing and performing songs that, perhaps, could only come from such a bizarre, beautifully fucked-up place. Guaranteed: Hurray for the Riff Raff will break your heart and fix the cracks with cobblestones, whiskey and spit. Hallelujah and bless ‘em.

myspace.com/hurrayfortheriffraff

HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFFBY GABE SORIA

WILL POUND, DAN WALSH & OLIVIA CHANEY BY CRISPIN PARRY

NEW MUSIC FROM THE AMERICAS AND THE BRITISH I S L E S

8 9

Until

rec

ently

, the

folk

wor

ld a

ppea

red

to e

xist

in it

s ow

n he

rmet

ical

ly s

eale

d bu

bble

. It w

as o

bliv

ious

to th

e ch

ange

s go

ing

on in

wid

er s

ocie

ty.

Even

the

inte

rest

larg

e sw

a the

s of

you

ng p

eopl

e w

ere

taki

ng

in fo

lk m

u sic

did

n’t i

mpr

ess

the

hard

core

. Am

eric

a n s

inge

rs

like

Will

Old

ham

and

Dev

endr

a Ba

nha r

t ha v

e eu

logi

sed

revi

val fi

gure

head

s Be

rt J

ansc

h an

d Sh

irle

y Co

llins

, add

ed

anci

ent E

nglis

h an

d Sc

ottis

h ba

llads

to th

eir

repe

rtoi

re, a

nd

grow

n be

ards

sm

all c

hild

ren

wou

ld b

e ad

vise

d no

t to

play

ne

ar. B

ut s

till t

he in

vita

tions

to p

erfo

rm a

t Cam

brid

ge F

o lk

Fest

ival

did

not

arr

ive,

as

if th

ese

hair

y Am

eric

ans

wer

e m

ere

dile

ttan

tes;

fash

iona

ble

inte

rlop

ers.

Nob

ody

was

ther

e to

on to

rev

eal t

hat h

e sp

ends

mos

t eve

ning

s be

atin

g he

r bl

ack

and

blue

. At a

tim

e w

hen

so m

any

youn

g m

u sic

ians

from

th

e fo

lk w

orld

are

cou

chin

g tr

aditi

onal

tune

s in

an

eleg

ant

cloa

k in

an

atte

mpt

to r

each

out

to a

com

mer

cial

mar

ket,

Th

e Un

than

ks a

re b

ring

ing

out t

he s

tark

, pri

mal

bea

uty

of th

e ol

d ba

llads

– a

nd a

wor

ld b

eyon

d th

e fo

lk s

cene

is

conn

ectin

g w

ith it

.

“Peo

ple

are

sear

chin

g fo

r so

met

hing

ear

thy,

but

the

youn

g,

mai

nstr

eam

folk

wor

ld is

the

antit

hesi

s of

that

,” s

ays

Adri

an M

cNal

ly, h

usba

nd to

eld

er s

iste

r Ra

chel

and

pia

nist

, pr

oduc

er, m

anag

er, a

rran

ger,

boo

king

age

nt a

nd a

ll-ro

und

sven

gali

type

to th

e ba

nd. “

So m

uch

of th

e co

ntem

pora

ry fo

lk

scen

e is

way

mor

e st

aid

and

unim

agin

ativ

e th

an it

was

bac

k in

the

60s,

whe

n yo

u ha

d pe

ople

like

The

Wat

erso

ns b

reak

ing

the

mou

ld. T

he m

ains

trea

m is

look

ing

for

som

ethi

ng a

litt

le

roug

h ar

ound

the

edge

s, g

ettin

g to

tally

sol

d on

imag

es o

f au

then

ticity

like

Bon

Iver

dis

appe

arin

g in

to th

e w

oods

to

mak

e an

alb

um o

n hi

s ow

n, w

hile

the

folk

sce

ne is

tryi

ng to

po

lish

up a

nd d

ilute

old

bal

lads

to m

ake

them

pal

atab

le fo

r ra

dio.

It’s

dep

ress

ing.

Rach

el a

nd B

ecky

gre

w u

p go

ing

to fo

lk c

lubs

with

sum

mer

ho

liday

s sp

ent i

n a

haze

of f

estiv

als

and

clog

dan

cing

. “I

t was

n’t r

estr

ictiv

e at

all.

