Remembering Folk Legends Issue No:3

Volume 3

Folk

Legends

Gone,

But Not

Forgotten...

SFM

MAGAZINE

folk legends, gone, b

Folk music often features story telling

lyrics, and has been around throughout

the ages all around the world. Some

songs date back to medeival times and even

before those days, for example Greensleeves,

Scarborough Fair, Ave Maria, Song Of

Roland, Foy Porter to name but a few.

The artists and groups I’ve included in this

volume, and those who will feature in future

volumes are folk singers from the early 20th

century and beyond, whom while they are no

longer with us today, their ground breaking

music and songs are available for us to listen to

through recordings of albums and songs made

during their lifetimes.

I have used the majority of links to their music

from Discogs, from where, should you wish

to, you should be able to find copies of their

albums for yourself, also many of them can be

found on Youtube and similar music sites.

Most of the information about artists included

can be found on Wikipedia, should you wish

to discover more about them.

Folk songs address social issues and have

shaped movements like civil rights, antiwar

protests, and cultural change. They are

a vital backbone to our modern day lives,

and it’s wonderful to look back and reflect

on the many talented artists who have made

significant contributions to shaping the folk

music scene as we know it to be today.

Jane Shields - Editor/Producer of SFMM

| 02 janeshieldsmedia@gmail.com

Index

ut not forgotten...

04 THE

INCREDIBLE

STRING BAND

10 THE CLANCY

BROTHERS

18 TONY

CAPSTICK

20 PETER

BELLAMY

24 BERT

JANSCH

30 VIN

GARBUTT

32 JOHN

MARTYN

36 KATE

MCGARRIGLE

38 SAM

HINTON

40 MÍCHEÁL Ó

DOMHNAILL

46 BURL

IVES

58 NINA

SIMONE

64 JILL

SOIBULE

70 AMAZING

BLONDEL

74 ED

ASKEW

76 JOHN

ROBERTS

78 VOLKAN

KONAK

80 RONNIE

GILBERT

82 ISLA

CAMERON

86 STAN

ROGERS

90 NORMA

TANEGA

94 LUKE

KELLY

52 ROGER

WHITTAKER

56 WIZZ

JONES

janeshieldsmedia@gmail.com

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the incredible

string band

The Incredible String Band (sometimes abbreviated as

ISB) were a British psychedelic folk band formed by

Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron

in Edinburgh in 1966. Following Palmer’s early departure,

Williamson and Heron continued as a duo and were

eventually augmented by other musicians such as Licorice

McKechnie, Rose Simpson, and Malcolm Le Maistre. The

band split up in 1974. They reformed in 1999 and continued

to perform with changing lineups until 2006.

The band built a considerable following in the British 1960s

counterculture, notably with their albums ‘The 5000 Spirits

or the Layers of the Onion’ (1967), ‘The Hangman’s Beautiful

Daughter’ (1968), and ‘Wee Tam and the Big Huge’ (1968).

They became pioneers in psychedelic folk and, through

integrating a wide variety of traditional music forms and

instruments, in the development of world music.

In 1963, acoustic musicians Robin Williamson and Clive

Palmer began performing together as a traditional folk duo

in Edinburgh, particularly at a weekly club run by Archie

Fisher in the Crown Bar which also regularly featured Bert

Jansch. There they were seen in August 1965 by Joe Boyd,

then working as a talent scout for the influential folk-based

label Elektra Records. Later in the year, the duo decided to

fill out their sound by adding a third member, initially to play

rhythm guitar. After an audition, local rock musician Mike

Heron won the slot. The trio took the name “the Incredible

String Band”. Early in 1966, Palmer began running an allnight

folk club, ‘Clive’s Incredible Folk Club’, on the fourth

floor of a building in Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, where

they became the house band. When Boyd returned in his new

role as head of Elektra’s London office, he signed them up for

an album, beating off a rival bid from Transatlantic Records.

They recorded their first album, entitled ‘The Incredible

String Band’ at the Sound Techniques studio in London in

May 1966. It was released in Britain and the United States and

consisted mostly of self-penned material in solo, duo and trio

formats, showcasing their playing on a variety of instruments.

It won the title of “Folk Album of the Year” in Melody Maker’s

annual poll, and in a 1968 Sing Out! magazine interview

Bob Dylan praised the album’s “October Song” as one of his

favourite songs of that period, stating it was “quite good”.

The trio broke up after recording the album. Palmer left via


The Incredible String Band

the hippie trail for Afghanistan and India, and Williamson

and his girlfriend Licorice McKechnie went to Morocco

with no firm plans to return. Heron stayed in Edinburgh,

playing with a band called “Rock Bottom and the Deadbeats”.

However, when Williamson returned after running out

of money, laden with Moroccan instruments (including a

gimbri, which was much later eaten by rats), he and Heron

reformed the band as a duo.

In November 1966 Heron and Williamson embarked on a

short UK tour, supporting Tom Paxton and Judy Collins.

In early 1967, they performed regularly at London clubs,

including Les Cousins. Joe Boyd became the group’s manager

as well as producer and secured a place for them at the

Newport Folk Festival, on a bill with Joni Mitchell and

Leonard Cohen.

The duo were always credited as separate writers, maintaining

their individual creative identities, rather than working as a

writing partnership. Boyd wrote,

“Mike and Robin were Clive’s friends rather than each other’s.

Without him as a buffer, they developed a robust dislike for

one another. Fortunately, the quality and quantity of their

songwriting was roughly equal. Neither would agree to the

inclusion of a new song by the other unless he could impose

himself on it by arranging the instruments and working out all

the harmonies.”

In July, they released their second album, “The 5000 Spirits

or the Layers of the Onion”, accompanied by Pentangle’s

Danny Thompson on double bass and Licorice on vocals and

percussion. The album demonstrated considerable musical

development and a more unified ISB sound. It displayed their

abilities as multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters,

and gained them much wider acclaim. The album included

Heron’s “The Hedgehog’s Song”, Williamson’s “First Girl I

Loved” (later recorded by Judy Collins, Jackson Browne,

Don Partridge and Wizz Jones) and his “Mad Hatter’s Song”,

which, with its mixture of musical styles, paved the way for

the band’s more extended forays into psychedelia. Enthusiastic

reviews in the music press were accompanied by appearances

at venues such as London’s UFO Club (co-owned by Boyd),

the Speakeasy Club, and Queen Elizabeth Hall. Their exposure

on John Peel’s Perfumed Garden radio show on the pirate

ship Radio London and later on BBC’s Top Gear made them

favourites with the emerging UK underground audience. The

album went to Number One in the UK folk chart, and was

named by Paul McCartney as one of his favourite records of

that year.

1968 was the band’s ‘annus mirabilis’ with the release of their

two most-celebrated albums, “The Hangman’s Beautiful

Daughter” and the double LP “Wee Tam and the Big Huge”

(issued as two separate albums in the US). “Hangman’s”

reached the top 5 in the UK album charts soon after its release

in March 1968 and was nominated for a Grammy in the US.

Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin said his group found their

way by playing “Hangman’s” and following the instructions.

A departure from the band’s previous albums, the set relied

heavily on a more layered production, with imaginative use


of the then new multitrack recording techniques. The album

featured a series of vividly dreamlike Williamson songs,

such as “The Minotaur’s Song”, a surreal music-hall parody

told from the point of view of the mythical beast, and its

centrepiece was Heron’s “A Very Cellular Song”, a 13-minute

reflection on life, love and amoebas, its complex structure

incorporating a Bahamian spiritual (“I Bid You Goodnight”).

Williamson and Heron in this album had added their

girlfriends, Licorice McKechnie and Rose Simpson, to the

band to contribute additional vocals and various instruments,

including organ, guitar and percussion. Despite their initially

rudimentary skills, Simpson swiftly became a proficient bass

guitarist, and some of McKechnie’s songs were recorded by

the band.

By early 1968, the group were capable of filling major venues

in the UK. They left behind their folk club origins and

embarked on a nationwide tour, incorporating a critically

acclaimed appearance at the London Royal Festival Hall.

Later in the year, they performed at the Royal Albert Hall,

at open-air festivals, and at prestigious rock venues, such as

the Fillmore auditoriums in San Francisco and New York.

After their appearance at the Fillmore East in New York,

they were introduced to the practice of Scientology by David

Simons (aka “Rex Rakish” and “Bruno Wolfe”, once of Jim

Kweskin’s Jug Band). Joe Boyd, in his book “White Bicycles:

Making Music in the 1960s and elsewhere”, described how

he was inadvertently responsible for their “conversion” when

he introduced the band to Simons, who, having become a

Scientologist, persuaded them to enrol in his absence. The

band’s support for Scientology over the next few years was

controversial among some fans and seemed to coincide with

what many saw as the beginning of a decline in the quality

of their work. In an interview with Oz magazine in 1969,

the band spoke enthusiastically of their involvement with it,

although the question of its effect on their later albums has

provoked much discussion ever since.

Their November 1968 album “Wee Tam and the Big Huge”,

recorded before the US trip, was musically less experimental

and lush than “Hangman’s” but conceptually even more avantgarde,

a full-on engagement with the themes of mythology,

religion, awareness and identity. Williamson’s otherworldly

songs and vision dominate the album, though Heron’s more

grounded tracks are also among his very best, and the contrast

between the two perspectives gives the record its uniquely

dynamic interplay between a sensual experience of life and a

quest for metaphysical meaning. The record was released as a

double album and also simultaneously as two separate LPs, a

strategy which lessened its impact on the charts.

At this time, most of the group lived communally at a

farmhouse near Newport, in Pembrokeshire, Wales, where

they developed ideas for mixed media experiments with

Malcolm Le Maistre and other members of David Medalla’s

“Exploding Galaxy” troupe and the “Leonard Halliwell

Quartet”. There, a film was made about the ISB, “Be Glad For

the Song Has No Ending”. Originally planned for BBC TV’s

arts programme Omnibus, it featured documentary footage

and a fantasy sequence, ‘The Pirate and the Crystal Ball’,

illustrating their attempt at an idyllic communal lifestyle. It

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made little impact at the time, but reissues on video and DVD

have contributed to the recent revival of interest in the band.

The band toured for much of 1969, in the US and the UK.

In July they played at the Albert Hall on the fourth night of

the “Pop Proms”. They were introduced by John Peel and

talked about their first brush with Scientology. Other acts

in the week were Led Zeppelin and The Who. On 28 May

1969 the band received a phone call from Michael Lang,

the producer of the momentous Woodstock Festival, asking

the band to perform at the festival for a payment of $4,500.

In August, they were slotted to play on Friday when all the

folk-oriented and acoustic acts were expected to perform.

However, the band refused to perform in the pouring rain, so

stage manager John Morris rescheduled their performance

for the following day. Their open slot was taken by Melanie,

whose showing inspired her song, “Lay Down (Candles in the

Rain)”. The following day, 16 August 1969, at approximately

6:30 p.m., the band played in between the Keef Hartley Band

and Canned Heat. The crowd was not anticipating the band’s

performance on a day that featured mainly hard rock acts. For

that reason, the group was generally disfavoured and, perhaps

more importantly, were not included in the filming of the

festival. Over the Labor Day weekend in 1969, they appeared

at the Texas International Pop Festival, in Lewisville, Texas. In

November, they released the album “Changing Horses”, which

was generally seen as a disappointment after their earlier

work. By late 1969, they had established a communal base at

Glen Row near Innerleithen. In April 1970 they released the

album “I Looked Up”.

The ISB’s performances were more theatrical than those of

most of their contemporaries. In addition to the spectacle

of their exotic instruments and colourful stage costumes,

their concerts sometimes featured poems, surreal sketches

and dancers, all in the homegrown, non-showbiz style

characteristic of the hippie era. In 1970, Robin Williamson

(with little input from Heron) attempted to fuse the music

with his theatrical fantasies in a quixotic multimedia

spectacular at London’s Roundhouse called “U”, which

he envisaged as “a surreal parable in dance and song”. It

combined the band’s music with dancing by the “Stone

Monkey troupe” (which had evolved out of “Exploding

Galaxy”), the letter U representing a transition from a high

level of spiritual awareness to a low, then returning to a

final peak of awareness and communication. Although the

performance was ambitious, critical response was mixed,

with some harsh reviews from critics who had in some cases

acclaimed their earlier work. It fared little better in New York,

and a planned US tour of “U” had to be cancelled after a few

performances at the Fillmore East. Joe Boyd described the

show as “a disaster”.

After that, the group lasted another four years, although there

was a gradual decline in their status and commercial success

after 1970. Joe Boyd, whose skillful handling of the band

had contributed much to their international success, stopped

managing them and returned to the US. The group left Elektra

Records and signed with Island, for whom they recorded five

albums. The first was a soundtrack to the “Be Glad...” film, and

this was followed by the eclectic Liquid Acrobat as “Regards

the Air,” regarded as their best album for some time.

The band continued to tour and record. Rose Simpson left

in 1971 and was replaced by Malcolm Le Maistre, formerly

of the “Stone Monkey troupe”. Mike Heron took time out to

record a well-received solo album, “Smiling Men with Bad

Reputations”, which, in contrast to the ISB’s self-contained

productions, featured a host of session guests, among them

Pete Townshend, Ronnie Lane, Keith Moon, John Cale and

Richard Thompson. The following year, Licorice left, and was

replaced by Gerard Dott, an Edinburgh jazz musician and

friend of both Heron and Williamson who had contributed

to “Smiling Men”. Williamson also recorded a solo album,

“Myrrh”, which featured some of his most extraordinary vocal

performances.

The group’s changing lineup, adding Stan Schnier (aka “Stan

Lee”) on bass, Jack Ingram on drums, and Graham Forbes

on electric guitar, reflected moves toward a more conventional

amplified rock group. Their final albums for Island were

received disappointingly, and the label dropped them in 1974.

By then, disagreements between Williamson and Heron

about musical policy had become irreconcilable, and they

split up in October 1974.

Williamson soon formed “Robin Williamson and His Merry

Band”, which toured and released three albums of eclectic

music with a Celtic emphasis. Within a few years, he went

on to a solo career, moving between traditional Celtic styles

and more avant-garde material. He also produced several

recordings of humorous stories. In all, Williamson released

over forty albums post-ISB. Notable in this output are the

Grammy-nominated “Wheel of Fortune” (1995, with John

Renbourn) and four records on the jazz/classical/avantgarde

ECM label: “The Seed-at-Zero” (2000), “Skirting the

River Road” (2002), “The Iron Stone” (2006), and “Trusting

in the Rising Light” (2014). Heron formed a rock group with

Malcolm Le Maistre, called first “Mike Heron’s Reputation”,

then just “Heron”, and later released occasional solo albums.

Malcolm Le Maistre continued teaching in schools and

performing theatre and music, and he released two albums.

In 1997, Williamson and Heron got back together for two

concerts, which were warmly received. This was followed by a

full reunion of the original three members plus Williamson’s

wife, Bina, and Lawson Dando in 1999. However, they did

not recapture the high reputation of the original ISB, playing

mostly small venues to mixed critical and audience responses.

In March 2003, it was announced that Robin and Bina

Williamson had “temporarily” left to pursue other projects

and their solo careers. Rumours circulated of an acrimonious

split. A long-standing agreement between Williamson and

Heron that neither would use the name ‘Incredible String

Band’ without the other’s involvement was bypassed by a

temporary re-branding as ‘incrediblestringband2003’. Heron,

Palmer and Dando, and new member Clare “Fluff ” Smith,

continued to tour regularly around the United Kingdom

and internationally. Heron, Dando and Palmer toured

the US in 2004. Another live album was released in 2005.

Their last concert together was at the Moseley Folk Festival,

Birmingham, UK, in September 2006.



n 2009, Heron and Palmer announced a concert entitled

“Very Cellular Songs: The Music of the Incredible String

Band” at The Barbican, featuring Richard Thompson, Danny

Thompson, Robyn Hitchcock, Alasdair Roberts, Trembling

Bells, Green Gartside, and Dr Strangely Strange.

Stylistically the ISB were centred around the idioms of

conventional folk and pop, but their notable experimentation

with musical form, instrumentation and styles (e.g. Indian

and Moroccan) led them to innovative, often eclectic,

compositions. In 1967–68 they were described as part of pop

music’s “underground”. Williamson claimed that, as both

“the Beatles” and “the Rolling Stones” saw them play before

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Their Satanic

Majesties Request” were recorded, the ISB were an influence

on those albums. Chris Cutler commented that

“They were one of the most important bands of that era ...

Instead of AABABA etc., their developments would go linearly,

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M and beyond; no one else thought

that way ever ...”

One of Bob Dylan’s favourite songs was “October Song” from

ISB’s debut album. Robert Plant claimed that Led Zeppelin

found their way by playing “The Hangman’s Beautiful

Daughter”. Following in the footsteps of ISB, Led Zeppelin

later successfully incorporated Moroccan rhythms (e.g. on

“Dancing Days”).

Both Mike Heron and Robin Williamson would insert

seemingly unrelated sections in their songs in a way that has

been described as “always surprising, laughably inventive,

lyrically prodigious”.

In 1994, Rose Simpson, a former member of the band,

became Mayoress of Aberystwyth. In 2003, the Archbishop

of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who had previously chosen

“The Hedgehog’s Song” when he appeared on Desert Island

Discs, wrote a foreword for a full-length book about the band,

describing them as “holy”. Licorice McKechnie was last seen

in 1987, and may be deceased.

MEMBERS

Mike Heron (1965–1974, 1999–2006)

Robin Williamson (1965–1974, 1999–2003)

Clive Palmer (1965–1966, 1999–2006; died 2014)

Christina “Licorice” McKechnie (1968–1972)

Rose Simpson (1968–1971)

Malcolm Le Maistre (1971–1974)

Stan Schnier (1972–1974)

Jack Ingram (1972–1974)

Gerard Dott (1972–1973)

Graham Forbes (1973–1974)

John Gilston (1974)

Lawson Dando (1999–2006)

Bina Williamson (1999–2003)

Claire “Fluff ” Smith (2003–2006)

LINEUPS

1965 - 1966

Mike Heron

Clive Palmer

Robin Williamson

1966 - 1968

Mike Heron

Robin Williamson

1968 - 1971

Mike Heron

Robin Williamson

Licorice McKechnie

Rose Simpson

1971 - 1972

Mike Heron

Robin Williamson

Licorice McKechnie

Malcolm Le Maistre

1972 - 1973

Mike Heron

Robin Williamson

Malcolm Le Maistre

Gerard Dott

Jack Ingram

Stan Schnier

1973 - 1974

Mike Heron

Robin Williamson

Malcolm Le Maistre

Jack Ingram

Stan Schnier

Graham Forbes

1974

Mike Heron

Robin Williamson

Malcolm Le Maistre

Stan Schnier

Graham Forbes

John Gilston

1974 - 1999

DISBANDED

1999 - 2003

Mike Heron

Robim Williamson

Clive Palmer

Lawson Dando

Bina Williamson

2003 - 2006

Mike Heron

Clive Palmer

Lawson Dando

Claire Smith


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MAGAZINE

the incredible string band

1966

THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND

Elektra

Discogs link

1967

THE 5000 SPIRITS OR THE LAYERS OF THE

ONION

Elektra

Discogs link

1968

THE HANGMANS BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER

Elektra

Discogs link

1968

WEE TAM AND THE BIG HUGE

Elektra

Discogs link

1969

CHANGING HORSES

Elektra

Discogs link

1970

I LOOKED UP

Elektra

Discogs link


studio album discography


1970

U

Elektra

Discogs link

1971

BE GLAD FOR THE SONG HAS NO ENDING

Island Records

Discogs link

1971

LIQUID ACROBAT AS REGARDS THE AIR

Island Records

Discogs link

1972

EARTHSPAN

Island Records

Discogs link

1973

NO RUINOUS FEUD

Island Records

Discogs link

1974

HARD ROPE AND SILKEN TWINE

Island Records

Discogs link


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the clancy

brothers

The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music

group that developed initially as a part of the American

folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they

were famed for their Aran jumpers and are widely credited

with popularising Irish traditional music in the United States

and revitalising it in Ireland. This contributed to an Irish folk

boom with groups like the Dubliners and the Wolfe Tones.

The Clancy Brothers – Paddy, Tom and Liam – are known

best for their work with Tommy Makem, recording almost

two dozen albums together as The Clancy Brothers and

Tommy Makem. Makem left in 1969, the first of many

changes in the group’s membership. The most notable

subsequent member to join was the fourth Clancy brother,

Bobby. The group continued in various formations until

Paddy Clancy’s death in 1998.

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem significantly

influenced the young Bob Dylan and other artists, including

Christy Moore and Paul Brady. The group was famous for

its often lively arrangements of old Irish ballads, rebel and

drinking songs, sea shanties and other traditional music.

The oldest member of the group, Paddy Clancy, was born on

7 March 1922 in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, Ireland.

Tom followed on 29 October 1924, Bobby on 14 May 1927,

and youngest brother Liam Clancy on 2 September 1935.

Tommy Makem was born 4 November 1932 in Keady, County

Armagh, Northern Ireland.

After serving in World War II in the Royal Air Force, Paddy

and Tom emigrated from England to Toronto in 1947 on the

S.S. Marine Flasher, accompanying 400 war brides. The only

men on board were Paddy, Tom, their friend Pa Casey and

the ship’s sailors. Once in Toronto, Paddy and Tom worked

various odd jobs before coming to the United States two years

later, through the sponsorship of two aunts. Residing for a

time in Cleveland, Ohio, the two brothers began to dabble

in acting. They decided to move to Hollywood, but their car

broke down soon after the trip began. They relocated to the

New York City area instead.

Arriving in Greenwich Village in Manhattan in 1951, Tom

and Paddy established themselves as successful Broadway

and Off-Broadway actors. They also made several television

appearances. The two brothers created their own production

company, ‘Trio Productions’, which led to the start of their

professional singing careers. To help raise money for the


The Clancy Brothers

company, Paddy and Tom organised late-night concerts of

folk songs called the ‘Swapping Song Fair’ (later renamed the

‘Midnight Special’) every Saturday night at the Cherry Lane

Theatre, which they were renting at the time to produce Irish

plays. Here they would sing some of the old Irish songs that

they knew from their childhood. Some well-known folk singers,

including Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Jean Ritchie, also

participated in these concerts. At this time, younger brother

Bobby Clancy briefly emigrated to New York City, joining his

brothers in Greenwich Village. This was the little-known, first

‘unofficial’ line-up of singing Clancy brothers.

In 1955, Bobby returned home to Carrick-on-Suir to take over

father Robert J. Clancy’s insurance business, freeing youngest

brother Liam Clancy to emigrate to New York City to pursue

his dream of acting. Liam arrived in New York in January 1956.

A month earlier, Tommy Makem emigrated to the United

States from his hometown of Keady. Tommy had met Liam

Clancy shortly before they both emigrated. Diane Hamilton, a

friend of Paddy Clancy in New York, followed in the footsteps

of her mentor, Jean Ritchie, and came to Ireland in search of

rare Irish songs. Her first stop was at the Clancy household,

where she recorded several members of the family, including

the Clancys’ mother, sisters Peg and Joan, and nineteen-yearold

Liam Clancy. Hamilton asked Liam and recently returned

Bobby Clancy to join her on a trek through Ireland to locate

and record source singers.

One of those source singers was Sarah Makem who had

been recorded by Jean Ritchie in 1952 on a similar search

for authentic Irish folk songs. Her son Tommy Makem, then

twenty-two, and the young Liam Clancy instantly became

friends. Said Liam,

“Our interests were so similar: girls, theatre and music. He had

told me he was going to America to try his luck at acting. We

agreed to keep in touch.”

Tommy was recorded for the first time by Hamilton in that

autumn of 1955. Among the songs he sang was “The Cobbler”,

which he continued to perform throughout his career.

In March 1956, Tommy Makem was unemployed. He had

recently moved to Dover, New Hampshire, where many of his

family members had emigrated to work in the local cotton

mills. He had found a job there making printing presses but

had an accident when a two-ton steel press that he was guiding

with his hand broke from its chain. The falling press tore the

tendons from the bone in three of the fingers of his left hand.

His hand in a sling, and knowing the Clancy brothers in New

York, he decided that he would like to make a record with

them. He told this to Paddy Clancy, who with the sponsorship

of Diane Hamilton and the assistance of his brother Liam

founded a record company, Tradition Records, in 1956. Paddy

agreed and together he, Tom, Liam, and Tommy Makem

recorded an album of Irish rebel songs, “The Rising of the

Moon”, one of the new label’s first releases. Paddy’s harmonica

provided the only musical accompaniment for the first version

of this debut album. It was re-recorded in 1959 with the

addition of supporting musicians.

Little thought was given to continuing as a singing group. They


all were busy establishing theatrical careers for themselves,

in addition to their work at Tradition Records. But the album

was a local success and requests were often demanded for

the brothers and Tommy Makem to sing some of their songs

at parties and informal pub settings. Slowly, the singing gigs

began to outweigh the acting gigs and by 1959, serious thought

was given to a new album. Liam had developed some guitar

skills, Tommy’s hand had healed enough he was again able

to play tin whistle and Uilleann pipes, and the times spent

singing together had improved their style. No longer were they

the rough, mostly unaccompanied group of actors singing for

an album to jumpstart a record label; they were becoming a

professional singing group.

The release of their second album, this one of Irish drinking

songs called “Come Fill Your Glass with Us”, solidified their

new careers as singers. The album was a success, and they made

many appearances on the pub circuit in New York, Chicago,

and Boston. It was at their first official gig after “Come Fill

Your Glass With Us” that the group finally found a name for

themselves. The nightclub owner asked for a name to put on the

marquee, but they had not decided on one yet. Unable to agree

on a name (which included suggestions like “The Beggermen”,

“The Tinkers” and even “The Chieftains”) the owner decided

for them, simply billing them as “The Clancy Brothers and

Tommy Makem”. The name stuck. They decided to try singing

full-time for six months. If their singing was successful, they

would continue with it; if not, then they would return to acting.

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem proved successful as

a singing group and in early 1961, they attracted the attention

of scouts from “The Ed Sullivan Show”.

The Clancy Brothers’ mother read news of the terrible ice

and snow storms in New York City and sent Aran jumpers for

her sons and Tommy Makem to keep them warm. They wore

the sweaters for the first time at the ‘Blue Angel’ nightclub

in Manhattan, simply as part of their regular winter clothes.

When the group’s manager Marty Erlichman, who had been

searching for a special “look” for the group, saw the sweaters,

he exclaimed, “That’s it! That’s it! That’s what you’re going to

wear.” Erlichman requested that the group wear the sweaters

on their upcoming television appearance on “The Ed Sullivan

Show”. After they did, the sales of Aran sweaters rose by 700%

according to Liam Clancy, and they soon became the Clancy

Brothers and Tommy Makem’s trademark costume. Vawn

Corrigan has stated that this was not an idle boast and that the

number was probably even higher as much of the export sales

of Arans happened unofficially and were not therefore properly

accounted.

On 12 March 1961, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem

performed for around fifteen minutes in front of a television

audience of forty million people for the first time on “The Ed

Sullivan Show.” A previously scheduled artist did not appear

that night, and the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem

were given the newly available time slot on the show, in

addition to the two songs they had initially planned to do. The

televised performance and the success of the Clancys’ and

Makem’s nightclub performances attracted the attention of

John Hammond of Columbia Records. The group was offered

a five-year contract with an advance of $100,000, a huge sum

in 1961. For their first album with Columbia, “A Spontaneous

Performance Recording”, they enlisted Pete Seeger, one of the

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leaders of 2the American Folk Revival”, as backup banjo player.

The record included songs that would soon become classics

for the group, such as “Brennan on the Moor”, “Jug of Punch”,

“Reilly’s Daughter”, “Finnegan’s Wake”, “Haul Away Joe”, “Roddy

McCorley”, “Portlairge” and “The Moonshiner”. The album was

nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording in

1962.

Around the same time that they recorded “A Spontaneous

Performance”, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem cut

their final, eponymous album with Tradition Records. By the

end of 1962, they released a second album with Columbia,

“Hearty and Hellish! A Live Nightclub Performance”, and they

played an acclaimed concert at Carnegie Hall. Additionally,

they were making appearances on major radio and television

talk shows in America.

In late 1962 Ciarán Mac Mathúna, a popular radio personality

in Ireland, first heard of the group while visiting America. He

collected their first three Columbia albums, “A Spontaneous

Performance Recording”, “Hearty and Hellish!”, and “The

Boys Won’t Leave the Girls Alone”, brought them back home

to Ireland, and played them on his radio show. The broadcasts

brought the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem to fame

in Ireland, where they had been unknown. In Ireland, songs

like “Roddy McCorley”, “Kevin Barry” and “Brennan on the

Moor” were slow, moving songs, but the Clancy Brothers and

Tommy Makem had transformed those songs (some purists in

Ireland argued, “commercialized”) and made them lively. The

Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were brought over for a

sold-out tour of Ireland in late 1963. Popularity in England and

other parts of Europe soon followed, as well as in Australia and

Canada.

By 1963, appearing on major talk shows in America, Canada,

England, Australia and Ireland, as well as their own TV

specials, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were “the

most famous four Irishmen in the world”, according to Ireland’s

“Late Late Show” host Gay Byrne in a retrospective interview

in 1984. Billboard Magazine reported that the group was

outselling Elvis Presley in Ireland, adding that this was “a most

unusual situation” for folk singers. In 1964, almost one-third

of all the albums sold in Ireland were Clancy Brothers and

Tommy Makem records.

The 1960s continued to be a successful decade with the release

of approximately two albums per year, all of which sold

millions of copies. In 1963 they made a prestigious televised

appearance in front of President John F. Kennedy. Makem

rewrote an old song, “We Want No Irish Here”, expressly for the

occasion.

In late 1963, the group released its most successful album, “In

Person at Carnegie Hall”, which spent twelve weeks on the

Billboard chart for the top 150 albums of any genre in release

in the United States. It broke the top 50 albums in December,

an unprecedented occurrence for an Irish folk music recording.

The Clancy Brothers’ follow-up album, “The First Hurrah!”,

also charted in the top 100 albums in the US in 1964. A single

taken from that album, “The Leaving of Liverpool”, was a

top ten hit in Ireland. Another album, “Isn’t It Grand Boys”,

appeared on the British charts in 1965.[ In the mid-1960s, the

Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem continued to release live

albums: “Recorded Live in Ireland”, “Freedom’s Sons”, and “In

Concert”. In 1966, they also participated in the making of “The

Irish Uprising”, an educational recording with music, speeches,

and a historical booklet, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of

the Easter Uprising.

The group’s popularity in the 1960s was the result of several

factors. There was already an American folk revival beginning

in the United States, and men such as Ewan MacColl

popularising old songs on the other side of the Atlantic. But it

was the Clancys’ boisterous performances that set them apart,

taking placid classics and giving them a boost of energy and

spirit (not that they took this approach with all their songs; they

would still sing the true mournful ballads with due reverence).

However, by the late 1960s, the ballad and folk boom was

waning. In an attempt to keep the Clancys profitable,

Teo Macero, who usually worked on jazz albums, began

producing their records for Columbia. Macero introduced new

instrumentation to the Clancys’ music, including bringing in

Louis Killen to play back-up concertina, particularly on their

1968 album of sea songs, “Sing of the Sea”. Their last three

albums for Columbia Records in 1969 and 1970 represent a

significant shift in style for the group, with a multitude of string

instruments and synthesizers added to the simpler traditional

Clancy mix of guitar, banjo, tin whistle, and harmonica.

In 1969, the group recorded a song for a two-minute-long

TV ad for Gulf Oil: “Bringin’ Home the Oil”. They adapted a

traditional Scottish tune they had recorded, “The Gallant Forty

Twa”, with new words about large-capacity supertankers. The

song and commercial featured the then-largest supertanker

in the world, the Universe Ireland, which operated with sister

ships Universe Kuwait, Universe Japan and Universe Portugal,

all mentioned in the song and which operated from the seaport

at Bantry Bay.

A major change occurred in 1969 when Tommy Makem

amicably left the group after cutting one more album with the

Clancys, “The Bold Fenian Men”. After a year’s notice, Makem

departed in April to pursue a solo career, armed with such

recent compositions as “Four Green Fields”, which had debuted

on the 1968 album, “Home Boys Home”. He later explained his

grounds for leaving:

“The reason I wanted to leave was that I found myself in a

groove—a very comfortable groove where I could make a very

good living. But there was no challenge there for me anymore,

and I needed that challenge to stimulate myself.”

Another Clancy brother, Bobby, filled Tommy Makem’s

vacancy as the fourth lead vocalist. Two of the Furey Brothers,

Finbar and Eddie, also joined at this time as instrumentalists

and back-up singers. Paddy asked Finbar Furey if he would

play the whistle and five-string banjo with the group. Finbar

also added uilleann pipes to his performances, creating a new

sound for the group on stage, recordings, and TV. The six-piece

band recorded two new albums in the summer of 1969: “Clancy

Brothers Christmas”, released later that year, and “Flowers in

the Valley”, released in 1970. The latter was their final album for

Columbia Records.

Finbar and Eddie Furey left in 1970, and for a short time just

the four brothers, Paddy, Tom, Bobby and Liam, performed


The Clancy Brothers

together. This line-up recorded only one album together,

“Welcome to Our House”, in 1970 for their new label, Audio

Fidelity Records. Later that same year, Liam and Bobby got

into an argument that resulted in Bobby quitting the group.

Bobby later said about his younger brother:

“With Liam, it was very hard to be equal. I try to make it as

equal as possible and everybody’s happy that way. It makes it a

better sound.”

In 1971, the remaining Clancys recruited English folk singer

Louis Killen to play the banjo, concertina, and spoons with

the group. Together they made two studio albums for Audio

Fidelity, “Save the Land” and “Show Me the Way”, on which

they experimented with modernising their sound, musical

style, and material, even including pop songs like Elton John’s

“Country Comfort”. They recorded their final album for Audio

Fidelity, the more traditional “Live on St. Patrick’s Day,” at the

Bushnell Auditorium in Hartford, Connecticut in 1972. It was

released the following year.

By the early 1970s, the Clancys reduced their touring schedule

to five months a year. The brothers were moving in different

directions, and all of them had young families at home. Paddy

had moved back to Ireland in 1968. Tom began acting again,

first on stage and then on film and television. He relocated

to the Los Angeles area in 1975, where he landed parts in the

films “The Killer Elite” with James Caan and Robert Duvall

and “Swashbuckler” with Robert Shaw. At the same time, Liam

wanted to step out from his older brothers’ shadows. According

to the 2009 feature documentary, “The Yellow Bittern: The Life

and Times of Liam Clancy”, Paddy and Tom Clancy dominated

the group in ways that Liam felt were personally limiting.

He moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1972 and began a

solo career when not touring with his brothers. In spite of the

brothers’ growing distance, the group made one more album

with Killen for Vanguard Records, “The Clancy Brothers’

Greatest Hits”, as well as several television appearances on the

“Irish Rovers Show” in Canada and a TV special for Brockton

television in 1974 (in which Bobby Clancy made a surprise

guest appearance).

A scheduling conflict between a tour of Australia and a

television role with Tom Clancy provoked Liam to leave

the group in early 1976. Tom allegedly accepted a television

role over the tour of Australia, even though he had already

signed a contract to do the tour. When confronted over the

conflict, Liam later recalled Tom telling him, “Get off my

fucking back, little brother.” Soon afterwards, their sister Cait

Clancy O’Connell was killed in a car crash. After the funeral

in Ireland, Liam told his brothers that they would have to

find a replacement for him. “I’m not going to work with you

anymore—I can’t be the ‘little brother’ anymore,” Liam said,

according to an interview in “The Yellow Bittern”. Louis Killen

left as well, and Paddy and Tom decided to take a short hiatus

from singing.

The temporary dissolution of the group permitted Paddy

Clancy to devote his full attention to the dairy and cattle

breeding farm in Tipperary he had bought with his wife in

1963. Tom’s acting career flourished in Hollywood, where he

regularly appeared in movies, TV films and shows, such as

“Little House on the Prairie”, “The Incredible Hulk”, “Charlie’s


Angels” and “Starsky and Hutch”. Liam, suffering financial

setbacks due to tax problems, filed for bankruptcy and

moved to his sister-in-law’s house in Calgary. His brotherin-law

helped to get him some concert dates there. Liam was

introduced to “The Dutchman” at this time, which became

one of his most popular songs. His gigs in Calgary caught the

attention of a TV producer, who signed Liam to host twenty-six

episodes of his own music and talk show. In the final episode,

Tommy Makem appeared as a guest. This led the two of them

to be signed together for twenty-six additional episodes. Their

program was called “The Makem & Clancy Show.” The success

of the show led them to form the group “Makem and Clancy.”

After several albums and tours, an American television series,

and thirteen years together, the duo split up in 1988.

Meanwhile, after taking the rest of 1976 off, Paddy and Tom

made plans to bring back the Clancy Brothers. They asked

Bobby Clancy to return to the group. Tom was at the height

of his new career in Hollywood and Paddy was busy with his

farm, so it was ultimately decided to tour on a part-time basis

and only in the United States. Their recently deceased sister

Cait’s son, Robbie O’Connell, was an up-and-coming musician

in the US and in Ireland; he was also helping manage, along

with Bobby, the inn that Cait had opened up years before.

They asked him to take on the role Liam had vacated in the

group. He played the guitar and occasionally the mandolin,

while Bobby played the banjo, guitar, harmonica, and bodhrán.

Paddy continued to play the lead harmonica.

Beginning in 1977, the Clancy Brothers and Robbie

O’Connell toured three months a year in March, August, and

November. Tom would fly over a few days before each tour and

rehearse material, mostly oldies from their 1960s albums but

some new ones as well. Robbie was a songwriter, composing

several numbers the group sang regularly, such as “Bobby’s

Britches”, “Ferrybank Piper” and “You’re Not Irish”. He also

included songs written by others, such as “Dear Boss”, “Sister

Josephine”, “John O’Dreams”, “There Were Roses”, and what

is possibly his signature song, “Killkelly”. Bobby also sang

numbers new to the group, including “Love of the North”,

“Song for Ireland”, and “Anne Boleyn”. In America, the Clancy

Brothers continued where they had left off the previous year,

still packing Carnegie Hall. Reviews cited Robbie as a fresh

addition to the group with his original compositions.

