Growing up in Glasgow, Frances Morton is a much celebrated flute-player with familial roots in both Scotland and Ireland. Learning piano at a young age, she later took up whistle and flute, winning several All-Ireland medals and becoming immersed in the session scenes in both Scotland and Ireland.
Since then, Morton has performed at festivals and concerts across Europe and the USA and has appeared in programmes for the BBC and TG4. Now living in Ireland, she has been active in the session scenes in Belfast, Galway and Donegal, playing alongside local musicians.
Sliocht is Morton’s debut solo album. Meaning ‘trace’ or ‘lineage’, it celebrates Morton’s Scottish and Irish musical heritage where, from her extensive repertoire, she has curated a selection of jigs, reels, strathspeys and marches that have held a particular meaning for her throughout her life, all accompanied by an extensive set of liner notes, tracing the origins of the traditional tunes and explaining where she first learned them.
Produced by guitarist, Eamon McElholm, the album features a number of the top-flight traditional musicians Morton has collaborated with over the years, including fiddle-player, Ciarán Tourish; singer, Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde, on the one vocal track; Mark Maguire and Seamus O’Kane playing bodhrán on several tracks; and Ryan O’Donnell and Malcolm Stitt on bouzouki. Julie Langan, fiddle player from Mayo, also plays on one track.
From lively jigs to mighty reels to graceful airs, this album is packed full of majestic tunes and equally majestic playing, immediately transporting the listener from wherever they may be to the bars, community halls and timeless rugged landscapes of Scotland and Ireland. Dedicated to the memory of her late father, Sliocht celebrates Frances Morton’s musical heritage in style and does her forebears proud.
When tickets for Cropredy 2025 went on sale, it was announced that there would be some changes to the festival this year, with far fewer tickets available. Interviewing Fairport’s Dave Pegg back in January, he explained the thinking behind the new approach as follows:
“Gareth Williams our CEO came up with several formulas for trying to make it pay. It’s always been such a gamble, the last couple of years especially. Because when you don’t know how many tickets you are going to sell, you can’t budget. You’re guessing about the number of people who are going to turn up. Gareth’s idea – we’re only going to sell 6,500 tickets and we’re only selling three-day tickets. Because we know we’ve got that lump of income and we can budget accordingly without the risk of going bankrupt.“
As well as fewer tickets, the festival line-up was to look somewhat different, too. The era of big-name headline acts like Chic and Madness and Alice Cooper, who had previously graced the Cropredy stage in a bid to widen the festival’s appeal and get more bums on (folding) seats, was over. Instead, there would be far more focus on acts that the festival organisers knew and had worked alongside.
The big question, therefore, is did this new formula work? Clearly, there was no problem shifting tickets, with the vast majority being snapped up by February and with the festival selling out well in advance. Arriving at the campsite on the Thursday afternoon, it didn’t feel much different, although a couple of fields previously used for camping had apparently been taken out of use.
The Cropredy crowd (Photo: Simon Putman)
I was also wondering whether the slimmed-down attendance would leave us all rattling around in the main arena field but it didn’t feel like that at all. Walkways had been rejigged, the big screens at either side of the stage had been replaced by a single screen at the back of the stage but overall it very much felt like the same old Cropredy I’d been going to for the past fifteen years.
Richard Digance up on the big screen (Photo: Simon Putman)
So, enough of the festival arrangements, what of the music? I must admit that one of the real attractions for me when I first started going to Cropredy in 2010 was the mix of folk, acoustic and classic rock acts. I loved having Status Quo and Rick Wakeman and Little Feat alongside Thea Gilmore and Breabach and Bellowhead. Unlike some of the diehard Cropredy goers, I was perhaps more worried about the potential for the new ‘Friends of Fairport’ formula to squeeze out some of the rockier elements. That didn’t happen at all though. I got my fix of both folk and classic rock, in some respects more than I could possibly have hoped for.
Joe Broughton’s Conservatoire Folk Ensemble join Fairport Acoustic on stage (Photo: Simon Putman)
On the folky side, obvious highlights for me included Joe Broughton’s Conservatoire Folk Ensemble, whose massed ranks begun their set by joining Fairport Acoustic on stage, for an epic rendition of ‘The Lark In The Morning’ instrumental medley from the Liege & Lief album. Scottish folk band Skipinnish were another highlight for me, with a thrillingly energetic set, my second time seeing them this summer as they also performed at the New Forest Folk Festival. A special mention, too, should go to the kids of Cropredy Primary School Folk Class who kicked things off at the festival. We only made it in time to hear their last couple of songs but what a wonderful idea to link the village and the festival this way and how lovely it was seeing the huge cheer for them as they made their way from the backstage area afterwards to a waiting gaggle of proud parents.
The traditional hanky waving during Richard Digance’s set (Photo: Simon Putman)
On the rock side, the festival organisers demonstrated that you didn’t need to be in the megabucks league to attract some decent classic rock acts. My many years of going to music weekends at Butlins showed me that it’s perfectly possible to line up some talented rock names without bankrupting yourself.