Fes

tival

s ha

d m

ore

free

dom

at

tach

ed th

an n

orm

al li

fe,”

say

s Ra

chel

, who

has

that

gen

tle,

disa

rmin

gly

frie

ndly

New

cast

le a

ir to

her

that

mak

es y

ou fe

el

at e

ase.

“It

gave

me

a st

rong

sen

se o

f sel

f bec

ause

nob

ody

criti

cise

d yo

u at

the

fest

ival

s; y

ou c

ould

be

who

you

wer

e.

You

know

wha

t kid

s ar

e lik

e –

me

and

my

frie

nds

wer

e qu

ite

hipp

yish

so

ther

e w

as e

ndle

ss n

ame-

calli

ng a

t sch

ool –

but

it

didn

’t bo

ther

me

beca

use

I kne

w th

e pl

aygr

ound

was

n’t t

he

exte

nt o

f life

. I h

ad a

noth

er w

orld

to e

scap

e to

.”

Beck

y, s

even

yea

rs y

oung

er, h

ad a

bou

t of t

eena

ge r

esis

tanc

e to

the

inev

itabi

lity

of h

er fo

lk e

xist

ence

bef

ore

givi

ng in

to it

. “I

do

rem

embe

r th

inki

ng m

aybe

I sh

ould

n’t t

ell e

very

one

that

I’m

the

only

clo

g da

ncer

in c

lass

,” s

he s

ays.

“I m

ean,

how

do

you

bri

ng th

at u

p? B

ut I

alw

ays

enjo

yed

sing

ing

and

danc

ing.

My

dad

was

a s

hant

y si

nger

. I r

emem

ber

man

y w

onde

rful

eve

ning

s sp

ent i

n pu

bs, s

urro

unde

d by

sha

nty

men

. It w

as g

reat

.”

To th

e Un

than

k si

ster

s, it

see

ms

that

bei

ng s

urro

unde

d by

sh

anty

men

whe

n yo

u ar

e on

the

thre

shol

d of

ado

lesc

ence

w

as n

ot o

nly

perf

ectly

nor

mal

; it w

as h

ealth

y. D

esir

able

eve

n.

THE

UN

THAN

KSB

Y W

ILL

HO

DG

KIN

SON

brid

ge th

e ga

p be

twee

n th

e tr

aditi

onal

folk

wor

ld a

nd

the

folk

-influ

ence

d al

tern

ativ

e sc

ene

– un

til T

he U

ntha

nks

cam

e al

ong.

Folk

mu s

ic is

all

abou

t tel

ling

stor

ies

and

capt

urin

g th

e sp

irit

of th

e la

nd, a

nd th

ere

are

few

peo

ple

doin

g th

at b

ette

r th

an

The

Unth

anks

. Bas

ed a

roun

d Ra

chel

and

Bec

ky U

ntha

nk,

Tyne

side

sis

ters

that

spe

nt

thei

r ch

ildho

od b

eing

dra

gged

fr

om o

ne fe

stiv

al a

nd fo

lk

club

to a

noth

er th

e be

hest

of

thei

r sh

anty

-sin

ging

, rap

per-

danc

ing

fath

er a

nd fo

lk-fr

iend

ly

mot

her.

The

ban

d ha

s ac

hiev

ed

the

rem

arka

ble

feat

of t

akin

g th

e da

rkes

t bal

lads

into

the

mai

nstr

eam

with

out d

ilutin

g th

eir

hars

h, e

lem

enta

l pow

er. T

he U

ntha

nks’

bac

kgro

und

and

mat

eria

l cou

ldn’

t be

mor

e tr

aditi

onal

, but

they

don

’t ap

pear

beh

olde

n to

trad

ition

, or

held

bac

k by

it.

Rach

el a

nd B

ecky

sin

g in

the

broa

dest

of T

ynes

ide

acce

nts.

Th

ey in

ters

pers

e co

ncer

ts w

ith b

outs

of c

log

danc

ing.