Over the next several years, Paddy and Tom brought in some

new material too. “The Green Fields of France”, also known

as “Willie McBride”, by Eric Bogle had become a hit with a

recording by the Clancys’ old back-up musicians, the Furey

Brothers, in the early 1980s. Soon numerous Irish groups

were singing it, including the Clancy Brothers and Makem

and Clancy. It became a staple in Tom’s repertoire. He also

sang “Logger Lover”. The group added new lyrics to the old

Irish ballad, “She Didn’t Dance”, and reworked old classics,

such as “As I Roved Out”, “Beer, Beer, Beer”, and “Rebellion

1916 Medley”. Some of these songs appeared on the Clancy

Brothers’ first album in nine years, “The Clancy Brothers with

Robbie O’Connell Live!” (1982).

In the summer of 1983, the group travelled to their hometown

in Ireland to film a 20-minute special on sea songs, sung on

location on the fishing ships in the area. It was called “Songs of

the Sea”. Directed by Irish filmmaker David Donaghy, it was

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broadcast on the BBC Northern Ireland. Tom tried on many

occasions to put it on video cassette but the plans fell through.

In 1984, Makem and Clancy’s manager Maurice Cassidy

brought the original foursome together again for a

documentary to be followed by a concert at Lincoln Center

in New York City. Paddy and Tom Clancy took some time

out from the Clancy Brothers and Robbie O’Connell and

joined forces with Makem and Clancy. Paddy, Tom, Liam,

and Tommy Makem were reunited, and production on

the documentary commenced after a 90-minute debut on

Ireland’s “Late Late Show” on 28 April. The documentary crew

followed the group around, travelling to Carrick-on-Suir,

Keady, Greenwich Village, a dress rehearsal concert at Tommy

Makem’s Irish Pavilion on East 57th Street, and finally Lincoln

Center for the recorded concert on 20 May 1984. The 3,000-

seat Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center had sold out for the

show within a week. The rowdy audience provided enthusiastic

participation on the album, released as “Clancy Brothers and

Tommy Makem Reunion”. A reunion tour of Ireland, England,

and the United States followed in late 1984 and the fall of 1985.

After the tour, Makem and Clancy and the Clancy Brothers

and Robbie O’Connell respectively regrouped.

In 1988, the Clancy Brothers (Paddy, Tom, and Bobby) with

Robbie O’Connell recorded a poorly mixed live album at St.

Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire, “Tunes ‘n’ Tales

of Ireland”. Bobby Clancy called this album “crap”, and Paddy

referred to it as “not our best effort”. Regardless, the album is

notable as Tom Clancy’s final record.

In May 1990, Tom Clancy was diagnosed with stomach cancer.

When he had surgery later in the summer, Liam filled in for

him during the Clancy Brothers and Robbie O’Connell’s

August tour. The surgery proved unsuccessful, and Tom Clancy

died at the age of 66 on 7 November 1990. He left behind a

wife, a son, and five daughters. His youngest daughter was only

two years old at the time.

With the death of Tom Clancy, Liam again stepped in fulltime

with his brothers. This line-up experienced a more active

schedule than the group had during the previous decade,

with appearances on “Regis and Kathie Lee” in 1991, 1993

and 1995, a performance at the 30th Anniversary Bob Dylan

concert at Madison Square Garden in 1992, seen by 20,000

live and 200 million people worldwide on television, and the

formation of Irish Festival Cruises in 1991, an annual cruise of

the Caribbean with live folk music. They also brought their own

tour groups to Ireland, which Robbie O’Connell continues to

do to this day.

The Bob Dylan concert inspired the recording of the first

studio album by the Clancy Brothers in over twenty years,

since 1973’s “Greatest Hits”. Released in late 1995, “Older

But No Wiser” introduced all newly recorded songs with the

exception of “When the Ship Comes In”, which the group

performed at the Dylan concert. It was the only recording to

feature the line-up of Paddy, Bobby, Liam Clancy, and Robbie

O’Connell. “Older But No Wiser” was the Clancy Brothers’

final album.

The Irish Festival Cruises had led to financial disputes between

Paddy and Liam. Liam decided to leave the group because

of this. Robbie O’Connell, now with the group for nineteen

years, was ready for a change as well. The two left the Clancy

Brothers together and formed their own duo, simply called

“Liam Clancy and Robbie O’Connell”. Before splitting up,

the Clancy brothers and Robbie O’Connell gave a Farewell

Tour of Ireland and America in February and March 1996.

One performance in Clonmel as part of their Irish tour was

televised and later released on video and DVD as “The Clancy

Brothers and Robbie O’Connell: Farewell to Ireland”. On the

album “Older But No Wiser” and the concert video “Farewell

to Ireland”, respectively, two sons of the Clancy brothers

made their recording debuts. Dónal Clancy, Liam’s youngest

son, played backup on the studio album, while Bobby’s son

Finbarr Clancy performed with the group on the filmed

Farewell concert. Bobby was not well at this time and Finbarr

was brought on, in part, to aid his father for this concert. He

had first performed with the group the previous year as a

replacement for his father when he had heart surgery. Finbarr

did not join them for the American tour.

After the break-up, Paddy and Bobby continued touring as the

Clancy Brothers, with Bobby’s son Finbarr Clancy becoming

an official member of the group. The trio added a longtime

friend of Bobby’s daughter Aoife, Eddie Dillon, to the group

for a thirteen-city engagement in early 1997. The quartet was

known as the Clancy Brothers and Eddie Dillon. Eddie

Dillon, a Boston-based musician, is the only American ever to

perform with the Clancy Brothers.

Liam Clancy and Robbie O’Connell toured for a while as a

duo, but very soon added Liam’s son Dónal Clancy to the mix,

forming the group, “Clancy, O’Connell & Clancy.” They released

two albums together, an eponymous debut album in 1997 and

an album of sea songs in 1998, “The Wild and Wasteful Ocean”.

Robbie O’Connell regards the eponymous “Clancy, O’Connell

and Clancy” album to be his favourite of all his recordings.

In 1999, with Liam in Ireland, Robbie in Massachusetts,

and Dónal in New York, the trio decided to call it quits as a

full-time group. They did, however, occasionally regroup for

additional concerts together thereafter.

The other group members as far back as 1996 had noticed

Paddy Clancy’s unusual mood swings. In the spring of 1998, the

cause was finally detected; Paddy had a brain tumour as well as

lung cancer. His wife waited to tell him about the lung cancer,

so as not to discourage him when he had a brain operation.

The tumour was removed successfully, but the cancer was

terminal. When he was told of the cancer, he accepted the

diagnosis “with great bravery and courage”, according to his

wife Mary Clancy. Paddy Clancy died in the morning hours

of 11 November 1998, at the age of 76. Two weeks before he

died, Bobby called Liam and Paddy together to reconcile their

differences—they had been at odds for two years since Liam

had left the group. The two brothers did reconcile and the three

brothers sang together that night at an informal session at their

local pub.[34] Liam, Robbie, and Dónal took time out of their

November tour of the US to attend Paddy’s funeral. Old partner

Tommy Makem also attended. Paddy Clancy was survived by

his wife and five children.

After Paddy Clancy’s death, Bobby, Finbarr, and Eddie Dillon


The Clancy Brothers

resumed touring as a trio, “The Clancys and Eddie Dillon”. This

new group recorded a live album in October 1998, “Clancy

Sing-a-Long Songs”, and one in March 2001 during Bobby’s last

tour. In 1999 Bobby was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a

lung ailment. During his last years Bobby was unable to stand

and perform at the same time because he would quickly run

out of breath, so the trio began performing sitting down.

In 2000, the Milwaukee Irish Fest had its twentieth anniversary

and in celebration, the festival had the entire performing

Clancy family sing together on one stage. This one time-only

line-up included Robbie O’Connell, Dónal, Liam, Bobby,

Finbarr, Aoife Clancy, and Eddie Dillon. These festival sets,

18–20 August 2000, were the last times any of the Clancy

Brothers appeared onstage together.

By March 2002, Bobby’s illness had advanced such that he was

unable to sing, necessitating Finbarr and Eddie to perform as

a duo for their short March 2002 tour. Bobby made one final

appearance in February 2002 on an “American CBS TV” spot

promoting Liam’s autobiography. On 6 September 2002, Bobby

Clancy died at the age of seventy-five. He was survived by three

daughters, Finbarr, and his wife Moira.

The last surviving Clancy brother, Liam Clancy, continued

to tour solo into the twenty-first century. In 2002, Doubleday

published his autobiography, “Mountain of the Women:

Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour”. The book covers his early

years and the initial formation and early successes of the

Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. Clancy appeared in

spots promoting the memoir on American and Irish television.

Taking some time off from singing, he came back to the stage

in full force in 2005 with his tour, “Seventy Years On”. He sang

as part of the Irish Legends act at the Gaiety Theater in Dublin

in August 2005 with Ronnie Drew and Paddy Reilly of The

Dubliners.

In March 2006, fifty years after the Clancy Brothers and

Tommy Makem recorded their debut album, Conor Murray

wrote the first full-length biography on the group. The book,

titled “The Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem & Robbie

O’Connell: The Men Behind the Sweaters”, chronicles the

Clancy Brothers from the birth of Paddy Clancy in 1922 to

early 2006. In the same year, a two-hour documentary on Liam

Clancy was aired on Irish television, “The Legend of Liam

Clancy”, as well as a new concert special with Tommy Makem

and his sons, the five-piece Irish folk group, The Makem and

Spain Brothers.

From 2005 to 2009, Clancy was joined onstage and in the

studio by Kevin Evans of Evans and Doherty, with whom he

had worked occasionally in the 1990s. His last album, “The

Wheels of Life”, was released in October 2008 and featured

other prominent musicians, such as Donovan, Mary Black,

Gemma Hayes, and Tom Paxton.

Tommy Makem died on 1 August 2007, at the age of 74, after

an extended fight with lung cancer. Two years later Liam

Clancy died of pulmonary fibrosis, the same ailment that had

taken his brother Bobby. He died on 4 December 2009 at the

age of 74 in a hospital in Cork, Ireland. He was survived by his

wife and seven children.


The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were significant

figures in the American folk revival of the early 1960s and

played important roles in promoting and influencing the early

development of the folk boom. In December 1964, Billboard

Magazine listed the group as the eleventh best-selling folk

musicians in the United States based on sales figures for that

year. The Clancys’ friends, Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan,

and Pete Seeger, also appeared on the list in first, seventh, and

ninth positions, respectively.

Tradition Records, the small company that Paddy Clancy

ran with the help of his brothers, recorded several significant

figures of the folk revival and gave some important musical

figures their start in the recording industry. Tradition produced

Odetta’s first solo LP, “Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues”. Bob

Dylan later cited this album as his inspiration to become a folk

singer. The success of that record helped to further finance the

nascent company and led to an additional LP with Odetta on

the Tradition label. After the success of her Tradition records,

Vanguard records signed her to a prestigious recording contract

that led to many more albums.

The Clancys recorded numerous 1960s folk singers, including

Jean Ritchie, Ed McCurdy, Ewan MacColl, Paul Clayton, and

John Jacob Niles. Carolyn Hester’s eponymous album with

Tradition led to her first public recognition and her signing

with Columbia Records. The Clancys also released the only

album on which folk song collector Alan Lomax sang.

Paddy Clancy and Tommy Makem were among the first

singers ever to appear at the Newport Folk Festival in 1959.

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performed there

subsequently several times during the 1960s. The festival is

renowned for introducing to a national audience a number of

performers who went on to become major stars, most notably

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.

In assessing the impact of the Clancy Brothers, Irish-American

author Frank McCourt wrote in 1999: “They were the first.

Before them there were dance bands and show bands and

céilidhe bands...but not since John McCormack had Irish

singers captured international attention like the Clancy

Brothers and Tommy Makem. They opened the gates to the

likes of the Dubliners and the Wolfe Tones and every Irish

group thereafter.”

Eddie Furey of The Fureys once recalled:

“It all starts with the Clancys. They gave us our first break, paved

the road for everyone else.”

Ronnie Drew of the Dubliners explained about the Clancys

effect on the Irish folk scene, “They did open it up”.

In the documentary, “Bringing It All Back Home”: The

Influence of Irish Music in America, Christy Moore and

Paul Brady cited the Clancy Brothers as sparking their

initial interest in Irish folk music. In the same program, Bono

proclaimed that he “loved the Clancy Brothers” and asserted that

Liam Clancy was “one of the great ballad singers”.

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WITH TOMMY MAKEN

Traditional Records

the clancy brothers

Ain’t It Grand Boys: A Collection of Unissued Gems (1995) –

Unreleased material from the 1960s era.

Carnegie Hall 1962 (2009)

The Lark in the Morning (1955) – Tradition LP/Rykodisc CD

(with Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem only of the group)

The Rising of the Moon (or Irish Songs of Rebellion) (1956,

1959 second version)

Come Fill Your Glass with Us (or Irish Songs of Drinking and

Blackguarding) (1959)

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem (1961)

Columbia Records

A Spontaneous Performance Recording (1961)

Hearty and Hellish! A Live Nightclub Performance (1962)

The Boys Won’t Leave the Girls Alone (1962) – Two stereo

issues, one with alternate versions of four songs

In Person at Carnegie Hall (1963) – US #50;[26] on

Columbia CD

The First Hurrah! (1964) – US No. 91

Recorded Live in Ireland (1965)

Isn’t It Grand Boys (1966) – UK No. 22

Freedom’s Sons (1966)

The Irish Uprising (1966)

In Concert (1967) – on Columbia CD

Home, Boys, Home (1968)

Sing of the Sea (1968)

The Bold Fenian Men (1969)

Reunion (1984) – released on Blackbird LP/Shanachie CD

Luck of the Irish (1992) – Columbia/Sony compilation

(contains a new song, “Wars of Germany”, and three new

performances of previously released songs: “Home Boys Home”,

“The Old Orange Flute” and “They’re Moving Father’s Grave to

Build a Sewer”.)

The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration (1992) – Featuring

Bob Dylan & various guests.

Irish Drinking Songs (1993) – Contains unreleased material

from the Carnegie Hall album.

THE CLANCY BROTHERS (LIAM, TOM, PAT,

BOBBY)

WITH FINBAR & EDDIE FUREY

Christmas – Columbia LP/CD (1969)

Flowers in the Valley – Columbia LP (1970)

AUDIO FIDELITY RECORDS

Welcome to Our House (1970)

LOU KILLEN, PADDY, LIAM, TOM CLANCY

AUDIO FIDELITY RECORDS

Show Me The Way (1972)

Save the Land! (1972)

Live on St. Patrick’s Day (1973)

VANGUARD RECORDs

Clancy Brothers Greatest Hits (1973) – Vanguard LP/CD

*This was reissued as ‘Best of the Vanguard Years’ with bonus

material from the 1982 Live! album with Bobby Clancy and

Robbie O’Connell.

LIAM CLANCY AND TOMMY MAKEM

Blackbird And Shanachie Records

Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy (1976)

The Makem & Clancy Concert (1977)

Two for the Early Dew (1978)

The Makem and Clancy Collection (1980) – contains previously

released material and singles

Live at the National Concert Hall (1983)

We’ve Come A Long Way (1986)

BOB DYLAN

The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration (Pat, Liam & Bobby

Clancy sing “When The Ship Comes In” with Tommy Makem

and Robbie O’Connell)


The Clancy Brothers

parTial discography

THE CLANCY BROTHERS (LIAM, PAT, BOBBY)

AND ROBBIE O’CONNELL

Older But No Wiser – Vanguard (1995)

CLANCY, O’CONNELL & CLANCY

Helvic Records

Clancy, O’Connell & Clancy – (1997)

The Wild And Wasteful Ocean – (1998)

TOMMY MAKEM

Ancient Pulsing – Poetry With Music

The Bard of Armagh

An Evening With Tommy Makem

Ever The Winds

Farewell To Tarwaithie

In The Dark Green Wood – Columbia Records

In The Dark Green Woods – CBS

Live at the Irish Pavilion

Lonesome Waters

Love Is Lord of All

Recorded Live – A Roomful of Song

Rolling Home

Songbag

Songs of Tommy Makem

The Song Tradition

Tommy Makem Sings Tommy Makem

Tommy Makem And Friends in Concert

LIAM CLANCY

Irish Troubadour

Liam Clancy Collection

The Wheels of Life

BOBBY CLANCY

So Early in the Morning – (1962) Tradition LP

Good Times When Bobby Clancy Sings – (1974) Talbot LP

Irish Folk Festival Live 1974 (Bobby appears on four songs) –

(1974) Intercord LP/CD

The Quiet Land – (2000) ARK CD

ROBBIE O’CONNELL

Close to the Bone

Love of the Land

Never Learned to Dance

Humorous Songs – Live

Recollections (compilation of previous four albums)

CLANCY, EVANS & DOHERTY

Shine on Brighter (featuring Liam Clancy) – (1996) Popular CD

PEG AND BOBBY CLANCY

Songs From Ireland – (1963) – Tradition LP

DOCUMENTARY APPEARANCES

The Story of the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem

Bringing It All Back Home

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

Folk Hibernia

The Legend of Liam Clancy

The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy

Liam Clancy Vanguard 1965

The Mountain of the Women: Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour

– audiobook

The Dutchman


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tony

capstick

Joseph Anthony Capstick (27 July 1944 – 23

October 2003) was an English comedian, actor,

musician and broadcaster. First son of Joe

Capstick, a wireless operator in the RAF, and his

wife, June, née Duncan, he was born in Rotherham,

West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and spent most

of his childhood in Swinton, near Mexborough.

For over thirty years he was a presenter on

BBC Radio Sheffield. In the 1970s he presented

“Folkweave” for BBC Radio 2 and continued to work

for that station sporadically until the early 1990s.

Outside Sheffield, he is perhaps better known as one

of the policemen in the long-running British sitcom,

“Last of the Summer Wine”, where he played the

role until his death in October 2003, with his final

appearance on the show broadcast in April 2004.

A regular performer on the folk circuit, he recorded

many albums. The first was for the Newcastle

based record label Rubber Records (“His Round”

with Hedgehog Pie, “Punch and Judy Man”, “Tony

Capstick Does a Turn”, “Songs of Ewan MacColl”

with Dick Gaughan and Dave Burland and “There

Was This Bloke” with Mike Harding, Derek

Brimstone and Bill Barclay).

In 1981, he unexpectedly reached No. 3 in the

UK Singles Chart with “The Sheffield Grinder”

/ “Capstick Comes Home”. It was recorded with

the Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band. His

recitation, “Capstick Comes Home”, was based on

the well-known “Hovis wholemeal bread” television

commercials directed by Ridley Scott. “Capstick

Comes Home” also peaked at number 92 in

Australia in July 1981.

As a comedian, he had an eight-part television

series, “Capstick’s Capers”, on Channel 4 in 1983.

Capstick was also a prolific bit-part actor, with a


Tony Capstick

career including minor roles in the soap operas

“Emmerdale” and “Coronation Street”. In the latter

he played the recurring character of the brewer

Harvey Nuttall.

PUNCH & JUDY MAN

1974 Rubber Records

Discogs link

His career at Radio Sheffield came to an end in

January 2003. He continued to write a regular

column in a local weekly newspaper, the Rotherham

Advertiser.

Capstick was an author, with Paul Donoghue, of a

book on the Appleby Horse Fair.

DOES A TURN

1978 Rubber Records

Discogs link

On 23 October 2003, Capstick was found dead at his

cottage in Hoober, near Wentworth, South Yorkshire,

he had suffered an aneurysm following a bout of

pneumonia. He was survived by wife Gillian and his

two children from his first marriage.

CAPSTICK COMES HOME

1981 LP Vinyl

Discogs link

discography

HIS ROUND (With Hedgehog Pie)

1971 Rubber Records

LP, Album) Discogs link

TONY CAPSTICK - C Maine, Frickley Colliery

Band 1981 Single

Discogs link

BILL BARKLEY - D Brimstone, T Capstick,

M Harding - 1974 - Rubber Records

Vinyl, LP Discogs link

CAPSTICK’S CHRISTMAS CRACKER

1981 Discogs link


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MAGAZINE

peter

bellamy

Peter Franklyn Bellamy (8 September 1944 – 24

September 1991) was an English folk singer. He was a

founding member of The Young Tradition and also had

a long solo career, recording numerous albums and touring

folk clubs and concert halls. He is noted for his ballad-opera

“The Transports”, and has been acknowledged as a major

influence by performers of later generations including Damien

Barber, Oli Steadman, and Jon Boden.

Peter Bellamy was born in Bournemouth, England, and spent

his formative years in North Norfolk, living in the village of

Warham and attending Fakenham Grammar School in the late

1950s and early 1960s. His father, Richard Reynell Bellamy,

worked as a farm bailiff at that time. Peter Bellamy studied at

Norwich School of Art, and later at Maidstone College of Art,

and decades later still retained something of the flamboyant

art student image, being described as looking like a latter-day

Andy Warhol, with blond hair often worn in a ponytail and

tied back with a ribbon, a scarlet jacket and florally-patterned

trousers which he made himself from furnishing fabric.

Encouraged by his friend Anne Briggs, he dropped out of

college in 1965 to become a member of “The Young Tradition”

with Royston Wood and Heather Wood. The trio recorded

mainly traditional songs in close harmony and mostly without

accompaniment. “The Young Tradition” projected their voices

powerfully, clearly influenced by The Watersons, the Copper

Family and Ewan MacColl. They recorded three albums

together plus a collaboration with Shirley Collins called “The

Holly Bears The Crown”. Although recorded in 1969, this was

not released in full until the 90s.

“The Young Tradition’s” final concert was at Cecil Sharp House

in October 1969, after which they split up, with Bellamy

wanting to concentrate on traditional English music, whilst the

other members had developed interests in mediaeval music.

In 1971, Bellamy recorded a collaboration with Louis Killen:

“Won’t You Go My Way?”

Peter Bellamy’s first solo album “Mainly Norfolk” (1968)

indicated his desire to promote the folk music of his part of

England. It drew heavily on the repertoire of Harry Cox,

still alive at that time, who was the most famous traditional

singer of Norfolk songs. On the album, Bellamy sang all

songs unaccompanied. Beginning on his second album, “Fair

England’s Shore” (1968), he began to accompany himself on

the Anglo concertina. Still later, he occasionally recorded with


Peter Bellamy

guitar.

It wasn’t until Bellamy’s eighth album in 1975 that he recorded

any of his own compositions. In the same year he recorded a

collection of “Rudyard Kipling’s Barrack Room Ballads”

Having mastered the art of putting new words to a traditional

song and his own words to a traditional tune, he wrote a

ballad-opera, “The Transports”, in 1973, but it took him 4

years to find a company willing to produce it. It then became

the folk record of the year for 1977 vindicating his long wait

and many efforts to get it released. Many prominent names

in the folk scene collaborated on the project, including Dolly

Collins (a composer, the sister of Shirley Collins), Martin

Carthy, Mike Waterson, Norma Waterson, June Tabor, Nic

Jones, A.L. Lloyd, Cyril Tawney and Dave Swarbrick. It told

the true story of the first transport ship to land in Australia

and the first couple, Henry and Susannah Cable (or Kabel),

to marry on Australian soil, based on a story Peter found in

the local newspaper in Norfolk and followed by his research

into the details at the city museum and library. Descendants

of the Kabel family still live in Sydney and became friends of

Peter. In 2004 it was re-released together with a new production

involving Simon Nicol and Fairport Convention. In 1986 Sid

Kipper and others devised a ballad opera called “Crab Wars”. It

was partly a parody of “The Transports”, but Bellamy took it in

good humour and even sang the role of narrator.

Another of Bellamy’s ambitious projects, “The Maritime Suite”,

was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 but never issued on record.

The economics of folk singing meant that Bellamy sold his own

limited edition cassettes at folk clubs, and many performances

exist only as pirated tapes. Celtic Records may have a large

cache of quality recordings that are unlikely to be issued.

Continuing his early talents with the visual arts, Bellamy

generally designed his own album jackets and also drew

cartoons for “Fred Woods’s Folk Review” magazine (for which

he also showed considerable talent and fluency as a writer of

reviews and features). He continued to exhibit and sell his

paintings throughout his life.

Sydney Opera House once hosted a concert by him and he

toured in the USA.

Although at folk clubs, and in private, he often accompanied

blues on bottleneck guitar, these performances rarely appeared

on his albums: an exception is an attenuated version of Robert

Johnson’s “Stones in My Passway”, on the Young Tradition’s

Galleries. A hiss redolent of an old 78 record was added, but

this joke misfired: a Transatlantic Records press officer later told

interviewer Michael Grosvenor Myer that quite a few copies

were returned as ‘faulty’ as a result!

In 2009 Topic Records included in their 70-year anniversary

boxed set “Three Score and Ten” “When I Die” from “Both

Sides”. Then as track nine of the second CD.

Bellamy started his exploration of Kipling as a source for songs,

not with the “Barrack Room Ballads” but with the songs from

Kipling’s Children’s books, (“Puck of Pook’s Hill” and “Rewards

and Fairies”) from which he produced two albums, “Oak Ash”


and “Thorn and Merlyn’s Isle of Gramarye”.

“Kipling’s Barrack Room Ballads” were published in 1892, and

Bellamy started setting them to music in 1973. He was struck

by people’s misconceptions about Kipling, who many perceived

as (in Bellamy’s words) “one of the reactionary old guard, and

therefore obviously a writer of no merit whatsoever”. In reality,

Kipling had captured a real insight into the attitudes of the

ordinary soldiers, such as their contempt for those civilians

who would shrug the soldiers off during peacetime but will

encourage and cheer them on when the soldiers are leaving for

battle:

It’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ ‘Chuck him out, the brute!’

But it’s ‘Saviour of ‘is country’ when the guns begin to shoot.

An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;

An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool – you bet that Tommy sees!”

(Tommy)

When composing the musical settings for Kipling’s poetry,

Bellamy had a theory, shared with many others, that highly

metrical poets like Kipling used song tunes to keep their poems

flowing properly. Some of Kipling’s contemporaries confirm

that he was in the habit of humming and whistling as he

composed. It has, for example, been claimed that in “The Loot”,

there is a “hidden” tune being worked to, and that nothing else

can explain the strange refrains. Bellamy became excited when

the line in “Dutch in the Medway” “our ships in every harbour....”

reminded him of the line in the song “Cupid’s Garden” “Twas

down in Portsmouth Harbour...”. This observation suggested

the tune for the Kipling poem and made him wonder whether

Kipling had actually composed to that tune, it being a common

folk song in the 19th century and certainly part of the repertoire

of the remarkable Copper family of Sussex who had lived in

Rottingdean when Kipling was also living there. (A local man

called Copper appears briefly in “Rewards and Fairies”.) It has

also been suggested that Kipling’s “My name is O’Kelly, I’ve

heard the reveille...” was written to the common Irish song and

Army marching tune “Lillibullero”. Bellamy found a different

tune but agreed that “Lillibullero” was more likely to have been

on Kipling’s mind at the time of composition.

Initially, Bellamy’s proposal to record the Ballads was vetoed by

Kipling’s daughter, and he had to wait until her death in 1976

before permission was finally granted by “the Kipling Society.”

“The Barrack Room Ballads” album was recorded by Bill

Leader, with Chris Birch (brother of Bellamy’s first wife) on

fiddle and Tony Hall on melodeon. Chris also contributed to

numerous other Bellamy albums, playing fiddle and guitar,

singing and providing vocal arrangements. “The Kipling

Society” went on to appreciate Bellamy’s contribution to

Kipling’s legacy and he was elected a “Fellow of the Kipling

Society,” becoming a vice-president in 1981.

A tribute album “Oak, Ash and Thorn” comprising songs from

Bellamy’s “Oak, Ash & Thorn” and “Merlin’s Isle of Gramarye,”

was released in 2011, with contributions from artists including

Jon Boden, Olivia Chaney, Charlie Parr, Fay Hield, Tim

Eriksen, Trembling Bells, The Unthanks, Jackie Oates, Sam

Lee, Lisa Knapp and The Owl Service.

Bellamy died by suicide on 24 September 1991 in Keighley,

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an event that baffled many in the folk music community. At

the time, he was working with Fellside Records on a project to

record major British unaccompanied singing talents. However,

according to a thread called ‘Boring, Bleating Old Traddy’ on

the online Mudcat Cafe folk music forum, several of his friends

had found him depressed at the way his folk club bookings

had unaccountably fallen away after the respect with which

“The Transports” had been received. Folk music journalist

and critic Michael Grosvenor Myer, one of those who had

named “The Transports” his record of the year in The Guardian,

where he was subsequently to write his obituary, relates how

Bellamy showed him an empty engagement book, saying, in

sad and puzzled tones, “The Transports was a runaway success,

since when my career has gone ppppffff!” Similarly from fellow

folksinger Brian Peters:

“The saddest Bellamy moment arose after I’d complimented him

on a barnstorming performance the last time I’d seen him. With

a wan smile, he picked up his diary and, holding it up for me to

see, leafed through empty page after empty page, without saying a

word.”

American folksinger Lisa Null, a longtime friend, writes

“He was broke, unable to find gigs, unable to adapt. He

complained so much about this, many of us kind of got used to it

-- a bad mistake. He was sending out warning signs.”

Another singer, Nick Dow, adds,

Bellamy had a distinctive singing style. In a “Borfolk” cartoon

in the October 1980 edition of “Southern Rag”, commenting

on an event at Cecil Sharp House compered by Peter Bellamy,

he was given the anagrammatical name “Elmer P. Bleaty”, a

humorous comment on the slightly nasal vibrato of his voice.

(Peter Bellamy later obtained, framed and hung the original of

the cartoon in his home.)

Folk singer Jon Boden is a fan of Peter’s bellowing style. He has

jocularly put on his website

“Bellamists subscribe to a belief in the absolute purity and oneness

of all things Bellamy, and bleat daily incantations in the hope of

advancing the day when he will finally return to reign in everlasting

glory.”

He was himself good-natured, and even a bit proprietorial,

about references to his style as “bleating”. In addition to the

self-given sobriquet of “boring bleating old traddy”, picked

out in letters on a Scrabble board on a self-designed recordsleeve

photograph by Valerie Grosvenor Myer and used, as

noted above, as title of a “Mudcat Cafe” thread, and to the

anagrammatic name attributed to the cartoon character based

on him mentioned in the previous paragraph, he once rejoined

to a Folk Review magazine correspondent, who had attributed

to his influence a preponderance of Toytown character “Larry

the Lamb” imitators in folk clubs, “Larry the Lamb imitations,

dear Madam, are strictly my copyright!”

“In respect of his empty gig diary, we were chatting on the phone,

and he asked me ‘Nick how do you get so much work?’ I answered

that it was because I was a persuasive bastard and wasn’t averse

to making a nuisance of myself. He replied that he couldn’t easily

ring up and ask for a gig, he found it so embarrassing. He was a

singer and performer, not a businessman in any shape or form.

Peter needed our help, and the oxygen of the appreciation of his

art.”

Shortly before his death, his widow, Jenny, later told Michael

Grosvenor Myer, he had spent a whole day listening intently

and self-critically to his entire record output, saying at the end

“But I am good. What the hell has gone wrong?”

Karl Dallas’s obituary published in The Independent concluded

with the words:

“Though his roots were obvious to anyone with half an ear, he

added much of himself to what he inherited, and was a giant

in a world where the pygmy is the standard by which all must

be measured. It was unable to contain him, but now he is dead

he will no doubt be consigned to the pantheon where the more

threatening icons of our time can be tucked away safely, as relics

of a past golden age. Peter Bellamy knew that the golden age is

now, and he made it more glorious with his presence. His vast

recorded output will be an inspiration to all who follow after.”

His life and work were fondly celebrated by a day of

performances including “The Transports” at Conway Hall in

London on 2 October 1992, 13 months after his death. Heather

Wood, his erstwhile “Young Tradition” colleague now living in

New York, came over specifically to be present on the occasion.


peter bellamy discography

Peter Bellamy

THE YOUNG TRADITION

THE YOUNG TRADITION 1966

Discogs link

SO CHEERFULLY ROUND 1967

Discogs link

GALLERIES 1968

Discogs link

THE YOUNG TRADITION &

SHIRLEY & DOLLY COLLINS

THE HOLLY BEARS THE CROWN 1969

Discogs Link

LOUIS KILLEN & PETER BELLAMY

WON’T YOU GO MY WAY 1971

Discogs link

SOLO ALBUMS

MAINLY NORFOLK 1968

Discogs link

FAIR ENGLAND’S SHORE 1968

Discogs link

THE FOX JUMPS OVER THE PARSON’S GATE

1969 Discogs link

OAK ASH AND THORN 1970

Discogs link

WON’T YOU GO MY WAY 1971

Discogs link

MERLIN’S ISLAND OF GRAMARYE

1972 Discogs link

BARRACK ROOM BALLADS OF RUDYARD

KIPLING 1975 Discogs link

TELL IT LIKE IT WAS 1975

Discogs link

BOTH SIDES THEN 1979

Discogs link

KEEP ON KIPLING 1982

Discogs link

THE MARITIME ENGLAND SUITE

1982 Discogs link

FAIR ANNIE 1983

Discogs link

SECOND WIND

1985 Discogs link

RUDYARD KIPLING MADE EXCEEDINGLY

GOOD SONGS 1989 Discogs link

SOLDIERS THREE 1990

Discogs link

SONGS AND RUMMY CONJURIN’ TRICKS

1991 Discogs link

COMPILATION ALBUMS

WAKE THE VAULTED ECHOES

1999 Discogs link

THE BALLADS OF PETER BELLAMY

2008 Discogs link

VARIOUS ARTISTS WITH BELLAMY

THE TRANSPORTS 1977

Discogs link

FRIENDS OF PETER BELLAMY

THE TRANSPORTS 2004

Discogs link

PETER BELLAMY 1975

Discogs link


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bert

jansch

Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011)

was a Scottish folk musician and founding member

of the band “Pentangle”. He was born in Glasgow and

came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic

guitarist and singer-songwriter. He recorded more than 28

albums and toured extensively from the 1960s to the 21st

century.

Jansch was a leading figure in the 1960s British folk revival,

touring folk clubs and recording several solo albums, as

well as collaborating with other musicians such as John

Renbourn and Anne Briggs. In 1968, he co-founded the

band “Pentangle”, touring and recording with them until their

break-up in 1972. He then took a few years’ break from music,

returning in the late 1970s to work on a series of projects with

other musicians. He joined a reformed “Pentangle” in the

early 1980s and remained with them as they evolved through

various changes of personnel until 1995. Until his death,

Jansch continued to work as a solo artist.

Jansch’s work influenced many artists, especially Jimmy Page,

Mike Oldfield, Paul Simon, Pete Hawkes, Nick Drake,

Donovan, Neil Young, and Johnny Marr. He received two

Lifetime Achievement Awards at the BBC Folk Awards: one,

in 2001, for his solo achievements and the other, in 2007, as a

member of “Pentangle”.

Herbert Jansch was born at Stobhill Hospital in the Springburn

district of Glasgow, on 3 November 1943, the descendant of

a family originally from Hamburg, Germany, who settled in

Scotland during the Victorian era. The family name is most

often pronounced as /’jæn’/ yansh, although Jansch himself,

like several other members of his family, pronounced it /’d’æn’/

jansh.

Jansch was brought up in the residential area of Edinburgh

known as West Pilton, where he attended Pennywell Primary

School and Ainslie Park Secondary School. As a teenager, he

acquired a guitar and started visiting a local folk club (“The

Howff ”) run by Roy Guest. There, he met Archie Fisher and

Jill Doyle (Davey Graham’s half-sister), who introduced

him to the music of Big Bill Broonzy, Pete Seeger, Brownie

McGhee and Woody Guthrie. He also met and shared a flat

with Robin Williamson, who remained a friend when Jansch

later moved to London.

After leaving school, Jansch took a job as a nurseryman

then, in August 1960, he gave this up, intending to become


Bert Jansch

a full-time musician. He appointed himself as an unofficial

caretaker at “The Howff ” and, as well as sleeping there, he may

have received some pay to supplement his income as a novice

performer who did not own his own guitar. He spent the next

two years playing one-night stands in British folk clubs.This

was a musical apprenticeship that exposed him to a range of

influences, including Martin Carthy and Ian Campbell, but

especially Anne Briggs, from whom he learned some of the

songs (such as “Blackwaterside” and “Reynardine”) that would

later feature strongly in his recording career.

Jansch travelled around Europe and beyond between 1963 and

1965, hitch-hiking from place to place, living on earnings from

busking and casual musical performances in bars and cafes.

In Scotland he became involved with Licorice McKechnie,

who was a teenager at the time. A marriage was planned and

the banns were published, but the wedding never took place.

Jansch left her behind to travel to Morocco in 1963, and she

took up with Robin Williamson of the “Incredible String

Band”. Before leaving Glasgow, Jansch married a 16-year-old

girl, Lynda Campbell. It was a marriage of convenience which

allowed her to travel with him, as she was too young to have

her own passport. They split up after a few months, and Jansch

was eventually repatriated to Britain after catching dysentery in

Tangiers.

Jansch moved to London. There, in 1963, at the invitation of

Bob Wilson – a Staffordshire folksinger who was also an art

student at St Martin’s School of Art – he was asked to take over

as resident singer at Bunjies on Litchfield Street with Charles

Pearce, another art student. They remained in that situation

for a year before Pearce moved to south London to run several

clubs south of the Thames. There was a burgeoning interest

in folk music throughout London by then. There, he met the

engineer and producer Bill Leader, at whose home they made

a recording of Jansch’s music on a reel-to-reel tape recorder.

Leader sold the tape for £100 to Transatlantic Records, who

produced an album directly from it. The album “Bert Jansch”

was released in 1965, and went on to sell 150,000 copies. It

included Jansch’s protest song “Do You Hear Me Now”, which

was brought to the attention of the pop music mainstream

later that year by the singer Donovan, who covered it on his

Universal Soldier EP, which reached No. 1 in the UK EP chart

and No. 27 in the singles chart. Pearce disappeared from

Jansch’s life after arranging for him to be one of the artists in

the ‘Liberal International concert’, “Master of the Guitar” at

the Royal Festival Hall in 1968. Also included on Jansch’s first

album was his song “Needle of Death”, a stark anti-drugs lament

written after a friend died of a heroin overdose.