Trevor Horn (Photo: Simon Putman)
The Trevor Horn Band, making their third appearance at Cropredy, were hugely entertaining as ever, blasting out a deluge of hits that Horn had had a hand in, from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, to Buggles to Yes – with the added bonus of Lol Creme of 10CC on guitar and some Godley & Crème/10CC hits thrown in, too! They were originally booked under the old formula for the previous year, however, and had to reschedule because of illness so the situation was slightly different.
Martin Barre (Photo: Simon Pitman)
The same cannot be said for Martin Barre (ex-Jethro Tull) and Deborah Bonham (sister of Led Zep drummer, John) whose sets were clear highlights of the weekend, none more so than the latter whose special guest almost certainly provided the highlight of the weekend for many, with none other than Robert Plant stepping on to the stage to perform sizzling versions of ‘Ramble On’ and ‘Thank You’ from Led Zeppelin’s second album. It doesn’t get much better than that at Cropredy.
Robert Plant joins the Deborah Bonham Band on stage (Photo: Darren Johnson)
I didn’t get to see everyone who performed and there were acts (like Bob Fox & Billy Mitchell) I would have liked to have seen but didn’t. However, I’ve never spent the entire day in the field from mid-day to midnight. For me, time spent at the campsite, catching up with friends early in the evening and relaxing ahead of a late night finish, is as much part of the Cropredy experience for me as the music. Plus, in the last few years, our camping group has also chosen to spend a little bit of time at the Cream of the Crop festival in the adjoining field and this time we got there just in time for an explosive set by the excellent Burnt Out Wreck, the band fronted by former Heavy Pettin’ drummer, Gary Moat. No-one can say I didn’t get my fill of hard rock at Cropredy this year!
Burnt Out Wreck at Cream of the Crop next door (Photo: Simon Putman)
Fairport Convention, of course, rounded things off on the Saturday night with their usual mammoth set featuring a mix of familiar old favourites, revisited deep cuts, covers with guest artists (this time Ralph McTell and Danny Bradley) and more recent material penned by the band’s own Chris Leslie. While a couple of our camping group head back to the campsite before the end, missing ‘Matty Groves’ and ‘Meet On The Ledge’ is not something I could ever contemplate so we make our way to the front in time for a rousing ‘Matty’ (with accompanying animated video hilariously interpreting the storyline through the medium of Lego) and an always emotional ‘Meet on the Ledge’.
Ralph McTell is a guest during Fairport’s set (Photo: Simon Putman)
While it was the end of Cropredy for another year, it wasn’t quite the end of our camping trip as we had booked for several days at a lovely campsite ten miles away, just outside Barford St. Michael. The spirit of Cropredy was never far away though. The village of Barford St Michael, itself, was once home to Dave Pegg and the studio he established, Woodworm Studios, where Fairport recorded numerous albums. The studio is still in operation, although no longer owned by Peggy these days.
The Hook Norton Brewery (Photo: Simon Putman)
While camping, we also took a trip to the village of Hook Norton for a tour of the Hook Norton Brewery, who in recent years became the official suppliers for the Cropredy festival bar, taking over from Wadworth. It’s an absolutely fascinating tour of this historic nineteenth century site and our engaging tour-guide was himself a Cropredy regular who had spent many years working at the festival. If you are extending your stay in the Oxfordshire countryside and want to find out how the beer at the Cropredy bar is brewed and learn more about the history of the brewery, it’s well worth a visit!
Greenshanks is the alter-ego of Will Boyd-Wallis from Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands. He gained recognition performing at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections in 2023 where he was a finalist at the Danny Kyle Open Stage. Stormbird is his debut EP and after forty years of playing and writing music, this is the first time any of his songs have been officially released.
The five-track EP features a stellar cast of notable musicians from the Scottish contemporary folk scene. As well as Boyd-Wallis (vocals, guitar, guitalele), Stormbird boasts Hamish Napier (harmonium, organ, piano); James Lindsey (double bass, electric bass): James Mackintosh (percussion); Ross Ainslie (low whistle); Becky Doe (viola, violin); and Iain Forrest (slide guitar).
Will Boyd-Wallis:“This EP has been a long time coming. The first track Fistful of Sand has been growing in me ever since I was a boy when my mother told me that my great-great-grandfather was born on the Isle of Rum on the West Coast of Scotland. He was evicted and sailed to Nova Scotia, eventually settling in New Zealand. This story led me to move to the Highlands in my early twenties with a vow to put something back. I dedicate this EP to my mother Maha, great-granddaughter of John Mòr McLean.”
Putting that something back has, for Boyd-Wallis, resulted in him dedicating the past thirty years to working in caring for woodlands, moorlands, mountains and coasts in hard-to-reach places in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and he adds:
“All of the other songs have been inspired by the many people, places and creatures I have met on my daily life and work with the National Trust for Scotland. I am grateful to all of them – animal, plant and mineral – for all the joy and comfort they have given me.”
