Update: So this is my little music video for my song Bowed Oak. It literally just came from having a little fire in the garden and I decided to get my camera and film it. It probably stems from my slight pyromania and I'm ok with that.
So this post I thought I'd give you some choice folk picks of mine that you probably won't have heard before. There's a lot of different folk about, and where to draw the line between folk and country I'm not really sure but here are some of my favourite folk musicians, hope you find something you love.
This is perhaps quite a lot more country than folk but it's a brilliant tune none the less. I can't help but smile when I hear it. There's such a sense of humour in the song which I love. Watch David Rawling's fingers on the guitar, to sing and play like that is pretty incredible.
2. The Unthanks - Lucky Gilchrist
The Unthanks are a big folk band who play folk songs with a kind of melodic twist, at times very ethereal music. They are great story tellers. 'Here's the Tender Coming' is the first album from The Unthanks that I found and there literally are no bad songs on it. From the Romeo/Juliet-esque tale in Annachie Gordon or the toe-tapping odd-time Lucky Gilchrist, the songs paint pictures of overcast British skies. Really reminds me of home.
A musical mentor and great friend of mine, Jez Hellard is a top class musician on guitar, harmonica and drums and percussion (amongst I don't know what else) and while he doesn't write his own music, saying that there are so many others that do it far better, he picks select songs to cover. He plays a range of music from two hundred year old English folk songs to reggae tracks by Sublime. Anything he finds lyrically and musically resonant, he'll play. and he'll play it damn well. With his old crew 'Jez Hellard and the Roving Blades', which I was lucky enough to play with on a number of occasions, and his new 'Jez Hellard and the Djukella Orchestra' he plays all over the UK and the Balkans. I feel privelidged to have learnt from and played with Jez and if you haven't heard of him (and far too many people haven't) then you should definitely check him out.
The tracks on his website are also definitely worth a listen, some haunting folk tunes here. Listen to 'Hometown Boy' and 'Harvest Gypsies': http://www.jezhellard.com/htdocs/?page=tracks
4. Gillian Welch - One More DollarGillian makes another appearance on the list with her solo music. It often takes a more solemn tone than her stuff with David Rawlings, certainly more of a soulful folk feel as opposed to country.
Th song One More Dollar is about a boy leaving home to work and get some money for his family and as the chorus line comes back each time the desperation grows making the repeated line 'one more dollar and I'm going home' increasingly poignant. It is an example of brilliant song writing and made me realise how the structure of a song is so important and it certainly influenced my writing.
5. Laura Marling - Don't Ask Me Why/Salinas
There is no way I could write this list and not include Laura. She is one of my biggest influences and a huge idol of mine. Her songs are simply sublime. She was writing songs at 17 that sound like they were written by a 40 year old. Such maturity was always there in her song-writing but from her early performances, even after she really broke, compared to her gigs with her new album complete with full band show a fully confident Laura holding her head back as she sings. She has bloomed from a timid, fragile soul on stage, seemingly made of glass making her songs such a real experience, to a forceful front-woman and an a world class musician.
6. Jackie Oates - Hyperboreans
I'm lucky enough to own a violin that belonged to my aunt. It was built in the 1800s and is currently being restored to perfect playability at the moment. As soon as I have it back I'm going to start learning how to play proper folk fiddle, just like Jackie Oates. Her songs span from tales of desolation and heart-ache to joyful proclamations like Hyperboreans. A lot more traditional than someone like Laura but not quite as much as Gillian Welch. She treads the line so artfully, bringing the feelings of both the original folk style, which is in essence is what defines the genre, and the slightly more modern style in terms of things like song structure. Coincidentally, Jackie's voice sounds literally identical to Rebecca Unthank's voice, front-woman for The Unthanks mentioned above. Thought they were the same people for a while, it's uncanny!
7. Dixie Chicks - Truth No. 2So a lot more on the country scale of things, the Dixie Chicks are one the artists that first coaxed me into the world of folk and country. I feel like for England, a country that has lost a lot of its national identity (not complaining just observing), English folk is the musical equivalent for the rich historical music of countries like China and Madagascar for example. The Dixie Chicks embody the southern States, their songs have a devil-may-care attitude but also a wry humour and great compassion. If I can embody the green hills of England as much as they do the deep south, I can die happy.