The

y pe

rfor

m s

ad la

men

ts li

ke B

lue

Blee

zing

Blin

d Dr

unk,

a

favo

urite

of t

he la

te g

ypsy

sin

ger

Belle

Ste

war

t in

whi

ch a

w

oman

adm

its m

arry

ing

a m

an fo

r hi

s m

oney

bef

ore

goin

g

10 11

This

hel

ps e

xpla

in w

hy th

eir

appr

oach

to th

e ol

d ba

llads

is s

o na

tura

l, an

d so

app

ealin

g: th

ey d

on’t

ques

tion

it.

“Pro

babl

y be

caus

e w

e’ve

bee

n br

ough

t up

in it

, we’

ve a

lway

s ac

cept

ed c

log

danc

ing

and

sing

ing

as th

e th

ing

that

we

just

do

,” s

ays

Rach

el. “

Me

and

Beck

y ha

ve o

nly

rece

ntly

rea

lised

th

at w

e’re

not

exp

erts

in th

e tr

aditi

on b

ecau

se w

e’ve

nev

er

stud

ied

it. P

eopl

e ex

pect

us

to k

now

wha

t we’

re o

n ab

out a

nd

I’m n

ot e

ntir

ely

sure

that

we

do. W

e ju

st li

ke s

ingi

ng s

ongs

.”

Acco

rdin

g to

McN

ally

, Rac

hel a

lway

s kn

ew th

at s

he w

ante

d to

sin

g pr

ofes

sion

ally

. But

com

ing

from

a fa

mily

in w

hich

ev

eryo

ne s

ang

as a

mat

ter

of c

ours

e th

is w

as a

har

d st

ep

to ta

ke. “

It st

arte

d be

caus

e Be

cky

and

I wer

e lo

okin

g fo

r w

ays

to g

et to

folk

fest

ival

s fo

r fr

ee, s

o w

e be

cam

e an

un

acco

mpa

nied

duo

,” e

xpla

ins

Rach

el. “

I did

alw

ays

thin

k it

wou

ld b

e fa

ntas

tic to

be

a si

nger

, but

whe

n ev

eryb

ody

you

know

sin

gs it

’s to

ugh

to g

et o

ff th

e flo

or a

nd o

nto

the

stag

e an

d te

ll ev

eryo

ne e

lse

to b

e qu

iet.”

refle

ctin

g Be

cky’

s co

mm

itmen

t. M

cNal

ly s

teer

ed th

e co

urse

to

war

ds a

rea

l car

eer.

And

The

Unt

hank

s ha

ve p

rove

d th

at

you

can

mak

e de

ep a

nd h

eart

felt

vers

ions

of t

radi

tiona

l so

ngs

with

out c

ompr

omis

e an

d br

eak

out o

f the

folk

ghe

tto.

No

w M

cNal

ly is

won

deri

ng w

here

, exa

ctly

, the

ban

d fit

into

th

e gr

eat s

chem

e of

thin

gs.

“The

folk

wor

ld h

as, l

arge

ly, d

isap

poin

ted,

” he

con

clud

es.

“If I

’m in

to a

bit

of B

onni

e Pr

ince

Bill

y, o

nly

to d

isco

ver

that

Ch

umba

wum

ba a

nd T

he L

evel

lers

are

hea

dlin

ing

at a

folk

fe

stiv

al, I

’ll th

ink

it’s

still

in th

e da

rk a

ges.

So

inev

itabl

y w

e do

th

ink

abou

t whe

re w

e fit

in. W

e ge

t peo

ple

com

ing

to s

ee u

s w

ho li

ke F

leet

Fox

es a

nd T

he L

ow A

nthe

m, a

nd w

e ge

t boo

ked

at p

lace

s lik

e Th

e Gr

een

Man

and

End

Of T

he R

oad

and

that

’s

fant

astic

, but

if I’

m g

oing

to b

e ho

nest

our

aud

ienc

e is

chi

efly

com

pose

d of

bea

rded

men

in th

eir

50s.

Of c

ours

e, th

at m

ay n

ot b

e a

bad

thin

g. A

s Ra

chel

and

Be

cky

Unth

ank

will

no

doub

t con

firm

from

thei

r te

enag

e ex

peri

ence

s w

ith s

hant

y m

en, b

eard

ed m

en in

thei

r 50

s ca

n be

a lo

t of f

un.

mys

pace

.com

/rac

helu

ntha

nk

“ Th

e U

ntha

nks

have

pro

ved

that

yo

u ca

n m

ake

deep

and

hea

rtfu

l ve

rsio

ns o

f tra

diti

onal

son

gs

wit

hout

com

prom

ise

and

brea

k ou

t of t

he f

o lk

ghet

to.”