From the aforementioned ‘Fistful of Sand’, which immortalises the pain and suffering of the Rum islanders as a result of the clearance of 1826; to ‘Sandstone’, described as a modern-day Selkie song; to the title track which outlines a life-enhancing encounter with a storm petrel chick on the island of Hirta in St Kilda, the Stormbird EP reveals Boyd-Wallis to be a fine storyteller and songwriter. The songs are sung with passion and conviction but also genuine tenderness. Along with some seriously good musicianship and some lovely cover art and beautifully-written liner notes, it makes for a highly impressive recording debut.
Ahead of this year’s Cropredy festival, I catch up with Fairport Convention’s Ric Sanders. We talk about first learning to play the violin at primary school, about getting his big break with Soft Machine and the invitation to play on Fairport’s Gladys’ Leap album forty years ago this year – and, of course, this year’s Cropredy line-up.
If we can talk about your very early days first, when did you first pick up a violin?
Well, I took it up when we were in junior school. The whole class had six weeks of being taught to play the violin. I mean, it’s nowhere near enough time. It was just six weeks and we had this teacher called Mr. Tunnicliffe. He’ll be long gone now but we used to call him Ten-ton Tunnicliffe because he was quite portly. But he played the violin and he taught us. He got the whole class playing a pattern on the open strings. And then with great bravura, Ten-ton Tunnicliffe would play this jig over the top of it. Very simple thing and most of the class didn’t get on too well with it. But after that third week, I could play the tune that Ten-ton Tunnicliffe was playing. I could just do it. I don’t know why. But I wasn’t interested because I wanted to be an astronaut or a scientist. So, when the six weeks ended – and I’ve never told this to an interviewer before – I forgot all about it. They weren’t our violins – they were provided by whoever – and then I forgot about it. In actual fact, seriously, I took up playing the violin again when I was 17. Because I was 17 in, I guess, the summer of love and I’d always liked the Beatles and the Stones and stuff.
Before that, my dad was an RAF radio operator. And he was stationed in Limavady in Northern Ireland during the war with the Americans, liaising with their radio people. That was his war gig. And he came back from the war festooned with nylons and chocolates and a whole stack of 78 records. Lots of the great jazz players, like Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa and all sorts, basically. And I started to hear this jazz and I kind of really liked that.
I have an elder brother, Mike, who would buy all the records. So, when there was the Trad Jazz boom, Mike bought all the Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball… Chris Barber Band, which was my favourite, because they really rocked. And then he bought all the Beatles and the Stones’ stuff. So, the first thing I ever had to buy using my own pocket money was in fact Magical Mystery Tour. But it was Sergeant Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour that made me think this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to be a musician.
But I hadn’t got a guitar or a bass. I wouldn’t have taken up the drums because there’s too much to carry around. Or a keyboard. I hadn’t got any of those things but there was an old violin that my grandma had in the loft. So, I got it out of the loft, scraped all the varnish off it, polyurethaned it, filled it with cotton wool to stop feedback, and got a contact microphone that I bought from an advert in the back of the Melody Maker magazine. It cost me 19 and 6, and I strapped it to the fiddle with a few rubber bands. And I learned the riff from ‘Willie the Pimp’ by Frank Zappa on his Hot Rats album. And that was the start of it.
My mum and dad, they were hoping I was going to have some sort of academic career or be a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher or something. Quite understandable. But my mum was a good singer and my dad played. They come from a Salvation Army background so he played in the Salvation Army brass band and stuff. So, both my folks were musical and once I convinced them that I was really earnest about doing this, they were with me all the way.
And at that time, around about ‘68, ‘69, it was when you began to hear great fiddle players in the world of rock. And then, of course, I got into jazz as well and listened to Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. Stephane was a phenomenal violin player, one of the greatest ever. But I was also listening to David LaFlamme from It’s a Beautiful Day. And I was listening to Jerry Goodman from The Flock and then the Mahavishnu Orchestra. And Sugarcane Harris, who was amazing. He played on the Hot Rats album and played the violin like a blues harmonica, it sounded like. He was the bluesiest ever and was probably my main influence. Jean-Luc Ponty, of course, who may be the most high-profile modern jazz violinist, I guess.
And, also, I was listening to some great fiddle players in the UK. Of course, there was Dave Swarbrick. I play nothing like Dave Swarbrick. I can’t. Chris Leslie can. Chris Leslie can do an impression. He can even do the voice!
The first big band that I played in was with Stomu Yamashta, a Japanese avant-garde percussionist. Stomu Yamashta Red Buddha Theatre. I did a six-week European tour with him as a dep because his wife played the electric violin but she had to go back to Japan to visit her elderly parent.
So that was your first professional gig then?