In his early career, Jansch was sometimes characterized as a

British Bob Dylan. During this period, Jansch stated that his

musical influences were few:

“the only three people that I’ve ever copied were Big Bill Broonzy,

Davy Graham and Archie Fisher.”

Jansch followed his first album with two more, produced

in quick succession: “It Don’t Bother Me” and “Jack Orion”,

which contained his first recording of “Blackwaterside”, later

to be taken up by Jimmy Page and recorded by Led Zeppelin

as “Black Mountain Side”. Jansch said, “The accompaniment

was nicked by a well-known member of one of the most


famous rock bands, who used it, unchanged, on one of their

records.” Transatlantic took legal advice about the alleged

copyright infringement, and was advised that there was

“a distinct possibility that Bert might win an action against

Page.” Ultimately, Transatlantic was dubious about the costs

involved in taking on Led Zeppelin in the courts, and half the

costs would have had to be paid by Jansch personally, which

he simply could not afford, so the case was never pursued.

The arrangement and recording of “Jack Orion” was greatly

influenced by Jansch’s friend, singer Anne Briggs.

In London, Jansch met other innovative acoustic guitar players,

including John Renbourn, with whom he shared a flat in

Kilburn, Davy Graham, Wizz Jones, Roy Harper and Paul

Simon. They would all meet and play in various London music

clubs, including the Troubadour in Old Brompton Road, and

Les Cousins club in Greek Street, Soho. Renbourn and Jansch

frequently played together, developing their own intricate

interplay between the two guitars, often referred to as “Folk

baroque”.

In 1966, they recorded the “Bert and John” album together,

featuring much of this material. Late in 1967, they tired

of the all-nighters at Les Cousins and became the resident

musicians at a music venue set up by Bruce Dunnet, a Scottish

entrepreneur, at the Horseshoe pub (now defunct), at 264–267

Tottenham Court Road. This became the haunt of a number of

musicians, including the singer Sandy Denny. Another singer,

Jacqui McShee, began performing with the two guitarists and,

with the addition of Danny Thompson (string bass) and Terry

Cox (drums), they formed the group “Pentangle”. The venue

evolved into a jazz club, but by then the group had moved on.

On 19 October 1968, Jansch married Heather Sewell. At

the time, she was an art student and had been the girlfriend

of Roy Harper. She inspired several of Jansch’s songs and

instrumentals, the most obvious being “Miss Heather Rosemary

Sewell” from his 1968 album “Birthday Blues”, but Jansch

says that, despite the name, “M’Lady Nancy” from the 1971

“Rosemary Lane” album was also written for her. As Heather

Jansch, she became a well-known sculptor.

“Pentangle’s” first major concert was at the Royal Festival Hall

in 1967, and their first album, “The Pentangle”, was released

in the following year. “Pentangle” embarked on a demanding

schedule of touring the world and recording and, during this

period, Jansch largely gave up solo performances. He did,

however, continue to record, releasing “Rosemary Lane” in

1971. The tracks for this album were recorded on a portable

tape recorder by Bill Leader at Jansch’s cottage in Ticehurst,

Sussex—a process which took several months, with Jansch only

working when he was in the right mood.

“Pentangle” reached their highest point of commercial success

with the release of their “Basket of Light” album in 1969. The

single “Light Flight”, taken from the album, became popular

through its use as theme music for a TV drama series, “Take

Three Girls”, for which the band also provided incidental

music. In 1970, at the peak of their popularity, they recorded a

soundtrack for the film “Tam Lin”, made at least 12 television

appearances, and undertook tours of the UK (including the Isle

of Wight Festival) and America (including a concert at Carnegie

Hall). However, their fourth album, “Cruel Sister”, released in

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October 1970, was a commercial disaster. This was an album

of traditional songs that included a 20-minute-long version of

“Jack Orion”, a song that Jansch and Renbourn had recorded

previously as a duo on Jansch’s “Jack Orion” album.

“Pentangle” recorded two further albums, but the strains of

touring and of working together as a band were taking their

toll. Then “Pentangle” withdrew from their record company,

Transatlantic, in a bitter dispute regarding royalties. The final

album of the original incarnation of “Pentangle” was “Solomon’s

Seal” released by Warner Brothers/Reprise in 1972. Colin

Harper describes it as

“a record of people’s weariness, but also the product of a unit

whose members were still among the best players, writers and

musical interpreters of their day.”

“Pentangle” split up in January 1973, and Jansch and his

wife bought a farm near Lampeter, in Wales, and withdrew

temporarily from the concert circuit.

Jansch spent two or three years in California in the mid-

1970s. He recorded most of his 1974 album “LA Turnaround”

and 1975 album “Santa Barbara Honeymoon” while there.

The making of “LA Turnaround” was documented in a film

produced by Mike Nesmith.

After two years as a farmer, Jansch left his wife and family

and returned to music, although Jansch and his wife would

not be formally divorced until 1988. In 1977, he recorded the

album “A Rare Conundrum” with a new set of musicians: Mike

Piggott, Rod Clements and Pick Withers. He then formed

the band “Conundrum” with the addition of Martin Jenkins

(violin) and Nigel Smith (bass). They spent six months touring

Australia, Japan and the United States. With the end of the tour,

“Conundrum” parted company and Jansch spent six months in

the United States, where he recorded the “Heartbreak” album

with Albert Lee.

Jansch toured Scandinavia, working as a duo with Martin

Jenkins and, based on ideas they developed, recorded the

“Avocet album” (initially released in Denmark). Jansch rated

this as among his own favourites from his own recordings. On

returning to England, he set up “Bert Jansch’s Guitar Shop” at

220, New King’s Road, Fulham. The shop specialised in handbuilt

acoustic guitars but was not a commercial success and

closed after two years.

In 1980, an Italian promoter encouraged the original

“Pentangle” to reform for a tour and a new album. The reunion

started badly, with Terry Cox being injured in a car accident,

resulting in the band’s debuting at the Cambridge Folk Festival

as a four-piece “Pentangle”. They managed to complete a

tour of Italy (with Cox in a wheelchair) and Australia, before

Renbourn left the band in 1983. There then followed a series

of personnel changes, including Mike Piggott replacing John

Renbourn from 1983 to 1987 and recording “Open the Door”

and I”n the Round”, but ultimately leaving Jansch and McShee

as the only original members. The final incarnation consisting

of Jansch, McShee, Nigel Portman Smith (keyboards), Peter

Kirtley (guitar and vocals) and Gerry Conway (drums)

survived from 1987 to 1995 and recorded three albums: “Think

of Tomorrow”, “One More Road” and “Live 1994”.

In 1985, two limited edition albums appeared, issued under

the name of Loren Auerbach, who was to become Jansch’s

wife: After the “Long Night” was released in February 1985,

the second, “Playing the Game”, appearing in October. Jansch

was initially a guest player, but also became a writer on some

of the songs, as well as an arranger and co-vocalist. Richard

Newman was the primary guitarist and songwriter. Auerbach

had worked alongside Newman for many years before meeting

Jansch. Newman and Jansch were the key players on “After

the Long Night”. On “Playing the Game”, Jansch and Newman

joined Cliff Aungier, Geoff Bradford (lead guitarist from Cyril

Davis’ “All Stars, from Long John Baldry’s Hoochie Coochie

Men”, and in the first line-up of The Rolling Stones) and Brian

Knight (British blues veteran of the “Blues By Six”). The two

albums became one—”After The Long Night / Playing The

Game”. Jansch played guitar with Richard Newman on the

following Newman songs: “I Can’t Go Back”, “Smiling Faces”,

“Playing the Game”, “Sorrow”, “Days and Nights”, “The Rainbow

Man”, “Frozen Beauty”, “Christabel”, “So Lonely” and “The

Miller”. All songs were sung by Auerbach with the exception

of “The Miller”, which was sung by Newman. Jansch married

Auerbach in 1999.

He had always been a heavy drinker, but in 1987 Jansch fell ill

while working with Rod Clements and Marty Craggs, and was

rushed to hospital, where he was told that he was “as seriously

ill as you can be without dying” and that he had a choice of

“giving up alcohol or simply giving up.” He chose the former

option: Colin Harper states that

“There can be no doubt that Bert’s creativity, reliability, energy,

commitment and quality of performance were all rescued

dramatically by the decision to quit boozing.”

Jansch and Clements continued the work they had started

before Jansch’s illness, resulting in the 1988 “Leather

Launderette” album.

Bert was the prime mover in the “Acoustic Routes” film, first

broadcast by the BBC in 1992. It shows him revisiting his old

haunts and reminiscing with guests such as Al Stewart, Anne

Briggs, John Renbourn, and Davy Graham.

From 1995, Jansch appeared frequently at the 12 Bar Club

in Denmark Street, London. One of his live sets there was

recorded direct to Digital Audio Tape (DAT) by Jansch’s then

manager, Alan King, and was released as the “Live at the

12 Bar”: an official bootleg album in 1996. In 2002, Jansch,

Bernard Butler and Johnny “Guitar” Hodge performed live

together at the Jazz Cafe, London. Butler had also appeared on

Jansch’s album of that year, “Edge of a Dream”, which features

(among others) Ralph McTell and guitarist Paul Wassif. The

instrumental “Black Cat Blues”, featuring Wassif, appears in

the 2003 film “Calendar Girls”, and Wassif became a frequent

sideman at Bert’s live shows. In 2003, Jansch celebrated his 60th

birthday with a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

The BBC organised a concert for Jansch and various guests at

the church of St Luke Old Street, which was televised on BBC

Four.

In 2005, Jansch teamed up again with one of his early

influences, Davy Graham, for a small number of concerts in

England and Scotland. His concert tour had to be postponed,


Bert Jansch

owing to illness, and Jansch underwent major heart surgery in

late 2005. By 2006, he had recovered and was playing concerts

again. Jansch’s album “The Black Swan”, his first for four years,

was released on Sanctuary on 18 September 2006, featuring

Beth Orton and Devendra Banhart on tracks “Katie Cruel”,

“When the Sun Comes Up” and “Watch the Stars”, among

other guests. In 2007, he was featured on “Babyshambles”

album, “Shotter’s Nation”, playing acoustic guitar on the song

“The Lost Art of Murder”. After recording, he accompanied

“Babyshambles’” lead singer Pete Doherty on several acoustic

gigs, and performed on the “Pete and Carl Reunion Gig,” where

“Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things” frontman and guitarist

Carl Barât joined Doherty on stage.

In 2009, he played a concert at the London Jazz Cafe to celebrate

the release of three of his older albums (LA Turnaround, Santa

Barbara Honeymoon and A Rare Conundrum) on CD format.

However, later that year, due to an unexpected illness, he had to

cancel a 22-date North American tour that was due to start on

26 June. Jansch’s website reported:

“Bert is very sorry to be missing the tour, and apologises to all

the fans who were hoping to see him. He is looking forward to

rescheduling as soon as possible.”

Jansch opened for Neil Young on his “Twisted Road” solo

tour in the US and Canada, starting on 18 May 2010. He also

performed at Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads festival” in June 2010.

These were Jansch’s first shows since his illness. One of his last

recording sessions was with Eric Clapton for Paul Wassif ’s

2011 album “Looking Up Feeling Down”. Jansch again opened

for Young’s 2011 tour, beginning on 15 April in Durham, North

Carolina, and having a final solo performance in Chicago

on 7 May. That same year, a few reunion gigs also took place

with “Pentangle”, including performances at the “Glastonbury

Festival” and one final concert at the Royal Festival Hall in

London, which was also Jansch’s last ever public performance.

Jansch died on 5 October 2011, aged 67, at a hospice in

Hampstead after a long battle with lung cancer. His wife, Loren

Jansch (née Auerbach), died of cancer on 9 December 2011.

They are both buried in Highgate Cemetery.

In 2001, Jansch received a “Lifetime Achievement Award”

at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and on 5 June 2006, he

received the “MOJO Merit Award” at the Mojo Honours List

ceremony, based on “an expanded career that still continues to

be inspirational.” The award was presented by Beth Orton and

Roy Harper. Rolling Stone ranked Jansch as No. 94 on its list of

the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time in 2003.

In January 2007, the five original members of “Pentangle”

(including Jansch) were given a “Lifetime Achievement award”

at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. The award was presented by

Sir David Attenborough. Producer John Leonard said

“Pentangle were one of the most influential groups of the late 20th

century and it would be wrong for the awards not to recognise

what an impact they had on the music scene.”

Pentangle played together for the event, for the first time in

more than two decades, and their performance was broadcast

on BBC Radio 2 on 7 February 2007. In 2007, Jansch was also


awarded an “Honorary Doctorate of Music” by Edinburgh

Napier University,

“in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the UK music

industry.”

Jansch’s musical influences included Big Bill Broonzy and

Brownie McGhee, whom he first saw playing at The Howff

in 1960 and, much later, claimed that he’d “still be a gardener”

if he hadn’t encountered McGhee and his music. Jansch was

also strongly influenced by the British folk music tradition,

particularly by Anne Briggs and, to a lesser extent, A.L. Lloyd.

Other influences included jazz (notably Charles Mingus),

early music (John Renbourn and Julian Bream) and other

contemporary singer-songwriters – especially Clive Palmer.

The other major influence was Davy Graham who, himself,

brought together an eclectic mixture of musical styles. Also, in

his formative years, Jansch had busked his way through Europe

to Morocco, picking up musical ideas and rhythms from many

sources. From these influences, he distilled his own individual

guitar style.

Some of his songs feature a basic Travis picking style of righthand

playing, but these are often distinguished by unusual

chord voicings or by chords with added notes. An example

of this is his song “Needle of Death”, which features a simple

picking style, though several of the chords are decorated with

added ninths. Characteristically, the ninths are not the highest

note of the chord, but appear in the middle of the arpeggiated

finger-picking, creating a “lumpiness” to the sound.

Another characteristic feature was his ability to hold a chord

in the lower strings while bending an upper string—often

bending up from a semitone below a chord note. These can be

heard clearly on songs such as “Reynardine” where the bends

are from the diminished fifth to the perfect fifth. Jansch often

fitted the accompaniment to the natural rhythm of the words of

his songs, rather than playing a consistent rhythm throughout.

This can lead to occasional bars appearing in unusual time

signatures. For example, his version of the Ewan MacColl song

“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, unlike most other covers

of that song, switches from 4/4 time to 3/4 and 5/4. A similar

disregard for conventional time signatures is found in several of

his collaborative compositions with “Pentangle”: for instance,

“Light Flight” from the “Basket of Light” album includes

sections in 5/8, 7/8 and 6/4 time.

Through the development of Pentangle, Jansch played a number

of instruments: banjo, Appalachian dulcimer, recorder, and

concertina—on rare occasions he was even known to play

electric guitar. However, it is his acoustic guitar playing that was

most notable.

Jansch’s first guitar was home-made from a kit but when he left

school and started work, he bought a Höfner cello-style guitar.

Soon he traded this in for a Zenith which was marketed as the

“Lonnie Donegan guitar” and which Jansch played in the folk

clubs in the early 1960s. His first album was reputedly recorded

using a Martin 00028 borrowed from Martin Carthy. Pictures

of Jansch in the middle 1960s show him playing a variety of

models, including Martin and Epiphone guitars. He had a guitar

hand-built by John Bailey, used for most “Pentangle” recordings

which was eventually stolen.

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Jansch later played two six-string guitars built by the Coventrybased

luthier Rob Armstrong, one of which appears on the

front and back covers of the 1980 “Shanachie” release, “Best

of Bert Jansch”. He then had a contract with Yamaha, who

provided him with an FG1500 which he played, along with a

Yamaha LL11 1970s jumbo guitar. Jansch’s relationship with

Yamaha continued and they presented him with an acoustic

guitar with gold trim and abalone inlay for his 60th birthday—

although Jansch was quoted as saying that, valued at about

£3000, it was too good for stage use.

Jansch’s music, and particularly his acoustic guitar playing, have

influenced a range of well-known musicians. His first album

(Bert Jansch, 1965) was much admired, with Jimmy Page

saying, “

At one point, I was absolutely obsessed with Bert Jansch. When I

first heard that LP, I couldn’t believe it. It was so far ahead of what

everyone else was doing. No one in America could touch that.”

The same debut album included Jansch’s version of the Davy

Graham instrumental “Angie”. This was a favourite of Mike

Oldfield, who practised acoustic guitar alone as a child, and

was then heavily influenced by Jansch’s style. The title of the

instrumental inspired Oldfield to call his first band (with sister

Sally) the “Sallyangie”.

Jansch’s version of “Angie” inspired Paul Simon’s recording of

the piece, which was retitled “Anji” and appeared on the Simon

& Garfunkel album “Sounds of Silence”. From the same era,

Neil Young is quoted as saying:

“As much of a great guitar player as Jimi Hendrix was, Bert

Jansch is the same thing for acoustic guitar... and my favourite.”

Nick Drake and Donovan were both admirers of Jansch. Both

recorded cover versions of his songs, and Donovan went on to

dedicate two of his own songs to Jansch: “Bert’s Blues” appeared

on his “Sunshine Superman” LP, and “House of Jansch” on his

fourth album “Mellow Yellow”. Other tributes included Gordon

Giltrap’s album “Janschology” (2000) which has two tunes by

Jansch, plus two others that show his influence.

Johnny Marr, who rose to prominence as the guitarist of “the

Smiths”, named Jansch as one of his three biggest influences.


bert jansch discography

ALBUMS

1965: BERT JANSCH (Transatlantic)

Discogs link

1965: IT DON’T BOTHER ME

(Transatlantic) Discogs link

1966: JACK ORION (Transatlantic)

Discogs link

1967: NICOLA (Transatlantic)

Discogs link

1969: BIRTHDAY BLUES (Transatlantic)

Discogs link

1971: ROSEMARY LANE


1973: MOONSHINE (Reprise)

Discogs link

1974: L.A. TURNAROUND (Charisma)

Discogs link

1975: SANTA BARBARA HONEYMOON

(Charisma) Discogs link

1977: A RARE CONUNDRUM (

Charisma) first released 1976 in Denmark on

Ex Libris as Poor Mouth with additional tracks

“Dragonfly”, “Candy Man”, “Three Dreamers”,

and “Per’s Hose Pipe” Discogs link

1978: AVOCET (released on Ex Libris in

Denmark and in 1979 on Charisma in UK)

Discogs link

1980: THIRTEEN DOWN (credited as The

Bert Jansch Conundrum)

Discogs link

1982: HEARTBREAK (Columbia)

Discogs link

1985: FROM THE OUTSIDE

(Konexion) only released officially in Belgium

Discogs link

1990: SKETCHES (Temple)

Discogs link

1990: THE ORNAMENT TREE (Gold Castle)

Discogs link

1995: WHEN THE CIRCUS COMES TO

TOWN (Cooking Vinyl)

Discogs link

1998: TOY BALLOON (Cooking Vinyl)

Discogs link

2000: CRIMSON MOON (When!

Recordings) Discogs link

2002: EDGE OF A DREAM (Sanctuary)

Discogs link

2006: THE BLACK SWAN (Sanctuary)

Discogs link

AS A MEMBER OF

PENTANGLE

1968: THE PENTANGLE


1968: SWEET CHILD


1969: BASKET OF LIGHT


1970: CRUEL SISTER


1971: REFLECTION


1972: SOLOMON’S SEAL (Reprise)

Discogs link

1985: OPEN THE DOOR (Spindrift)

Discogs link

1986: IN THE ROUND (Spindrift)

Discogs link

1989: SO EARLY IN THE SPRING (Green

Linnet) Discogs link

1991: THINK OF TOMORROW (Ariola /

Hypertension) Discogs link

1993: ONE MORE ROAD (Permanent)

Discogs link

2016: FINALE: AN EVENING WITH... (Topic)

Discogs link

AS COMPOSER

1965: Donovan - Fairytale (Pye) - track 4, “Oh

Deed I Do”

1965: Julie Felix - The Second Album (Decca) -

track 2, “Needle Of Death”

1966: Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence

(Columbia) - track 6, “Angie”. Jansch’s Bert

Jansch album cover credits Davey Graham as

the composer of “Angie”.

1967: Donovan - Universal Soldier (Marble

Arch) - track 9, “Do You Hear Me Now”

1969: Elyse Weinberg - Elyse (Tetragrammaton)

- track 2, “Oh Deed I Do”

1969: Kenny Rankin - Family (Mercury - track

8, “Needle Of Death”

1969: The Alan Tew Orchestra & Chorus - Let’s

Fly (CBS) - track 6, “Light Flight” (co-written

with Danny Thompson, Jacqui McShee, John

Renbourn, and Terry Cox

Bert Jansch

1970: Moths - Moths (self-released) - track

1, “I Am Lonely”; track 3, “Travelling Song”;

track 7, “Running From Home”; track 9,

“Dreams Of Love”

1971: Ian & Sylvia - Ian & Sylvia (Columbia) -

track 10, “Needle Of Death”

1973: Davey Johnstone - Smiling Face (Sound

City) - track 7, “After the Dance” (co-written

with Bert Jansch)

1975: Galaxy-Lin - “G” (Polydor) - track 3,

“Hunting Song”

1985: Loren Auerbach with Richard Newman

- Playing The Game (Christabel) - track 1,

“Carousel”; track 3, “Give Me Love”; track 8,

“Is It Real”

1992: Eriksen - Two Blue (Major Selskapet) -

track 7, “Is It Real?”

2000: Al Stewart - Down in the Cellar (EMI /

Miramar) - track 5, “Soho”

2003: Currituck Co. - Ghost Man On First

(Lexicon Devil / Track & Field) - track 5, “Silly

Woman”

2004: Martin Archer - Heritage And Ringtones

(Discus) - track 3, “It Doesn’t Bother Me”

2004: The Green House Band - Mirage (Market

Square) - track 7, “Mirage”

2004: Penelope Houston - Snapshot (Flare Records)

- track 2, “I’ve Got A Feeling” (co-written

with Danny Thompson, Jacqui McShee,

John Renbourn, and Terry Cox)

2006: Bonobo - Days to Come (Ninja Tune)

- track 7, “Hatoa” (co-written with Danny

Thompson, Jacqui McShee, John Renbourn,

and Terry Cox)

2009: Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew (Hoop) - track

7, “Courting Blues”

2012: Victor Krummenacher - I Was ANinja

Tune Nightmare But I’m Not Going To Go

There (Veritas) - track 9, “The Quiet Joys Of

Brotherhood” (co-written with Richard Fariña)

2012: Quantic and Alice Russell with The

Combo Bárbaro - Look Around The Corner

(Tru Thoughts) - track 3, “Travelling Song”

(co-written with Danny Thompson, Jacqui

McShee, John Renbourn, and Terry Cox)

2014: Neil Young - A Letter Home (Third Man

/ Reprise) - track 4, “Needle Of Death”

2017: John Renbourn and Wizz Jones -Joint

Control (World Music Network) - track B3,

“Strolling Down The Highway”; track D1,

“Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning”; track D3,

“Joint Control”


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MAGAZINE

Vin

Garbutt

Vincent Paul Garbutt (20 November 1947 – 6

June 2017)[2] was an English folk singer

and songwriter. A significant part of his

repertoire consisted of protest songs covering

topics such as “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland

(“Welcome Home Howard Green”, “Troubles of Erin”,

“To Find Their Ulster Peace”), unemployment, and

social issues. Whilst the subject of his songs featured

many political and social topics, Garbutt’s on stage

wit, humour and storytelling between songs became

a hit with audiences and for which he became widely

known. He would wish his audiences “All the very

best” along with, “I’m knackered now, aren’t you?”

Garbutt was born in Coral Street, South Bank,

Middlesbrough, England, the son of an English

father and an Irish mother. Although his first live

performances were in a pop covers band called “The

Mystics”, he discovered folk music while he was still

at school and began visiting and performing at the

Rifle Club in Cannon Street, Middlesbrough, and

later at Eston Folk Club closer to his home

After leaving school he initially enrolled on a sixmonth

commercial course but was encouraged to

become an apprentice at the Imperial Chemical

Industries (ICI) Wilton chemical plant, near to his

home. During this period he visited Ireland in search

of his musical roots.

Aged 21, he became a professional musician. With

the rich repertoire of songs he had amassed, he

and five friends spent the first summer busking his

way around the bars of Spain’s Mediterranean coast

and on to Morocco via Gibraltar. It was then that

he found he had a talent for songwriting. Back in

England in 1972 he recorded his first album for Bill

Leader, “The Valley of Tees”, which established him

as a singer-songwriter. His witty patter was often

longer than the amount of time singing.


In 1999, Garbutt toured the Far East, Australia and

New Zealand, followed by his “Take It Easy after 30

Years on the Road” tour of the UK. He also released

the “Word of Mouth” CD.

During 2001, Garbutt published the first collection

of his songs, “The Vin Garbutt Songbook”. The

collection spans his career from “The Valley of Tees”

written in 1971 to “The Troubles of Erin” written

in 1999. Shortly afterwards, the companion CD

was issued, Garbutt’s first ever compilation CD and

another world tour followed in 2004.

A health check highlighted a minor health problem

but in early 2005, on a sabbatical trip to Spain, his

condition deteriorated. On his return to England

he was hospitalised and a repair made to one of

his heart valves. He then made a full recovery and

got back on the road. In his recuperation period

he worked on his album “Persona … Grata”

which was launched at The Sage Gateshead on 6

October 2005. In 2006, filmmaker Craig Hornby

Vin Garbutt

began filming a documentary on Vin’s life. The

end result, ‘Teesside Troubadour’ was premiered

at Cineworld Middlesbrough and screened for a

week in November 2010. Vin continued to perform

extensively until his death following heart surgery on

6 June 2017.

Garbutt was working on an autobiography, “All the

Very Best”, during the four years before his death.

The book was published posthumously in autumn

2021.

In 2001, Garbutt won the “Best Live Act” award at

the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and was nominated

for “Folk Singer of the Year” (with the award going to

Norma Waterson). Later that year, he was awarded

an “Honorary Degree of Master of Arts” by the

University of Teesside.

In 2007, he was nominated for “Best Live Act” again

at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, with the award

going to Bellowhead.

vin garbutt discography

THE VALLEY OF TEES (1972)

Discogs link

THE BY-PASS SYNDROME 1991)

Discogs link

THE YOUNG TIN WHISTLE PEST (live)

(1974) Discogs link

KING GOODEN (1976)

Discogs link

ESTON CALIFORNIA (1977)

Discogs link

TOSSIN’ A WOBBLER (1978)

Discogs link

LITTLE INNOCENTS (1983)

Discogs link

SHY TOT POMMY (1985) [live – Mount Isa,

Queensland, Australia] Discogs link

WHEN THE TIDE TURNS (1989)

Discogs link

BANDALISED (1994)

Discogs link

PLUGGED! (1995) [live – Red Lion Folk Club,

Birmingham, UK.] Discogs link

WHEN THE TIDE TURNS AGAIN (1998)

[reissue of 1989 album with one additional track]

Word of Mouth (1999) Discogs link

THE VIN GARBUTT SONGBOOK VOL 1

(2003) Discogs link

PERSONA ... GRATA (2005)

Discogs link

TEESSIDE TROUBADOUR DOCUMENTARY

feature & live DVD (2011) Website link

SYNTHETIC HUES (2014)

Discogs link


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MAGAZINE

John

Martyn

Iain David McGeachy OBE (11 September 1948 – 29 January

2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a British

singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40-year career,

he released 23 studio albums and received frequent critical

acclaim. The Times described him as

“an electrifying guitarist and singer whose music blurred the

boundaries between folk, jazz, rock and blues”.

Martyn began his career at age 17 as a key member of the

Scottish folk music scene, drawing inspiration from American

blues and English traditional music, and signed with Island

Records. By the 1970s he had begun incorporating jazz and

rock into his sound on albums such as “Solid Air” (1973) and

“One World” (1977), as well as experimenting with guitar effects

and tape delay machines like the Echoplex. Domestic and

substance abuse problems marked his personal life throughout

the 1970s and 1980s, though he continued to release albums

while collaborating with figures such as Phil Collins and

Maeve Aubele, Carolyn Woolham and Lee “Scratch” Perry.

He remained active until his death in 2009.

Martyn was born in Beechcroft Avenue, New Malden, Surrey, to

Belgian Jewish mother Beatrice “Betty” Ethel (née Jewitt) and

Greenock-born Scottish father Thomas Paterson “Tommy”

McGeachy. His parents, both opera singers, divorced when

he was five and he spent his childhood alternating between

Scotland and England. Most of this time was spent in the care of

his father and grandmother, Janet, in Shawlands, Glasgow, part

of his holidays each year spent on his mother’s houseboat. He

adapted his accent depending on context or company, changing

between broad or refined Glaswegian and southern English

accents, and continued to do so throughout his life. He attended

Shawlands Academy in Glasgow. At school, he was a keen rugby

player. On leaving school he attended Glasgow School of Art,

but left to pursue his musical aspirations.

Mentored by Hamish Imlach, Martyn began his professional

musical career when he was 17, playing a fusion of blues and

folk resulting in a distinctive style which made him a key figure

in the British folk scene during the mid-1960s. He signed to

Chris Blackwell’s Island Records in 1967 and released his first

album, “London Conversation”, the same year. Released in 1968,

his second album, “The Tumbler”, was moving towards jazz.

By 1970 Martyn had developed a wholly original and

idiosyncratic sound: acoustic guitar run through a fuzzbox,

phase shifter and Echoplex. This sound was first apparent on


John Martyn

“Stormbringer!” released in February 1970.

“Stormbringer!” was written and performed by Martyn and

his then-wife Beverley, who had previously recorded solo

as Beverley Kutner. Their second duo album, “The Road to

Ruin”, was released in November 1970. Island Records felt that

it would be more successful to market Martyn as a solo act

and this was how subsequent albums were produced, although

Beverley continued to make appearances as a backing singer as

well as continuing as a solo artist herself.

Released in 1971, “Bless the Weather” was Martyn’s third solo

album. In February 1973, Martyn released the album “Solid

Air”, the title song a tribute to the singer-songwriter Nick

Drake, a close friend and label-mate who would die in 1974

from an overdose of antidepressants. In 2009, a double CD

Deluxe edition of “Solid Air” was released featuring unreleased

songs and out-takes, and sleeve notes by Record Collector’s

Daryl Easlea. On “Bless the Weather” and on “Solid Air”

Martyn collaborated with jazz bassist Danny Thompson, with

whom he proceeded to have a musical partnership which

continued until his death.

Following the commercial success of “Solid Air”, later on in

1973 Martyn quickly recorded and released the experimental

“Inside Out”, an album with emphasis placed on feel and

improvisation rather than song structure. In 1975, he followed

this with “Sunday’s Child””, a more song-based collection that

includes “My Baby Girl” and “Spencer the Rover”, which are

references to his young family. Martyn subsequently described

this period as ‘very happy’. In September 1975, he released a live

album, “Live at Leeds” — Martyn had been unable to persuade

Island to release the record, and resorted to selling individually

signed copies by mail from his home in Hastings. “Live at

Leeds” features Danny Thompson and drummer John Stevens.

In 2010, a 2CD Deluxe version of “Live at Leeds” was released,

and it was discovered that not all of the songs on the original

album were from the Leeds concert. After releasing “Live at

Leeds”, Martyn took a sabbatical, including a visit to Jamaica,

spending time with reggae producer Lee “Scratch” Perry.

In 1977, he released “One World”, which led some

commentators to describe Martyn as the “Father of Trip-Hop”.

It included tracks such as “Small Hours” and “Big Muff ”, a

collaboration with Lee “Scratch” Perry. Small Hours was

recorded outside; the microphones picked up ambient sounds,

such as geese from a nearby lake. In 1978, he played guitar on

the album “Harmony of the Spheres” by Neil Ardley.

Martyn’s marriage broke down at the end of the 1970s and

“John hit the self destruct button” (although other biographers,

including The Times obituary writer, attribute the break-up

of his marriage to his already being addicted to alcohol and

drugs). In her autobiography, Beverley also alleges protracted

domestic violence. Out of this period, described by Martyn

as “a very dark period in my life”, came the album “Grace and

Danger”. Released in October 1980, the album had been held

up for a year by Chris Blackwell. He was a close friend of John

and Beverley, and found the album too openly disturbing to

release. Only after intense and sustained pressure from Martyn

did Blackwell agree to release the album. Commenting on that

period, Martyn said,

“I was in a dreadful emotional state over that record. I was

hardly in control of my own actions. The reason they finally

released it was because I freaked: Please get it out! I don’t give a

damn about how sad it makes you feel—it’s what I’m about: the

direct communication of emotion. “Grace and Danger” was very

cathartic, and it really hurt.”

In the late 1980s, Martyn cited “Grace and Danger” as his

favourite album, and said that it was

“probably the most specific piece of autobiography I’ve written.

Some people keep diaries, I make records.”

The album has since become one of his highest-regarded,

prompting a deluxe double-disc issue in 2007, containing the

original album remastered.

Phil Collins played drums and sang backing vocals on Grace

and Danger and subsequently played drums on and produced

Martyn’s next album, “Glorious Fool”, in 1981. Martyn left

Island records in 1981, and recorded “Glorious Fool” and “Well

Kept Secret” for WEA achieving his first Top 30 album. In

1983 Martyn released a live album, “Philentropy, and married

Annie Furlong but the couple, who had lived in Scotland, later

separated. Returning to Island records, he recorded “Sapphire”

(1984), “Piece by Piece” (1986) and the live “Foundations”

(1987) before leaving the label in 1988.

Martyn released “The Apprentice” in 1990 and “Cooltide” in

1991 for Permanent Records, and reunited with Phil Collins

for “No Little Boy” (1993), which featured rerecorded versions

of some of his classic tracks. The similar 1992 release “Couldn’t

Love You More” was unauthorised and disowned by Martyn.

Material from these recordings and his two ‘Permanent’ albums

have been recycled on many releases. Permanent Records also

released a live 2-CD set called “Live” in 1994. And (1996) came

out on Go! Discs and saw Martyn draw heavily on trip-hop

textures, a direction which saw more complete expression on

2000’s “Glasgow Walker.” “The Church with One Bell” (1998) is

a covers album of blues classics, which draws on songs by other

artists, including Portishead and Ben Harper. In 2001, Martyn

appeared on the track “Deliver Me” by Faithless keyboard

player and DJ Sister Bliss.

In July 2006, the documentary “Johnny Too Bad” was

screened by the BBC. The programme documented the period

surrounding the operation to amputate Martyn’s right leg below

the knee (the result of a burst cyst that had led to septicaemia)

and the writing and recording of “On the Cobbles” (2004), an

album described by “Peter Marsh” on the BBC Music website

as “the strongest, most consistent set he’s come up with in years.”

Much of “Cobbles” was a revisiting of his acoustic-based sound.

Martyn’s last concerts were in November 2008, reprising “Grace

and Danger”.

In collaboration with his keyboard player Spenser Cozens,

Martyn wrote and performed the score for “Strangebrew”

(Robert Wallace 2007), which won the Fortean Times Award

at the London Short Film Festival in the same year. The film

concept being a strong influence of the album design of

Martyn’s “Heaven and Earth” (2011). On 4 February 2008,

Martyn received the lifetime achievement award at the BBC


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MAGAZINE

Radio 2 Folk Awards. The award was presented by his friend

Phil Collins. The BBC website stated Martyn’s “heartfelt

performances have either suggested or fully demonstrated

an idiosyncratic genius.” Eric Clapton was quoted saying

that Martyn was “so far ahead of everything, it’s almost

inconceivable.”

To mark Martyn’s 60th birthday, Island released a 4 CD boxed

set, Ain’t No Saint, on 1 September 2008. The set includes

unreleased studio material and rare live recordings.

Martyn was appointed OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours and

died a few weeks later. His partner Theresa Walsh collected

the award at Buckingham Palace. Martyn had recorded new

material before he died and his final studio album, “Heaven and

Earth”, was completed and released posthumously in May 2011.

The sleeve note says, “all the tracks on this recording were kept

as John wished — in their entirety”.

Martyn died on 29 January 2009, at a hospital in Thomastown,

County Kilkenny, Ireland, from acute respiratory distress

syndrome. He had been living in Thomastown with his partner

Theresa Walsh. Martyn’s health was affected by his life-long

abuse of drugs and alcohol. He was survived by his partner and

his children, Mhairi, Wesley and Spencer McGeachy.

Following Martyn’s death, Rolling Stone lauded his “progressive

folk invention and improvising sorcery”. Friend and collaborator

Phil Collins paid tribute to him, saying,

“John’s passing is terribly, terribly sad. I had worked with and

known him since the late 1970s and he was a great friend. He was

uncompromising, which made him infuriating to some people, but

he was unique and we’ll never see the likes of him again. I loved

him dearly and will miss him very much.”

Mike Harding introduced an hour-long tribute to Martyn in

his BBC Radio 2 programme on 25 February 2009. A tribute

album, “Johnny Boy Would Love This”, was released on 15

August 2011, comprising cover versions of his songs by various

artists.

The “Grace & Danger: A Celebration of John Martyn” tribute

concert held on 27 January 2019 at Glasgow Royal Concert

Hall marked the tenth anniversary of his passing. Curated and

hosted by Danny Thompson, artists including Eddi Reader,

Eric Bibb and Paul Weller performed “to do full justice to a

selection of Martyn’s finest songs and channel some of the great

man’s spirit”.