“ I d

o re

mem

ber

thin

king

may

be

I sho

uldn

’t te

ll ev

eryo

ne th

at I’

m

the

only

clo

g da

ncer

in c

lass

.”

It’s

a pr

oble

m a

t the

hea

rt o

f fo l

k m

u sic

: the

poi

nt a

t whi

ch

a si

nger

rem

oves

them

selv

es fr

om s

omet

hing

that

is

com

mun

al a

nd p

uts

them

selv

es fo

rwar

d as

the

one

to li

sten

to

. The

Unt

hank

s ha

ve d

ealt

with

it b

y le

ttin

g M

cNal

ly ta

ke

care

of t

he p

rofe

ssio

nal s

ide,

allo

win

g th

em to

con

cent

rate

on

cha

nnel

ing

the

spir

it of

suc

h da

rkly

com

pelli

ng b

alla

ds a

s I W

ish,

I W

ish,

the

tale

of a

n ol

d m

aid

lam

entin

g he

r lo

st y

outh

; an

d th

e tit

le tr

ack

of th

eir

2009

alb

um

Here

’s T

he T

ende

r Co

min

g, a

son

g fr

om

the

nort

heas

t abo

ut

bein

g pr

ess-

gang

ed

into

Nel

son’

s ar

my.

“Hea

ring

thos

e st

orie

s as

kid

s w

as li

ke s

ittin

g in

an

adul

t wor

ld,”

say

s Ra

chel

. “Th

e so

ngs

are

abou

t the

hum

an c

ondi

tion.

Th

ey d

eal w

ith a

ll th

e th

ings

peo

ple

don’

t tal

k ab

out.

You

do

n’t s

it ar

ound

and

hav

e a

chat

abo

ut c

hild

mor

talit

y or

ra

pe o

r do

mes

tic v

iole

nce,

but

whe

n so

meo

ne s

tand

s up

in a

ro

om a

nd s

ings

abo

ut th

em th

ey’r

e ca

ptiv

atin

g. N

ow w

e w

ant

to c

omm

unic

ate

the

stor

ies

to o

ther

peo

ple,

to le

t the

m k

now

th

at w

e ha

ve a

won

derf

ul, r

ich

trad

ition

rig

ht h

ere

in o

ur

own

coun

try.

McN

ally

had

his

wor

k cu

t out

in c

onvi

ncin

g th

e Un

than

ks

to m

ake

a go

of i

t. A

mu s

ic in

dust

ry a

ll ro

unde

r fr

om

Man

ches

ter

that

has

var

ious

ly b

een

a m

anag

er, a

n ed

itor

of

a m

u sic

mag

azin

e an

d –

alth

ough

it’

s no

t som

ethi

ng h

e ad

vert

ises

a m

embe

r of

a T

ake

That

trib

ute

band

, McN

ally

wan

ted

the

girl

s to

turn

pro

fess

iona

l soo

n af

ter

beco

min

g ro

man

tical

ly in

volv

ed w

ith

Rach

el. B

ut th

ere

was

the

prob

lem

of

Rac

hel’s

shy

ness

to d

eal w

ith, a

nd

the

fact

that

, dur

ing

the

sum

mer

of

2004

whe

n th

ey w

ere

wor

king

on

thei

r de

but a

lbum

Cru

el S

iste

r, B

ecky

w

as a

n 18

-yea

r-ol

d w

ith a

job

in a

ni

ghtc

lub,

an

activ

e so

cial

life

and

a u

nive

rsity

stin

t loo

min

g,

and

form

ing

a ba

nd w

ith h

er e

lder

sis

ter

and

her

boyf

rien

d w

as n

ot a

t the

top

of h

er a

gend

a. “

So it

bec

ame

Rach

el

Unth

ank

And

The

Win

ters

et a

nd I

wen

t: oh

no!