Yeah, that was my first, Stomu Yamashta. I knew it was only a short-term thing and I went and auditioned for it in a room above a London pub. And there was a queue of violinists all around the block and somehow, I got the gig. And then the real big break in my life came joining Soft Machine. Because John Marshall, the drummer, got to hear me playing with Michael Garrick, the great jazz pianist who I’d written to. I’d sent him a cassette of me playing some Chick Corea tunes and said, “Can I come and see you for jazz harmony lessons?” And he said, “Better than that. Come and do a few gigs with us.”
So, I did. And John Marshall was the drummer on one of those gigs. And Soft Machine – their soprano saxophone player, Alan Wakeman, who’s Rick’s cousin, he’d left because he got a gig being musical director for David Essex. And they couldn’t find a replacement but the violin kind of occupies that same sonic range, not totally, but pretty much. And so, I got the gig in Soft Machine.
And then I’d also sent a tape to Ashley Hutchings. And having done Stomu’s thing, which was only short term, at the end of the 70s I found myself in the exciting position of being in both Soft Machine and the Albion Band, which, of course, included Ashley Hutchings, Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks and Michael Gregory and Graham Taylor.
So that was your foot in the door into the world of folk rock then?
Yeah, and through that I met Andy Cronshaw and June Tabor and Martin Simpson and we used to play a lot together. I don’t consider myself a gifted folk player in the way that Dave Swarbrick was or the way Chris Leslie was. I’m basically a jazz rocker really and I play everything like it’s the blues. That’s my cunning secret. I play everything like it’s the blues.
But that was always part of Fairport’s DNA anyway it was never just a pure folk band.
That’s true. And, you know, Richard Thompson could play anything. And Simon Nicol he’s underrated as a guitarist. He is an incredibly good guitarist. People say that there’s been so many musicians in Fairport Convention. There’s been 29 musicians but that was all in the early days. I joined in 1985, my first album being ‘Gladys’ Leap’, which is what we’ll be celebrating because it’s the 40th anniversary. It’s my 40th anniversary as well. So, Richard guested on that album. I appeared as a guest. I recorded it in April ’85, I think and here I am 40 years later.
So how did it come about then, being invited to play on Gladys’ Leap?I think you did three tracks on that?
I did three tracks, yeah. And what had happened was that Fairport had been pretty inactive, really, except for the festival. There hadn’t been a Fairport band from, you know, 1980 to 85. And the three main members were Simon and Peggy and Dave Mattacks, or DM, as we call him. And they’d got a bunch of new material. And Peggy, was in Jethro Tull at the time which gave him the financial security to be able to build Woodworm Studios at his home in Barford St Michael. It’s no longer Peggy’s but Woodworm Studios is a great place and still is and that was where the album was recorded. And Peggy gave me a call because we go back a quite a long way because our dads knew each other.
So, it all kind of slotted into place and I never expected to be in Fairport because they’d got one of the most phenomenal fiddle players of all time, Dave Swarbrick. But Swarb didn’t want to do the Gladys’ Leap album because he wasn’t into the material. And he’d just formed Whippersnapper with Chris Leslie. I think Chris was in the frame for joining Fairport, but he declined because he’d just formed this band with Swarb and Chris is very loyal. And Fairport had been inactive for years and Whippersnapper had a full diary.
So, I got the next call. And when Peggy called, he said, “I want you to play on some recordings I’m doing. I’ll send you a cassette.” Peggy had this offshoot group – a fun outfit it was – and they were called Dave Pegg’s Cocktail Cowboys, of which Chris was a member as well. At this time, around about ‘85, I was just doing jazz gigs around the Midlands. Just going out, playing with different rhythm sections, like jazz musicians used to. And it wasn’t hugely lucrative, but I got by. Peggy sent me this tape and I thought he was asking me to play on a Cocktail Cowboys record because I had no idea that Swarb had decided that he didn’t want to carry on with Fairport. And so when the tape arrived and I listened to it, I thought, hello? Well, that’s Peggy playing the bass, obviously. That’s Dave Mattacks on drums. And that guitar I could tell straight away. And yeah, it turned out to be Gladys’ Leap. And I went along and my first day was just recording those three tracks that I did on the album. The standout track for me, and the one that stayed in the repertoire, is ‘The Hiring Fair’.
Yeah, and a real fan favourite alongside the older material.
It really is. Well, Ralph (McTell) has contributed hugely to our repertoire. Also, Dave Mattacks, apart from being one of the world’s greatest drummers, is a very accomplished keyboard player with an incredible ear for harmonies and the instrumental section is actually written and arranged by Dave Mattacks. Well, it was right up my street because it’s not overtly folky. And I just played like I would do if it was a jazz rock thing that I was doing. So, I think probably that track more than any other helped me get the gig.
And then Maartin Allcock was recruited and as I say there’s been many people in Fairport but since I joined, which is now 40 years ago, there have only been two changes of line-up really. Which is when Maartin Allcock decided to move on and is sadly no longer with us. And when DM moved to America because he was getting so many sessions, and Gerry Conway joined the band. And of course, Gerry passed away, which is very sad. He was with us for 25 years. But now we’ve got DM. We were kind of stuck, you know. What were we going to do on the winter tour and Cropredy? And so now DM comes over from America for the winter tour and for Cropredy, which is great.