JOHN MARTYN DISCOGRAPHY

STUDIO ALBUMS

LONDON CONVERSATION

Island 1967

Discogs link

THE TUMBLER

Iland 1968

Discogs link

STORMBRINGER

Island 1970

Discogs link

THE ROAD TO RUIN

Island 1970

Discogs link

BLESS THE WEATHER

Island 1971

Discogs link

SOLID AIR

Island 1973

Discogs link

INSIDE OUT

Island 1973

Discogs link

SUNDAYS CHILD

Island 1975

Discogs link

ONE WORLD

Island 1977

Discogs link

GRACE AND DANGER

Island 1980

Discogs link

GLORIOUS FOOL

WEA 1981

Discogs link

WELL KEPT SECRET

WEA 1982

Discogs link

SAPPHIRE

Island 1984

Discogs link

PIECE BY PIECE

Island 1986

Discogs link

THE APPRENTICE

Permanent Records 1990

Discogs link

COOLTIDE


Discogs link

COULDN’T LOVE YOU MORE


Discogs link

NO LITTLE BOY


Discogs link

AND

Go! 1996

Discogs link

THE CHURCH WITH ONE BELL

Independiente 2000

Discogs link

GLASGOW WALKER

Independiente 2000

Discogs link

ON THE COBBLES

Independiente 2004

Discogs link

HEAVEN AND EARTH

Hole In The Rain 2011

Discogs link


LIVE ALBUMS

LIVE AT LEEDS (September 1975)

Discogs link

PHILENTROPY (November 1983)

Discogs link

FOUNDATIONS (October 1987)

Discogs link

BBC Radio 1 LIVE IN CONCERT

(May 1992) Discogs link

LIVE (July 1995)

Discogs link

THE NEW YORK SESSION

(November 2000) Discogs link

GERMANY 1986 (July 2001;

with Danny Thompson) Discogs link

THE BREWERY ARTS CENTRE,

KENDAL 1986 (August 2001) (with

Danny Thompson) Discogs link

LIVE AT THE TOWN & COUNTRY

CLUB, 1986; Collectors Series 2

(August 2001) Discogs link

SWEET CERTAIN SURPRISE (live in

New York, 1977)

(October 2001) Discogs link

LIVE AT THE BOTTOM LINE, NEW

YORK, 1983; Collectors Series 3


LIVE IN MILAN, 1979; Collectors Series

4 (May 2002) Discogs link

AND LIVE (June 2003) (recorded in

1996) Discogs link

LIVE IN CONCERT at the Cambridge

Folk Festival BBC 1985

(December 2003) Discogs link

CLASSICS LIVE (November 2004)

Discogs link

LIVE IN NOTTINGHAM 1976 (May

2005) Discogs link

LIVE AT THE ROUNDHOUSE


BBC LIVE IN CONCERT (June 2007)

Discogs link

THE BATTLE OF MEDWAY: 17 July

1973 (November 2007) Discogs link

THE SIMMER DIM (Garrison Theatre,

Lerwick, August 1980) (June 2008)

Discog link

THE JULY WAKES (July Wakes

Festival, Chorley, Lancs, July 1976)


LIVE AT LEEDS (2010) (deluxe 2 CD

reissue) Discogs link

LIVE AT THE HANGING LAMP

(Richmond, London, May 1972) (2013)

(vinyl-only release) Discogs link

COMPILATION

ALBUMS

SO FAR SO GOOD (March 1977)

Discogs link

THE ELECTRIC JOHN MARTYN


SWEET LITTLE MYSTERIES: The Island

Anthology (June 1994) Discogs link

THE HIDDEN YEARS (December 1996)

Discogs link

THE VERY BEST OF (April 1997)

Discogs link

SERENDIPITY — An Introduction to

John Martyn (1998) Discogs link

ANOTHER WORLD; Collectors Series

Vol 1 (1998) Discogs link

CLASSICS (March 2000)

Discogs link

THE BEST OF LIVE ‘91 (July 2000)

Discogs link

MAD DOG DAYS (June 2004)

Discogs link

John Martyn

ANTHOLOGY (September 2004)

Discogs link

THE JOHN MARTYN STORY


ONE WORLD SAMPLER (November

2006) Discogs link

SIXTY MINUTES WITH (April 2007)

Website link

AIN’T NO SAINT (September 2008)

(40-year anthology) Discogs link

MAY YOU NEVER — The Very Best Of

(March 2009) Discogs link

REMEMBERING JOHN MARTYN

(June 2012) Discogs link

SWEET LITTLE MYSTERY: The

Essential (September 2013) Discogs link

THE ISLAND YEARS (September 2013)

(18 disc box set) Discogs link

THE BEST OF THE ISLAND YEARS


MAY YOU NEVER: The Essential John

Martyn (November 2016) (3 Disc

Compilation) Discogs link

HEAD AND HEART: The Acoustic John

Martyn (June 2017) Discogs link

ON AIR (Bremen Town Hall, Germany,

September 1975) (May 2006)

Disogs link

IN SESSION (August 2006) (BBC

sessions, recorded for John Peel and

Bob Harris, between 1973 and 1978)

Discogs link


SOLID AIR — Classics Re-visited

(September 2002) (compilation of

previously released tracks)

Discogs link

LATE NIGHT JOHN (May 2004)

Discogs link

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MAGAZINE

kate

mcgarrigle

Kate McGarrigle CM (February 6, 1946 – January 18,

2010) was a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter,

who wrote and performed as a duo with her sister Anna

McGarrigle.

She is the mother of singers Rufus Wainwright and Martha

Wainwright from her marriage to American singer-songwriter

Loudon Wainwright III, which ended in divorce.

Born in Montreal, Quebec, to Irish pianist Francis McGarrigle

and French Canadian mother Gabrielle Latrémouille, the

three McGarrigle sisters (Jane, Anna, and Kate, the youngest)

grew up in the village of Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, north of

Montreal. Their family was a musical one on both sides, often

gathering around the piano and singing, allowing Kate and

her sisters to absorb influences as varied as Gershwin, French

Canadian folk songs, Stephen Foster, and composer-singers

such as Wade Hemsworth and Edith Piaf. The sisters were

formally introduced to music by taking piano lessons from the

village nuns.

Peter Weldon to form the folk group, “the Mountain City Four”.

Anna, who is 14 months older than Kate, studied painting

at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal (now part of the

Université du Québec à Montréal) in Montreal; McGarrigle

studied engineering at McGill University. It was at this time that

they began writing songs. Although she sang mostly in English,

according to Juan Rodriguez, she and Anna “put Québécois

folk music...on the global music map in 1980 with Complainte

pour Ste. Catherine, Entre la jeunesse et la sagesse (commonly

known as the French Record) and 2003’s La vache qui pleure.”

The McGarrigle sisters’ life has been chronicled in a book

by Anna’s husband, Dane Lanken, titled “Kate and Anna

McGarrigle: Songs and Stories”. (link)

In the 1960s Kate and Anna established themselves in

Montreal’s burgeoning folk scene while they attended school.

From 1963 to 1967, they teamed up with Jack Nissenson and


Kate McGarrigle

Kate-McGarrigle was inaugurated on August 7, 2013 in

Montreal’s Outremont borough. It contains a sculpture by

Robert Wilson in the form of a double chair. McGarrigle—a

Montreal native—lived nearby before her death.

Her son, Rufus, says he discussed with McGarrigle the offer

of his childhood friend, Lorca Cohen, for Rufus to father her

child. He says that McGarrigle strongly encouraged him to

accept Cohen’s offer, and that he regrets she didn’t live long

enough to see his daughter Viva Katherine Wainwright

Cohen’s birth.

Kate and Anna’s 1976 self-titled debut album was chosen

by ‘Melody Maker’ as Best Record of the Year. Their albums

“Matapedia” (1996) and “The McGarrigle Hour” (1998) won

Juno Awards. In 1999 Kate and Anna received Women of

Originality awards. In 1993 she was made a “Member of the

Order of Canada”.

She is irreplaceable and we are broken-hearted. Til we meet again

dear sister.”

She made her last public appearance, with Rufus and Martha

Wainwright, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, just six

weeks before her death. The show raised $55,000 for the “Kate

McGarrigle Fund”.

On June 12, 2010, the Meltdown Festival staged a tribute

concert in her honour, organised by Richard Thompson.

The concert included performances by her daughter Martha

Wainwright, son Rufus Wainwright, sister Anna McGarrigle,

ex-husband Loudon Wainwright III, Neil Tennant, Nick

Cave, Emmylou Harris, Richard and Linda Thompson,

and longtime friends and musical collaborators Chaim

Tannenbaum and Joel Zifkin. Her close friend Emmylou

Harris wrote the song “Darlin’ Kate” in her memory, which

appears on her album “Hard Bargain”.

In 2006 Kate and Anna McGarrigle were the recipients of the

“Lifetime Achievement Award” at the SOCAN Awards.

McGarrigle was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 and established

the “Kate McGarrigle Fund” at the McGill University Health

Centre, which she set up in 2008 to raise awareness of sarcomas,

a rare form of cancer that most often affects soft tissues.

She died of a sub-type of sarcoma called clear-cell sarcoma on

January 18, 2010, at age 63, at her home in Montreal. Her sister

Anna wrote on their website:

“Sadly our sweet Kate had to leave us last night. She departed in

a haze of song and love surrounded by family and good friends.

A “Celebration of Kate McGarrigle” was held on May 12 and 13,

2011, at New York City’s Town Hall. Among the participating

artists honoring her at these concerts were Martha Wainwright,

Rufus Wainwright, Anna McGarrigle, Emmylou Harris, Lisa

Hannigan, Norah Jones, Antony Hegarty, Jimmy Fallon,

Krystle Warren, Justin Vivian Bond, Teddy Thompson, Jenni

Muldaur, writer Michael Ondaatje and longtime friends and

McGarrigle sidemen Chaim Tannenbaum and Joel Zifkin.

The celebration was curated by Joe Boyd and filmed by Lian

Lunson. “Sing Me the Songs That Say I Love You: A Concert

for Kate McGarrigle” was released in June 2013; “Sing Me the

Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle” served as the

film’s soundtrack.

kate mcgarrigle discography

KATE & ANNA MCGARRIGLE

(1976) Discogs link

DANCER WITH BRUISED KNEES

(1977) Discogs link

PRONTO MONTO

(1978) Discogs link

ENTRE LA JEUNESSE ET LA SAGESSE

(1980) Discogs link

LOVE OVER AND OVER

(1982) Discogs link

HEARTBEATS ACCELERATING

(1990) Discogs link

MATAPÉDIA

(1996) Discogs link

THE MCGARRIGLE HOUR

(1998) Discogs link

LA VACHE QUI PLEURE

(2003) Discogs link

THE MCGARRIGLE CHRISTMAS HOUR

(2005) Discogs link

ODDITTIES

(2010) Discogs link

TELL MY SISTER

(2011) Discogs link

SING ME THE SONGS: Celebrating the Works of

Kate McGarrigle (2013) Discogs link

TANT LE MONDE: Live in Bremen, Germany, 2005

(2022) Discogs link


37 |

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MAGAZINE

sam

hinton

Sam Duffie Hinton (March 31, 1917 – September 10,

2009) was an American folk singer, marine biologist,

photographer, and aquarist, best known for his music

and harmonica playing. Hinton also taught at the University of

California, San Diego, published books and magazine articles

on marine biology, and worked as a calligrapher and artist.

Sam Hinton was born March 31, 1917, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He

was raised largely in Crockett, Texas, and studied zoology for

two years at Texas A&M, helping to finance his education via

singing appearances.

Leaving college, he moved to Washington, D.C., to stay

with his parents, where he worked as a window decorator

for a department store and did scientific illustration for the

Smithsonian in the evenings. While in Washington he and his

two sisters Ann and Nell formed a semi-professional singing

group called “The Texas Trio,” and performed locally. In

1937 the group visited New York City to win a Major Bowes’

Amateur Hour competition, at which time he was invited to

join the travelling Bowes troupe as a single act. Hinton left

school to tour the country with the troupe, finally settling in

Los Angeles three years later, where he enrolled at UCLA to

study marine biology, and met his wife, Leslie.

During his stay in Los Angeles, he landed a role in the musical

comedy “Meet the People” alongside then-unknowns including

Virginia O’Brien, Nanette Fabray, and Doodles Weaver.

After graduating from UCLA in 1940, Hinton was appointed

director of the Desert Museum in Palm Springs, California,

where he served from 1942 to 1944, moving on to San Diego,

California, in 1944 as Editor of Illustration at the University of

California Division of War Research (UCDWR), a University

of California-wide wartime laboratory that was located at

Point Loma. In 1946 he was appointed Curator of the Thomas

Wayland Vaughan Aquarium Museum at Scripps Institution of

Oceanography, and served there until 1964. In 1965, Hinton

transitioned to the University of California at San Diego as

assistant director, Relations with Schools, and in 1967 he

became associate director. Despite his professional duties, he

continued performing throughout his life.

In 1947 Hinton recorded 56 songs, including “Buffalo Boy”

and the “Barnyard Song” for the Library of Congress. His first

commercial recording, “Old Man Atom” (by Vern Partlow)

followed on Columbia in 1950. Over the next several years he

also made a number of singles for Decca’s Children’s Series,

and in 1952 issued his first LP, “Folk Songs of California”.


Sam Hinton

After three more efforts for Decca – 1955’s “Singing Across the

Land”, 1956’s “A Family Tree of Folk Songs” and 1957’s “The

Real McCoy” – he moved to Folkways for 1961’s “Whoever

Shall Have Some Good Peanuts” and 1967’s “The Wandering

Folksong”.

None of Hinton’s musical projects distracted him from his

academic duties, however, and from 1948 onward he taught

UCSD courses in biology and folklore; for the National

Education Television network, he also hosted a 13-part series on

folk music, and for several years even wrote a regular newspaper

column, “The Ocean World,” for the San Diego Union.

Hinton additionally co-wrote two books on marine research,

“Exploring Under the Sea” and “Common Seashore Animals of

Southern California”.

In 1957, Hinton founded the “San Diego Folk Song Society”. He

made what many contend was his final public appearance at the

May 11, 2002, San Diego Folk Heritage Festival, and the daylong

event at the Children’s School in La Jolla was permanently

renamed the Sam Hinton Folk Heritage Festival. As of 2015,

San Diego Folk Heritage continues to present the festival every

summer in Old Poway Park.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

SEASHORE LIFE OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA; AN

INTRODUCTION TO THE ANIMAL LIFE OF CALIFORNIA

BEACHES SOUTH OF SANTA BARBARA. University of

California Press, 1969.

EXPLORING UNDER THE SEA. Illustrated by Rudolf Freund.

Garden City, N.Y., Garden City Books, 1957.

HISTORY OF THE SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF

OCEANOGRAPHY. Compiled by Sam D. Hinton. La Jolla,

1951.

BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY HINTON

WHOEVER SHALL HAVE SOME GOOD PEANUTS,

Folkways Records FC-7530 (1957)

Discogs link

THE REAL MCCOY: IRISH FOLK SONGS,

Decca DL-8579 (1958)

Discogs link

A FAMILY TREE OF FOLK SONGS,

Decca Dl-8418 (1959)

Discogs link

SAM HINTON SINGS THE SONG OF MEN,

Folkways Records FA-2400 (1961)

Discogs link

THE WANDERING FOLKSONG,

Folkways Records FA-2401 (1966)

Discogs link

I’LL SING YOU A STORY,

Folkways Records FC-7548 (1972)

Discogs link

FROM AN EAST TEXAS CHILDHOOD,

SH Enterprises (1986)

Website link

OF FROGS AND DOGS AND SUCH,


Website link

‘TIS THE SEASON,


Website link

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RECORDINGS,

Bear Family Records BCD 16383 AH (1999, recorded in 1947)

Discogs link

SAM HINTON: MASTER OF THE SOLO DIATONIC

HARMONICA, (2005)

Website link

RAITT, HELEN. PAPERS, 1936-1985 bulk 1952-1954, 1973-

1976. (correspondence, notes, manuscripts, and other materials

concerning the Capricorn Expedition, Tonga, and her work

as owner and editor of Tofua Press.) Original illustrations by

Hinton.

HEDGPETH, JOEL WALKER, COMMON SEASHORE LIFE

OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Illustrated by Hinton. Edited

by Vinson Brown. Healdsburg, Calif., Naturegraph Co., c1961.

discography

SINGING ACROSS THE LAND,

Decca DL-8108 (1955)

Discogs link


39 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

Mícheál Ó

Domhnaill

Mícheál Ó Domhnaill [ 7 October 1951 – 7 July 2006)

was an Irish singer, guitarist, composer, and producer

who was a major influence on Irish traditional music

in the second half of the twentieth century. He is remembered

for his innovative work with Skara Brae, the first group to

record vocal harmonization in Irish language songs, and

The Bothy Band, one of the most influential groups in Irish

traditional music. His reputation was enhanced by a successful

collaboration with master fiddler Kevin Burke, and his work

with the Celtic groups Relativity and Nightnoise, which

achieved significant commercial and critical acclaim.

Ó Domhnaill was raised in Kells, County Meath, Ireland and

spent his summers in the Donegal Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking)

area of Rann na Feirste, where the Irish language is the main

spoken language. He inherited a deep love and understanding

of Irish culture and Irish traditional music from his parents. In

Donegal, Mícheál spent time with his aunt Neilí, a renowned

singer who had a vast repertoire of Irish and English songs.

He formed lifelong friendships with Pól and Ciarán Brennan

(future members of Clannad) and Dáithí Sproule (future

member of Skara Brae and Altan).

His father, Aodh, was a teacher, a singer, and a collector of

traditional music for the Irish Folklore Commission. His

mother, Bríd, was a choral singer. Mícheál’s father was raised in

the Donegal Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) area of Rann na Feirste,

where the Irish language is the main spoken language. Mícheál,

his two sisters, Maighréad and Tríona, and two brothers,

Éamon and Conall, inherited a deep love and understanding of

Irish culture from their parents. The family spent their summers

in Rann na Feirste learning the Irish language and Irish

traditional music. During these summers in Donegal, Mícheál

and his siblings spent time with their aunt Neilí, a renowned

singer who had a vast repertoire of Irish and English songs.

They also formed lifelong friendships with Pól and Ciarán

Brennan (future members of Clannad) and Dáithí Sproule

(future member of Skara Brae and Altan)

Mícheál’s musical literacy was encouraged throughout his

early years. At the age of six, he started taking piano lessons

from the Kells nuns, which left a lasting influence on him. He

also sang in a choir founded by his father. At the age of twelve,

Mícheál suffered an appendicitis. To ease the boredom of his

recuperation, a religious brother who taught at Mícheál’s school

gave him a guitar. By the age of sixteen, Mícheál began devoting

his musical energies to the guitar. Throughout his early years,

he and his sisters Tríona and Maighréad continued to sing


Mícheál Ó Domhnaill

the Irish songs together in close harmony. With their father’s

advice to “listen across one another” to pick up subtle shifts

in harmony, the siblings developed a seamless texture to their

singing. Tríona would later recall,

“We could just look at each other in the midst of a song, and that

look would communicate so much. When you’ve close family ties,

it’s instinctive.”

In the late 1960s, Mícheál and his sister Tríona began attending

University College Dublin, where they met up with singerguitarist

Dáithi Sproule (future member of Altan) from

Derry. They began performing together around Dublin,

producing “beautiful, adventurous” arrangements of Irish

Gaelic songs. In the summer of 1970, Mícheál and Dáithi

performed as the house band at Teach Hiudaí Beag in Gaoth

Dobhair (Gweedore), Donegal. Later that year, Mícheál,

Tríona, Maighread, and Dáithi formed the group Skara Brae,

a name suggested by Mícheál in reference to Skara Brae, an

archaeological site in the Orkney Islands in Scotland consisting

of a bleak stone village built in the second millennium BC.

In 1971, Skara Brae released an eponymous album of

“beautifully performed Gaelic songs” on Gael Linn Records.

It was notable as the first recording to include vocal

harmonisation in Irish language songs. In 2004, Ó Domhnaill

described the influences on the group in an interview with the

RTÉ radio program Rattlebag:

“Once a year we’d go up and we’d meet the Derry lads, and we’d

form great bonds and they had a great interest in the language

and love for it, and as did we, and we kind of sparked off each

other. And we used to go down to the lake after classes and we’d

sing. We’d sing Beatles songs, but we’d also sing Irish songs. And

experiment with chords. We learned a lot from the Beatles. We

listened a lot to them and all the music that was happening at the

time and we tried to bring that to bear ... on the Irish.”

Skara Brae’s version of “Tá mé ‘mo shuí” shows the unique

influence of Rann na Feirste. The song is performed differently

in other parishes of the same area. The four voices are skilfully

supported by Triona’s harpsichord, and the unique guitar work

of Mícheál and Dáithi. Mícheál in fact was one of the first

guitar players, along with Dáithí, in Irish traditional music

to employ DADGAD tuning. His guitar style had a dramatic

impact on guitarists who followed in the genre. Both Mícheál

and Dáithí were influenced in their early years by John

Renbourn and Bert Jansch.

In 1973, while playing the club circuit in Ireland and still a

student at University College Dublin, Ó Domhnaill met Mick

Hanly, a Limerick-born singer, guitarist, and dulcimer player,

and soon the two formed a duo called Monroe. Playing a

mixture of Irish, English, and Scottish ballads, many sung in

Irish and Scottish Gaelic, Monroe’s music centered on acoustic

guitars, dulcimer, and voices, with “Hanly’s brusque tones

complimenting Mícheál’s lower-key vocals”. As Monroe, Hanly

and Ó Domhnaill toured Brittany often, meeting with other

local and visiting Irish musicians. During this time, Brittany

was enjoying a major folk revival, with artists like Alan Stivell,

Tri Yann, and Sonnerien Du just emerging onto the scene.

After graduating from the University College Dublin in 1973


with a degree in Celtic Studies, he took a position with the Irish

Folklore Commission collecting songs in Donegal. During that

time he met many singers and musicians who shared his love

of Irish traditional music. He played regularly at the Tabairne

Hiudai Beag’s and spent long hours with his aunt Neilí, learning

and documented over 200 traditional songs she had collected

and been singing for years. Many of the songs he would later

record he first learned from Neilí during his childhood and

from this time of learning.

In 1974, when he was just twenty two years old, Mícheál

became the first presenter of the RTÉ radio program “The

Long Note”, which featured Irish traditional musicians, many

of whom had never previously been recorded. In 1974, Hanly

and Ó Domhnaill recorded a single, “The Hills of Greenmore”,

and toured with the group Planxty as their supporting act. After

enlisting the help of some of the members of Planxty—Liam

O’Flynn, Dónal Lunny, and Matt Molloy—Hanly and Ó

Domhnaill signed a deal with Polydor Records and recorded

the album, “Celtic Folkweave”, which would later be called a

“seminal” album and a “predecessor to The Bothy Band”.

In late 1974, Ó Domhnaill co-founded the very popular

group The Bothy Band, along with Matt Molloy (flute and tin

whistle), Paddy Keenan (uilleann pipes and tin whistle), Dónal

Lunny (bouzouki, guitar, and production), Paddy Glackin

(fiddle), and his sister Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill (harpsichord,

clavinet and vocals). Paddy Glackin was later replaced by

Tommy Peoples, who was then replaced by Kevin Burke in

May 1976. In the five years the Bothy Band were together, they

emerged as one of the most exciting groups in the history of

Irish traditional music. Much of their repertoire was rooted

in the traditional music of Ireland, and their enthusiasm and

musical virtuosity set a standard for future Irish traditional

performers.

On 2 February 1975, the Bothy Band made its debut at Trinity

College Dublin. Despite their great legacy, the Bothy Band

only recorded three studio albums during their brief career:

The Bothy Band (1975), Old Hag You Have Killed Me (1976),

and Out of the Wind – Into the Sun (1977). A live album

After Hours was released in 1979. Their first album quickly

established them as an important new band. Their second

album, Old Hag You Have Killed Me, expanded their following

considerably. In 1977, they released their final studio album,

effectively establishing their reputation and legacy within the

Irish traditional music community.

In 1979, the group disbanded, but the former members went on

to play influential roles in the development of Irish traditional

music. Lunny returned for a while to Planxty and then helped

to form the Celtic rock band Moving Hearts. He continued his

work as a producer, working with artists like Andy M. Stewart.

Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill moved to the United States and formed

the short-lived band Touchstone. She later joined her brother to

form both Relativity and Nightnoise.

Upon the dissolution of the Bothy Band, Ó Domhnaill and

fiddler Kevin Burke formed a duo and recorded the album

“Promenade” (1979). Co-produced by Ó Domhnaill and Gerry

O’Beirne for Mulligan Records, the album has been called “one

of the finest duets ever recorded in Irish traditional music”. In

contrast to the “propulsive power and bracing brinkmanship”

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produced by the Bothy Band, the duo set off on a different

musical path that one reviewer from the Irish Echo called

“soulful finesse”.

Their sound was unrushed, detailed, spellbindingly beautiful,

yet still pulsing with vitality. For tunes, it was the ultimate

rhythmic glide, smooth rather than slick, without a hint of

coasting. For songs, it was respect and reflection conveyed with

absolute conviction.

The album’s centerpiece and single was “Lord Franklin”, which

featured Ó Domhnaill’s lilting vocals in English. He sang two

other songs on the album in Irish. Ó Domhnaill’s guitar playing

and Burke’s Sligo-style Irish fiddling achieved a “relaxed

vitality” through “compelling melodies, pulsing Sligo rhythms,

intricate variations, and vocal perfection”.

In 1980, Ó Domhnaill and Burke moved to the United States

where they toured extensively throughout the country. In 1982,

they released their second album, “Portland,” on Green Linnet

Records, which was received with equal enthusiasm by Irish

traditional music critics. Reviewers singled out the “tender,

baring passion” of Ó Domhnaill’s voice in his renditions of

“Eirigh a Shiuir” and “Aird Ui Chumhaing”.

He treated traditional songs in Irish as the enduring testament

of history handed down by those who experienced it rather

than merely documented it. His acoustic guitar playing was,

like himself, unobtrusive yet intense, focused on gimmick-free

impact and ever-mindful that it must support, not supplant,

Burke’s melodic fiddling.

While touring in Portland, Oregon in 1980, Ó Domhnaill met

a young American woman, Peg Johnson, and the two soon

began a romantic relationship. After dating for two years, they

were married and settled into a house in Portland, where Ó

Domhnaill lived for the next fourteen years.

In 1983, after seven years with the Bothy Band and several

years collaborating with the master fiddler Kevin Burke,

Ó Domhnaill began searching for a new project and a new

sound. He met Billy Oskay in Portland, and the two began a

new collaboration focused on a new and innovative music that

integrated traditional Irish, jazz, and classical chamber music.

This collaboration between the American violinist and Irish

guitarist created a unique blend of musical forms. Together,

they composed and recorded songs in Oskay’s Portland home

and were pleased with the result.

In late 1983, Ó Domhnaill’s music career was altered when

William Ackerman at Windham Hill Records heard one of the

tracks recorded at Oskay’s home.

“I guess we were doing the soundtrack for Country at the time

and Tom Bocci, who was in publishing at Disney, said hey listen,

I’ve got this thing that I think you might be interested in. And

he played a little of it for me and I said ‘God, there’s something

in here that’s really familiar to me’. And he said, ‘well do you

know The Bothy Band’. And I just went nuts. And he said ‘this is

Mícheál, you know’, and I said ‘God, great, I love it. So get me

more.’”

Ackerman soon offered Ó Domhnaill and Oskay a contract

with Windham Hill Records. The tracks they recorded at

Oskay’s home were mixed and released in 1984 on their album

“Nightnoise”. The album represented a real departure from

Ó Domhnaill’s Bothy Band roots, and the mellow, ambient

instrumental style incorporating jazz and classical elements and

forms full of spirituality almost defined what would be called

New Age music.

In 1985, Mícheál and his sister Tríona (vocals, clavinet) joined

the two Scottish brothers Phil Cunningham (accordion,

keyboard, whistle, bodhran) and Johnny Cunningham (fiddle)

to form the group Relativity. Together they released two

critically successful albums: the eponymous “Relativity” (1985)

and “Gathering Pace” (1987).

In 1987, Tríona and Irish-American flutist Brian Dunning

joined Ó Domhnaill and Oskay to form the band Nightnoise.

The quartet’s first album “Something of Time” was released by

Windham Hill Records in 1987. It was followed by “At the End

of the Evening” (1988) and “The Parting Tide” (1990). These

albums received significant commercial and critical acclaim,

and helped the group develop an impressive reputation touring

the United States, Japan, and Europe. Their music effectively

combined “original acoustic chamber music with an Irish feel

mixing jazz, classical, folk and new age idioms.” Their original

music made full use of the Ó Domhnaill’s folk background, the

folk/jazz combinations of Skara Brae, Brian Dunning’s jazz

background, and Bill Oskay’s classical influences.

Nightnoise gave Mícheál the opportunity to expand his

musical vocabulary as well as his audience, while retaining

the spirit of Irish traditional music that was so much a part of

him. In an interview with ‘Echoes’, Ó Domhnaill spoke of the

prevailing influence of his Irish heritage in the new music he

was creating:

We were pretty handcuffed and anchored by the tradition so

we could still write music outside of the strictures of 6/8 time or

4/4 time, but they couldn’t but sound Celtic because I’m Irish

and whatever I write would have elements of the sum total of

the listener experience I’ve had throughout my life. So the Celtic

music is still there, the structure of the music is just different.

Following Billy Oskay’s departure from Nightnoise in 1990,

Scottish fiddler Johnny Cunningham, a former member of

Silly Wizard who had played with Triona and Mícheál in the

band Relativity, took over Oskay’s duties. The band took on a

much more Irish-centric sound, while still retaining their own

signature style. The revamped Nightnoise went on to release

the albums “Shadow of Time” (1994), “A Different Shore”

(1995), and “The White Horse Sessions” (1997), an album

featuring three live concert performances from Málaga, Spain in

1995, and in-studio live performances recorded in the 2White

Horse Studies” in Portland, with their Windham Hill colleagues

as their audience.

The “White Horse Sessions” proved to be the last Nightnoise

album. Cunningham left the band following its release, and was

replaced by Irish fiddler John Fitzpatrick. The group recorded

new material—both original compositions and covers of classic

songs—but they were all made for albums other than their own.

Nightnoise officially disbanded towards the end of 1997. In a

1999 interview, Ó Domhnaill stated that Nightnoise had not



broken up, and that the band would be getting together again

shortly, but a reunion never occurred.

folk music was enormous. His passing is a great loss and he will be

sadly missed.”

In 1997, Mícheál returned to Ireland, settling in Dundrum,

Dublin. In the late 1990s, he and former members of

Nightnoise performed on a weekly television show called “Brid

Live”, broadcast by RTE1 in Dublin. In 2001, he teamed up

with his close friend Paddy Glackin, the original Bothy Band

fiddle player, and together they toured and recorded the album

“Athchuairt”. Glackin later praised Ó Domhnaill for his role in

popularising Irish language songs for a wider audience. “He took

a lot of old songs,” Glackin observed, “and re-fashioned them and

made them accessible to a new generation.”

On 7 July 2006, Mícheál Ó Domhnaill died of a heart attack

at his home. He was 54 years old. On 11 July, a wake was held

at the home of his sister Maighread and the following day a

requiem Mass was said for Mícheál at the Church of the Holy

Cross in Dundrum. The funeral was attended by numerous

musicians from across Ireland, including the remaining

members of The Bothy Band, piper Liam O’Flynn, accordion

player Tony MacMahon, and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh. Mícheál

Ó Domhnaill was buried in St. Colmcille’s Cemetery in Kells,

County Meath. Ireland’s Minister for Arts, John O’Donoghue,

in a press release said,

“Mícheál Ó Domhnaill was one of Ireland’s most gifted and well

loved musicians. His contribution to the world of traditional and

On 24 May 2007, a remarkable gathering of Irish traditional

musicians and singers came together at Vicar Street in Dublin

to celebrate the life and music of Mícheál Ó Domhnaill. The

performers included Paddy Keenan, Dónal Lunny, Kevin

Burke, Mary Black, Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill,, and Tríona

Ní Dhomhnaill.

During his early career, Ó Domhnaill played a dark

journeyman’s Guild dreadnought guitar on stage and on

recordings. In 1977, he commissioned a custom-made guitar

from luthier Kenny White who was based out of Portland,

Oregon. During the 1990s, he played a 1975 Martin D-28,

which he used on his later recordings and stage appearances. In

a 1996 interview, Ó Domhnaill observed,

“It’s gotten louder, fuller, clearer, and more bell-like. It wasn’t a

great instrument when I bought it, but it was a Martin, and I

knew it would improve if I played it. I have, and it’s worked.”

Ó Domhnaill also owned a custom-made guitar by another

Portland luthier Terry Demezas. He preferred medium-gauge

phosphor-bronze strings, and used a large triangular Fender

medium flatpick when not fingerpicking. For much of his

career, he performed with a small quiver of tin whistles and a

pedal harmonium.

Mícheál Ó Domhnaill Discography

WITH SKARA BREA

WITH KEVIN BURKE

THE PARTING TIDE 1990

Discogs link

SKARA BREA 1971

Discogs link

WITH MICK HANLY

CELTIC FOLKWEAVE 1974

Discogs link

WITH BOTHY BAND

THE BOTHY BAND 1975

Discogs link

OLD HAG YOU HAVE KILLED ME

1976 Discogs link

OUT OF THE WIND – INTO THE SUN

(1977) Discogs link

AFTER HOURS (LIVE IN PARIS) 1979

Discogs link

BEST OF THE BOTHY BAND 1983

Discogs link

THE BOTHY BAND LIVE IN

CONCERT 1995 Discogs link

PROMENADE 1979

Discogs link

PORTLAND 1982

Discogs link

WITH BILL OSKAY

NIGHTNOISE 1984

Discogs link

WITH RELATIVITY

RELATIVITY 1985

Discogs link

GATHERING PACE 1987

Discogs link

WITH NIGHTNOISE

SOMETHING OF TIME 1987

Discogs link

AT THE END OF THE EVENING 1988

Discogs link

A WINDHAM HILL RETROSPECTIVE

1992 Discogs link

SHADOW OF TIME 1993

Discogs link

A DIFFERENT SHORE 1995

Discogs link

THE WHITE HORSE SESSIONS 1997

Discogs link

PURE NIGHTNOISE 2006

Discogs link

WITH PADDY GLACKIN

REPRISE ATHCHUAIRT 2001

Discogs link

WITH OTHER ARTISTS

CLANNAD 2 by Clannad(1974

(guitar, vocals) Discogs link

TRÍONA by Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill 1975

(guitar, leiriu) Discogs link


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MAGAZINE

NOEL HILL & TONY LINNANE by

Noel Hill (1978) (producer, church

harmonium) Discogs link

IF THE CAP FITS by Kevin Burke 1978

(guitar) Discogs link

NEW LAND by Touchstone 1982

(producer, guitar) Discogs link

THUNDERHEAD by Malcolm Dalglish

1982 (producer, guitar) Discogs link

JEALOUSY BY TOUCHSTONE 1984

(producer, guitar, keyboards)

Discogs link

HEARTLAND MESSENGER by Gerald

Trimble 1984 (guitar, harmonium)

Discogs link

MATT MOLLOY by Matt Molloy 1984

(producer) Discogs link

FIRST FLIGHT by Gerald Trimble 1984


ABOVE THE TOWER by Magical

Strings 1985 (producer) Discogs link

FAIR PLAY by Puck Fair 1987 (guitar,

whistle, human whistle) Discogs link

ON THE BURREN by Magical Strings

1987 (producer) Discogs link

HEATHERY BREEZE by Matt Molloy

1988 (guitar) Discogs link

ROAD NORTH by Alasdair Fraser 1989


CROSSING TO SKELLIG by Magical

Strings 1990 (producer) Discogs link

AN RÁS by Tommy Hayes 1991

(arranger, guitar) Discogs link

OPEN HOUSE by Kevin Burke 1992

(producer) Discogs link

BEST OF IRELAND by Celtic Graces

1994 (guitar, vocals) Discogs link

BROTHERHOOD OF STARS by Carlos

Nunez 1997 (guitar) Discogs link

MIGRATION by Valgardena 1997

(performer) Discogs link

SUN THE MOON AND THE STARS by

Jimmy Smyth (1998) (composer)

Discogs link

IDIR AN DÁ SHOLAs by Maighread Ní

Dhomnaill 2000 (guitar) Discogs link

ZOË CONWAY by Zoë Conway 2002


PEACE OF MIND by Peace of Mind

2003 (guitar) Discogs

LIVE IN BELFAST by Cathal Hayden

2005 (guitar, vocals) Discogs link

COMPILATION ALBUMS

WINDHAM HILL SAMPLER ‘84 1985

Discogs link

WINDHAM HILL: AUTUMN

PORTRAIT 1985 Discogs link

A WINTER’S SOLSTICE 1985

Discogs link

FLIGHT OF THE GREEN LINNET 1988

Discogs link


Discogs link

A WINTER’S SOLSTICE II 1988

Discogs link

PLAYING WITH FIRE: Celtic Fiddle

Collection 1989 Discogs link

SONA GAIA: COLLECTION ONE 1990

Discogs link

WINDHAM HILL: THE FIRST TEN

YEARS 1990 Discogs link

A WINTER’S SOLSTICE III 1990

Discogs link


Discogs link

HEART OF THE GAELS 1992

Discogs link

IMPRESSIONISTS: A WINDHAM HILL

SAMPLER 1992 Discogs link

A WINTER’S SOLSTICE IV 1993

Discogs link

BACH VARIATIONS: A WINDHAM

HILL SAMPLER 1994 Discogs link


Discogs link

A WINTER’S SOLSTICE V 1995

Discogs link

CELTIC CHRISTMAS: A WINDHAM

HILL SAMPLER 1995 Discogs link

CELTIC TWILIGHT, VOL. 2 1996

Discogs link

SANCTUARY: 20 YEARS OF

WINDHAM HILL 1996 Discogs link


Discogs link

GREEN LINNET 20TH ANNIVERSARY

COLLECTION 1996 Discogs link

CAROLS OF CHRISTMAS 1996

Discogs link

CELTIC CHRISTMAS II 1996

Discogs link

ON A STARRY NIGHT 1997

Discogs link

HOLDING UP HALF THE SKY:

Women’s Voices from Around the World,

Vol. 1 1997 Discogs link

THERE WAS A LADY: The Voice of

Celtic Women 1997 Discogs link

CELTIC LOVE SONGS 1997

Discogs link

CELTIC MUSIC TODAY 1997

Discogs link

TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF

SCOTLAND 1997 Discogs link

CANDLELIGHT MOMENTS: SERENE

SOUNDS 1997 Discogs link

CELTIC CHRISTMAS III 1997

Discogs link

HER INFINITE VARIETY: Celtic

Women in Music & Song 1998

Discogs link

PUTTING ON AIRS 1998

Discogs link

LEGENDS OF IRELAND 1998

Discogs link

CELTIC CHRISTMAS IV 1998

Discogs link



WINTER SOLSTICE REUNION 1998

Discogs link

JOYFUL NOISE: Celtic Favorites from

Green Linnet 1998 Discogs link

CELTIC WOMAN (1999) Valley

Best of the Thistle & Shamrock, Vol. 1

1999 Discogs link

CELTIC CHRISTMAS V: The Millennium

Edition 1999 Discogs link

VOICE OF CELTIC MUSIC 1999

Discogs link

HOLDING UP HALF THE SKY: Voices

of Celtic Women II 1999 Discogs link

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC:

DESTINATION IRELAND 2001

Discogs link

CELTIC CHRISTMAS: SILVER

ANNIVERSARY EDITION 2001

Discogs link

THE DANCE MUSIC OF IRELAND:

JIGS & REELS 2002 Discogs link

THE ACOUSTIC FOLK BOX 2002

Discogs link

CHRISTMAS ADAGIOS: HOLIDAY

CLASSICS TO TOUCH YOUR HEART

AND SOUL 2002 Discogs link

A WINDHAM HILL CHRISTMAS 2002

Discogs link

WINDHAM HILL CHILL: AMBIENT

ACOUSTIC (003 Discogs link

WINDHAM HILL CHILL 2 2003

Discogs link

VERY BEST OF CELTIC CHRISTMAS

2004 Discogs link

ESSENTIAL WINTER’S SOLSTICE 2005

Discogs link

QUIET REVOLUTION: 30 YEARS OF

WINDHAM HILL 2005 Discogs link

WINTER’S SONGS: A WINDHAM

HILL CHRISTMAS 2010

Discogs link


45 |

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Burl

Ives

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995)

was an American folk singer and actor with a career that

spanned more than six decades.

Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist,

eventually launching his own radio show, ‘The Wayfaring

Stranger,’ which popularized traditional folk songs. In 1942, he

appeared in Irving Berlin’s ‘This Is the Army’ and became a

major star of CBS Radio. In the 1960s, he successfully crossed

over into country music, recording hits such as “A Little Bitty

Tear” and “Funny Way of Laughin’”. Ives was also a popular film

actor through the late 1940s and ‘50s. His film roles included

parts in ‘So Dear to My Heart’ (1948) and ‘Cat on a Hot Tin

Roof ’ (1958), as well as the role of Rufus Hannassey in ‘The Big

Country’ (1958), for which he won an Academy Award for ‘Best

Supporting Actor’, and the film noir ‘Day of the Outlaw’ (1959).

Ives is often associated with the Christmas season. He did voiceover

work as ‘Sam the Snowman’, narrator of the classic 1964

Christmas television special ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’.

Ives also worked on the special’s soundtrack, including the

songs “A Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed

Reindeer”, both of which continue to chart annually on the

Billboard holiday charts into the 2020s.

Ives was born in Hunt City, an unincorporated town in Jasper

County, Illinois, near Newton, to Levi “Frank” Ives (1880–

1947) and Cordelia “Dellie” née White; (1882–1954). He had

six siblings: Audry, Artie, Clarence, Argola, Lillburn, and

Norma. His father was first a farmer and then a contractor for

the county and others. One day, Ives was singing in the garden

with his mother, and his uncle overheard them. He invited his

nephew to sing at the old soldiers’ reunion in Hunt City. The

boy performed a rendition of the folk ballad “Barbara Allen”

and impressed both his uncle and the audience.

From 1927 to 1929, Ives attended Eastern Illinois State Teachers

College (now Eastern Illinois University) in Charleston, Illinois,

where he played football. During his junior year, he was sitting

in English class, listening to a lecture on Beowulf, when he

suddenly realized he was wasting his time. As he walked out of

the door, the professor made a snide remark and Ives slammed

the door behind him, shattering the window in the door. Sixty

years later, the school named a building after its most famous

dropout. Ives was a member of the Charleston ‘Chapter of The

Order of DeMolay’ and is listed in the DeMolay Hall of Fame.

He was also initiated into ‘Scottish Rite Freemasonry’ in 1927.

He was elevated to the 33rd and highest degree in 1987, and was

later elected the Grand Cross.


Burl Ives

On July 23, 1929, in Richmond, Indiana, Ives made a trial

recording of “Behind the Clouds” for the ‘Starr Piano

Company’s’ Gennett label, but the recording was rejected and

destroyed a few weeks later. In later years Ives did not recall

having made the record.

Ives traveled about the U.S. as an itinerant singer during the

early 1930s, earning his way by doing odd jobs and playing

his banjo. He was jailed in Mona, Utah, for vagrancy and

for singing “Foggy Dew” (an English folk song), which the

authorities decided was a bawdy song. Around 1931, he began

performing on ‘WBOW radio’ in Terre Haute, Indiana. He

also went back to school, attending classes at Indiana State

Teachers College (now Indiana State University). In 1933,

Ives also attended the Juilliard School in New York. He made

his Broadway debut in 1938 with a small role in Rodgers and

Hart’s hit musical, ‘The Boys from Syracuse’. In 1939, he joined

his friend and fellow actor Eddie Albert, who had the starring

role in ‘The Boys from Syracuse’, in Los Angeles. The two shared

an apartment for a while in the Beachwood Canyon community

of Hollywood.

In 1940, Ives named his own radio show, ‘The Wayfaring

Stranger,’ after one of his ballads. Over the next decade, he

popularized several traditional folk songs, such as “Foggy Dew”,

“The Blue Tail Fly” (an old minstrel tune now better known as

“Jimmy Crack Corn”), and “Big Rock Candy Mountain” (an

old hobo song). He was also associated with the Almanacs, a

folk-singing group which at different times included Woody

Guthrie, Will Geer, Millard Lampell, and Pete Seeger. The

Almanacs were active in the ‘American Peace Mobilization’

(APM), a far left group initially opposed to American entry into

World War II and Franklin Roosevelt’s pro-Allied policies.

They recorded such songs as “Get Out and Stay Out of War”

and “Franklin, Oh Franklin”.

In June 1941, after the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, the

APM abandoned its pacifist stance and reorganized itself into

the pro-war ‘American People’s Mobilization’. Ives and the

Almanacs rerecorded several of their songs to reflect the group’s

new stance in favor of US entry into the war. Among them were

“Dear Mr. President” and “Reuben James” (the name of a US

destroyer sunk by the Germans before the official US entry into

the war).

In early 1942, Ives was drafted into the U.S. Army. He spent

time first at Camp Dix, then at Camp Upton, where he joined

the cast of Irving Berlin’s ‘This Is the Army.’ He attained the

rank of corporal. When the show went to Hollywood, he

was transferred to the Army Air Forces. He was honorably

discharged, apparently for medical reasons, in September

1943. Between September and December 1943, Ives lived in

California with actor Harry Morgan. In December 1943, Ives

went to New York City to work for CBS Radio for $100 a week.

In 1944, he recorded “The Lonesome Train”, a ballad about the

life and death of Abraham Lincoln, written by Earl Robinson

(music) and Lampell (lyrics).

In 1946, Ives was cast as a singing cowboy in the film ‘Smoky.’

In 1947, Ives recorded one of many versions of “The Blue Tail

Fly”, but paired this time with the popular Andrews Sisters

(Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne). The flip side of the record was

a fast-paced “I’m Goin’ Down the Road”. Ives hoped the trio’s


success would help the record sell well, which it did, becoming

both a best-selling disc and a Billboard hit.

His version of the song “Lavender Blue” became his first hit and

was nominated for an Academy Award for ‘Best Original Song’

after Ives introduced it in the 1949 film ‘So Dear to My Heart’.

Music critic John Rockwell said,

“Ives’ voice ... had the sheen and finesse of opera without its latterday

Puccinian vulgarities and without the pretensions of operatic

ritual. It was genteel in expressive impact without being genteel in

social conformity. And it moved people”.

Ives was identified in the 1950 pamphlet ‘Red Channels’ and

blacklisted as an entertainer with supposed Communist ties. In

1952, he cooperated with the ‘House Un-American Activities

Committee’ (HUAC) and agreed to testify, fearful of losing

his source of income. Ives’s statement to the HUAC ended his

blacklisting, allowing him to continue acting in movies, but

it also led to a bitter rift between Ives and many folk singers,

including Pete Seeger, who accused Ives of naming names and

betraying the cause of cultural and political freedom to save

his own career. Seeger publicly ridiculed Ives for attempting to

distance himself from many of the far-left organizations he had

supported. In 1993, Ives, by then using a wheelchair, reunited

with Seeger during a benefit concert in New York City, having

reconciled years earlier. They sang “Blue Tail Fly” together.

Ives expanded his appearances in films during this decade.

His movie credits include the role of Sam the Sheriff of Salina,

California, in ‘East of Eden’, Big Daddy in ‘Cat on a Hot Tin

Roof ’, roles in ‘Desire Under the Elms’, ‘Wind Across the

Everglades’, ‘The Big Country’, for which he won an Academy

Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’, ‘Ensign Pulver’, the sequel

to ‘Mister Roberts’, and ‘Our Man in Havana’, based on the

Graham Greene novel.

Barred for a while from American employment, he frequently

played on BBC Radio’s ‘Children’s Hour’, with such favorites

as “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the

Mountain”, and “Lavender Blue”. Ives also performed at the

Royal Coronation festival in 1952 which purportedly was also

attended by a young John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

He was the ‘Mystery Guest’ on the August 7, 1955, and February

1, 1959, episodes of ‘What’s My Line’.

Barred for a while from American employment, he frequently

played on BBC Radio’s Children’s Hour, with such favorites as

“Big Rock Candy Mountain”, “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the

Mountain”, and “Lavender Blue”. Ives also performed at the

Royal Coronation festival in 1952 which purportedly was also

attended by a young John Lennon and Paul McCartney.[22]

He was the Mystery Guest on the August 7, 1955, and February

1, 1959, episodes of What’s My Line.

1960s–1990s

In the 1960s, Ives began singing country music with greater

frequency. In 1962, he released three songs that were popular

with both country music and popular music fans: “A Little

Bitty Tear”, “Call Me Mister In-Between”, and “Funny Way of

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Laughin’”. His records, recorded in Nashville for Decca Records,

were produced by Owen Bradley, one of the record producers

who (along with Chet Atkins) helped define the Nashville

Sound style of country music that expanded the music’s appeal

to a wider audience. Bradley used the Nashville A-Team of

session musicians behind Ives, including the Anita Kerr

Singers, which enhanced Ives’ appeal. Bradley also produced

the recording of Ives’s perennial Holiday favorite “A Holly Jolly

Christmas” in Nashville.

Ives had several film and television roles during the 1960s

and 1970s. In 1961, he sang the folk song, “I Know an Old

Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” for a short film of the same name

produced by the ‘National Film Board of Canada’. In 1962, he

starred with Rock Hudson in ‘The Spiral Road’, which was

based on a novel of the same name by Jan de Hartog. He

also starred in ‘Disney’s Summer Magic’ with Hayley Mills,

Dorothy McGuire, and Eddie Hodges, and a score by Robert

and Richard Sherman. In 1964, he played the genie in the

movie ‘The Brass Bottle’ with Tony Randall and Barbara Eden.

Ives’s “A Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Silver and Gold” became

Christmas standards after they were first featured in the

1964 NBC-TV presentation of the Rankin/Bass stop-motion

animated family special ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’.

Johnny Marks had composed the title song (originally an

enormous hit for singing cowboy Gene Autry) in 1949, and

producers Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass retained him

to compose the TV special’s soundtrack. Ives voiced ‘Sam

the Snowman’, the banjo-playing “host” and narrator of the

story, explaining how Rudolph used his “nonconformity”, as

Sam refers to it, to save Christmas from being cancelled due

to an impassable blizzard. The following year, Ives rerecorded

all three of the Johnny Marks hits which he had sung in the

TV special, but with a more “pop” feel. He released them all

as singles for the 1965 holiday season, capitalizing on their

previous success. In 2022, 27 years after his death, “A Holly Jolly

Christmas”, made the Billboard Year-End chart.

Ives performed in other television productions, including

‘Pinocchio’ and ‘Roots’.

He starred in short-lived ‘O.K. Crackerby!’ (1965–66), a comedy

which costarred Hal Buckley, Joel Davison, and Brooke

Adams, about the presumed richest man in the world, which

replaced Walter Brennan’s somewhat similar’The Tycoon’ on

the ABC schedule from the preceding year.

He played Walter Nichols in the drama ‘The Bold Ones: The

Lawyers’ (1969–72), a segment of the wheel series ‘The Bold

Ones’.

Ives narrated the 1971 season highlight film for the Washington

Redskins of the National Football League produced by NFL

Films. The Executive Producer was NFL Films founder Ed

Sabol, and chief producer was Ed’s son, Steve Sabol. Ed and

Steve Sabol are members of the ‘Pro Football Hall of Fame’.

Ives occasionally starred in macabre-themed productions. In

1970, for example, he played the title role in ‘The Man Who

Wanted to Live Forever’, in which his character attempts to

harvest human organs from unwilling donors. In 1972, he

appeared as old man Doubleday in the episode “The Other Way

Out” of Rod Serling’s ‘Night Gallery,’ in which his character

seeks a gruesome revenge for the murder of his granddaughter.

In honor of Ives’s influence on American vocal music,

on October 25, 1975, he was awarded the University of

Pennsylvania ‘Glee Club Award of Merit’. This award, initiated

in 1964, was

“established to bring a declaration of appreciation to an

individual each year who has made a significant contribution to

the world of music and helped to create a climate in which our

talents may find valid expression.”

When ‘America Sings’ opened at Disneyland in 1974, Ives

voiced the main host, Sam Eagle, an Audio-Animatronic.

In 1976, Ives was featured as a main character in ‘Little House

on the Prairie’ season 3 episode 10 titled “The Hunters”. Ives

played an old fur trapper who was blind and afraid to leave

the comfort and safety of his cabin which he shared with his

adult son (Johnny Crawford). In this episode Ives paired off

with Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert) to help rescue her injured

father who was accidentally shot while hunting for venison.

Ives lent his name and image to the U.S. Bureau of Land

Management’s “This Land Is Your Land – Keep It Clean”

campaign in the 1970s. He was portrayed with the program’s

fictional spokesman, Johnny Horizon.

Burl Ives was seen regularly in television commercials for

‘Luzianne tea’ for several years during the 1970s and 1980s,

when he was the company’s commercial spokesman.

In 1982 he played Carruthers, a dog trainer, in Samuel Fuller’s

controversial and critically acclaimed film ‘White Dog’.

In 1989, Ives officially announced his retirement from show

business on his 80th birthday. However, he continued to do

occasional benefit concert performances of his own accord until

1993.

Ives’s Broadway career included appearances in ‘The Boys

from Syracuse’ (1938–39), ‘Heavenly Express’ (1940), ‘This Is

the Army’ (1942), ‘Sing Out, Sweet Land’ (1944), ‘Paint Your

Wagon’ (1951–52), and ‘Dr. Cook’s Garden’ (1967). His most

notable Broadway performance (later reprised in a 1958 movie)

was as “Big Daddy” Pollitt in ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ’ (1955–

56).

Ives’s autobiography, ‘The Wayfaring Stranger’, was published in

1948. He also wrote or compiled several other books, including

‘Burl Ives’ Songbook’ (1953), ‘Tales of America’ (1954), ‘Sea

Songs of Sailing, Whaling, and Fishing’ (1956), and ‘The

Wayfaring Stranger’s Notebook’ (1962).

Ives had a long-standing relationship with the ‘Boy Scouts

of America’. He was a ‘Lone Scout’ before that group merged

with the ‘Boy Scouts of America’ in 1924. The organization

“inducted” Ives in 1966. He received the ‘Boy Scouts’ Silver

Buffalo Award’, its highest honor. The certificate for the

award is on display at the Scouting Museum in Valley Forge,

Pennsylvania.


Burl Ives

Ives often performed at the quadrennial ‘Boy Scouts of America

jamboree’, including the 1981 jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in

Virginia, where he shared the stage with the Oak Ridge Boys.

There is a 1977 sound recording of Ives being interviewed by

Boy Scouts at the National Jamboree at Moraine State Park,

Pennsylvania. Ives was also the narrator of a 28-minute film

about the ‘1977 National Jamboree’. In the film, which was

produced by the Boy Scouts of America, Ives “shows the many

ways in which Scouting provides opportunities for young

people to develop character and expand their horizons.”

Ives was inducted as a laureate of the Lincoln Academy of

Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the state’s highest

honor) by the governor of Illinois in 1976 in the area of the

performing arts.

Ives was inducted into the DeMolay International Hall of Fame

in June 1994.

On December 6, 1945, Ives, then 36, married 29-year-old script

writer Helen Peck Ehrlich. Their son Alexander was born in

1949.

Ives and Helen Peck Ehrlich were divorced in February 1971.

Ives married Dorothy Koster Paul in London two months later.

In their later years, Ives and Paul lived in a waterfront home

in Anacortes, Washington, in the Puget Sound area, and in

Galisteo, New Mexico, near the Turquoise Trail. In the 1960s,

he had another home just south of Hope Town on Elbow Cay, a

barrier island of the Abacos in the Bahamas.

Ives, a longtime smoker of pipes and cigars, was diagnosed with

oral cancer in the summer of 1994. After several unsuccessful

operations, he decided against further surgery. He fell into a

coma and died from the disease on April 14, 1995, at his home

in Anacortes, Washington, at age 85. He was buried at Mound

Cemetery in Hunt City Township, Jasper County, Illinois.

BURL IVES

Aged 19


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Okeh Presents the Wayfaring Stranger

(1941, Okeh K-3, 4 records, 10 inch, 78

rpm)

The Wayfaring Stranger (1944, Asch

345, 3 records, 10 inch, 78 rpm, reissued

in 1947 as Stinson 345 [same catalog

number], 10 inch, 78 rpm)

The Wayfaring Stranger (1944,

Columbia C-103, 4 records, 10 inch, 78

rpm)

BBC Presents The Martins and the Coys

(1944, BBC World, 6 records, 12 inch,

78 rpm)


Columbia CL 6109, 10 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

Hymns Sung by Burl Ives (1950,

Columbia C-203, 4 records, 10 inch, 78

rpm; Columbia CL 6115, 10 inch, 331⁄3

rpm)

More Folksongs (1950, Columbia

C-213, 4 records, 10 inch, 78 rpm;

Columbia CL 6144, 10 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

Burl Ives Sings The Lollipop Tree, The

Little Turtle, And The Moon Is The

North Wind’s Cookie (1950, Columbia

MJV 110, 10 inch, 78 rpm)

burl ives album

(1956, Decca DL 8245, 12 inch, 331⁄3

rpm, with 4 additional songs)

Burl Ives Sings In The Quiet Of The

Night (1956, Decca DL 8247)

Burl Ives Sings... For Fun (1956, Decca

DL 8248)

Children’s Favorites (1956, Columbia

CL 2570, 10 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

Burl Ives Sings Songs For All Ages

(1957, Columbia CL 980)

Christmas Eve With Burl Ives (1957,

Decca DL 8391)

Lonesome Train: A Musical Legend

(1944, Decca A-375, 3 records, 12 inch,

78 rpm, reissued in 1950 as Decca DL

5054, 10 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

Sing Out, Sweet Land! (1945, Decca

A-404, 6 records, 10 inch, 78 rpm)

A Collection of Ballads and Folk Songs


78 rpm, reissued in 1950 as A Collection

of Ballads and Folk Songs, Volume 1,

Decca DL 5080, 10 inch 331⁄3 rpm)

Ballads and Folk Songs, Volume 2


78 rpm, reissued in 1949 as Decca DL

5013, 10 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

A Collection of Ballads, Folk and

Country Songs, Volume 3 (1949, Decca

A-711, 3 records, 10 inch, 78 rpm,

reissued in 1950 as Decca DL 5093, 10

inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

The Wayfaring Stranger (1949, Stinson

SLP 1, 10 inch, 78 rpm, reissued

circa 1954 as Blue Tail Fly and Other

Favorites, Stinson SL 1 [same catalog

number], 12 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

Animal Fair: Songs for Children (1949,

Columbia MJV 59, 2 records, 10 inch,

78 rpm)

Mother Goose Songs (1949, Columbia

MJV 61, 10 inch, 78 rpm)

The Return of the Wayfaring Stranger

(1949, C-186, 4 records, 10 inch, 78

rpm, also released as Columbia CL

6058, 10 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

Tubby The Tuba (Victor Jory)/Animal

Fair: Songs for Children (1950,

Columbia JL 8013, 10 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

Sing Out, Sweet Land! (1950, Decca

DL 8023, 12 inch, 331⁄3 rpm, reissued

in 1962 as Decca DL 4304/74304

[simulated stereo])

Historical America in Song (1950,

Encyclopædia Britannica Films, 6

albums in 30 records, 12 inch, 78 rpm)

Christmas Day in the Morning (1952,

Decca DL 5428, 10 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

Folk Songs Dramatic And Humorous

(1953, Decca DL 5467, 10 inch, 331⁄3

rpm)

Women: Songs About The Fair Sex

(1953, Decca DL 5490, 10 inch, 331⁄3

rpm)

Coronation Concert (1954, Decca DL

8080, 12 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)


Columbia CL 628, 12 inch, 331⁄3 rpm,

reissued in 1964 as Columbia CS 9041

[simulated stereo])

The Wild Side of Life (1955, Decca DL

8107, 12 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

Men: Songs For And About Men (1955,

Decca DL 8125, 12 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

Down to the Sea in Ships (1956, Decca

DL 8245, 12 inch, 331⁄3 rpm)

Women: Folk Songs About The Fair Sex

Songs Of Ireland (1958, Decca DL 8444)

Captain Burl Ives’ Ark (1958, Decca DL

8587)

Old Time Varieties (1958, Decca DL

8637)

Australian Folk Songs (1958, Decca DL

8749)

A Lincoln Treasury (contains Lonesome

Train: A Musical Legend) (1959, Decca

DL 9065)

Cheers (1959, Decca DL 8886/78886)

Burl Ives Sings Little White Duck and

Other Children’s Favorites (1959,

Harmony HL 9507, reissued circa 1963

as Harmony HS 14507 [simulated

stereo], reissued again in 1974 as

Columbia C 33183 [simulated stereo])

Ballads (1959, United Artists UAL 3030/

UAS 6030)

Return Of The Wayfaring Stranger

(1960, Columbia CL 1459 and Hallmark

HM 514, 12 inch, 33/13 rpm)

Burl Ives Sings Irving Berlin (1960,

United Artists UAL 3117/UAS 6117)

Manhattan Troubadour (1961, United

Artists Records UAL 3145/UAS 6145,

reissued with two fewer songs as Burl

Ives Favorites, 1970, Sunset SUS 5280)

The Best Of Burl Ives (1961, Decca DX

167/DXS 7167 [simulated stereo], 2

records, reissued in 1973 as MCA 4034

[simulated stereo], 2 records)


Burl Ives

discography

The Versatile Burl Ives! (1961, Decca DL

4152/74152)

Songs Of The West (1961, Decca DL

4179/74179, reissued as MCA 196)

It’s Just My Funny Way Of Laughin’

(1962, Decca DL 4279/74279)

Burl Country Style (1962, Decca DL

4361/74361)

Spotlight On Burl Ives And The Folk

Singers Three (1962, Design DLP/SDLP

156)

Sunshine In My Soul (1962, Decca DL

4329/74329)

Songs I Sang In Sunday School (1963,

Word W-3229-LP/ WST-8130-LP)

Burl Ives (1963, Camay CA 3005)

Burl Ives and the Korean Orphan Choir

Sing of Faith and Joy (1963, Word

W-3259-LP/WST-8140-LP)

Singin’ Easy (1963, Decca DL

4433/74433)

The Best Of Burl’s For Boys And Girls

(1963, Decca DL 4390/74390 [simulated

stereo], reissued in 1980 as MCA 98

[simulated stereo])

Walt Disney Presents Summer Magic

(1963, Buena Vista BV 3309/STER

4025)

Burl Ives Presents America’s Musical

Heritage (1963, Longines Symphonette

Society LW 194-LW 199, 6 records)

Walt Disney Presents Burl Ives’ Animal

Folk (1963, Disneyland ST 3920)

Walt Disney Presents Burl Ives’ Folk

Lullabies (1964, Disneyland ST 3924)

Scouting Along with Burl Ives (1964,

Columbia CSP 347)

Chim Chim Cher-ee And Other

Children’s Choices (1964, Disneyland

ST 3927)

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

(1964, Decca DL 34327/4815/74815)

My Gal Sal And Other Favorites (1965,

Decca DL 4606/74606)

On The Beach At Waikiki (1965, Decca

DL 4668/74668)

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas (1965,

Decca DL 4689/74689, reissued as MCA

237)

Shall We Gather At The River? (1965,

Word W-3339-LP/WST-8339-LP)

The Lollipop Tree (1965, Harmony HL

9551/HS 14551)

The Daydreamer (1966, Columbia OL

6540/OS 2940)

Burl’s Choice (1966, Decca DL

4734/74734)

Something Special (1966, Decca DL

4789/74789)

I Do Believe (1967, Word W-3391-LP/

WST-8391-LP)

Burl Ives Sings (1967, Coronet CXS 271)

Greatest Hits (1967, Decca DL

4850/74850)

Burl’s Broadway (1967, Decca DL

4876/74876)

The Big Country Hits (1968, Decca DL

4972/74972)

Sweet, Sad And Salty (1968, Decca DL

5028/75028)

The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1968,

Columbia CS 9675)

Got The World By The Tail (1969,

Harmony HS 11275)

Burl Ives Folk Songs And Stories (1969,

Columbia CR 21526)

Time (1970, Bell 6055, reissued as The

Talented Man, 1978, Bulldog 1027)

How Great Thou Art (1971, Word WST-

8537-LP)

A Day At The Zoo With Burl Ives (1972

Disneyland Records 1347)

Christmas at the White House (1972,

Caedmon TC 1415)

Payin’ My Dues Again (1973, MCA 318)

Song Book (1973, MCA Coral CB

20029)

Little Red Caboose And Other

Children’s Hits (1974, Disneyland 1359)

The Best Of Burl Ives, Vol. 2 (1975,

MCA 4089, 2 records)

Hugo The Hippo (1976, United Artists

LA-637-G)

Christmas by the Bay (1977, United

States Navy Band)

We Americans: A Musical Journey With

Burl Ives (1978, National Geographic

Society NGS 07806)

Live In Europe (1979, Polydor 2382094)

The Special Magic Of Burl Ives (1981,

MCA MSM 35043)

Burl Ives Twelve Days Of Christmas

(1967), Pickwick Records SPC 1018)

Best of Burl Ives: 20th Century Masters/

The Christmas Collection (September

23, 2003]

True Love (1964, Decca DL 4533/74533)

Burl Ives Sings Pearly Shells and Other

Favorites (1964, Decca DL 4578/74578,

reissued as MCA 102)

Christmas Album (1968, Columbia CS

9728)

Burl Ives Sings Softly And Tenderly

Hymns & Spirituals (1969, Columbia CS

9925)


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MAGAZINE

Roger

Whittaker

Roger Henry Brough Whittaker (22 March

1936 – 13 September 2023) was a Kenyanborn

British singer-songwriter and musician.

His music is an eclectic mixture of folk music and

popular songs, the latter variously in a crooning or

in a schlager style. He is best known for his baritone

singing voice and trademark whistling ability as well

as his guitar skills.

The Times observed that:

“Aome pop singers define the zeitgeist and many

more follow it. A much rarer number of them defy it

and Roger Whittaker counted himself proudly and

unapologetically among them”.

Despite not obtaining sustained chart success, he

gained a large international following through TV

appearances and live performances, with fan clubs

in at least 12 countries (including Australia, Canada,

Great Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, and

the United States). One admirer was US president

George H. W. Bush, at whose home he was invited to

perform.

Whittaker is best known internationally for his

1971 single “The Last Farewell”, which charted in 11

countries. In the United States, where the song was

released four years later, it became his only entry

in the Billboard Hot 100, and reached number one

on the Adult Contemporary chart. Whittaker was

widely known for his own compositions, including

“Durham Town (The Leavin’)” (1969) and “I Don’t

Believe in If Anymore” (1970).

American audiences are most familiar with his 1970

hit album “New World in the Morning” and his

renditions of “Ding! Dong! Merrily on High” and

“The Twelve Days of Christmas”. From the 1970s

onward he had great success and a devoted fan base


Roger Whittaker

in Germany singing in German. His 1977 Greatest

Hits album “All My Best” was marketed on television

through mail order and went on to sell nearly one

million copies. In total, he sold an estimated 50–60

million records during his career.

Whittaker was born in Nairobi, then in British

Kenya, to English parents, Vi (née Snowden) and

Edward Whittaker, who were from Staffordshire,

where they owned and operated a grocery shop. His

father was injured in a motorcycle accident and the

family moved to a farm near Thika, Kenya, because

of its warmer climate. His grandfather sang in

various clubs and his father is believed to have played

the violin. Whittaker learned to play the guitar on an

instrument made for him during the Second World

War by an Italian prisoner of war from the North

African campaign. He was quoted as saying that

all he wanted as a child were country and western

gramophone records by artists such as The Carter

Family and Jimmie Rodgers, to which he used to

sing along.

Upon completing his primary education, Whittaker

was admitted to Prince of Wales School (now

Nairobi School), and whilst there sang in the choir at

Nairobi Cathedral Upon completing his high-school

education, he was called up for national service and

spent two years in the Kenya Regiment fighting the

Mau Mau in the Aberdare Forest. He said that he was

“stupid, selfish, and angry” in his youth, and that the

army “made a man” out of him. After demobilization

in 1956, he enrolled at the University of Cape Town

in South Africa to pursue a career in medicine,

performing at the Equator Club in Nairobi during

breaks. However, he left after 18 months and joined

the civil service education department as a teacher,

following in his mother’s footsteps.

Whittaker moved to Britain in September 1959 to

continue his teaching career. For the next three years,

he studied zoology, biochemistry and marine biology

at Bangor University in Wales and earned a Bachelor

of Science degree while singing in local clubs] and

releasing songs on flexi discs included with the

campus newspaper, the Bangor University Rag.

Reflecting upon this time in his life, he said later that

“I guess I was an entertainer who was a biochemist for

a while, rather than the other way”.

Whittaker was shortly signed to ‘Fontana Records’,


which released his first professional single, “The

Charge of the Light Brigade”, in 1962. (On the

labels of the Fontana singles, he is billed as “Rog

Whittaker”.) In the summer of 1962, Whittaker

performed in Portrush, Northern Ireland. He

achieved a breakthrough when he was signed to

appear on an Ulster Television show called ‘This and

That’. His second single was a cover version of “Steel

Men”, released in June 1962.

In 1966, Whittaker switched from Fontana to EMI’s

Columbia label, and was billed as Roger Whittaker

from this point forward. His fourth single for the

imprint was his self-composed “Durham Town (The

Leavin’)”, which in 1969 became Whittaker’s first UK

Top 20 hit in the UK Singles Chart. Whittaker’s US

label, RCA Victor, released the uptempo “New World

in the Morning” in 1970, where it became a Top 20

hit in Billboard magazine’s ‘Easy Listening chart’.

That same year, his downbeat theme song “No Blade

of Grass”, written for the film adaptation of the same

name that was sung during both the opening and

ending titles, became his first film credit.

In the early 1970s, Whittaker took interest in the

Nordic countries when he recorded the single

“Where the Angels Tread” (Änglamarken) to the

music of ‘Evert Taube’ in 1972.

In 1975, EMI released “The Last Farewell”, a track

from Whittaker’s 1971 “New World in the Morning

album”. It became his biggest hit and a signature

song, selling more than 11 million copies worldwide.

In 1979, country singer Webb Pierce covered

“The Last Farewell” with another title and lyrics as

white gospel song “I Love Him Dearly”. In 1979, he

wrote the song “Call My Name” which, performed

by Eleanor Keenan, reached the final of the UK

Eurovision selection, A ‘Song For Europe’, and came

third. Whittaker recorded the song himself and

the single charted in several European countries.

Released in December 1983, his version of Leon

Payne’s “I Love You Because” spent four weeks in the

US Hot Country charts, peaking at number 91.

In 1986, Whittaker returned to the UK Top 10 with

a hit duet of “The Skye Boat Song” sung alongside

popular entertainer Des O’Connor.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Whittaker had

success in Germany, with German-language songs

produced by Nick Munro. Unable to speak German,

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Whittaker sang the songs phonetically. His biggest

hits in Germany included “Du warst mein schönster

Traum” (a rerecording of “The Last Farewell”)

and “Abschied ist ein scharfes Schwert” (“parting

is a sharp sword”). He appeared regularly on the

TV series ‘ZDF-Hitparade’, received numerous

awards, and was West Germany’s bestselling artist

of 1977, when he completed a 41-concert tour of

the country. Whittaker’s German-language songs

were not initially well received by some critics,

who derided the songs as “meaningless folk music”.

Notwithstanding this, Whittaker released 25 albums

in Germany and gained a considerable fan base in

that country; he felt his most loyal fans were there,

saying at one point: “The past few decades have been

wonderful … My relationship with the German fans is

great.”

In March 2006, Whittaker announced on his website

that a 2007 Germany tour would be his last, and that

he would limit future performances to “occasional

concerts”. Now more fluent in German, he was seen

singing and was interviewed in German on Danish

television in November 2008. In a 2014 interview,

Whittaker reiterated that he had retired from

touring in 2013, but said that he had written 18 new

songs for an album and said “I still whistle very well”.

Whittaker married Natalie O’Brien on 15 August

1964. They had two sons and three daughters: Emily,

Lauren, Jessica (who became a presenter on VH1),

Guy (bassist with the singer Fink), and Alexander,

12 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. In

1986, he published his autobiography, “So Far, So

Good”, co-written with his wife, who became his

manager in 1989.

rhino, donating recording royalties and money from

concert program sales to create sanctuaries for the

species in Kenya.

After living in Ireland for some years, he retired

with his wife to France in 2012, ending his final tour

in 2013. He died in a hospital near Toulouse on 13

September 2023, aged 87. His longtime publicist

Howard Elson said the cause was “complications

following a long illness.”

In 1976, Whittaker undertook his first tour of the

United States. In 2003, he again toured Germany.

After recovering from heart problems at the end of

2004, he started touring in Germany in 2005, and

then in the UK from May to July.

During his career, Whittaker earned over 250

silver, gold, and platinum awards. With his song

“The Mexican Whistler”, he was part of a successful

British team that won the 1967 “Knokke Music

Festival“in Belgium, when he received the Press Prize

as the personality of the festival. He was awarded a

‘Gold Badge Award’, from the British Academy of

Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) in

1988 and earned a Goldene Stimmgabel (“Golden

Tuning Fork”) in Germany in 1986, based on record

sales and TV viewer votes.

Whittaker was the subject of “This Is Your Life” in

1982 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at

RAF Northolt.

Whittaker’s father never forgave his son for

abandoning a medical career, and their differences

were never resolved. His parents did not attend any

of their son’s concerts and refused to participate in

the episode of “This Is Your Life£ when he was the

subject. Still living in Nairobi, they were the victims

of a robbery on 1 April 1989 in which a small gang

of men killed Whittaker’s father and left his mother,

who freed herself some hours later, tied up in the

bathroom. The perpetrators were never caught, and

Whittaker’s mother returned to England where she

died in 1996. Whittaker said of the incident: “It will

affect me for the rest of my life, but I believe we should

all live without hate if we can”

Whittaker was involved in efforts to save the black


Roger Whittaker

roger whittaker discography

1967 If I Were a Rich Man (as ‘Rog Whittaker’) 1989 Love Will Be Our Home

1967 Dynamic!

1968 Whistle Stop!

1969 This Is Roger Whittaker

1970 I Don’t Believe in If Anymore

1970 Whistling Roger Whittaker

1971 New World in the Morning

1972 Roger Whittaker... Again

1972 Loose and Fiery

1975 Magical World of Roger Whittaker

1975 Ride a Country Road

1978 Roger Whittaker Sings The Hits

1979 Mein Deutsches Album (in German)

1981 Changes

1981 Zum Weinen ist immer noch Zeit

1982 Roger Whittaker in Kenya – A Musical Safari

1982 Typisch Roger Whittaker

1983 Voyager

1983 Weihnachten mit Roger Whittaker: Die 14 schön

sten Weihnachtslieder mit allen Texten zum

Mitsingen

1984 Take A Little – Give a Little

1984 Ein Glück, daß es Dich gibt

1986 The Genius Of Love

1987 His Finest Collection

1987 Heut bin ich arm – Heut bin ich reich

1988 Living and Loving

1990 You Deserve the Best

1991 Mein Herz schlägt nur für Dich

1992 Stimme des Herzens

1993 Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht

1994 An Evening with Roger Whittaker

1994 Leben mit Dir

1994 Sehnsucht nach Liebe

1994 Geschenk des Himmels

1995 Ein schöner Tag mit Dir

1996 Alles Roger!

1996 Einfach leben

1997 Zurück zur Liebe

1999 Alles Roger 2

1999 Awakening

2000 Wunderbar geborgen

2002 Mehr denn je

2003 Alles Roger 3

2003 Der weihnachtliche Liedermarkt

2004 Live in Berlin

2004 Mein schönster Traum

2005 Moments in My Life

2007 The Danish Collection

2008 The Golden Age Of Roger Whittaker – 50 Years

Of Classic Hits

2012 Wunder (German language album)


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MAGAZINE

Wizz

Jones

Raymond Ronald “Wizz” Jones (25 April

1939 – 27 April 2025) was an English

acoustic guitarist, and singer-songwriter. He

performed from the late 1950s and recorded from

1965 until 2025. He worked with many of the notable

guitarists of the British folk revival, such as John

Renbourn and Bert Jansch.