Peo

ple

are

goin

g to

thin

k I’m

a b

ighe

ad!”

say

s Ra

chel

, sou

ndin

g di

stin

ctly

no

n-bi

g-he

aded

. “Pu

t whe

n Be

cky

was

n’t f

orce

d in

to s

ingi

ng

with

me

it be

cam

e so

met

hing

she

wan

ted

to d

o.”

McN

ally

per

seve

red,

lead

ing

to a

cri

tical

bre

akth

roug

h an

d a

Mer

cury

nom

inat

ion

with

200

7’s

The

Bair

ns a

nd th

en 2

009’

s He

re’s

The

Ten

der

Com

ing.

Ban

d m

embe

rs c

ame

and

wen

t. Ra

chel

Unt

hank

And

The

Win

ters

et b

ecam

e Th

e Un

than

ks,

13

I sang songs that they knew. They were overwhelmed when they learned they were English songs, still being sung in what they called the ‘old country.’

And what did Alan Lomax smell like? How did he smell? Sam! This is very, very odd. Only a few days ago I was thinking back to the last time I saw Alan. He came down to see me in Brighton on a visit from the States in the early nineties. We had so much to talk about that he stayed the night. I only had one bed so we slept together, even though we hadn’t met for many years. He said in the morning, “and what do you think?” And I replied, “How lovely you smell!” I can’t re-member a time when he was malodorous, even when we were on the road and you didn’t man-age to wash everyday. I’ve never told anyone that - that I slept with him one more time. There was still so much affection between us. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.

The full text of this interview will be in the next issue of Plague

shirleycollins.co.ukthemagpiesnest.co.uk

SAM LEE FROM THE MAGPIE’S NEST (BBC FOLK CLUB OF THE YEAR 2010) TALKS TO SHIRLEY COLLINS, THE MOST INFLUENTIAL VOICE OF THE SIXTIES FOLK REVIVAL.

You travelled America with song collector Alan Lomax in 1959 and met and heard some of the finest traditional musicians. How did your experience there compare to your experience of the British folk singers? For the old tradi-tional English singers such as Harry Cox, George Maynard and Bob Roberts, singing was an essen-tial and natural part of their lives, as natural as breathing. Arkansas singer Almeda Riddle just sang, it’s what she did. And for Mississippi Fred McDowell too, it was the most important part of their lives. Although they were poor country people, they were aware of what they’d got, how valuable and precious their music was.

What were the singers’ reaction to meeting Alan Lomax and this gorgeous exotic young English girl? He was a tall man, over 6 foot and a big build. I often thought of him as an American bison, but perhaps a grizzly bear would be more apt. Not too many 23-year old English girls had ventured to the South in 1959. One mountain woman exclaimed, on learning that I came from England, ‘how come she speaks our language so good?’ But their openness and friendliness was heart warming. This was partly down to Alan’s talent and experience as a collector; a South-erner with gentle good manners, charming and funny. There was genuine amazement when

1312

14

a place of laughter and great music. I have met some of my greatest friends through the club, who have provided me with masses of knowl-edge, repertoire and good times. I have seen some of my favourite gigs there, amongst them: Chris Wood and Andy Cutting, Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman, and Dick Gaughan. Each time, the venue is intimate, warm and carpeted, with an infectious, excited atmosphere, akin to being sung to in your living room sitting in front of a log fire on a frosty autumnal night.

I moved to Devon from my native Staffordshire in 2001 to study English at Exeter University. By the end of my first term it was dawning on me, perhaps against my will, that I was craving the company of the friendly, folk singing, real ale drinking types that adorned the sessions and sing-a-rounds of my home town. One night in early January, I braved the rain and caught the train to Topsham to seek out and do a floor spot at the folk club. I felt as if I was stepping into a new world, in which I was totally at ease and full of inspiration. Everyone there was friendly and encouraging, and I was offered our first concert spot that night, to support Dr Faustus later in the month. The club quickly became a weekly haven,

TOPSHAM FOLK CLUBRECOMMENDED BY JACKIE OATES

Topsham Folk Club takes place every Sunday in the Malt House of The Globe Hotel, Fore Street, Topsham, about 10 minutes outside of Exeter.

topshamfolkclub.co.ukmyspace.com/jackieoates

16

Artist Michael TyackGroup The Princes in the Tower & CirculusGarden Model’s own - Brockley, LondonRecommended by Midlake


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