Photo credit: Kevin Smith
So just going back to 1985, you didn’t play Cropredy that year because obviously Dave Swarbrick was still booked to perform at the festival.
Yeah, I went on the Friday night. It was a two-day festival at the time. I couldn’t stay for the Saturday because I had to get up at the crack of dawn and go to Edinburgh because I was playing at the Edinburgh Festival with a dear friend of mine who I’ve just been recording with recently again, a guy called Phil Nicol. We did two weeks at the Edinburgh fringe and what our gig was, was playing half a dozen numbers at the end of a comedy cabaret. Some of Phil’s songs, and we also did ‘May You Never’ by John Martyn and we did ‘Every Breath You Take’ which had been big at that time. By the way, I should tell you that the main star of the comedy cabaret that we did in Edinburgh was Julian Clary, who was incredibly funny. And at that time, called himself the Joan Collins Fan Club featuring Fanny the Wonderdog.
The Joan Collins Fanclub (and Fanny): 1980s publicity shot
I remember because he was on Channel 4 a lot in those early days.
Yeah. He was great. I mean, you know, never heckle Julian. Never. And he would improvise. We would do two shows a day and the shows were different every time. And he’d do this thing where he’d go and find a lady’s handbag and go through it and improvise a routine from the contents. He was absolutely wonderful. Also, there was Jeremy Hardy, the late Jeremy Hardy. He was a great comedian. He was on that. So that was a great show. Yeah, that’s why I couldn’t go to the Saturday Fairport!
But soon after you did become a full-time member. What did it feel like taking over the fiddle player’s role in Fairport Convention from Dave Swarbrick?
Do you know, I wasn’t really that nervous about it. A little bit, I mean, I was nervous a little bit just because Swarb was not just such a great musician but such a such a great personality. His personality was stamped on Fairport. But actually, I get more nervous now than I did was when I was a kid because when you’re that young – I was only in my very early 30s when I joined Fairport – and I’d already played with some incredible musicians. Carl Jenkins, John Ethridge, Alan Holdsworth. I played with these guys. John McLaughlin, you know, I jammed with John McLaughlin. Toured with his group, Shakti. Not as part of his group but with Soft Machine and John McLaughlin doing a doubleheader tour of Europe. So, you know, I had the sort of cockiness of youth. I was young and I wasn’t too scared. I get more nervous now, actually. I’m 72 now. I thought when I got to this sort of an age, I’d be bulletproof but it’s been the reverse.
I remember the first concert that we did was at the Sir George Robey pub in London and from the word go, the Fairport audience were really good to me. And I’ve heard it said since – well Chris Leslie has said, “I wouldn’t have been the right person for the job because I would have sounded like Swarb at the time.” I mean, Chris has got his own style totally now. I was completely different because I couldn’t play like Swarb. I had to come at it from a completely different angle. So, I couldn’t be a replacement for Dave Swarbrick. It was something different.
Photo credit: Kevin Smith
Looking back over the last 40 years, what have been some of your favourite recordings in Fairport? You mentioned ‘Hiring Fair’ obviously.
I guess one of the things that I really love doing because I’m not a songwriter – Chris is a brilliant songwriter and has gone from strength to strength – but I write instrumentals. That’s what I do because that’s what I always did. And I’ve loved writing things like ‘Portmeirion’, which is my most well-known tune, I think, that people kind of like.
And another absolute standard that stands up so well alongside the older material.
Yeah, which is very gratifying. And ‘The Rose Hip’ and tunes like that. I’ve loved writing ‘Summer in December’ and stuff. They’re ballads that have got a folkish-type melody, but kind of jazzy in harmony ways. So that’s been really great to do. And, also, when I first started to write fast instrumentals for Fairport, I would just write imitation medleys. Because that was the pattern that was brilliantly done on Liege & Lief with ‘The Lark in the Morning’. When you take a jig and a reel and a hornpipe or whatever and you put three or four trad tunes as a kind of medley. So, you know, I wrote a number of those, a sort of imitation using the template of those tunes.
But then, around about Festival Bell time, I started to write instrumentals. The old way of writing, I’d write the tunes on the fiddle and then harmonise them. But then when you got to tunes like ‘Danny Jack’s Reward’ and ‘The Gallivant and ‘Steampunkery’, which is the one that’s in the repertoire at the moment, I would write those from the rhythm section up. I’d write the band part first, then find a melody to put over it. And I wasn’t sure if the band would go for that style of stuff, but that proved to be OK. One of my favourite things, which you can see on YouTube, is doing my tune ‘The Gallivant’ with the brilliant Joe Broughton and his Conservatoire Folk Ensemble, who are on the Thursday at Cropredy. Joe arranged the brass section for it. He’s a brilliant musician and I love working with him.
Is there anything else you want to tell us about Cropredy this year before we wrap up?