Jones became infatuated with the bohemian image

of Woody Guthrie and Jack Kerouac and grew his

hair long. His mother had started calling him Wizzy

after the Beano comic strip character “Wizzy the

Wuz” because at the age of nine Raymond was a

budding magician. The nickname stuck throughout

his school years and when he formed his first

band, “The Wranglers”, in 1957 the name became

permanent. Bert Jansch later said, “I think he’s the

most underrated guitarist ever.” In the early 1960s

he went busking in Paris, France, and there mixed

in an artistic circle that included Rod Stewart, Alex

Campbell, Clive Palmer (Incredible String Band)

and Ralph McTell. After a couple of years travelling

throughout Europe and North Africa he returned to

England, and married his long-time girlfriend Sandy

to raise a family.

In 1965, his only single was released: Bob Dylan’s

“Ballad of Hollis Brown”. By this time the skiffle

boom was over but one of the stars of that

movement, Chas McDevitt, used Jones’ guitarplaying

on five albums in 1965 and 1966. Another

musician on those sessions was the bluegrass banjoplayer,

Pete Stanley. In 1966, Jones and Stanley

released an album, “Sixteen Tons of Bluegrass”, but

this partnership broke down in 1967, as Jones then

turned solo.

Jones started to become a singer-songwriter. His

first solo album was “Wizz Jones” in 1969. Eight of

the songs were written by his long-time friend Alan


Wizz Jones

Tunbridge. Up to 1988, ten solo albums followed and

he played on Ralph McTell’s album “Easy” in 1974.

Steve Tilston was also guided by Jones, through the

early stages of his career. Jones was once described

as having ‘a right hand worthy of Broonzy’, referring

to the blues guitarist Big Bill Broonzy. Most of his

recordings from this period are long out of print.

He briefly joined acoustic folk-rock group Accolade

(other band members Don Partridge, Brian

Cresswell and Malcolm Poole) in 1971 as backing

guitarist, and is featured on the group’s second

album, “Accolade II”. Another brief excursion, as a

member of the traditional folk band “Lazy Farmer”

in 1975, produced an album that was reissued

in 2006. Jones always maintained a high level of

popularity in Germany, from the mid–1970s, and

even later in life, he stills toured mainland Europe

every year. The early 1990s were a quiet period, when

he almost disappeared from public view.

When in the mid-1990s he appeared on the Bert

Jansch television documentary, “Acoustic Routes”,

there was renewed interest in his work. In 2001,

he led John Renbourn and other members of

“Pentangle” on the album “Lucky The Man”. In 2007,

The Legendary “Me and When I Leave Berlin” were

reissued on CD by the Sunbeam record label.

On 30 May 2012, Bruce Springsteen opened the

sold-out “Wrecking Ball “concert at Olympic Stadium

in Berlin, Germany, with Jones’s song, “When I Leave

Berlin”.

In 2015, Jones toured with John Renbourn, playing

a mixture of solo and duo material, before Renbourn

died in March that year. An album by the pair, titled

“Joint Control”, was released in 2016. On 27th April

2025 Jones died at the age of 86.

wizz jones discography

Wizz Jones (1969)

The Legendary Me (1970)

Right Now (1972)

Winter Song (E.P.) (1973)

When I Leave Berlin (1973)

Soloflight (1974)

Lazy Farmer (1975)

Happiness Was Free (1976)

Magical Flight (1977)

Letter from West Germany (1979)

Roll on River (1981) (with Werner Lämmerhirt)

The Grapes of Life (1987)

The Village Thing Tapes (1992) (compilation)

Late Nights and Long Days (1993)

Dazzling Stranger (1995)

Lucky The Man (2001)

More Late Nights and Long Days (2003)

Young Fashioned Ways (2004) (Youtube)

Huldenberg Blues (Live in Belgium) (2006)

When I Leave Berlin: Expanded Edition (2007)

Lucky the Man (Extra tracks) (2007)

About Time (2016) (with Ralph McTell)

About Time Too (2017) (with Ralph McTell)

Come What May (2017) (with Berryman & S Jones)

Joint Control (World Music Network, 2017)

(with John Renbourne)


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MAGAZINE

Nina

Simone

Nina Simone born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February

21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer,

pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music

spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B,

and pop. Her piano playing was strongly influenced by baroque

and classical music, especially Johann Sebastian Bach, and

accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.

The sixth of eight children born into a poor family in North

Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With

the help of a few supporters in her hometown, she enrolled

in the ‘Juilliard School of Music’ in New York City. She then

applied for a scholarship to study at the ‘Curtis Institute of

Music’ in Philadelphia, where, despite a well received audition,

she was denied admission, which she attributed to racism. In

2003, just days before her death, the institute awarded her an

honorary degree.

Early in her career, to make a living, Simone played piano at

a nightclub in Atlantic City. She changed her name to “Nina

Simone” to disguise herself from family members, having

chosen to play “the devil’s music” or so-called “cocktail piano”.

She was told in the nightclub that she would have to sing to her

own accompaniment, which effectively launched her career

as a jazz vocalist. She went on to record more than 40 albums

between 1958 and 1974, making her debut with “Little Girl

Blue”. She released her first and biggest hit single in the United

States in 1959 with “I Loves You, Porgy”, which peaked inside

the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Simone also became

known for her work in the civil rights movement during the

1950s and 1960s, and she later fled the United States and settled

in France following the assassination of her friend Martin

Luther King Jr. in 1968. She lived and performed in Europe,

Africa, and the Caribbean throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and

1990s. In 1991, Simone published her autobiography, “I Put a

Spell on You” (taking the title from her famous 1965 album),

and she continued to perform and attract audiences until her

death.

Rolling Stone has ranked Simone as one of the greatest singers

of all time on various lists.

Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February

21, 1933, in Tryon, North Carolina. Her father, John Divine

Waymon, worked as a barber and dry-cleaner as well as an

entertainer. Her mother, Mary Kate Irvin, was a Methodist

preacher. The sixth of eight children in a poor family, she

began playing piano at the age of three or four; the first song

she learned was “God Be With You, Till We Meet Again”.

Demonstrating a talent with the piano, she performed at


Nina Simone

her local church. Her concert debut, a classical recital, was

given when she was 12. Simone later said that during this

performance, her parents, who had taken seats in the front row,

were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for

white people. She said that she refused to play until her parents

were moved back to the front, and that the incident contributed

to her later involvement in the civil rights movement. Simone’s

music teacher helped establish a special fund to pay for her

education. Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist her

continued education. With the help of this scholarship money,

she was able to attend ‘Allen High School for Girls’ in Asheville,

North Carolina.

After her graduation, Simone spent the summer of 1950 at the

‘Juilliard School’ as a student of Carl Friedberg, preparing for

an audition at the ‘Curtis Institute of Music’ in Philadelphia.

Her application, however, was denied. Only three of 72

applicants were accepted that year, but as her family had

relocated to Philadelphia in the expectation of her entry to

Curtis, the blow to her aspirations was particularly heavy. For

the rest of her life, she suspected that her application had been

denied because of racial prejudice, a charge the staff at Curtis

have denied. Discouraged, she took private piano lessons with

Vladimir Sokoloff, a professor at Curtis, but never could reapply.

At the time the ‘Curtis Institute’ did not accept students

over 21. She took a job as a photographer’s assistant, found

work as an accompanist at Arlene Smith’s vocal studio, and

taught piano from her home in Philadelphia.

In order to fund her private lessons, Simone performed at the

‘Midtown Bar & Grill’ on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, New

Jersey, whose owner insisted that she sing as well as play the

piano, which increased her income to $90 a week. In 1954,

she adopted the stage name “Nina Simone”. “Nina”, derived

from niña, was a nickname given to her by a boyfriend named

Chico, and “Simone” was taken from the French actress Simone

Signoret, whom she had seen in the 1952 movie ‘Casque

d’Or’. Knowing her mother would not approve of her playing

“the Devil’s music,” she used her new stage name to remain

undetected. Simone’s mixture of jazz, blues, and classical music

in her performances at the bar earned her a small but loyal fan

base.

In 1958, she befriended and married Don Ross, a beatnik

who worked as a fairground barker, but quickly regretted their

marriage. Playing in small clubs in the same year, she recorded

George Gershwin’s “I Loves You, Porgy” (from Porgy and

Bess), which she learned from a Billie Holiday album and

performed as a favor to a friend. It became her only Billboard

top 20 success in the United States, and her debut album “Little

Girl Blue” followed in February 1959 on Bethlehem Records.

Because she had sold her rights outright for $3,000, Simone

lost more than $1 million in royalties (notably for the 1980s rerelease

of her version of the jazz standard “My Baby Just Cares

for Me”) and never benefited financially from the album’s sales.

After the success of “Little Girl Blue”, Simone signed a contract

with producer Hecky Krasnow at Colpix Records and recorded

a multitude of studio and live albums. Colpix relinquished all

creative control to her, including the choice of material that

would be recorded, in exchange for her signing the contract

with them. After the release of her live album “Nina Simone” at

Town Hall, Simone became a favorite performer in Greenwich


Village. By this time, Simone performed pop music only to

make money to continue her classical music studies and was

indifferent about having a recording contract. She kept this

attitude toward the record industry for most of her career.

Simone married Andrew Stroud, a detective with the New

York Police Department, in December 1961. In a few years he

became her manager and the father of her daughter Lisa, but

Simone later claimed that he abused her psychologically and

physically. Simone said that Stroud treated her “like a work

horse” in an interview with the BBC in 1999.

In 1964, Simone changed record distributors from Colpix,

an American company, to the Dutch Philips Records, which

meant a change in the content of her recordings. She had always

included songs in her repertoire that drew on her African-

American heritage, such as “Brown Baby” by Oscar Brown

and “Zungo” by Michael Olatunji on her album “Nina at the

Village Gate” in 1962. On her debut album for Philips, “Nina

Simone in Concert” (1964), for the first time she addressed

racial inequality in the United States in the song “Mississippi

Goddam”. This was her response to the June 12, 1963, murder

of Medgar Evers and the September 15, 1963, bombing of the

16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed

four young black girls and partly blinded a fifth. She said that

the song was “like throwing ten bullets back at them”, becoming

one of many other protest songs written by Simone. The song

was released as a single, and it was boycotted in some southern

states. Promotional copies were smashed by a Carolina radio

station and returned to Philips.

She later recalled how “Mississippi Goddam” was her “first

civil rights song” and that the song came to her “in a rush of

fury, hatred and determination”. The song challenged the belief

that race relations could change gradually and called for more

immediate developments: “me and my people are just about

due.” It was a key moment in her path to Civil Rights activism.

“Old Jim Crow”, on the same album, addressed the Jim Crow

laws. After “Mississippi Goddam”, a civil rights message was the

norm in Simone’s recordings and became part of her concerts.

As her political activism rose, the rate of release of her music

slowed.

Simone performed and spoke at civil rights meetings, such as

at the ‘Selma to Montgomery marches’. Like Malcolm X, her

neighbor in Mount Vernon, New York, she supported black

nationalism and advocated violent revolution rather than

Martin Luther King Jr.’s non-violent approach. She hoped that

African Americans could use armed combat to form a separate

state, though she wrote in her autobiography that she and her

family regarded all races as equal.

In 1967, Simone moved from Philips to RCA Victor. She sang

“Backlash Blues” written by her friend, Harlem Renaissance

leader Langston Hughes, on her first RCA Victor album, “Nina

Simone Sings the Blues” (1967). “On Silk & Soul” (1967), she

recorded Billy Taylor’s “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to

Be Free” and “Turning Point”. The album “‘Nuff Said!” (1968)

contained live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair of

April 7, 1968, three days after the assassination of Martin

Luther King Jr. She dedicated the performance to him and

sang “Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)”, a song written by

her bass player, Gene Taylor. In 1969, she performed at the

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Harlem Cultural Festival in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park. The

performance was recorded and is featured in Questlove’s 2021

documentary “Summer of Soul”.

Simone and Weldon Irvine turned the unfinished play

“To Be Young, Gifted and Black” by Lorraine Hansberry

into a civil rights song of the same name. She credited her

friend Hansberry with cultivating her social and political

consciousness. She performed the song live on the album “Black

Gold” (1970). A studio recording was released as a single, and

renditions of the song have been recorded by Aretha Franklin

(on her 1972 album “Young, Gifted and Black”) and Donny

Hathaway. When reflecting on this period, she wrote in her

autobiography: “I felt more alive then than I feel now because I

was needed, and I could sing something to help my people.”

In an interview for Jet magazine, Simone stated that her

controversial song “Mississippi Goddam” harmed her

career. She claimed that the music industry punished her by

boycotting her records. Hurt and disappointed, Simone left

the US in September 1970, flying to Barbados and expecting

her husband and manager Stroud to communicate with her

when she had to perform again. However, Stroud interpreted

Simone’s sudden disappearance, and the fact that she had left

behind her wedding ring, as an indication of her desire for a

divorce. As her manager, Stroud was in charge of Simone’s

income. When Simone returned to the United States, she

learned that a warrant had been issued for her arrest for unpaid

taxes (allegedly unpaid as a protest against her country’s

involvement with the Vietnam War) and fled to Barbados

to evade the authorities and prosecution. Simone stayed in

Barbados for quite some time and had a lengthy affair with the

Prime Minister, Errol Barrow. A close friend, singer Miriam

Makeba, then persuaded her to go to Liberia. When Simone

relocated, she abandoned her daughter Lisa in Mount Vernon.

Lisa eventually reunited with Simone in Liberia, but, according

to Lisa, her mother was physically and mentally abusive. The

abuse was so unbearable that Lisa became suicidal and she

moved back to New York to live with her father.

Simone recorded her last album for RCA, “It Is Finished”, in

1974, and did not make another record until 1978, when she

was persuaded to go into the recording studio by CTI Records

owner Creed Taylor. The result was the album “Baltimore”,

which, while not a commercial success, was fairly well

received critically and marked a quiet artistic renaissance in

Simone’s recording output. Her choice of material retained its

eclecticism, ranging from spiritual songs to Hall & Oates’ “Rich

Girl”. Four years later, Simone recorded “Fodder on My Wings”

on a French label, Studio Davout.

During the 1980s, Simone performed regularly at Ronnie

Scott’s Jazz Club in London, where she recorded the album

“Live at Ronnie Scott’s” in 1984. Although her early on-stage

style could be somewhat haughty and aloof, in later years,

Simone particularly seemed to enjoy engaging with her

audiences sometimes, by recounting humorous anecdotes

related to her career and music and by soliciting requests. By

this time she stayed everywhere and nowhere. She lived in

Liberia, Barbados and Switzerland and eventually ended up in

Paris. There she regularly performed in a small jazz club called

‘Aux Trois Mailletz’ for relatively small financial reward. The

performances were sometimes brilliant and at other times Nina

Simone gave up after fifteen minutes. Often she was too drunk

to sing or play the piano properly. At other times she scolded

the audience, so that manager Raymond Gonzalez, guitarist

Al Schackman and Gerrit de Bruin, a Dutch friend of hers,

decided to intervene.

In 1987, Simone scored a major European hit with the song

“My Baby Just Cares for Me”. Recorded by her for the first time

in 1958, the song was used in a commercial for Chanel No. 5

perfume in Europe, leading to a re-release of the recording. The

song reached number 4 on the UK’s NME singles chart, giving

Simone a brief surge in popularity in the UK and elsewhere.

In 1993, Simone settled near Aix-en-Provence in southern

France (Bouches-du-Rhône). In the same year, her final album,

“A Single Woman”, was released. She variously contended that

she married or had a love affair with a Tunisian around this

time, but that their relationship ended because, “His family

didn’t want him to move to France, and France didn’t want him

because he’s a North African.” During a 1998 performance in

Newark, she announced, “If you’re going to come see me again,

you’ve got to come to France, because I am not coming back.”

She suffered from breast cancer for several years before she

died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet (Bouches-du-

Rhône), on April 21, 2003, at the age of 70. Her Catholic funeral

service at the local parish was attended by singers Miriam

Makeba and Patti LaBelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actors Ossie

Davis and Ruby Dee, and hundreds of others. Simone’s ashes

were scattered in several African countries. Her daughter Lisa

Celeste Stroud is an actress and singer who took the stage name

Simone, and who has appeared on Broadway in “Aida”.

Simone’s consciousness on the racial and social discourse

was prompted by her friendship with the playwright Lorraine

Hansberry. Simone stated that during her conversations with

Hansberry “we never talked about men or clothes. It was always

Marx, Lenin and revolution – real girls’ talk.” The influence

of Hansberry planted the seed for the provocative social

commentary that became an expectation in Simone’s repertoire.

One of Nina’s more hopeful activism anthems, “To Be Young,

Gifted and Black”, was written with collaborator Weldon Irvine

in the years following the playwright’s passing, acquiring the

title of one of Hansberry’s unpublished plays. Simone’s social

circles included notable black activists such as James Baldwin,

Stokely Carmichael and Langston Hughes: the lyrics of her

song “Backlash Blues” were written by Hughes.

Simone’s social commentary was not limited to the civil rights

movement; the song “Four Women” exposed the Eurocentric

appearance standards imposed on Black women in America,

as it explored the internalized dilemma of beauty that is

experienced between four Black women with skin tones ranging

from light to dark. She explains in her autobiography “I Put a

Spell on You” that the purpose of the song was to inspire Black

women to define beauty and identity for themselves without the

influence of societal impositions. Chardine Taylor-Stone has

noted that, beyond the politics of beauty, the song also describes

the stereotypical roles that many Black women have historically

been restricted to: the mammy, the tragic mulatto, the sex

worker, and the angry Black woman.

Simone assembled a collection of songs that became standards

in her repertoire. Some were songs that she wrote herself, while


Nina Simone

others were new arrangements of other standards, and others

had been written especially for the singer. Her first hit song

in America was her rendition of George Gershwin’s “I Loves

You, Porgy” (1958). It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard

magazine Hot 100 chart.

During that same period, Simone recorded “My Baby Just Cares

for Me”, which would become her biggest success years later,

in 1987, after it was featured in a 1986 Chanel No. 5 perfume

commercial. A music video was created by Aardman Studios.

Well-known songs from her Philips albums include “Don’t Let

Me Be Misunderstood” on Broadway-Blues-Ballads (1964); “I

Put a Spell on You”, “Ne me quitte pas” (a rendition of a Jacques

Brel song), and “Feeling Good” on “I Put a Spell On You”

(1965); and “Lilac Wine” and “Wild Is the Wind” on “Wild is

the Wind” (1966).

“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and her takes on

“Sinnerman” (Pastel Blues, 1965) and “Feeling Good” have

remained popular in cover versions (most notably a version

of the former song by The Animals), sample usage, and their

use on soundtracks for various movies, television series, and

video games. “Sinnerman” has been featured in the films ‘The

Crimson Pirate’ (1952), ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ (1999),

‘High Crimes’ (2002), ‘Cellular’ (2004), ‘Déjà Vu’ (2006),

‘Miami Vice’ (2006), ‘Golden Door’ (2006), ‘Inland Empire’

(2006), ‘Harriet’ (2019) and ‘Licorice Pizza’ (2021), as well

as in TV series such as ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ (1998,

“Sins of the Father”), ‘Nash Bridges’ (2000, “Jackpot”), ‘Scrubs’

(2001, “My Own Personal Jesus”), ‘Chuck’ (2010, “Chuck vs.

the Honeymooners”), ‘Boomtown’ (2003, “The Big Picture”),

‘Person of Interest’ (2011, “Witness”), ‘Shameless’ (2011,

“Kidnap and Ransom”), ‘Love/Hate’ (2011, “Episode 1”),

‘Sherlock’ (2012, “The Reichenbach Fall”), ‘The Blacklist’ (2013,

“The Freelancer”), ‘Viny’l (2016, “The Racket”), ‘Lucifer’ (2017,

“Favorite Son”), and ‘The Umbrella Academy’ (2019, “Extra

Ordinary”), and sampled by artists such as Talib Kweli (2003,

“Get By”), Timbaland (2007, “Oh Timbaland”), and Flying

Lotus (2012, “Until the Quiet Comes”). The song “Don’t Let

Me Be Misunderstood” was sampled by Devo Springsteen

on “Misunderstood” from Common’s 2007 album “Finding

Forever”, and by little-known producers Rodnae and Mousa for

the song “Don’t Get It” on Lil Wayne’s 2008 album “Tha Carter

III”. “See-Line Woman” was sampled by Kanye West for “Bad

News” on his album “808s & Heartbreak”. The 1965 rendition

of “Strange Fruit”, originally recorded by Billie Holiday, was

sampled by Kanye West for “Blood on the Leaves” on his album

“Yeezus”.

Simone’s years at RCA spawned many singles and album tracks

that were popular, particularly in Europe. In 1968, it was “Ain’t

Got No, I Got Life”, a medley from the musical “Hair” from the

album ‘Nuff Said! (1968) that became a surprise hit for Simone,

reaching number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and introducing

her to a younger audience. In 2006, it returned to the UK Top

30 in a remixed version by “Groovefinder”. The following single,

a rendition of the Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody”, reached the

UK Top 10 in 1969. “The House of the Rising Sun” was featured

on “Nina Simone Sings the Blues” in 1967, but Simone had

recorded the song in 1961 and it was featured on “Nina at the

Village Gate” (1962).

Simone’s bearing and stage presence earned her the title “the


High Priestess of Soul”. She was a pianist, singer and performer,

“separately, and simultaneously”. As a composer and arranger,

Simone moved from gospel to blues, jazz, and folk, and to

numbers with European classical styling. Besides using Bachstyle

counterpoint, she called upon the particular virtuosity

of the 19th-century Romantic piano repertoire—Chopin,

Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and others. Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis

spoke highly of Simone, deeply impressed by her ability to

play three-part counterpoint and incorporate it into pop songs

and improvisation. Onstage, she incorporated monologues

and dialogues with the audience into the program, and often

used silence as a musical element. Throughout most of her life

and recording career she was accompanied by percussionist

Leopoldo Fleming and guitarist and musical director Al

Schackman. She was known to pay close attention to the design

and acoustics of each venue, tailoring her performances to

individual venues. Rolling Stone once said that Simone could

“channel every facet of lived experience.” Simone was often

credited for her ability to express an expansive emotional range

in her music, from immeasurable rage to limitless joy.

Simone was perceived as a sometimes difficult or unpredictable

performer, occasionally hectoring the audience if she felt they

were disrespectful. Schackman would try to calm Simone

during these episodes, performing solo until she calmed

offstage and returned to finish the engagement. Her early

experiences as a classical pianist had conditioned Simone to

expect quiet attentive audiences, and her anger tended to flare

up at nightclubs, lounges, or other locations where patrons were

less attentive. Schackman described her live appearances as hit

or miss, either reaching heights of hypnotic brilliance or on the

other hand mechanically playing a few songs and then abruptly

ending concerts early.

Simone was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the late 1980s.

She was known for her temper and outbursts of aggression. In

1985, Simone fired a gun at a record company executive, whom

she accused of stealing royalties. Simone said she “tried to kill

him” but “missed.” In 1995, while living in France, she shot

and wounded her neighbor’s son with an air gun after the boy’s

laughter disturbed her concentration and she perceived his

response to her complaints as racial insults; she was sentenced

to eight months in jail, which was suspended pending a

psychiatric evaluation and treatment.

According to a biographer, Simone took medication from the

mid-1960s onward, although this was supposedly only known

to a small group of intimates. After her death, the medication

was confirmed as the anti-psychotic Trilafon (perphenazine),

which Simone’s friends and caretakers sometimes

surreptitiously mixed into her food when she refused to follow

her treatment plan. This fact was kept out of public view until

2004 when a biography, “Break Down and Let It All Out”,

written by Sylvia Hampton and David Nathan (of her UK

fan club), was published posthumously. Singer-songwriter

Janis Ian, a one-time friend of Simone’s, related in her own

autobiography, “Society’s Child: My Autobiography”, two

instances to illustrate Simone’s volatility: one incident in which

she forced a shoe store cashier at gunpoint to take back a pair

of sandals she’d already worn; and another in which Simone

demanded a royalty payment from Ian herself as an exchange

for having recorded one of Ian’s songs, and then ripped a pay

telephone out of its wall when she was refused.

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STUDIO ALBUMS

nina simone

ADDITIONAL RELEASES

1959 Little Girl Blue

The Amazing Nina Simone

Nina Simone At Town Hall

1960 Nina Simone At Newport

1961 Forbidden Fruit

1962 Nina At The Village Gate

Nina Simone Sings Ellington

1963 Nina Simone At Carnegie Hall

1964 Folksy Nina

Nina Simone In Concert

Broadway Blues Ballads

1965 I Put A Spell On You

Pastel Blues

1966 Let It All Out

Wild Is The Wind

1967 High Priestess Of Soul

Nina Simone Sings The Blues

Silk And Soul

1968 ‘Nuff Said

1969 Nina Simone And Piano

To Love Somebody

1970 Black Gold

1971 Here Comes The Sun

1972 Emergency Ward

1974 It’s Finished

1978 Baltimore

1982 Fodder On My Wings

1985 Nina’s Back

Live And Kickin’

1987 Let It Be Me

Live At Ronnie Scott’s

1993 A Single Woman

1960 Nina Simone & Her Friends

1963 Nina’s Choice

1964 Serenade Of Soul

Starring Nina Simone

1965 Sincerely Nina

1966 Nina Simone With Strings

1970 Gifted And Black

The Best Of Nina Simone

1972 Live In Europe

Sings Billie Holiday

Sings The Blues

1973 Live At Berkeley

Gospel According To Nina Simone

1974 Portrait Of Nina

1977 Lamentations

1979 A Very Rare Evening

1984 Backlash

1987 My Baby Just Cares For Me

The Nina Simone Collection

1988 Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

1989 Nina Simone - Compact Jazz

1992 The Best Of The Colpix Years

1994 The Rising Sun Collection

Verve Jazz Masters - Vol 17

The Essential Nina Simone - Vol 2

Feeling Good: The Very Best Of Nina Simone

1995 Nina Simone - Anthology (The Copix Years)

1996 After Hours

1997 Released

Blue For You - The Very Best Of

Saga Of The Good Life And Hard Times

Ultimate Nina Simone


discography

1998 I Got Life & Many Others

2000 Bittersweet: The Very Best Of Nina Simone

2003 Four Women: Nina Simone Phillips Recordings

Gold

Anthology

The Diva Series: Nina Simone

2004 Nina Simones Finest Hour

Feeling Good: The Very Best Of Nina Simone

2005 The Soul Of Nina Simone

Nina Simone Live At Montreux 1976

Nina Simone Live

Love Songs

Jazz Biography Series

Nina Simone For Lovers

2006 The very best of Nina Simone

Remixed And Reimagined

Forever Young Gifted And Black: (Songs Of

Freedom And Spirit)

Songs To Sing: The Best Of Nina Simone

The Difinitive Collection

2007 Just Like A Woman: (Nina Simone Sings Classic

Songs Of The Sixties)

2008 To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story

How It Feels To Be Free: Opus Collection

Nina Simone

2009 The Definitive Rarities Collection 50 Classic Cuts

Friends/Family/French Lessons

2011 The Essential Nina Simone

S.O.U.L. Nina Simone

2012 Grestest Hits

2013 Purple Fields

Shout Out Loud

2014 Live In Germany 1989

See-Line Woman - The Best Of

2015 La légende

2016 Portrait

The Other Woman

2017 Mood Indigo: (The Complete Bethlehem

Singles)

The Colpix Singles

Platinum Collection

Hits

2018 7 Classic Albums

2020 Work From Home With Nina Simone

2021 The Montreux Years

2022 Feeling Good: Her Greatest Hits & Re-Mixes


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Jill

Sobule

Jill Susan Sobule (January 16, 1959 – May 1,

2025) was an American singer-songwriter best

known for the 1995 single “I Kissed a Girl”, and

“Supermodel” from the soundtrack of the 1995 film

‘Clueless’. Her folk-inflected compositions alternate

between ironic, story-driven character studies and

emotive ballads, a duality reminiscent of such 1970s

American songwriters as Warren Zevon, Harry

Nilsson, Loudon Wainwright III, Harry Chapin,

and Randy Newman. Autobiographical elements,

including Sobule’s Jewish heritage and her adolescent

battles with anorexia and depression, frequently

occur in Sobule’s writing.

In 2009, Sobule released “California Years,” an album

funded entirely by fan donations, making her an

early pioneer of crowdfunding.

Sobule was born into a secular Jewish family in

Denver, Colorado on January 16, 1959. Her father,

Marvin Lee, was a veterinarian, and her mother,

Elaine, was a musician. She had a brother, James.

Sobule attended St. Mary’s Academy, while she was

the only Jew there, she played the guitar during mass.

She enrolled at the University of Colorado Boulder

to study political science and spent her junior year in

Seville, Spain, where she first performed her public

gigs. Sobule later returned to the U.S. and dropped

out from UC-Boulder to pursue a music career.

Sobule released eight studio albums of original

songs, four EPs, and a greatest hits compilation

album. Sobule’s output also include original songs

available only via the Internet, a cover of Robert Earl

Keen’s Christmas novelty track “Merry Christmas

from the Family,” and a version of the late Warren

Zevon’s “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” included on both

Sobule’s acoustic album and on a posthumous Zevon

tribute record.


Jill Sobule

Sobule’s debut album “Things Here Are Different”

was released in 1990. Produced by pop legend Todd

Rundgren, the album failed to sell. During this

period a follow-up record was produced by British

New Wave rocker Joe Jackson (for whom she opened

in 1991) but Sobule was dropped from her label

and the second record was never released. It was

five years before Sobule landed another recording

contract.

Her 1995 album “Jill Sobule” established Sobule

as part of a fruitful mid-90s movement of female

singer-songwriters that included such artists as Lisa

Loeb, Juliana Hatfield, and Alanis Morissette. The

album contains Sobule’s best-known composition

“I Kissed a Girl”, a story-song about a lesbian

flirtation between two suburban girlfriends which

became an unlikely radio success thanks in part to

a comedic music video featuring beefcake model

Fabio Lanzoni. “Supermodel” (sample lyric: “I didn’t

eat yesterday ... and I’m not gonna eat today ... and

I’m not gonna eat tomorrow ... ‘Cause I’m gonna be a

supermodel”) managed to both send up and celebrate

American teenage lifestyles, and became well known

after its inclusion in 1995’s hit teen comedy film

““Clueless”.

The “Jill Sobule” album seemed to establish Sobule’s

commercial prospects, but her third album slowed

that momentum while setting what was the musical

and production patterns for the rest of her career.

In 1997 “Happy Town” featured Sobule’s most

elaborate pop productions and contains songs about

an eclectic range of topics including reactionary

Christianity (“Soldiers of Christ”), the negative

impact of antidepressant medication on the libido

(“Happy Town”), and a track that uses Anne Frank’s

enforced Nazi-era hibernation as the metaphor for

a love song (“Attic”). Though embraced by record

reviewers from publications as diverse as The

Advocate and Entertainment Weekly, “Happy Town”

sold poorly, simultaneously solidifying Sobule’s

critical reputation while stalling her commercial

momentum.

The 2000 record “Pink Pearl” may be Sobule’s most

characteristic set. It is anchored by three female

character studies: “Lucy at the Gym”, about an

anorexic exercise addict; “Claire”, about an aging

lesbian aviator succumbing to Alzheimer’s disease;

and “Mary Kay”, about Mary Kay Letourneau,

the notorious real-life schoolteacher who became

impregnated and was imprisoned as the result of the

statutory rape of a 13-year-old male student, whom

she married when he reached the age of consent.

“Pink Pearl” also contains some of Sobule’s most

directly confessional songwriting, especially the

atheist’s prayer “Somewhere in New Mexico” and the

insomniac’s lullaby “Rock Me To Sleep”. Don Henley

contributed a promotional quotation to the ad

campaign for the album and selected Sobule to open

for him during his solo tour that year.

In 2004, Sobule self-released an album of acoustic

tracks titled “The Folk Years 2003–2003”. In the

album, Sobule performed offbeat cover versions of

such standards as the Doris Day theme song “Que

Sera Sera” and “Sunrise, Sunset” from the Broadway

musical “Fiddler on the Roof ”.

The more elaborately recorded “Underdog

Victorious”, also released in 2004, was one of the last

albums distributed by legendary personal manager

and media entrepreneur Danny Goldberg’s nowdefunct

Artemis Records. Stalling album sales led

Sobule to Los Angeles. She continued to write and

perform prolifically and to compose original music

for television, including for the popular Nickelodeon

series “Unfabulous”.

Sobule also acted and performed her songs in writerdirector

Eric Schaeffer’s 2004 film “Mind the Gap”,

as a street musician in Astoria, Queens with a heart

condition, who aspires to play in Manhattan.

In mid-January 2008, Sobule launched a website,

jillsnextrecord.com, which sought to raise $75,000

through fan donations in order to produce,

manufacture, distribute, and promote an upcoming

studio album. In exchange for their donations,

Sobule offered her patrons an assortment of rewards

with values commensurate with the amount of the

donation. These ranged from a free download of the

album upon its release ($10) to the opportunity to

attend a recording session and sing on the record

($10,000).

On March 8, 2008, 53 days after the public launch of

the site, Sobule reached her target through donations

from more than 500 people in 44 U.S. states and the

District of Columbia, and 11 foreign countries. The

subsequent album, “California Years”, was released


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on April 14, 2009 on Sobule’s own label, Pinko

Records.

On Sobule’s next record “Dottie’s Charms” in 2014,

she put music to lyrics of her friends and favorite

authors, including David Hajdu, Jonathan Lethem,

Vendela Vida, and Lucy Sante, with each song

relating to individual charms on an antique charm

bracelet she had been given.

In 2018, Sobule again used crowdfunding to assist

with the production of her next album, “Nostalgia

Kills”. Rolling Stone listed the first single from the

album, “Island of Lost Things”, among the 10 best

new country and Americana songs.

Sobule’s semi-autobiographical musical “Fuck 7th

Grade” opened at the Wild Project theater in New

York in October 2022 and had several runs there. It

was nominated for a 2023 Drama Desk Award for

Outstanding Musical. A New York Times review said

the show was “for the nerds who grew up to be the cool

people.”

From 2020, Sobule acted as musician-in-residence

at the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice, an

LGBTQIA community center.

In the late 1990s, Sobule toured with Richard

Barone as “The Richard & Jill Show”. Together

they wrote “Bitter” on “Happy Town”, “Rock Me To

Sleep” on “Pink Pearl” and “Waiting for the Train”

on Barone’s “Clouds Over Eden” album. They also

appeared together (as Mr. and Mrs. Sobule) in the

underground film “Next Year in Jerusalem”, which

featured another of their compositions, “Everybody’s

Queer”. The pair continued to collaborate, including

“Odd Girl Out” for Barone’s 2010 album, “Glow”

(Bar/None Records), and performed together. Their

songs have been used on “The West Wing”, “Dawson’s

Creek”, “Felicity”, “South of Nowhere”, and other

television shows. In 2018, Barone produced and sang

backing vocals on “Island of Lost Things” on Sobule’s

album “Nostalgia Kills”.

From 1997 until 1998, Sobule was a member of

Lloyd Cole’s short-lived band The Negatives.

In 2004, she acted in the film “Mind The Gap” with

six of her songs featured on the soundtrack.

In 2005, Sobule contributed music to “Unfabulous”,

a popular Nickelodeon TV series about a 13-year-old

aspiring songwriter, including a title song performed

by Sobule under the program’s opening credits. Four

Sobule compositions or co-compositions appear

on the series star’s debut album, “Unfabulous and

More”: Emma Roberts: a cover version of “Mexican

Wrestler” from Sobule’s album “Pink Pearl”; “Punch

Rocker” and “94 Weeks (Metal Mouth Freak),”

both written by Sobule for Roberts’ character to

“compose” on the program; and “New Shoes,” a

track co-written by Sobule with “Unfabulous” series

creator Sue Rose.

In 2006, Sobule met Julia Sweeney, the actress,

writer and comedian, and started performing

“The Jill and Julia Show”, a compilation of songs

and stories. They performed at the “James Randi

Educational Foundation” meeting in Las Vegas on

January 19, 2007, as well as at regular showings

for the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles. Also

in 2006, Sobule created a theme song for blogger

Arianna Huffington’s self-help book “On Becoming

Fearless”.

In 2007, Sobule teamed up with John Doe to

produce and record a cover of Neil Young’s “Down

by the River” for the American Laundromat Records

benefit CD “Cinnamon Girl – Women Artists Cover”

Neil Young For Charity. Other contributing artists

to the CD included Lori McKenna, Tanya Donelly,

Josie Cotton, Kristin Hersh, Britta Phillips, and

The Watson Twins.

Also in 2007, Sobule’s song “San Francisco” became

the first single released by Don Was as part of his

Wasmopolitan Cavalcade of Recorded Music, an

advertiser-sponsored means for the recording and

distribution of new music, part of the multimedia

website mydamnchannel.com. The pair also

collaborated on a 16-minute concert video, directed

by Margaret Cho and entitled “Jill Sobule’s Dance

Party,” distributed for free in two parts on both

mydamnchannel.com and YouTube. Sobule also

collaborated with Cho on the 2010 song and video

“The Bear Song.”

In May 2008, Sobule released a CD of music

from “Prozak and the Platypus”, a multi-media

collaboration of Sobule, playwright Elise Thoron,

and graphic artist KellyAnne Hanrahan. The play,

written by Thoron (book, lyrics) and Sobule (music)

and illustrated in a graphic novella by Hanrahan,


Jill Sobule

tells the story of a fierce young woman, Sara (a

musician), and her father Arvin, a neuroscientist,

who relocates his family from Los Angeles to

Brisbane, Australia, to study R.E.M. sleep in the

platypus, a unique species native to Australia.

Shattered by her mother’s recent suicide and

unhappy with the side effects of her own treatment

for depression, Sara renames herself “Prozak,” rages

through her songwriting, and rebels. Meanwhile, in

her father’s lab, Sara finds an unexpected confidant

in her father’s current lab subject, a jaunty platypus

who speaks to her and calls himself “Frankie”. In the

piece, according to its website,

“Music club and science lab become testing grounds

in which angry teen and scientist father pit aboriginal

mythology against modern neuroscience research. The

dreams of a platypus prove to be the link between the

two.”

