Tag Archives: Jack Rutter

Latest folk reviews: Jack Rutter, Keiran Knowles & Megson, Ward Knútur Townes, Ninebarrow and Calum Stuart

Album reviews, Folk music, , , , , , , ,

Jack Rutter – This Is Something Constant

I first came across Jack Rutter when three precociously-talented but slightly nervous teenagers took the stage at Fairport’s Cropredy festival back in 2011 as that year’s BBC Young Folk Awards winners as the trio Moore Moss Rutter. Since that time, Rutter has made a major mark on the UK folk scene. As well as periodic albums with Moore Moss Rutter, there have been collaborations with the likes of Sam Sweeney, Seth Lakeman and Molly Evans, plus his own solo career.

Jack Rutter: “Folk songs and music captivate me and make me happy. This album is a love letter to the music and the whole folk scene that has been a constant in my life and so many other lives down the generations and I hope it stirs something back into the big folk melting pot.”

The third in a trilogy exploring British folk songs and featuring nine songs in the trad. arr. cannon, this latest offering is yet further evidence of Jack Rutter’s growing stature as a performer. Now un-disputably, one of the finest singers and interpreters of traditional material on the UK folk scene today, This Is Something Constant is a truly excellent album from Jack Rutter.

Released: 27 October 2023 https://jackruttermusic.com/home

Kieran Knowles & Megson – The Herald

Hot on the heels of What Are We Trying To Say, released back in March of this year, husband-and-wife duo, Stu and Debbie Hann, have another new album out, this time in collaboration with playwright, Kieran Knowles. Described as a “play with songs” The Herald began life as a short UK tour telling the story of a small-town local journalist, with Knowles providing the spoken-word parts and Megson delivering the songs. Following the success of the tour, the three teamed up once more to produce an audio recording of the show.

Megson: “It has been a fascinating process to take part in and observe the many parallels between scriptwriting and songwriting. The outcome of the project is something we are immensely proud of.”

Linking the songs, Knowles delivers a well-written and convincing narrative that serves as a worthy tribute to the finest traditions of local journalism: holding those in power to account, giving a voice to the local community and standing up against injustice. And what superb songs and superb storytelling we have from Megson here, some of which will surely develop a life of their own outside the format of this particular project.

Released: 20 October 2023  https://www.megsonmusic.co.uk/

Ward Knútur Townes – Unanswered

Picking up best newcomer award at the BBC Folk Awards back in 2012, Lucy Ward went on to have an impactful career on the UK folk scene but things have been rather quieter in recent years as her attention has turned to her family. Unanswered is actually her first new album to be released in five years and she’s teamed up with fellow singer-songwriters, Svavar Knútur from Iceland and Adyn Townes from Canada.

Lucy Ward: “It’s the true story of an old telephone, clearly disconnected for many years, that still sometimes rings… though no-one ever dares to answer to the ghostly caller.”

A multi-national collaboration borne out of lockdown and two years of Zoom exchanges and finally recorded at a remote location on Iceland’s northern coast, the album brings together three performers with their own unique styles to create an innovative slice of contemporary indie-folk. Stark and melancholy as befits the subject matter, there’s an intimacy and a tenderness to the songs on this album, the three contrasting voices melding with some incredible musicianship to produce something memorable and highly creative.

Released: 6 October 2023 https://wardknuturtownes.com/

Ninebarrow – The Colour of Night

Notching up ten years and five albums together, The Colour Of The Night is the latest from Ninebarrow, the duo of Jon Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere. It follows the excellent A Pocket Full Of Acorns, released in March 2021 just as the UK was heading into lockdown.

Jon Whitley: “The world has certainly felt a bit topsy-turvy since our last album but we are lucky to have received wonderful support that kept our spirits high – some of the songs here reflect that sentiment.”

The Colour of Night comprises five original songs and one instrumental piece, alongside several covers, an adaption of a Victorian poem and one traditional song. The duo’s signature vocal harmonies are set against the lush instrumentation of cellist, Lee MacKenzie, double-bassist, John Parker and percussionist, Evan Carson, alongside the duo themselves on piano, mandola and reed organ.  A beautifully-uplifting album, Ninebarrow once again deliver their trademark folk magic.

Released: 1 September 2023 https://www.ninebarrow.co.uk/

Calum Stewart – True North

An award-winning Uilleann Piper, flautist and composer, Calum Stewart has chalked up an impressive musical cv working with the likes The London Philharmonic Orchestra, The London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Julie Fowlis and Nitin Sawhney, in addition to pursuing his solo career. His most recent albums; True North (2023) and Tales from the North (2017) bring together traditional melodies and lyrical compositions, inspired by the landscape and heritage of the north of Scotland.

Calum Stuart: “Through this collection of music, I aim to pay tribute to the traditional tunes that have stood the test of time, while also expressing my personal connection with the north of Scotland through self-penned tracks. The songs reflect the memories, experiences, and encounters I’ve had in this captivating region.”

Featuring five traditional tunes and five new compositions from Calum Stuart, there’s a vibrancy and a freshness about True North which makes for an exhilarating celebration of Scottish traditional music and the timeless beauty of the Uilleann pipes.

Released: 1 September 2023 https://www.calum-stewart.com/

Folk: EP review – Molly Evans ‘Deep Time and Narrow Space’

Album reviews, Folk music, , , , , , ,

This review was originally published by Bright Young Folk here

For those who were captivated and/or terrified by the novels of Alan Garner as a child this six-track EP from Molly Evans should be of particular interest.