Well, we’ve got a great line-up. Thursday, Albert Lee, one of the world’s greatest guitarists. I’m sure he finishes his show with ‘Country Boy’. I don’t think they’d let him out of the venue alive if he didn’t finish with ‘Country Boy’. On Thursday, Peatbog Faeries, Joe Broughton with his Conservatoire Folk Ensemble, as I just mentioned. And of course, we kick it off on the Thursday with Fairport Acoustic, just a welcoming set. And then I think we’re going to get Broughton and co. to come on and do a number with us, to cross over. Also, the lovely Rosalie Cunningham is on Thursday. And I might be playing with her as well because I played on her last two albums. It’s kind of prog rock, you know, so it’s great. So that will be an exciting Thursday.
Photo credit: Sam Reynolds
And then we’ve got the Trevor Horn band on Friday. Last year, Trevor had to cancel because of illness so he’s headlining on Friday. And you never know who Trevor Horn’s going to turn up with, what style that he’s produced is going to show up.
Yeah, that’s always a hugely entertaining part.
I’m hoping he brings Holly Johnson some time. I’d love to see ‘Relax’ at Cropredy. It would be great. So, we’ve got Trevor Horn, Joe Broughton, again, in the Urban Folk Quartet. And some bands that I don’t actually know who they are. El Pony Pisador. Well, I don’t know that group. And City Funk Orchestra. And Skipinnish.
And then, of course, there’s King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys. We’ve got the Church Fitters, Plumhall, who opened up for us, not this year, but the year before, which is great. And the day starts with the Cropredy Primary School folk class so that will be lovely. And then on the Saturday, we’ve got Richard Digance, of course. And the Deborah Bonham band, brilliant. Martin Barre from Jethro Tull. Bob Fox and Billy Mitchell, they’ll be brilliant. Who’s headlining? Oh, we are! Yeah. So, we have no doubt guests who I don’t know who….
So, there will be some surprises for us on the Saturday and some surprises for you by the sound of things!
Yeah, yeah. Chris Leslie and I don’t take much of a role in the organisation part, or DM. The triumvirate that runs the festival is Dave Pegg – of course, there wouldn’t be a festival, there wouldn’t be a Fairport without Peggy – and Simon Nicol and Gareth Williams, the festival director. So, they’re the guys in the driving seat. And I just, you know, turn up and play. Maybe tell a few jokes. But it’s great. I never in my life, for a minute, thought I would be in Fairport. I was always a fan, a massive fan of the group. And I knew pretty much all of the guys before I joined. But you know, Fairport is more than a band to me. It’s like my family as well. And we really have that feeling. We see so many bands fall apart and have arguments and whatever but it’s not like that with Fairport.
And occasionally I’ve been told by Simon and Peggy sometimes in the past I’ve played a little too jazzy and put in some scales that they don’t think were appropriate. They say, “Don’t do that!” And when they say that I think about it, and I think, “You know what they’re right, you know. No, you don’t need seven flat nines in ‘Walk Awhile.’ Just forget it!” So, yeah, it’s just a very happy band, really. And I don’t know how many years it will carry on. Until we drop, really, I think.
Reviewing Odette Michell’s debut album for the much-missed fRoots magazine back in 2019, I wrote that The Wildest Rose was “one of the stand-out debuts of 2019”. Lots of commentators expressed similar levels of enthusiasm and she soon found herself on many people’s ‘one to watch’ lists that year.
Since then, Michell has performed alongside the likes of Show of Hands, as well as opening for folk luminaries like Martin Carthy, Phil Beer, Reg Meuross and Ninebarrow amongst others. She’s also recently begun performing with Karen Pfeiffer and Daria Kulesh in a new trio formation: Michell, Pfeiffer & Kulesh. However, it’s been quite some wait for a follow-up solo album – but finally it’s here.
Comprising ten original songs, The Queen of the Lowlands features an impressive line-up of guest musicians, including Chris Leslie, Phil Beer, Lukas Drinkwater, Vicki Swann and Stu Hanna (who also produced); alongside additional vocal contributions from Daria Kulesh, Calum Gilligan and the duo, Ninebarrow.
Reviewing Michell’s debut album I noted she had a “knack for writing songs that could easily have been collected over a hundred years ago”. A similar approach is clearly evident on this latest album, as Michell herself acknowledges.
“My approach to songwriting is to try to be as authentic as possible while keeping a foothold in the folk tradition – it’s a balancing act but every song is personal to me at some level.”
Highlights include the gentle nature-themed opening track ‘The Woodlark and the Fieldfare’ with vocal contributions from the equally nature-loving Ninebarrow; the more contemporary-sounding but no less gorgeous ‘Hourglass’, dedicated to Michell’s father and sung as a duet with Callum Gilligan; and the jaunty fiddle-driven closing track ‘All The Bonny Ships’, written about Michell’s Polish grandparents who got separated during WW2 but were miraculously reunited in Britain at the end of the war.