From 2009–2010, Sobule performed with Julia

Sweeney in a revue called “Jill and Julia”. Sobule and

Sweeney originally met at a TED conference and

performed together at TED in 2008. They brought

the show on the road in 2009 and 2010, performing

in New York and Denver among other locations. The

show was an autobiographical mix of music, stories

and commentary.

Jill Sobule identified herself as bisexual. She died in a

house fire in Woodbury, Minnesota, on the morning

of May 1, 2025, at the age of 66.


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JILL SOBULE D

THINGS HERE

ARE DIFFERENT

1990

Link here

UNDERDOG

VICTORIOUS

2004

Link here

JILL SOBULE

1995

Link here

CALIFORNIA

YEARS

2009

Link here

HAPPY TOWN

1997

Link here

DOTTIES

CHARMS

2014

Link here

PINK PEARL

2000

Link here

NOSTALGIA

KILLS

2018

Link here

THE FOLK YEARS

2004

Link here

A DAY AT THE

PASS

2011

Link here


Jill Sobule

ISCOGRAPHY

LIVING

COLOUR

1990

Link here

BITTER

1997

Link here

TOO COOL TO

FALL IN LOVE

1990

Link here

JILL’S HOLIDAY

SONGS

2000

Link here

GOOD PERSON

INSIDE

1995

Link here

ONE OF THESE

DAYS

2000

Link here

I KISSED A GIRL

1995

Link here

CINNAMON

PARK

2004

Link here

SUPERMODEL

1995

Link here

IT’S THE

THOUGHT THAT

COUNTS

2005

Link here


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Amazing

Blondel

Amazing Blondel were an English acoustic

progressive folk band, containing Eddie

Baird, John Gladwin, and Terry Wincott.

They released a number of LPs for Island Records in

the early 1970s. They are sometimes categorised as

psychedelic folk or as medieval folk rock, but their

music was much more a reinvention of Renaissance

music, based around the use of period instruments

such as lutes and recorders.

John Gladwin (guitar and vocals) and Terrance

(Terry) Wincott (guitar and vocals) formed a

band called The Dimples along with Stuart Smith

(drums) and Johnny Jackson (bass guitar). Signed

to the Decca label they recorded a single, the “A” side

“Love of a Lifetime” and the “B” side written by John

Gladwin titled “My Heart is Tied to You”. The record

did not chart, although more recently the B-side has

become popular on the Northern soul scene.

Following the break up of The Dimples John

and Terry formed a loud “electric” band called

“Methuselah”. However, at some point in Methuselah

concerts, the duo would play an acoustic number

together: they found that this went down well with

the audiences and allowed them to bring out more

of the subtlety of their singing and instrumental

work. They left “Methuselah” in 1969 and began

working on their own acoustic material.

Initially their material was derived from folk music,

in line with many of the other performers of the

time. However, they began to develop their own

musical idiom, influenced, at one extreme, by the

early music revivalists such as David Munrow, and

the other extreme, by their childhood memories

of the ‘Robin Hood’ TV series, with its pseudomediaeval

soundtrack by Elton Hayes.

The band was named after “Blondel de Nesle”, the


Amazing Blondel

musician in the court of Richard I. According to

legend, when Richard was held prisoner, Blondel

travelled through central Europe, singing at every

castle to locate the King and assist his escape. This

name for the band was suggested by a chef, Eugene

McCoy, who listened to some of their songs and

commented: “Oh, very Blondel!” and they began to

use that name. They were then advised to add an

adjective (in line, for example, with “The Incredible

String Band”) and so they became “Amazing

Blondel”.

Their first album “The Amazing Blondel” (also

called “Amazing Blondel and a Few Faces,”) was

recorded in 1969 and released by Bell Records. It

was directed by session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan.

At about this time, Eddie Baird (who had known

the other members at school) joined the band. On

19 September 1970 they were one of the bands to

play at the first Glastonbury Festival. Following what

Baird described as “a disastrous ‘showbiz’ record

signing”, Amazing Blondel were introduced, by

members of the band Free, to Chris Blackwell of

Island Records and Artists. Blackwell signed them

up to Island, for whom they recorded their albums

“Evensong”, “Fantasia Lindum” and “England”.

In Baird’s words (in a 2003 interview) the band

“adored recording”. They recorded the Island albums

in the company’s Basing Street Studios which, at that

time, was the source of some of the most innovative

independent music in Britain.

They toured widely, both in their own concerts and

as a support act for bands such as Genesis, Procol

Harum and Steeleye Span. On stage, they aimed

at technical precision of the music and versatility of

instrumentation (with most concerts involving the

use of some forty instruments) interspersed with

banter and bawdy humour. However, there was a

conflict between their managers’ desires to organise

ever more demanding tour schedules and the band’s

own wish to spend more time writing material and

working in the studio. In the end, this led to the

departure of John Gladwin (who had written most

of their material) from the band in 1973, and the

remaining two members decided to continue as

a duo. In this new format, they went on to record

several more albums, with Baird now writing the

bulk of the material. The first of these, “Blondel”, was

their final release for Island. They were next signed

to Dick James’ DJM label, where they recorded

three albums, “Mulgrave Street”, “Inspiration” and

“Bad Dreams”. They gradually modernised and

electrified their sound. These albums featured

a number of guest musicians, including Steve

Winwood and Paul Kossoff. There is a mistaken

belief that, during this period, they shortened the

band name to “Blondel”. This is probably caused by

the title of the final Island album, and the front cover

of “Mulgrave Street”, which gives the short version of

the name. But the full name is given on the back and

on the front of the next two albums. The final release

in the 1970s was a live album.

By the end of the 1970s, with disco being the

largest selling music genre and with folk losing

popularity, Baird and Wincott stopped performing

under the “Amazing Blondel”name. John Gladwin

reinherited the name and began to tour universities

with bandmates, and former session players for the

original Amazing Blondel; Adrian Hopkins and

Paul Empson. This line-up had originally been

billed as “John David Gladwin’s Englishe Musicke”.

The original band reformed in 1997 and produced

a new album “Restoration”. They have since played

at venues across Europe in the period 1997–2000.

As of 2005, Terry Wincott had a successful heart

bypass operation, which curtailed the band’s plans

for future concerts.

In 2005, Eddie Baird played two concerts in a duo

with acoustic guitarist and singer songwriter Julie

Ellison and worked on a collaboration with Darryl

Ebbatson, called “Ebbatson Baird”. They released

4 albums between 2004 and 2023 with the last one

being an orchestral album called ‘As Good As It

Gets’ including reworkings of some of their earlier

tracks. All their albums are available from their

website https://smallcogmusic.com

John David Gladwin and Edward Baird were

born and brought up in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire:

Terence Alan Wincott was born in Hampshire but

moved to Scunthorpe at an early age.

The members of the band were all accomplished

musicians.

Gladwin sang and played twelve-string guitar, lute,

double bass, theorbo, cittern, tabor and tubular bells.

Wincott sang and played 6 string guitar,


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harmonium, recorders, flute, ocarina, congas,

crumhorn, pipe organ, tabor, harpsichord, piano,

mellotron, bongos and assorted percussion.

Baird sang and played lute, glockenspiel, cittern,

dulcimer, twelve string guitar and percussion.

Eddie Baird died after a short illness in January 2025.

John Gladwin also died in 2025.

The style of their music is difficult to categorise.

Most of it was composed by themselves, but was

based on the form and structure of Renaissance

music, featuring, for example, pavanes, galliards and

madrigals. It is sometimes categorised as psychedelic

folk but would probably have been disowned by both

the psychedelic community and the folk community,

whilst being instantly recognisable to students of

early music. Terry Wincott described it as “pseudo-

Elizabethan/Classical acoustic music sung with British

accents”. Eddie Baird is quoted as saying “People used

to ask us, How would you describe your music? Well,

there was no point asking us, we didn’t have a clue.”

Their music has been compared with that of

Gryphon and Pentangle: however, Amazing Blondel

did not embrace the rock influences of the former

nor the folk and jazz influences of the latter. They

have also been likened to Jethro Tull.

The band employed a wide range of instruments but,

central to their sound was their use of the lute and

recorders.

When touring, the lutes proved to be quite difficult

instruments for stage performance (in terms of

amplification and tuning) and, in 1971, the band

commissioned the construction of two 7-string

guitars, which could be played in lute tuning. The

design and construction of these instruments was

undertaken by David Rubio who made classical

guitars, lutes, and other early instruments for

classical players, including Julian Bream and John

Williams.

Gladwin’s instrument was designed to have slightly

more of a bass sound, as it was used mainly as an

accompaniment instrument, whereas Baird’s had a

little bit more treble emphasis, to allow his melodic

playing in the higher register to predominate. The

two instruments were individually successful and

also blended well together. They also proved to

be stable (from a tuning point of view) for stage

performance. The guitars were fitted with internal

microphones to simplify amplification.


amazing blondeL

discography

THE AMAZING

BLONDEL

J GLADWIN

T WINCOTT

1970

LINK HERE

Amazing Blondel

MULGRAVE STREET

E BAIRD

T WINCOTT

1974

LINK HERE

EVENSONG

J GLADWIN

T WINCOTT

E BAIRD

1970

LINK HERE

INSPIRATION

E BAIRD

T WINCOTT

1975

LINK HERE

FANTASIA LINDUM

J GLADWIN

T WINCOTT

E BAIRD

1971

LINK HERE

ENGLAND

J GLADWIN

T WINCOTT

E BAIRD

1972

LINK HERE

BLONDEL

E BAIRD

T WINCOTT

1973

LINK HERE

BAD DREAMS

E BAIRD

T WINCOTT

1976

LINK HERE

RESTORATION

E BAIRD

J GLADWIN

T WINCOTT

1997

LINK HERE

THE AMAZING

ELSIE EMERALD

E BAIRD

T WINCOTT

2010

LINK HERE


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Ed

Askew

Edward Crane Askew (December 1, 1940 –

January 4, 2025) was an American painter and

singer-songwriter who first recorded in 1968

and lived in New York City.

Born in Stamford, Connecticut, on December 1,

1940, Askew moved to New Haven, Connecticut, to

study painting at Yale School of Art in 1963 and took

up, more or less, permanent residence there until

leaving for New York City in 1987.

After graduating from art school in 1966, Askew

was called up for the draft. Not feeling particularly

enthusiastic about going to war at age 26, he looked

for a teaching job and found work at a private prep

school in Connecticut. It was while teaching he

started making songs; he also acquired his Martin

Tiple at this time. The singer-songwriter moved to

New York for a few months in 1967 where he met

Bernard Stollman of ESP-Disk, who offered him a

contract. Between 1968 and 1986, Ed lived, mostly, in

New Haven; doing occasional shows with his band,

and later doing solo shows there. Around 1987, Ed

moved to New York City, where he continued to

write and record songs, and occasionally perform.

Pitchfork and many other high-profile music media

praised his work, labeling him as a New York legend.

He collaborated with Sharon Van Etten on his 2013

album For the World.

Ed Askew died on January 4, 2025, at the age of

84. Jay Pluck, his close friend and collaborator,

told People “Ed was a brave gay songwriter from

the beginning and I hope more come to know this.

Ed’s music changed the lives of people from many

generations and continues to do so”.


Ed Askew

ed askew discography

ED ASKEW

1968

LINK

PAPER HORSES

2009

LINK

LITTLE HOUSES

1997

LINK

IMPERFICTION

2011

LINK

THESE NIGHTS + DAYS

1999

LINK

FOR THE WORLD

2013

LINK

LITTLE EYES

2003

LINK

NEWSPAPER BOATS

2018

LINK

TIMES LIKE THESE

2003

LINK

ED ASKEW 2020

20220

LINK

RAINY DAY SONG

2008

LINK

SLEEPING WITH

ANGELS

2021

LINK


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John

Roberts

John Roberts (5 May 1944 – 3 February

2025) was an English musician. He is best

known for his musical collaborations with

Tony Barrand. As Roberts and Barrand,

they performed a cappella and accompanied

performances of traditional English folk music.

They also performed and recorded fare such as

sea shanties of the North Atlantic, and an album

of traditional drinking songs. The duo was also

half of the related act Nowell Sing We Clear—

which in addition to a number of albums—

performs an annual yuletide concert series.

Born in Worcestershire, England, of Welsh

ancestry, Roberts moved to the United States

to study graduate level psychology at Cornell

University, where he formed his longtime music

partnership with Tony Barrand in 1968.

They were members of the ‘Cornell Folk

Song Club’ and for several years served as copresidents.

Roberts also had a solo career, was a member of

the trio “Ye Mariners All “(with John Rockwell

and Larry Young), and performed regularly

with upstate New York’s ‘Broken String Band’.

In recent years he had performed with his

partner Lisa Preston, as well as folksinger Debra

Cowen.

He was a regular at the Old Songs Festival both

as a performer and Master of Ceremonies for

evening concerts.

Roberts died on 3 February 2025, at the age of

80.


john roberts discography

JOHN ROBERTS

— FHR-030, 1984)

John Roberts

Sea Fever (Golden Hind Music GHM-108, 2007)

Songs from the Pubs of Ireland (GHM-301, 1989)

YE MARINERS ALL (John Roberts, John

Rockwell, Larry Young)

Songs of the Sea (GHM-106, 2003)

JOHN ROBERTS & DEBRA COWAN

Ballads Long and Short (GHM-111, 2015)

JOHN ROBERTS & TONY BARRAND

Live at the Old Town School of Folk Music, 1978

(GHM-303, 2019)

Twiddlum Twaddlum (GHM-107, 2003)

Naulakha Redux: Songs of Rudyard Kipling

(GHM-104, 1997)

Heartoutbursts: English Folksongs collected by

Percy Grainger (GHM-103, 1998)

A Present from the Gentlemen (GHM-101, 1992)

Live at Holsteins! (GHM-203 — Front Hall FHR-

031, 1983)

NOWELL SING WE CLEAR (John Roberts, Tony

Barrand, Fred Breunig, Andy Davis)

Bidding You Joy (GHM-110, 2013)

Nowell, Nowell, Nowell! (GHM-109, 2013)

Just Say Nowell (GHM-105, 2000)

Hail Smiling Morn! (GHM-102, 1995)

Nowell Sing We Four (GHM-201, 1988)

NOWELL SING WE CLEAR (John Roberts, Tony

Barrand, Fred Breunig, Steve Woodruff)

The Best of “Nowell Sing We Clear” 1975-1986

(GHM-202 — FHR—301, 1989)

To Welcome In The Spring (GHM-202 — FHR-

022, 1980)

These recordings are available, with complete

information and song lyrics, at Golden Hind Music.

Many are also available at Bandcamp. Nowell Sing

We Clear recordings (and songbook) are also

available from the NSWC website. Dark Ships in the

Forest is also available from Smithsonian Folkways.

Dark Ships in the Forest: Ballads of the

Supernatural (Folk-Legacy FSI-65, 1977)

Mellow With Ale From The Horn (GHM-204 —

Front Hall FHR-04, 1975)

Across the Western Ocean (Swallowtail ST-4,

1973)

Spencer the Rover is Alive and Well...

(Swallowtail S1, 1971)

JOHN ROBERTS, TONY BARRAND with Various

Artists

An Evening at the English Music Hall (GHM-302


77 |

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MAGAZINE

Volkan

Konak

Volkan Konak (27 February 1967 – 31 March

2025) was a Turkish folk singer from the

eastern Black Sea. His song “Cerrahpaşa”

was a great success and his album, “Mora”, released

in 2006, was awarded a gold plaque by the Turkish

recording producers association, MÜ-YAP.

Konak was born in 1967 in the village of Yeşilyurt

in the Maçka district of Trabzon. After completing

his primary, secondary and high school education in

Maçka, he entered the Istanbul Technical University

Turkish Music State Conservatory in 1983 with the

encouragement of his teacher. He graduated from

the conservatory in 1988 and started his master’s

degree in Social Sciences on folk music at Istanbul

Technical University in the same year. He completed

his master’s degree in 1991.

Konak started his musical life in 1989 with an album

named “Suların Horon Yeri”, based on a compilation

of works from the Maçka region. Later, he started to

compose his own music, often inspired by the works

of poets such as Nâzım Hikmet, Yaşar Miraç, Ömer

Kayaoğlu, Sunay Akın and Sabahattin Ali. By

incorporating ethnic motifs into his compositions, he

created hiw own unique style.

Reshaping Black Sea music by combining it with

universal music forms, Konak composed “Efulim” in

1993. Then in October 1994, he released the album

“Gel Misiniz Benimle” (Will you come with me?).

After completing his military service, he immediately

started work on his third album” Volkanik Parçalar”

which was completed after three months. In April

1998, Konak completed his album “Pedaliza” with

Kuzey Müzik Production, a company he founded

himself.

From 1993, he performed about fifty of his

compositions in his albums and, as a result, was


Volkan Konak

selected as artist of the year by the Association of

Journalists and other foundations and associations.

In 1997, he was named “The Best Music Artist of the

Year” by Politika magazine. In 1993 the world rights

to one of Konak’s compositions were purchased by

the French producer Alain Finet. From 1998, he

also started to sing folk songs from Central Anatolia,

Eastern Anatolia, the Aegean and Cyprus alongside

his more familiar Black Sea songs.

the effects of this disaster on Turkey and especially

on the Black Sea Region. Konak, who lost many

of his relatives, including his father, to cancer, and

always felt the pain of this, composed “Cerrahpaşa”,

with lyrics again written by his sister, for his father.

For years, Konak sought to draw attention to the

increase in cancer cases in the Black Sea Region and

fought for the establishment of a Cancer Research

Hospital in the region.

In 2000, he released his album “Şimal Rüzgarı” on

DMC, following it up after a 3.5 year hiatus, with

“Maranda”, also on the DMC label. In 2006, he

released “Mora” which included the song “Gardaş”,

in memory of Kazım Koyuncu. with lyrics written

by his sister Nuran Bahçekapılı. Konak also wrote

many poems and at his concerts used to recite from

other poets as well as entertaining his audience with

his humorous stories.

Having carried out two years of research into the

Chernobyl disaster, he compiled and documented

In 2009, Konak released a new album entitled

“Mimoza” and shot several videos for it. In the same

year, he revealed that he was neither Greek nor Laz

in an interview.

In 2012, he released his album “Lifor” and shot

several videos for it.

In the late evening of 30 March 2025, Konak suffered

a medical emergency and collapsed while on stage;

he died early the next day, at the age of 58. Large

crowds attended his funeral in Maçka.

volkan konak discography

1989:

Suların Horon Yeri

Link

2006:

Mora

Link

1993:

Efulim

Link

1994:

Gelir misin Benimle?

Link

1996:

Volkanik Parçalar

Link

1998:

Pedaliza

Link

2000:

Şimal Rüzgarı

Link

2003:

Maranda

Link

2006

Koleksion

Link

2009:

Mimoza

Link

2012:

Lifor

Link

2015:

Manolya

Link

2017:

Klasikler 1

Link

2019:

Dalya

Link


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MAGAZINE

Ronnie

Gilbert

Ruth Alice “Ronnie” Gilbert (September 7,

1926 – June 6, 2015), was an American

folk singer, songwriter, actress and political

activist. She was one of the original members of the

music quartet the Weavers, as a contralto with Pete

Seeger, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman.

Gilbert was born in Brooklyn, New York City and

considered herself a native New Yorker her whole

life. Her parents were Jewish immigrants from

Eastern Europe. Her mother, Sarah, came from

Warsaw, Poland and was a dressmaker and trade

unionist. Her father, Charles Gilbert, came from

Ukraine and was a factory worker.

From a young age, she had a strong sense of social

justice and gave credit for this to her mother who

had been involved with the Polish-Jewish Bund.

She went to Anacostia High School and was almost

expelled because of her resistance to participating in

a blackface minstrel show with white students, citing

Paul Robeson’s “denunciations of racism.” Gilbert

came to Washington, D.C., during World War II at

the age of 16, took a government job and joined a

protest folk-singing group, the Priority Ramblers.

She performed with this group before founding the

Weavers with Pete Seeger. When she returned to

New York, Gilbert became involved in organising

the Office Workers’ Union and worked for the

Textile Workers’ Union. She encountered Library

of Congress folklorist Alan Lomax and Woody

Guthrie and other folk singers.

Gilbert’s singing was characterized as “a crystalline,

bold contralto.” Her voice is heard, blending with

and rising over the others, in Weavers tracks such

as “This Land Is Your Land”, “If I Had a Hammer”,

“On Top of Old Smoky”, “Goodnight, Irene”, “Kisses

Sweeter than Wine”, and “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena”.


Ronnie Gilbert

The Weavers were an influential folk-singing group

that was blacklisted in the early 1950s, during a period

of widespread anti-communist hysteria, because of the

group’s left-wing sympathies. Following the Weavers’

dissolution in 1953 due to the blacklist, she continued her

activism on a personal level, traveling to Cuba in 1961 on

a trip that brought her back to the United States on the

same day that country banned travel to Cuba. She also

participated in the Parisian protests of 1968 after traveling

to that country to work with British theatrical director

Peter Brook.

In 1968, she appeared on Broadway in a dramatic, nonmusical

role—the concentration camp survivor Mrs.

Rosen—in the original production of Robert Shaw’s play

‘The Man in the Glass Booth.’

Gilbert moved to Berkeley in 1971, and began to learn

and offer therapy. The next year, she entered graduate

school. By 1974, she had earned an MA in clinical

psychology and worked as a therapist for a few years.

Gilbert later said that at the time, she needed a change

from her career on Broadway, her daughter was grown

up and she “fell into” therapy, including Gestalt, Freudian

and Jungian practices.

In 1974, Holly Near dedicated her album ‘A Live Album’

to Gilbert. At the time, Near didn’t even know if she

was still alive, so she didn’t ask Gilbert for permission.

Gilbert found out about the dedication from her daughter

and met Near soon after. This is how Gilbert describes

meeting Near:

“I told her about how her record was astonishing to me ...

I was so moved. First I was kind of teed off about it and

then ... I was just in tears the whole time, and figured

out this has been going on while I haven’t been looking ...

This consciousness, this woman consciousness has been

happening and was happening in music ... Of course, I

loved her because she was ... the coming together of all

the things I loved in music, from folk music to Broadway

... she had that kind of delivery and voice and she could

handle pretty much anything. It was like she had the social

consciousness in a new contemporary way that the Weavers

had.”

In 1980, part of The Weavers: ‘Wasn’t That a Time! was

filmed in the loft Gilbert was living in. The film-maker left

the camera running after the Near interview, capturing

Near and Gilbert as they sang “Hay Una Mujer.” That

song was left in the film and some of the audience called

Near’s record company to see if/when she and Gilbert

would be touring. Gilbert says that this “jump started her

and Near into a musical partnership.” They toured together

nationally in 1983 for their first live album, ‘Lifeline’.

Near and Gilbert joined Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger


for the 1984 quartet album ‘HARP’ (an acronym for

“Holly, Arlo, Ronnie, and Pete”).During this tour, Gilbert

met and fell in love with her future wife, Donna Korones.

She came out as a lesbian soon after she started dating

Korones.

In 1985, Gilbert performed with Near, Guthrie, and

Seeger at the Ohio State Fair. She performed at the

10th Michigan ‘Womyn’s Music Festival’ and the first

‘Redwood Festival’ with Near. She also performed at the

‘Vancouver Folk Festival’, the ‘National Women’s Music

Festival’, and ‘Sisterfire’. In 1986, she and Near recorded

‘Singing With You.’

During that period Gilbert wrote and appeared in a

one-woman show about Mary Harris “Mother” Jones,

the Irish-American activist and labor organizer, and in

a second work based on author Studs Terkel’s book,

‘Coming of Age’. In her portrayal of Jones, Gilbert

aimed to portray a woman who was at once “spunky and

sarcastic, fearless and opinionated”, and the show’s songs,

most of which were written by Gilbert, provide an insight

into a time of resistance to injustice in the United States.

In 1991, Gilbert recorded “Lincoln and Liberty”

and “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” for the

compilation album, ‘Songs of the Civil War.’

In 1992, she accompanied the Vancouver Men’s Chorus

on the song ‘Music in My Mother’s House’ from their

album ‘Signature’.

At the age of 10, after hearing Paul Robeson sing for the

first time, Gilbert commented: “Songs are dangerous, songs

are subversive and can change your life.”

She continued to tour and appear in plays, folk festivals,

and music festivals well into her 80s. She continued her

protest work, participating in groups such as ‘Women

in Black’ to protest Israeli occupation of Palestinian

territories in addition to United States policies in the

middle-east. In 2006, the Weavers received a Lifetime

Achievement Award at the Grammys. Gilbert and

Hellerman accepted the award. Pete Seeger was unable to

attend the ceremony, and Hays had died in 1981. Seeger

died in 2014.

Gilbert was married to Martin Weg from 1950 until 1959,

and the couple had one daughter, Lisa (born 1952). Their

marriage ended in divorce. In 2004, when gay marriage

was temporarily legalized in San Francisco, Gilbert

married Donna Korones, her manager and partner of

almost two decades. Gilbert moved to Caspar, California

in 2006.

Gilbert died on June 6, 2015, at a nursing facility in Mill

Valley, California, from natural causes, at age 88.

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MAGAZINE

Isla

Cameron

Isla Cameron (5 March 1927 – 3 April 1980)

was a Scottish-born, English-raised actress and

singer. AllMusic noted that “Cameron was one of

a quartet of key figures in England’s postwar folk song

revival – and to give a measure of her importance,

the other three were Ewan MacColl, A. L. Lloyd, and

Alan Lomax”.

She was a respected and popular folk music

performer through the 1950s and early 60s as well

as appearing in several films; she focused almost

exclusively on her acting career from 1966 onwards.

Cameron provided the singing voice for actress Julie

Christie’s part in the hit 1967 film version of Thomas

Hardy’s ‘Far From the Madding Crowd,’ but changed

career direction and became a film researcher in

the early 1970s before her early death in a domestic

accident in 1980.

One of the traditional songs in her repertoire,

“Blackwaterside”, recorded by Cameron in 1962,

was subsequently popularised by notable “next

generation” U.K. folk music performers Anne

Briggs, Bert Jansch and Sandy Denny.

Isla Cameron was born in Blairgowrie, Scotland,

but spent her childhood and teens in Newcastle

upon Tyne. Growing up on Tyneside, she learned

some traditional children’s songs and rhymes but

always considered herself a revivalist rather than

a traditional singer, selecting a range of songs to

sing from wherever she found them to her liking.

In around 1945 Joan Littlewood, who had cofounded

the Theatre Workshop with husband Ewan

MacColl, was performing with the Workshop in

Newcastle and, impressed by the “absolutely pure

voice” of Cameron, then in her late teens, invited her

to join as lead singer-narrator for a production of

a MacColl-authored ballad opera entitled “Johnny

Noble”, since the person previously in this role was


Isla Cameron

leaving to get married. Cameron joined, and went

on to perform with the Workshop for four years,

including tours with different productions in

England, Germany, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia.

MacColl encouraged Cameron to pursue a singing

career, one result of which was the issuing of a 78

rpm recording on His Master’s Voice in c. 1951,

featuring Cameron singing an unaccompanied

rendition of “The Fair Flower of Northumberland”,

noted in her obituary as “a daring innovation

in those days”. Additional unaccompanied

performances released at that time comprise “The

Turtle Dove” backed with “Lay The Bent to the

Bonnie Broom”, and “Died for Love” plus “The

Queen’s Maries” backed with “Queen Jane”. She also

appeared on tracks of her own on two joint Topic

78 releases in 1951 with MacColl, singing “Cannily,

Cannily” on one release, and “The Fireman’s Not

For Me” on the other. Cameron was also featured

frequently on MacColl’s radio series “Ballads

and Blues”. In 1951, the American folklorist Alan

Lomax visited Britain to compile 2 volumes in a

monumental Columbia LP series entitled “A World

Library of Folk and Primitive Music”, Cameron

contributed three songs, “My Bonny Lad”, “Brigg

Fair” and “Died For Love” to Volume 3 of the series,

released in 1955, and a fourth, “O Can Ye Sew

Cushions?”, to Volume 6, released the same year,

which dealt with the music of Scotland. Lomax’s

recordings that include Cameron, both released and

unreleased, are presently held in the Alan Lomax

Archive at the Library of Congress.

Peter Kennedy produced a series of ‘Sunday

morning BBC Radio’ programs in 1953 and

1954, called ‘As I Roved Out’. Two of these were

later issued on the Folktrax label, with Cameron

singing three folk songs, Seamus Ennis playing

uilleann pipes and tin whistle, Ewan MacColl

singing some songs and Ron and Bob Copper also

singing. In 1956, she appeared in another radio

program, ‘Ballads and Blues: Sea Music’. Also in

1956, Cameron released a solo album of British

folk songs, ‘Through Bushes and Briars’, on the

U.S. Tradition label run by Patrick Clancy of The

Clancy Brothers. She appeared on the 1958 album

‘Folksong Jubilee’ with Rory & Alex McEwen

singing on 7 tracks (2 of them solo), and with

Ewan MacColl on the 1958 ‘Riverside’ (U.S.) album

“English and Scottish Love Songs”, performing on

8 tracks accompanied by the American performer


Ralph Rinzler on banjo and guitar; a number of the

same tracks (with some additional ones from the

same session) were shared with a 1958 Topic (U.K.)

album entitled “Still I Love Him”.

Meanwhile, in 1957, a U.K. film company, Data Film

Productions, had filmed Ewan MacColl, assisted

by Cameron and others, singing a number of songs

about coal mining for the National Coal Board,

illustrating them with “little proto-pop-promos

featuring local people in the relevant regions as their

casts” (it is not clear how many feature Cameron).

Under the name “Songs of the Coalfields”, these

were released as six separate stories in episodes of

“Mining Review” (a monthly newsreel “magazine”

for the coal industry and mining communities)

and later (1964) combined as a single 16mm film,

available in the British Film Institute archive. She

also participated in the recording of three of Ewan

MacColl & Peggy Seeger’s “Radio Ballads”, entitled

“The Ballad of John Axon” (1959), “Song of a Road”

(1959) and “The Big Hewer” (1961), later released

on LP in 1965 and 1967 although “Song of a Road”

was not issued until 1999.

In 1960, “The Singers Club” opened in The Princess

Louise public house in Holborn, London. It was

run by MacColl and his new wife, Peggy Seeger.

Cameron became a resident at this folk club and

continued to have a high profile as a singer, while at

the same time, her film career was also taking off.

With fellow Tyneside artist Louis Killen, Cameron

released a 1961 album entitled “The Waters of Tyne:

Northumbrian Songs and Ballads”, and in 1962, an

album with Tony Britton entitled “Songs of Love,

Lust and Loose Living”. Also in 1962, Cameron

contributed 6 songs to a Folkways (U.S.) release

entitled “The Jupiter Book of Ballads”, performing

“Lord Randall”, “The Dowie Dens of Yarrow”, “Mary

Hamilton” (with John Laurie), “Blackwaterside”,

“High Barbaree”, and “The House of the Rising

Sun”. That same year, her own full-length album

was released in the U.S. on Prestige International,

entitled “The Best of Isla Cameron”, with guitar,

banjo and autoharp accompaniment provided by

Peggy Seeger.

The following year Peter Kennedy recorded her

singing with accompaniment by Jack Armstrong on

Northumbrian pipes, for an album “Northumbrian

Minstrelsy” (shared with Bob Davenport and the

83 |

SFM

MAGAZINE

Rakes) on which she performed 6 songs. In 1963–

1964, she was regularly featured in Rory McEwen’s

Blues and Folk music programme on ABC regional

television entitled “Hullabaloo”. In 1965, Cameron

was one of several performers who took part in

“Hallelujah!”, a Sunday evening TV series devised

by Sydney Carter and featuring Carter himself,

Cameron, Nadia Cattouse, the Johnny Scott Trio

and Martin Carthy; an album featuring selections

from the series was issued on Fontana in 1966,

featuring Cameron on lead vocal on six selections

and joining with the remaining cast on two more.

In 1966 she released another full-length album,

entitled simply “Isla Cameron”, on XTRA records,

this time accompanied by Martin Carthy on guitar

on 6 of the 12 tracks, the others being performed

unaccompanied. On this record she sang songs

by Bob Dylan and Bertold Brecht, in addition to

traditional numbers. By this time, Cameron, now

in her late-30s, was an established and well regarded

performer on the U.K. folk music scene, one of her

featured songs “Blackwaterside” being influential on

the emerging next generation of younger performers

such as Anne Briggs, Bert Jansch and Sandy Denny,

all of whom subsequently recorded versions of it.

However following the release of her 1966 self-titled

album, Cameron decided to concentrate more on

her acting career, and also film roles.

In 1959, Cameron appeared, uncredited, in the film

“Room at the Top”. Her most memorable cinematic

moment was in 1961 in the spooky thriller “The

Innocents,” where she imitated a child’s voice and

sang “Oh, Willow Waly”. The composer Georges

Auric incorporated her singing into the orchestral

soundtrack.

Another horror film, “Nightmare”, followed in 1964.

She acted in the 1967 version of “Far From the

Madding Crowd” but her contribution was left on

the cutting room floor. However, her voice appeared

on the soundtrack album, singing “Bushes and

Briars” (Julie Christie mimed in the film) and “The

Bold Grenadier”. Trevor Lucas, later to become the

husband of Sandy Denny also sang on the album,

and Dave Swarbrick played on some of the tunes.

Her most prominent acting role was as the stern

librarian Miss McKenzie in the 1969 version of “The

Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”, where she could use her

Scottish accent to advantage.

In 1971, a boyfriend of Cameron’s was killed in a

car crash and she retreated for some time to live

in Yorkshire. In 1972 she returned to London and

started to work as a film researcher, moving into a

flat in Pimlico and virtually retiring from singing.

She died in her home on 3 April 1980, having

apparently choked to death while eating. An obituary

in a 1981 issue of Folk Music Journal stated that she

“died after mis-swallowing some food.”

SOLO 78 RELEASES

DISCOGRAPHY

1951: “The Fair Flower of Northumberland”/?? HMV

1951: “The Turtle Dove”/”Lay The Bent to the Bonnie

Broom” HMV (10”) B.10110

1951: “Died for Love” plus “The Queen’s

Maries”/”Queen Jane” HMV (10”) B.10111

78 RELEASES WITH EWAN MACCOLL

1951: “Cannily, Cannily” (Isla Cameron) / “Poor

Paddy Works on the Railway” (Ewan MacColl) /

Topic TRC 50

1951: “Moses on the Mail” (Ewan MacColl) / “The

Fireman’s Not For Me” (Isla Cameron) Topic TRC 51

(Isla Cameron’s 2 tracks were later included in Topic’s

first LP release, “Ewan MacColl with Isla Cameron &

The Topic Singers”)

SOLO ALBUMS

1956: Through Bushes and Briars and Other Songs of

the British Isles Tradition TLP 1001 link

1962: The Best of Isla Cameron Prestige International

INT 13042

1964: Lost Love (EP, 5 tracks) Transatlantic TRA EP

109 (tracks come from the 1962 LP “Songs of Love,

Lust and Loose Living” with Tony Britton (TRA

105))

1966: Isla Cameron Transatlantic XTRA 1040


Isla Cameron

PEGGY SEEGER, ISLA CAMERON AND GUY

CARAWAN

1957: Peggy Seeger presents Origins of Skiffle (EP,

four tracks) Pye Jazz NJE 1043

RORY AND ALEX MCEWEN AND ISLA

CAMERON

1958: Folksong Jubilee HMV CLP 1220 link

EWAN MACCOLL AND ISLA CAMERON

1958: English and Scottish Love Songs Riverside RLP

12-656

1958: (as Isla Cameron and Ewan MacColl): Still

I Love Him Topic Records 10T50 (many tracks

duplicated with the above album, some with altered

titles) link

1957/1964: Songs of the Coalfields Data Film

Productions (6 short films, re-released as single

combined version in 1964)

VARIOUS ARTISTS (1960)

Various artists, 1960: Field Trip – England Folkways

FW08871. Isla Cameron sings “Johnny Todd” (with

Ewan MacColl) and “Bushes and Briars”. The notes

say “Collected by Jean Ritchie & George Pickow”.

ISLA CAMERON AND LOUIS KILLEN

1961: The Waters of Tyne Prestige International INT

13059 link

ISLA CAMERON AND TONY BRITTON

1962: Songs of Love, Lust and Loose Living

Transatlantic TRA 105; also issued as Transatlantic

XTRA 1042, 1966 link

VARIOUS ARTISTS (ISLA CAMERON, JILL

BALCON, PAULINE LETTS, JOHN LAURIE PLUS

OTHERS)

1962: The Jupiter Book of Ballads Folkways FL 9890

Isla Cameron, Bob Davenport, Jack Armstrong &

The Rakes

1964: Northumbrian Minstrelsy Concert Hall AM

2339 link


WITH EWAN MACCOLL AND OTHERS

Various artists, 1956: Ballads & Blues – Sea Music

Folktrax Cassette CASS-0376 (singers are Cy

Grant, A.L. Lloyd, Isla Cameron, Ewan McColl) –

a radio recording of MacColl’s Ballads and Blues

series 1953 episode “The Singing Sailormen”, RPL

radio, produced by Denis Mitchell. Cameron sings

“Lowlands (Away)” and “My Bonny Lad”.

Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger, 1965: The Ballad of

John Axon Argo RG 474 (singers are Ewan MacColl,

A.L. Lloyd, Isla Cameron, Fitzroy Coleman, Stan

Kelly, Dick Loveless, Charles Mayo, Colin Dunn &

Dominic Behan) (originally broadcast 1959)

Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger, 1967: The Big

Hewer Argo RG 538 (singers are Isla Cameron, Ian

Campbell, Joe Higgins, Louis Killen, A.L. Lloyd,

Ewan MacColl) (originally broadcast 1961)

Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger, 1999: Song of a Road

Topic TSCD802 (singers are Isla Cameron, John

Clarence, Séamus Ennis, Louis Killen, A.L. Lloyd,

Ewan MacColl, Jimmy Macgregor, Francis McPeake,

Isabel Sutherland, Cyril Tawney, William V. Thomas)

(originally broadcast 1959)

WITH SYDNEY CARTER, MARTIN CARTHY,

AND OTHERS

Isla Cameron, Sydney Carter, Martin Carthy and

Nadia Cattouse with the Johnny Scott Trio, 1966:

Songs from ABC Television’s “Hallelujah” Fontana

TL5356. Isla Cameron sings “Two Brothers”,

Bertolt Brecht’s “Wife of the Soldier”, Tom Paxton’s

“Goodman, Schwerner And Chaney”, “Gift to be

Simple”, “Whistle Daughter Whistle”, “Johnny

Has Gone for a Soldier”, and joins the entire cast

on “Shalom” and “Last Night I Had The Strangest

Dream”.