Evans is a young, Cheshire-born singer who has been immersed in folk since early childhood. However, for this, her second release, rather than interpretations of traditional songs she has reworked material from the children’s fantasy author, folklorist and fellow Cheshire resident, Alan Garner.

Traditional tales and poems collected by the author, along with extracts from Garner’s novels, have been given a new creative setting. ‘Deep Time and Narrow Space’ magically transports us to a world of faery kings, hobgoblins, mysterious woods and running hares.

Evans has a strong and distinctive voice with lovely flat northern vowel sounds that are a perfect fit for this type of material. She is accompanied by two-thirds of the award-winning folk trio Moore Moss Rutter.

Jack Rutter plays guitar, bouzouki, banjo and duet concertina whilst his colleague, Archie Churchill-Moss, applies his distinctive melodeon-playing. Both talented instrumentalists, they provide wonderfully atmospheric musical accompaniment to Evans’ vocals.

This is an enchanting and fascinating collection of songs but particular highlights include the brooding Maggotty’s Wood, based on one of the stories from Garner’s Collected Folk Tales; and Yallery Brown, about a boggarty creature that Garner describes as “the most powerful of all English fairy-tales.”

With ‘Deep Time and Narrow Space Evans’ has produced something unique and rather special. She deserves heaps of praise both for her singing and her writing as well as the overall creativity of this project.

https://www.facebook.com/MollyEvansMusic/

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Related reviews:
Molly Evans and Jack Rutter
Moore Moss Rutter 

Molly Evans & Jack Rutter at St Clement’s Church, Hastings 29/4/17

Folk music, Hastings music scene, Live reviews, , , , , , , ,

My review was originally published by the Hastings Online Times here 

Hastings’ annual Jack In The Green is renowned for its May Day parade and its morris dancing but the programme always throws up a handful of good concerts, too, and that is before you even get to the Hastings folk week events in the week that follows.

One of the highlights this year was Molly Evans & Jack Rutter performing in St. Clement’s Church in the old town. Molly Evans is an upcoming traditional singer from Cheshire who has just released a well-received album. Jack Rutter, meanwhile, is one third of folk trio (and one-time Young Folk Award winners) Moore Moss Rutter. Evans and Rutter have been playing together now some two years and Rutter, along with his colleague Archie Churchill Moss, plays on Evans’ album.

Evans has been immersed in traditional song since being carted around folk festivals as a tiny child, she tells us. That love and passion for traditional song shines through, both in her between-song chat and in her singing itself. However, perhaps even more fascinating this evening is her reworking of material from children’s fantasy author and folklorist, Alan Garner, and it is these songs that form the basis of her new album and much of the set tonight. Folklore tales and poems collected by Garner as well as extracts from some of his own novels have been given a new setting and a new life by Evans. We are soon transported into a world of faery kings, hobgoblins, mysterious woods and running hares.

Evans has a strong and distinctive yet really beautiful voice and one of the things I particularly liked is her lovely flat northern vowel sounds. If you are singing about Cheshire farmers’ daughters or gruesome 18th century northern folklore tales you don’t really want to be doing it in BBC English do you?

Rutter, too, is an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist (playing guitar, bouzouki and concertina this evening) and provides wonderfully atmospheric musical accompaniment to Evans’ vocals. There is also something rather special about performing material of this type in a beautiful cavernous old church. When Rutter puts his guitar down and picks up his accordion the sound from it absolutely fills the building in quite a spectacular way.

For Jack in the Green weekend you could hardly have asked for more suitably evocative material from two really talented performers.

https://www.facebook.com/MollyEvansMusic/

Evans Rutter Hastings

Related review:

Moore Moss Rutter at Cecil Sharp House

Moore, Moss, Rutter at Cecil Sharp House 13/4/16

Folk music, Live reviews, , , , , , , ,

BBC Young Folk Award winners each year are given a slot at Fairport Convention’s Cropredy festival, and I really enjoyed this trio at Cropredy back in 2011, the year they won their award. But I must confess they’d completely fallen off my radar and it was only seeing a magazine article about them recently that I was prompted to check out their forthcoming schedule and discovered they were due to play Camden’s Cecil Sharp House. So here we are!

Moore, Moss and Rutter are Tom Moore on violin, Archie Churchill Moss on melodeon and Jack Rutter on guitar and vocals. Although forming in 2009 it turns out the trio all continued to live in different parts of the country, and with university degrees to start and complete it as well as other musical collaborations it meant that gigging was sometimes sporadic rather than constant. But now they are on to their second album (the prog-ishly titled II) and we get to hear a number of songs and tunes from that tonight. In a varied set they deliver a few well-chosen traditional songs. But it’s perhaps the tunes where they really, really excel – with stunning interplay between violin, guitar and melodeon. Amazing sounds, of course, but seeing the interaction between the the three as they work a tune from one to the other really makes them worth seeing live.

They do a nice version of the traditional tune Portsmouth – the one given an added burst of fame by Mike Oldfield in the 70s when he had a hit with it. And of the self-penned material, Moss’s tune-set Six Weeks/Early Thursday is a definite highlight. Having spent the past 15 years living in Brockley south-east London, perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening for me is when they announce that one of the next tunes they are going to play is called Lewisham Way, the long main road at the end of our road in SE4. It’s an esteemed street, steeped in creativity, with Goldsmiths College at one end and the music hall singer, Marie Lloyd, being one notable former resident. So it only seems right that it should get its very own folk tune. Written by Moore and coupled with a hornpipe by Henry Purcell it can be found here.

The three go down really, really well tonight and their latest album is well worth a listen. I picked up a copy and Moore, Moss, Rutter are now firmly back on my radar.

http://www.mooremossrutter.co.uk/mmr/Home.html