Title track ‘The Queen of the Lowlands’, meanwhile, (which features some characteristically spell-binding fiddle from Fairport’s Chris Leslie) is not about Queen Wilhelmina, the former Dutch monarch, but rather the ship named after her that played a heroic role in the First World War, transporting US troops safely back home. It’s one of several nautical-themed songs on the album, hence the striking cover art.
Following her hugely-impressive debut album, here Odette Michell has gone on to deliver an absolutely stunning follow-up. Infused with her deep appreciation and obvious knowledge of traditional song, The Queen of the Lowlands is a beautiful album with gripping storytelling, crystal-clear vocals and first-class musicianship.
Although their first album seemed to pass me by at the time I instantly became a fan of the Faversham-based folk rock band, Green Diesel, when I was asked to review their second album, Wayfarers All, back in 2014. They are currently promoting their fifth album,Onward The Sun, which came out in April and which was recently described by Shindig! magazine as “folk rock at its finest.” I couldn’t agree more which is why I headed over to Brighton to catch the band live.
Performing at the charmingly elegant Folklore Rooms above the Quadrant pub, the band were supported first by Bity Booker, a London-based alt-folk singer-songwriter with beautiful songs, a sweet voice and some hilariously deadpan introductions. And by Brighton’s own The Witchcraft & Vagrancy Act, who delve into the macabre side of folk to come up with their own fabulous folk horror interpretations of traditional songs – think Cecil Sharp had he spent his time hanging around with Bauhaus and Alice Cooper.
Bity Booker
For Green Diesel, the evening provides a welcome opportunity to showcase material from the new album alongside some older favourites. There’s well-received renditions of ‘Onward the Sun!’ the album’s title track, and ‘Ring The Hill’ another superb song from the album. Ellen Care’s vocals are utterly perfect for material of this type, combining just the right amount of sweetness and menace as she lets these folklore-inspired stories unfold, backed by some psych-folk guitar-wizardry, a powerful rhythm section and her own stunning fiddle playing.
Green Diesel have never been averse to a bit of folk horror themselves, of course, and tonight’s set includes the band’s cover of ‘Maypole’ from The Wicker Man soundtrack, sung by lead guitarist, Matt Dear, and given a suitably-ominous sounding Green Diesel makeover. The band even throw in a couple of Morris tunes which comprise the instrumental segment of the new album, again given the Green Diesel treatment: heavied up and performed in minor key. Superb stuff!
Green Diesel
Green Diesel just seem to get better and better with each year that passes. And with two impressive support acts it made the trip to Brighton and the never-knowingly-reliable late train back to Hastings well worthwhile.
Eilidh Shaw (fiddle and vocals) and Ross Martin (guitar) are best known for their work with two leading Scottish traditional bands. Shaw for her work with The Poozies and Martin with Daimh. Between them they have spent over two decades touring with both their own bands and as guest artists with an vast array of top performers, including Julie Fowlis, Bonnie Prince Billy, Tony Christie and Arnaud Ciapolino.
Performing under the name Birl-Esque, Stay Here All Night is their second album as a duo. Born out of the long musical winter of lockdowns and cancelled gigs, the obvious choice faced by many couples was to either order another case of wine or build a home studio. Eilidh Shaw and Ross Martin did both of these things. The resulting album is a festival of creativity, full of the style and character that the duo has become known for.
Eilidh Shaw’s fiddle takes the lead on the instrumentals, such as ‘Swimmy Tunes’ above. The duo comment: “Two tunes written by Eilidh after a glorious west coast summer swimming in the sea around Arisaig. No swimming in this video as, although still very beautiful, it was a very cold day in January. The beautiful islands of Eigg and a snow-capped Rum in the background.”
New compositions such as this sit alongside old Highland classics like the ‘Thief of Lochaber’ and ‘Paddy’s Waltzes’, a set of Gaelic waltzes taken from her father’s home-made music book.
The four songs on the album include covers of contemporary Scottish writers such as ‘Stoned Again’ by Sandy Wright and ‘Better Off Dead’ by Willie MacAskill while the title track ‘Stay Here All Night’ showcases Shaw’s own songwriting.
Ross Martin’s consummate guitar arrangements tie the album together while the whole project is further decorated by a star-studded list of guest musicians that happened to be either passing the duo’s Highland home in Morar or had made the same decision during the dark days of covid and contributed from their own home studios.
With a combined total of 74 years of gigging experience and over 100 album appearances between them this dazzling duo seamlessly blur the lines between the traditional and the contemporary with a uniquely mischievous style.
Those who felt a Show of Hands-shaped hole in their lives, since the acclaimed west country duo went on indefinite hiatus last year, didn’t have to wait too long for new material featuring those warm, impassioned, familiar tones of vocalist, Steve Knightley.