In 2009, “The Fireman’s Not For Me” from the second

Topic 78 release was included in Topic Records 70

year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten as

track fifteen on the fourth CD.

** Unalbe to locate many of the songs above,

however I’m sure some can be discovered with a little

patience and time.

85 |

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MAGAZINE

Stan

Rogers

Stanley Allison Rogers (November 29, 1949 –

June 2, 1983) was a Canadian folk musician

and songwriter who sang traditional-sounding

songs frequently inspired by Canadian history and

the working people’s daily lives, especially from the

fishing villages of the Maritime provinces and, later,

the farms of the Canadian prairies and Great Lakes.

He died in a fire aboard Air Canada Flight 797,

grounded at the Greater Cincinnati Airport, at the

age of 33.

Rogers was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the eldest

son of Nathan Allison Rogers and Valerie (née

Bushell) Rogers, two Maritimers who had relocated

to Ontario in search of work shortly after their

marriage in July 1948. Although Rogers was raised

in Binbrook, Ontario, he often spent summers

visiting family in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia.

It was there that he became familiar with the way

of life in the Maritimes, an influence which was to

have a profound impact on his subsequent musical

development. He was interested in music from an

early age, reportedly beginning to sing shortly after

learning to speak. He received his first guitar, a

miniature hand-built by his uncle Lee Bushell, when

he was five years of age. He was exposed to a variety

of music influences, but among the most lasting

were the country and western tunes his uncles

would sing during family get-togethers. Throughout

his childhood, he would practice his singing and

playing along with his brother Garnet, six years his

junior.

While Rogers was attending Saltfleet High School,

Stoney Creek, Ontario, he started to meet other

young people interested in folk music, although at

this time he was dabbling in rock and roll, singing

and playing bass guitar in garage bands such as

“Stanley and the Living Stones” and “The Hobbits”.


Stan Rogers

After high school, Rogers briefly attended both

McMaster University and Trent University, where

he performed in small venues with other student

musicians, including Ian Tamblyn, Christopher

Ward and fellow Hobbit Nigel Russell. Russell wrote

the song “White Collar Holler”, which Rogers sang

frequently on stage.

Rogers signed with RCA Records in 1970 and

recorded two singles: “Here’s to You Santa Claus”

in 1970, and “The Fat Girl Rag” in 1971. In 1973,

Rogers recorded three singles for Polygram: “Three

Pennies”, “Guysborough Train”, and “Past Fifty.”

In 1976, Rogers recorded his debut album, ‘Fogarty’s

Cove’, released in 1977 on Barnswallow Records.

The album’s subject matter dealt almost entirely

with life in maritime Canada, and was an immediate

success. Rogers then formed Fogarty’s Cove Music,

and bought Barnswallow during the production of

Turnaround, allowing him to release his own albums.

Posthumously, additional albums were released.

Sung in his rich baritone, Rogers’ songs are often said

to have a “Celtic” feel which is due, in part, to his

frequent use of DADGAD guitar tuning. He regularly

used his William ‘Grit’ Laskin-built 12-string guitar

in his performances. His best-known songs include

“Northwest Passage”, “Barrett’s Privateers”, “The Mary

Ellen Carter”, “Make and Break Harbour”, “The Idiot”,

“Fogarty’s Cove”, and “White Squall”.

Rogers died alongside 22 other passengers most

likely of smoke inhalation on June 2, 1983, while

travelling on Air Canada Flight 797 (a McDonnell

Douglas DC-9) after performing at the Kerrville

Folk Festival. The airliner was flying from Dallas,

Texas, to Toronto and Montreal when a fire from

an unknown ignition source within the vanity or

toilet shroud of the aft washroom forced it to make

an emergency landing at the Greater Cincinnati

Airport in northern Kentucky. There were initially

no visible flames, and after attempts to extinguish the

fire were unsuccessful, smoke filled the cabin. Upon

landing, the plane’s doors were opened, allowing the

five crew and 18 of the 41 passengers to escape, but

approximately 90 seconds into the evacuation the

oxygen rushing in from outside caused a flash fire.

Soon after his death, stories began to circulate about

Rogers’ final moments. Amber Frost claimed:

Before most likely succumbing to smoke inhalation,

he used his last moments to guide other passengers

to safety with his booming voice. I’ve heard more

than one Canuck proudly declare that for all Rogers’

odes to Canada, he was never more Canadian than in

his final words: “Let me help you.”

These accounts cannot be verified, as the National

Transportation Safety Board ran a full investigation

of the incident and interviewed every single

survivor, and there is no firsthand account, official

or unofficial, of such an occurrence. Stan Rogers

most likely died before the doors were even opened,

due to smoke inhalation from the fire. Regardless,

the circumstances of Rogers’ death still circulate

as folklore. As his official biographer Christopher

Gudgeon writes:

“At the funeral, it is said, a statue of the Virgin Mary

began to vibrate. A lone eagle soared above the

gravesite and landed on the casket just as it was about

to be lowered”. Since in truth there was no burial

at all, it’s clear that some of these rumors are the

product of overactive imaginations. “From the ashes

of flight 797, a new figure emerged: Saint Stan. He

was an extension of Rogers’ Maritime Stan persona,

only rougher and saltier still, with a heart of gold, a

golden voice, and not a spot on him. Garnet calls it the

‘Elvisization’ of his brother. In death, we discovered

Stan Rogers, bigger than ever.”

His ashes were scattered off the north-eastern shore

of Nova Scotia, Canada

Rogers’ legacy includes his recordings, songbook,

and plays for which he was commissioned to write

music. His songs are still frequently covered by other

musicians, including children’s performer Raffi on

his 1977 out-of-print album Adult Entertainment,

and are perennial favourites at Canadian campfires

and song circles. Members of Rogers’ band, including

his brother Garnet Rogers, continue to be active

performers and form a significant part of the fabric

of contemporary Canadian folk music. Following his

death, he was nominated for the 1984 Juno Awards

in the category for Best Male Vocalist. That same

year, he was posthumously awarded the Diplôme

d’Honneur of the Canadian Conference of the Arts.

[20] In 1994, his posthumous live album Home in

Halifax was likewise nominated for Best Roots and

Traditional Album.


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His widow, Ariel, continues to oversee his estate

and legacy. His music and lyrics have been featured

in numerous written publications and films. For

instance, his lyrics have appeared in school poetry

books, taking their place alongside acknowledged

classics. His song “Northwest Passage” was featured

in the last episode of the TV show ‘Due South’, his

songs “Barrett’s Privateers” and “Watching the Apples

Grow” having been previously featured. “Barrett’s

Privateers” has also been used extensively in

promotion ads for Alexander Keith’s ale. In the 2005

CTV made-for-TV movie on the life of Terry Fox,

Rogers’ “Turnaround” is the music over the closing

shot. As the movie ends, Fox is depicted, alone,

striding up a hill, while the lyric

“And yours was the open road.

The bitter song

The heavy load that I’ll never share,

tho’ the offer’s still there

Every time you turn around,”

forges a link between these Canadian icons. Many

of his songs on the albums ‘Northwest Passage’ and

‘From Fresh Water’ refer to events in Canadian

history.

Adrienne Clarkson, who, prior to serving as the

Governor General of Canada from 1999 to 2005, had

worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,

highlighted Rogers’ career in a 1989 television

documentary called “One Warm Line” on CBC

Television; she also quoted Rogers in her investitural

address.

When CBC’s Peter Gzowski asked Canadians to pick

an alternate national anthem, “Northwest Passage”

was the overwhelming choice.

The Stan Rogers Folk Festival is held every year

in Canso, Nova Scotia. In 1995, several artists

performed two nights of concerts at Halifax’s

Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, which were released

on album that year as “Remembering Stan Rogers”,

which peaked at number 36 on the RPM Country

Albums chart.

Rogers is also a lasting fixture of the Canadian folk

festival Summerfolk, held annually in Owen Sound,

Ontario, where the main stage and amphitheater are

dedicated as the “Stan Rogers Memorial Canopy”.

The festival is firmly fixed in tradition, with Rogers’

song “The Mary Ellen Carter” being sung by all

involved, including the audience and a medley of acts

at the festival.

At The Canmore Folk Festival, Alberta’s longest

running folk music festival, performers take to the

Stan Rogers Memorial Stage, which is the festival’s

main stage.

Stan’s son, Nathan Rogers, is also an established

Canadian folk artist with a voice and lyrical acumen

similar to his father’s. He has released two critically

acclaimed solo albums and tours internationally as

a solo act and in the trio Dry Bones. In 1995, with

permission from Estelle Rogers, Vancouver Celtic

Rock band Three Row Barley released a live version

of Barrett’s Privateers on their album “Overserved”.

On his 2006 album “Writing In The Margins”,

American folk musician John Gorka covered Rogers’

song “The Lockkeeper”. “That’s How Legends Are

Made,” a song from Gorka’s 1990 album “Land of The

Bottom Line”, is also a tribute to Rogers.

In 2007, Rogers was recognized posthumously with a

National Achievement Award at the annual SOCAN

Awards held in Toronto.

Canadian Celtic rock band Enter the Haggis

regularly performs a cover of “White Squall” to end

their shows, and included it on their 2011 album

“Whitelake”.

In 2011, the pirate metal band Alestorm released a

cover of Rogers’ song “Barrett’s Privateers” (Label

Napalm Records).

In 2013, Groundwood Books turned Rogers’ song

“Northwest Passage” into a children’s book illustrated

by award-winning artist Matt James.

In 2017, Canadian Celtic punk band The Real

McKenzies released a cover of Rogers’ “Northwest

Passage” on their album “Two Devils Will Talk”.

In 2019, Canadian metal band Unleash the Archers

released a cover of Rogers’ “Northwest Passage” on

Napalm Records.

In 2019, Canadian folk punk band The

Dreadnoughts released a cover of Rogers’

“Northwest Passage”, as well as a commemorative


Stan Rogers

song named “Dear Old Stan”, on Stomp Records.

In 2020, Canadian Premier League soccer club HFX

Wanderers FC’s home kit featured a soundwave

image taken from Rogers’ “Barrett’s Privateers”,

inspired in part by the song’s adoption by Privateers

1882, a supporters group of the Wanderers.

In 2022 , The Longest Johns released a cover of

Rogers’ “The Mary Ellen Carter” on their album

“Smoke and Oakum”.

In 2023, The Longest Johns and El Pony Pisador

released a cover of Rogers’ “Northwest Passage” as

part of their collaborative EP “The Longest Pony”.

While occasionally performing or recording solo,

Rogers typically worked with other musicians.

Early in his career, he was accompanied live by

guitarist Nigel Russell.

In 1973 his brother, Garnet Rogers, joined as

principal sideman and co-arranger. For the next

10 years, they performed live as a trio, joined by a

succession of bassists, including Jim Ogilvie, David

Woodhead, David Alan Eadie and Jim Morison.

This live trio was occasionally augmented by other

musicians, as at a string of shows recorded for the

1979 live album “Between the Breaks ... Live”, and a

1983 CBC radio broadcast (later released as “Home

in Halifax”).

His studio albums typically featured the live trio

augmented by a mix of studio musicians and special

guests, with the exception of the 1983 album “For

the Family”, which featured the unaccompanied trio,

who also self-produced the album.

DISCOGRAPHY

SINGLES

“Hail To You Santa Claus” b/w “Coventry Carol”

(1970; RCA) discogs link

“Fat Girl Rag” b/w “Seven Years Along” (1971, RCA)

Discogs link

Fogarty’s Cove (1977)

Discogs link

Turnaround (1978)

Discogs link

ALBUMS

Between the Breaks ... Live! (1979)

Discogs link

Northwest Passage (1981)

Discogs link

For the Family (1983)

Discogs link

From Fresh Water (1984)

Discogs link

In Concert (1991)

Discogs link

Home in Halifax (1993)

Discogs link

Poetic Justice (1996) – A collection of two radio

plays (Harris and the Mare, based on Stan Rogers’

song of the same name, adapted by John Gavin

Douglas for the CBC Radio series Nightfall, and The

Sisters by Silver Donald Cameron, a play written

for CBC Playhouse, for which Rogers wrote and

performed the music.)

Discogs link

From Coffee House to Concert Hall (1999)

Discogs link

The Very Best of Stan Rogers (2011)

Discogs link

The Collection 6 CD + 1 DVD Anthology (2013)

Discogs link

Stan Rogers Songbook: Songs of a Lifetime 3 Vinyl +

Song Book Anthology (2024)

Discogs link

“Three Pennies”/”Past Fifty” b/w “Guysborough

Train” (1974, CBC Promo) Discogs link


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Norma

Tanega

Norma Cecilia Tanega (January 30, 1939 –

December 29, 2019) was an American folk and

pop singer-songwriter, painter, and experimental

musician. In the 1960s, she had a hit with the

single “Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog” and wrote

songs for Dusty Springfield and other prominent

musicians. In later decades, Tanega worked mostly

as a percussionist, playing various styles of music

in the bands Baboonz, hybridVigor, and Ceramic

Ensemble. She also wrote “You’re Dead”, which was

used as the theme song of the film What We Do in

the Shadows and the TV series of the same name.

Norma Tanega was born in Vallejo, California,

near San Francisco, and grew up in Long Beach

Her mother, Otilda Tanega, was Panamanian. Her

father, Tomas Tanega, was Filipino and worked as a

bandmaster for 30 years in the United States Navy.

During that time, he served aboard the USS Hornet

before eventually leading his own band. Norma’s

older brother Rudy served in the United States Air

Force.

Tanega began classical piano lessons at age nine.

She entered Long Beach Polytechnic High School

in 1952 and in her senior year directed the school’s

art gallery. By age 16, she was exhibiting her

paintings at both Long Beach’s Public Library and

its Municipal Art Center, playing Beethoven and

Bartók at piano recitals, and writing poetry. At age

17, she entered Scripps College on a scholarship,

graduating in 1960 before continuing her studies

at Claremont Graduate School, earning an MFA in

1962.

Tanega spent a summer backpacking in Europe

and moved to New York City to pursue her artistic

career. While living in Greenwich Village, she

was involved in the folk music scene and political

activism, including early opposition to United States

involvement in the Vietnam War.

“Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog”

Tanega worked for a short time at a mental hospital,

where she sang and played songs for patients. She

spent her summers working as a camp counselor

upstate in the Catskill Mountains. Brooklyn-based

record producer Herb Bernstein saw Tanega

performing while visiting the camp one summer.

Impressed by what he saw, Bernstein introduced


Norma Tanega

her to Four Seasons songwriter Bob Crewe. The

two men produced a number of recordings that

comprised Tanega’s first album and singles to be

released on Crewe’s New Voice Records label in 1966

Her first single, “Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog”,

became an international hit in 1966, peaking at

number 22 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and

the UK Singles Charts, and #3 in Canada. Tanega’s

impetus for the song came from living in a New York

City apartment building that did not allow dogs;

instead she owned a cat which she named “Dog”

and took for walks. The single’s success landed her

appearances on American Bandstand and Where the

Action Is, and a slot as the only woman on a North

American tour with Gene Pitney, Bobby Goldsboro,

Chad and Jeremy and The McCoys. During the

tour, Tanega was initially backed by members of the

Outsiders. Since they were unable to follow Tanega’s

more idiosyncratic music, the Outsiders were

later replaced by session musicians accompanying

her onstage. While some of her songs riffed on

traditional tunes like “Hey Girl”, derived from Lead

Belly’s take on “In the Pines”, many of her songs

diverged from the structure of typical pop and folk

music, such as her song “No Stranger Am I”, set to a 5

4 time signature.

While Tanega’s next three singles had less

commercial success than “Walkin’ My Cat Named

Dog”, her debut album was named after its big hit

and its popularity spawned several cover versions

by contemporary artists. A month after Tanega’s

single entered the charts, Barry McGuire cut a

version on the heels of his number one hit “Eve of

Destruction”. The T-Bones did an instrumental take

on it later that year, and both the Jazz Crusaders

and Art Blakey released jazz treatments of the song

in 1967.International versions adapted the song into

other languages. Madagascar yé-yé group Les Surfs

translated it as “Mon Chat Qui S’Appelle Médor” for

the French-speaking and African markets, Belgium’s

Lize Marke released it as “Wanneer Komt Het Geluk

Voor Mij” (“When Comes This Happiness For Me”)

in Dutch, and Jytte Elga Olga interpreted it as “Min

Kat – Herr Hund” (“My Cat, Mister Dog”) on a

Danish 45.

In 1966, Tanega traveled to England to promote her

music. Her tour included a performance on the ITV

program ‘Ready Steady Go!’, where she met British

pop singer Dusty Springfield. After Tanega returned


to the U.S., Springfield made many transatlantic

calls to her and accrued a large phone bill. On a

visit to New York, Springfield entered a romantic

relationship with Tanega. They returned to England

and lived together for five years.

The couple took up residence in London’s Kensington

district, where Tanega continued to paint and play

music. Springfield recorded many of Tanega’s songs.

These included “No Stranger Am I”, the 5/4 number

that originally appeared on Tanega’s first album;

“The Colour of Your Eyes”, which Tanega wrote for

Springfield in Venice, Los Angeles; “Earthbound

Gypsy” and “Midnight Sounds”, both co-written

in New York with Tanega’s high school friend

Dan White; and “Come for a Dream”, co-written

with bossa nova musician Antônio Carlos Jobim.

Tanega also penned the English language lyrics for

Springfield’s version of “Morning”, a cover of the

song “Bom Dia” by Gilberto Gil and Nana Caymmi.

In 1970, Tanega teamed up with jazz pianist

Blossom Dearie to write a song about Springfield

for Dearie’s album “That’s Just the Way I Want to Be”.

Many of Tanega’s songs appeared as non-album

B-sides to Springfield’s singles. Some, like the

outtake “Go My Love”, appeared only on collections

released years after their recording. Tanega also

went uncredited for many of her collaborations

with Springfield, and by 1970 their relationship

was deteriorating.[17] Tanega secured a contract

with the British division of RCA Records, for whom

she recorded the album “I Don’t Think It Will Hurt

If You Smile” in 1971 with producer/keyboardist

Mike Moran and Don Paul of British rock group

The Viscounts. When Tanega returned to the U.S.

before the album’s promotion, it failed to achieve the

chart success of her earlier work. Dusty Springfield

biographer Annie J. Randall said of the record, “I

hear many references to Norma’s relationship with

Dusty on this album. It stands to reason that Dusty

would be the object of affection in the love songs.”

In 1972, Tanega moved back to Claremont,

California, and took jobs teaching music and English

as a second language. She returned to painting and

exhibiting her artwork — with frequent support from

the Claremont Museum of Art — and sometimes

combined with her musical performances. Musically

she switched from playing guitar to percussion and

her style evolved from folk-rock singer-songwriting

to more instrumental and experimental music. In

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the 1980s, she was a member of Scripps ceramics

professor Brian Ransom’s Ceramic Ensemble, a

group that played Ransom’s handmade earthenware

instruments. Over the years, Ceramic Ensemble

played at universities, folk festivals, and art museum

In the 1990s, Tanega founded the group

hybridVigor, starting as a duo with Mike

Henderson for their first album, then expanding to

a trio with the addition of Rebecca Hamm for their

second album. In 1998, Tanega formed the Latin

Lizards with Robert Grajeda, and the duo released

the album “Dangerous” in 2003.

Her next band was called Baboonz with guitarist

Tom Skelly and bassist Mario Verlangieri. The trio

released a self-titled CD in 2008, the album “HA!”

in 2009, and a third called “8 Songs Ate Brains”

in 2010. Other recording projects soon followed,

including the album “Push” with John Zeretzke,

“Twin Journey” with Steve Rushingwind Ruiz, and a

return collaboration with Ceramic Ensemble sound

sculptor Brian Ransom for their album “Internal

Medicine”.

it in 2010; and They Might Be Giants recorded it

in 2013 for release on their 2015 children’s album

!Why!”

In 2014, Tanega’s song “You’re Dead” from her first

album, which was written as a sarcastic statement

about her struggles in New York’s competitive music

scene, was used in the opening credits of the New

Zealand vampire comedy film “What We Do in the

Shadows” and was remixed to become a running

theme for its characters. Starting in 2019, the song

was also used as the opening credits theme for the

film’s American television adaptation. The show ran

for six seasons, ending in 2024, and several of its

episodes featured cover versions of the song.

In 2015, Sienna Sebek portrayed Tanega in a

London stage production based on the life of Dusty

Springfield. Critics panned the show, one writing

that the Tanega-Springfield relationship was

reduced to, “they meet, fall in love, have a relationship

and break up all within the space of 10 minutes or

so.” Anabello Rodrigo reprised the role for a 2016

production featuring 3-D virtual effects.

Tanega died of colon cancer on December 29, 2019,

at her home in Claremont, California, aged 80. That

same year, Warner Music released the collection

“In the Shadows” comprising some of her early solo

recordings after renewed interest in her music from

its use on the “What We Do in the Shadows” TV

series.

In 2022, Anthology Editions published Tanega’s

paintings for the first time, including journal entries

and a range of other ephemera titled “Try to Tell

a Fish About Water”. That same year, Anthology

Recordings also released the album “I’m the Sky:

Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964–1971”, compiling

both released and unreleased material from Tanega’s

early music career.

Beyond the mid-1960s buzz around Tanega’s sole hit

single and the number of songs she contributed to

Dusty Springfield’s repertoire, many other musicians

have continued to record their own versions of

Tanega’s early work. Garage rock group Thee Oh

Sees covered “What Are We Craving?” on their 2011

album “Castlemania”. Her one chart hit, “Walkin’ My

Cat Named Dog”, has continued the rounds in other

musicians’ repertoires: Dr. Hook included it in a

1996 three-disc collection; “Yo La Tengo” performed

| 90


norma tAnega discography

ALBUMS

Walkin’ My Cat Called Dog

New Voice Records 1966

Discogs link here

I Don’t Think It Will Hurt If You Smile

RCA Victor 1971

Discogs link here

Norma Tanega, Aida Pavletich - Saturday Dancer

Addictive Audio 1988

Discogs link here

Norma Tanega, Aida Pavletich - Ways Away


Discogs link here

Norma Tanega, Alda Pavletich - Run Runner


Discogs link here

Norma Tanega, Alda Pavletich - Internal Medicine

RT Music 1995

Discogs link here

Norma Tanega, Mike Henderson - Hybrid Vigor

TH Music 1996

Discogs link here

The Latin Lizards, Norma Tanega - Dangerous

Latin Lizards 01 2001

Discogs link here

Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog (EP)

Capitol Records 1966

Discogs link here

Run, On The Run (EP)


Discogs link here

Nothing Much Is Happening Today

RCA Victor 1971

Discogs link here

Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog

Virgo 1972

Discogs link here

Norma Tanega

Norma Tanega, The Mettalics - Walkin’ My Cat

Named Dog Good Old Gold 1972

Discogs link here

The Toys, Norma Tagena - A Lovers Concerto/

Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog Old Gold 1984

Discogs link here

Norma Tanega, Eddie Rambeau - Walkin’ My Cat

Named Dog/Concrete And Clay Collectables

Discogs link here

Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels/Norma

Tanega - Sock It To Me Baby/Walkin’ My Cat

Named Dog - Eric Records

Discogs link here

COMPILATIONS

SINGLES

Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog


Discogs link here

I’m The Sky Studio And Demo Recordings 1964-

1971 - Anthology Recordings - 2022

Discogs link here

Bread


Discogs link here

A Street That Rhymes At 6AM/Treat Me Right


Discogs link here

janeshieldsmedia@gmail.com 91 |

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phil

ochs

Luke

Kelly

Luke Kelly (17 November 1940 – 30 January

1984) was an Irish singer, folk musician

and actor from Dublin, Ireland. Born into

a working-class household in Dublin city, Kelly

moved to England in his late teens and by his early

20s had become involved in the folk music revival

there. Returning to Dublin in the 1960s, he became

a founding member of the band The Dubliners in

1962. The Irish Post and other commentators regard

Kelly, known for his distinctive singing style and

sometimes political messages, as one of Ireland’s

greatest folk singers.

Luke Kelly was born to Luke Kelly and Julia

Fleming, a working-class couple, in Sheriff Street,

Dublin. His maternal grandmother Elizabeth

McDonald, who emigrated to Ireland from

Scotland, lived with the Kelly family until her death

in 1953. Kelly’s father, who was also named Luke,

was wounded as a child when a detachment of

soldiers from the King’s Own Scottish Borderers

opened fire on a Dublin crowd on 26 July 1914

in what became known as the Bachelor’s Walk

massacre. He was taken to Jervis Street Hospital

with a bullet wound to the lung and, although not

expected to recover, he overcame his injuries.

After growing up, Kelly’s father worked for most of

his adult life at a Jacob’s biscuit factory and enjoyed

playing football. The elder Luke was a keen singer:

Luke junior’s brother Paddy later recalled that “he

had this talent...to sing negro spirituals by people

like Paul Robeson, we used to sit around and join

in – that was our entertainment”. After Dublin

Corporation demolished Lattimore Cottages in

1942, the Kellys became the first family to move into

the St. Laurence O’Toole flats, where Luke spent

the bulk of his childhood, although the family were


Luke Kelly

forced to move by a fire in 1953 and settled in the

Whitehall area. Both Luke and Paddy played club

Gaelic football and soccer as children.

Kelly left school at thirteen, and after a number of

years of odd-jobbing, he went to England in 1958.

Working at steel fixing with his brother Paddy on a

building site in Wolverhampton, he was apparently

sacked after asking for higher pay. He worked a

number of odd jobs, including a period as a vacuum

cleaner salesman. Describing himself as a beatnik,

he travelled Northern England in search of work,

summarising his life in this period as “cleaning

lavatories, cleaning windows, cleaning railways, but

very rarely cleaning my face.”

Kelly had been interested in music during his

teenage years: he regularly attended céilithe with

his sister Mona and listened to American vocalists

including: Fats Domino, Al Jolson, Frank Sinatra

and Perry Como. He also had an interest in theatre

and musicals, being involved with the staging of

plays by Dublin’s Marian Arts Society.

The first folk club he came across was in the Bridge

Hotel, Newcastle upon Tyne in early 1960. Having

already acquired the use of a banjo, he started

memorising songs. In Leeds he brought his banjo

to sessions in McReady’s pub. The folk revival was

under way in England: at the centre of it was Ewan

MacColl, who scripted a radio programme called

Ballads and Blues. A revival in the skiffle genre also

injected a certain energy into folk singing at the time.

Kelly started busking. On a trip home, he went to

a fleadh cheoil in Milltown Malbay on the advice

of Johnny Moynihan. He listened to recordings of

Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. He also developed

his political convictions which, as Ronnie Drew

pointed out after his death, he stuck to throughout

his life. As Drew also pointed out, he “learned to sing

with perfect diction”.

Kelly befriended Sean Mulready in Birmingham

and lived in his home for a period. Mulready was

a teacher who was forced from his job in Dublin

because of his communist beliefs. Mulready had

strong music links; a sister, Kathleen Moynihan,

was a founding member of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí

Éireann, and he was related by marriage to Festy

Conlon, the County Galway whistle player.

Mulready’s brother-in-law, Ned Stapleton, taught

Kelly “The Rocky Road to Dublin”. During this

period he studied literature and politics under the

tutelage of Mulready, his wife Mollie, and Marxist

classicist George Derwent Thomson: Kelly later

stated that his interest in music grew parallel to his

interest in politics.

Kelly bought his first banjo, which had five strings

and a long neck, and played it in the style of Pete

Seeger and Tommy Makem. At the same time, Kelly

began a habit of reading, and also began playing golf

on one of Birmingham’s municipal courses. He got

involved in the Jug O’Punch folk club run by Ian

Campbell. He befriended Dominic Behan, and they

performed in folk clubs and Irish pubs from London

to Glasgow. In London pubs, like “The Favourite”,

he would hear street singer Margaret Barry and

musicians in exile like Roger Sherlock, Seamus

Ennis, Bobby Casey and Mairtín Byrnes.

Luke Kelly was by now active in the Connolly

Association, a left-wing grouping strongest among

the emigres in England, and he also joined the

Young Communist League: he toured Irish pubs

playing his set and selling the Connolly Association’s

newspaper The Irish Democrat. By 1962 George

Derwent Thomson had offered him the opportunity

to further his educational and political development

by attending university in Prague. However, Kelly

turned down the offer in favour of pursuing his

career in folk music. He was also to start frequenting

Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger’s Singer Club in

London.

In 1961, there was a folk music revival or “ballad

boom”, as it was later termed, in waiting in Ireland.

The Abbey Tavern sessions in Howth were the

forerunner to sessions in the Hollybrook, Clontarf,

the International Bar and the Grafton Cinema. Luke

Kelly returned to Dublin in 1962. O’Donoghue’s

Pub was already established as a session house, and

soon Kelly was singing with, among others, Ronnie

Drew and Barney McKenna. Other early people

playing at O’Donoghues included The Fureys, father

and sons, John Keenan and Sean Og McKenna,

Johnny Moynihan, Andy Irvine, Seamus Ennis,

Willy Clancy and Mairtin Byrnes.

A concert John Molloy organised in the Hibernian

Hotel led to his “Ballad Tour of Ireland” with the

Ronnie Drew Ballad Group (billed in one town as

the Ronnie Drew Ballet Group). This tour led to


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the Abbey Tavern and the Royal Marine Hotel and

then to jam-packed sessions in the Embankment,

Tallaght. Ciarán Bourke joined the group, followed

later by John Sheahan. They renamed themselves

The Dubliners at Kelly’s suggestion, as he was

reading James Joyce’s book of short stories, entitled

“Dubliners”, at the time. Kelly was the leading

vocalist for the group’s eponymous debut album in

1964, which included his rendition of “The Rocky

Road to Dublin”. Barney McKenna later noted that

Kelly was the only singer he’d heard sing it to the

rhythm it was played on the fiddle.

In 1964, Luke Kelly left the group for nearly two

years and was replaced by Bobby Lynch and John

Sheahan. Kelly went back to London with Deirdre

O’Connell, founder of the Focus Theatre, whom

he was to marry the following year, and became

involved in Ewan MacColl’s “gathering”. The

Critics, as it was called, was formed to explore folk

traditions and help young singers. During this period

he retained his political commitments, becoming

increasingly active in the Campaign for Nuclear

Disarmament. Kelly also met and befriended

Michael O’Riordan, the General Secretary of

the Irish Workers’ Party, and the two developed

a “personal-political friendship”. Kelly endorsed

O’Riordan for election, and held a rally in his name

during campaigning in 1965. In 1965, he sang ‘The

Rocky Road to Dublin’ with Liam Clancy on his first,

self-titled solo album.

Bobby Lynch left The Dubliners, and John Sheahan

and Kelly rejoined. They recorded an album in

the Gate Theatre, Dublin, played at the Cambridge

Folk Festival and recorded “Irish Night Out”, a live

album with, among others, exiles Margaret Barry,

Michael Gorman and Jimmy Powers. They also

played a concert in the National Stadium in Dublin

with Pete Seeger as special guest. They were on

the road to success: Top Twenty hits with “Seven

Drunken Nights” and “The Black Velvet Band”, ‘The

Ed Sullivan Show’ in 1968 and a tour of New Zealand

and Australia. The ballad boom in Ireland was

becoming increasingly commercialised, with bar and

pub owners building ever larger venues for pay-in

performances. Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, on

a visit to Dublin expressed concern to Kelly about his

drinking.

As an actor, Kelly performed in the 1969 Dublin

Theatre Festival, playing the role of Sergeant Kite

in “The Mullingar Recruits”. He later played King

Herod in several runs of the musical “Jesus Christ

Superstar” at the Gaiety Theatre.

Christy Moore and Kelly became acquainted in

the 1960s. During his “Planxty” days, Moore got to

know Kelly well. In 1972 The Dubliners themselves

performed in Richard’s Cork Leg, based on the

“incomplete works” of Brendan Behan. In 1973,

Kelly took to the stage performing as King Herod in

“Jesus Christ Superstar”.

The arrival of a new manager for The Dubliners,

Derry composer Phil Coulter, resulted in a

collaboration that produced three of Kelly’s most

notable performances: “The Town I Loved So Well”,

“Hand me Down my Bible”, and “Scorn Not His

Simplicity”, a song about Phil’s son who had Down’s

Syndrome. Kelly had such respect for the latter

song that he only performed it once for a television

recording and rarely, if ever, sang it at the Dubliners’

often boisterous events.

His interpretations of “On Raglan Road” and “Scorn

Not His Simplicity” became significant points of

reference in Irish folk music. His version of “Raglan

Road” came about when the poem’s author, Patrick

Kavanagh, heard him singing in a Dublin pub, and

approached Kelly to say that he should sing the

poem (which is set to the tune of “The Dawning

of the Day”). Kelly remained a politically engaged

musician, becoming a supporter of the movement

against South African apartheid and performing at

benefit concerts for the Irish Traveller community,

and many of the songs he recorded dealt with

social issues, the arms race and the Cold War, trade

unionism and Irish republicanism, (“The Springhill

Disaster”, “Joe Hill”, “The Button Pusher”, “Alabama

1958” and “God Save Ireland” all being examples of

his concerns).

Luke Kelly married Deirdre O’Connell in 1965,

but they separated in the early 1970s. Kelly spent

the last eight years of his life living with his partner,

Madeleine Seiler, who is from Germany.

Kelly’s health deteriorated in the 1970s. Kelly

himself spoke about his problems with alcohol.

On 30 June 1980 during a concert in the Cork

Opera House he collapsed on the stage. He had

already suffered for some time from migraines

and forgetfulness – including forgetting what


Luke Kelly

country he was in whilst visiting Iceland – which

had been ascribed to his intense schedule, alcohol

consumption, and “party lifestyle”. A brain tumour

was diagnosed. Although Kelly toured with the

Dubliners after enduring an operation, his health

deteriorated further. He forgot lyrics and had to take

longer breaks in concerts as he felt weak. In addition,

following his emergency surgery after his collapse

in Cork, he became more withdrawn, preferring the

company of Madeleine at home to performing. On

his European tour, he managed to perform with the

band for most of the show in Carre for their “Live

in Carre” album. However, in autumn 1983, he had

to leave the stage in Traun, Austria and again in

Mannheim, Germany. Shortly after this, he had to

cancel the tour of southern Germany, and after a

short stay in hospital in Heidelberg he was flown

back to Dublin.

After another operation, he spent Christmas with

his family but was taken into hospital again in

the New Year, where he died on 30 January 1984.

Kelly’s funeral in Whitehall attracted thousands of

mourners from across Ireland. His gravestone in

Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, bears the inscription:

“Luke Kelly – Dubliner”.

Seán Cannon took Kelly’s place in The Dubliners.

He had been performing with the Dubliners since

1982, due to the deterioration of Kelly’s health.

Luke Kelly’s legacy and contributions to Irish music

and culture have been described as “iconic” and have

been captured in a number of documentaries and

anthologies.

The influence of his Scottish grandmother aided

Kelly’s support in preserving important traditional

Scottish songs such as “Mormond Braes”, the

Canadian folk song “Peggy Gordon”, Robert Burns’

“Parcel of Rogues”, “Tibbie Dunbar”, Hamish

Henderson’s “Freedom Come-All-Ye”, and Thurso

Berwick’s “Scottish Breakaway”.

The Ballybough Bridge in the north inner city of

Dublin was renamed the Luke Kelly Bridge, and

in November 2004 Dublin City Council voted

unanimously to erect a bronze statue of Luke

Kelly. However, the Dublin Docklands Authority

subsequently stated that it could no longer afford to

fund the statue. In 2010, councillor Christy Burke

of Dublin City Council appealed to members of the


music community including Bono, Phil Coulter and

Enya to help build it.

Paddy Reilly recorded a tribute to Kelly entitled

“The Dublin Minstrel”. It featured on his “Gold And

Silver Years, Celtic Collections” and the “Essential

Paddy Reilly” CD’s. The Dubliners recorded the song

on their “Live at Vicar Street” DVD/CD. The song

was composed by Declan O’Donoghue, the Racing

Correspondent of The Irish Sun.

At Christmas 2005, writer-director Michael Feeney

Callan’s documentary, “Luke Kelly: The Performer”,

was released and soon acquired platinum sales status.

The documentary told Kelly’s story through the

words of the Dubliners, Donovan, Ralph McTell

and others and featured full versions of rarely seen

performances such as the early sixties’ “Ed Sullivan

Show”. A later documentary, “Luke Kelly: Prince of

the City”, was also well received.

In September 1988, a monument was erected

to commemorate Kelly in the Larkhill area of

Whitehall, where he had lived.

Two statues of Kelly were unveiled in Dublin in

January 2019 to mark the 35th anniversary of his

death. One, a life-size seated bronze by John Coll, is

on South King Street. The second sculpture, a marble

portrait head by Vera Klute, is on Sheriff Street. The

Klute sculpture was vandalised on several occasions

in 2019 and 2020, in each case being restored by

graffiti-removal specialists.

Sculpture

of

Luke

Kelly

on

Sheriff

Street

by

Vera

Klute.

Unveiled

in 2019

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luke kelly d

Luke Kelly With The Dubliners

Chyme records 1981 - Link here

The Wild Rover

Transatlantic Records 1964 link here

Thank You For The Days

Ferndale Films 1999 - Link here


Ram Records 1973 - Link here

THe Performer

Keltic Airs 2005 - Link here

Raglan Road

Chyme 1986 - Link here


iscography

Luke Kelly


Celtic Airs 2010 - link here

The Collection

Outlet 1999 - link here

Lukes Legacy

Chyme Records 1986 - Link here

The Best Of Luke Kelly

Celtic Arts 2004 - Link here

Songs Of The Workers

Outlet 1998 - Link here

Working Class Hero

Celtic Arts 2007 - Link here


99 |

Remembering Folk Legends Issue No:3

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