First there was last Autum’s solo album, The Winter Yards (“poignant, tender, thought-provoking and rousing, in turn…”) and equally quick-off-the-mark came a follow-up in the Spring, Positively Folk Street: Dylan, Carthy & Me. While the former was very much a showcase for Knightley’s continuing brilliance as a songwriter and passionate observance of the world around him, this latter release is all about returning to his formative influences: back to when the young Knightley first tentatively dipped his toes into the world of acoustic folk.
Steve Knightley: “When I first picked up an acoustic guitar in my mid-teens, my repertoire was very limited – and then I discovered ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’. That album was a revelation. At the time, I had no idea Dylan had drawn so deeply from our own folk traditions to shape many of his songs.Later that summer, I found myself at Sidmouth Folk Festival, where I saw martin Carthy perform live for the first time. Another moment of discovery.“
“This album is a tribute to those formative influences. Across these twelve songs I revisit the worlds of Bob Dylan and martin Carthy – two artists who shaped my musical journey and set me on a path I’m still working.”
Containing six Dylan songs and six trad. arr. compositions from the repertoire of Carthy, it’s rare to come across a contemporary folk release these days where one is quite so familiar with the material. But Knightley applies his characteristic verve, passion and singularity and breathes new life into a beautifully-chosen set of songs. A must-buy for any Show of Hands and Steve Knightley fans, giving an insight into the songs and artists that helped shape his own career.
When Norwich-based folk duo, Christina Alden & Alex Patterson, released their debut album, Hunter, back in 2021 I found it a highly enjoyable listen and was struck by the duo’s lovely melodies, heart-warming vocals and charming story-telling.
We’ve had a while to wait but now they are back with a brand-new album, Safe Travels, featuring ten original songs and a duo-composed instrumental.
Recorded at the couple’s home studio in the centre of Norwich, they outline the genesis of the album as follows:
“We began making this album at the start of 2022 as the world was emerging from the global pandemic and just before the birth of our daughter, Etta. Some of these songs are like old friends that have travelled many miles with us, while others came about in the final stages of production. This is a collection of songs and tunes that feel as if they have grown and changed with us over the years. Those keen listeners among you may even hear some of our home life; our old cat pottering and meowing around the house; our daughter talking in the background or the sound of city life just beyond the city walls. We are so proud of this album and it’s been a real pleasure creating the music together.”
A number of the songs on the album are highly personal, such as the lovely ‘Etta’s Song’ (above) celebrating the birth of the couple’s baby daughter; the charmingly infectious ‘Our House’ which recalls Alden’s memories of growing up in a home filled with music; and the poignant ‘A Hundred Years Ago’ which, rather than being an epic historical folk tale, is all about recalling momentous events in one’s own life. However, as with the previous album, songs celebrating the beauty of the natural world also feature heavily and, as in the case of the ecologically-themed ‘The Mountain Hair’, the threat that the effects of man-made climate change poses to our natural landscape.
Both Alden and Patterson are accomplished multi-instrumentalists and finger-picked guitar interwoven with beautiful string arrangements make for a gentle yet versatile backdrop for Alden’s crystal clear lead vocal and Patterson’s warm harmonising. As with the debut album, pleasing melodies and heart-warming story-telling is the order of the day.
After a four-year journey Safe Travels has finally reached its intended destination and it’s an album that’s been well worth the wait.
After a five-year gap since their last album, Emergency Lullabies, Merry Hell are back with a brand-new, full-length studio release.Rising of the Bold is very much the Wigan folk-rockers’ ‘getting-it-together-in-the-country’ album, when the eight-strong band converged at a country house in Shropshire to assemble material for this latest release.
That idyllic pastoral setting may have had an influence some the eventual output because, overall, this comes across as a more varied and slightly more sophisticated take on the trademark Merry Hell template. It’s still effortlessly catchy folk rock, packed with bags of rhythm and memorable melodies but the quota of sing-along, festival-friendly anthems seems to have been dialled down a tad in favour of a little more light and shade.
It makes for a compelling set of songs. From the pounding folk rhythms of album opener ‘Pick Yourself Up and Dance’, to the defiant storytelling of the Levellers-esque ‘Vagaband Army’, to the darker, brooding sound textures of ‘Changing Times’, to the breezy, jangling, Byrds-like aura of ‘Changing Just The Same’, to the joyful optimism of ‘Singing in the Morning’ (which rounds off the album) there’s certainly no shortage of highpoints. It all manages to remain unmistakably Merry Hell, however, and their personalities both as songwriters and as performers shine through.
New fiddle player Simon Swarbrick, nephew of the late folk legend himself, gets to make his mark across the album with some fine playing. Moreover, in true Swarbrick fashion he gets to contribute a jaunty, foot-tapping fiddle-led instrumental in the shape of ‘Lizard On A Log’.
Don’t fret. The sing-along communal anthems haven’t been banished entirely, the centrepiece of which is the self-explanatory ‘Peace Can Be Louder Than War’, with accompaniment from the Thousand Voice Choir.
Merry Hell’s status as a perennial festival attraction was never in any doubt but this latest release is proof that the band continue to deliver on the album front, too.
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