Folk Music
Author: Fusive Created: Wednesday, November 09, 2005
This is a blog about folk music. It will include information on music from Ireland, music from Scotland, the U.K, information on musicians and also local Folk from the Lancashire area. Also info on local live music and gigs in the Pendle and Lancashire area.
Nick Drake
By Fusive on Friday, December 16, 2005
Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (June 19, 1948 – November 25, 1974) was a British singer/songwriter. Drake is known for his gentle, autumnal songs and his virtuoso right hand finger picking technique. Although he recorded only three albums, critics and fellow musicians held his work in very high esteem. Drake failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, though, which fed his severe clinical depression. Since his death, Drake’s music has gained a significant cult following. He was discovered by Ashley Hutchings, the bass player of the folk rock group Fairport Convention. Hutchings introduced Drake to the other members of Fairport Convention, folk singer John Martyn and producer Joe Boyd.
Comments (0) More...
John Renbourn
By Fusive on Friday, December 16, 2005
John Renbourn (b. August 8, 1944) is a British guitarist and songwriter. He is possibly best-known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career both before, during and after that band's existence (1967-1973). While most commonly labelled a folk musician, Renbourn's musical tastes and interests take in early music, classical music, blues and world music. His most influential album, Sir John Alot (1968), featured his take on songs from the Medieval era. John Renbourn was born in Marylebone, London. He studied classical guitar at school and it was during this period that he was introduced to Early Music. In the 1950s, along with many others, he was greatly influenced by the musical craze of "Skiffle" and this eventually led him to explore the work of artists such as Leadbelly, Josh White and Big Bill Broonzy.
Comments (0) More...
Mike Harding - BBC Radio 2 - Wednesday Folk Music
By Fusive on Thursday, December 15, 2005
Mike Harding show last night, I always like to catch the show on a Wednesday night. This week Mike announces the winner and plays highlights from the final of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award 2006, held at The Sage Gateshead last weekend, plus a selection of the best in folk, roots and acoustic music. It was another good show as usual, I managed to catch the beginning as I was driving home, and the rest on digital radio when I got home, if you miss the show you can listen for the next 7 days on BBC Radio 2 on the internet.
Comments (0) More...
John Martyn
By Fusive on Thursday, December 15, 2005
John Martyn (born September 11, 1948) is a singer-songwriter. He was born Ian David McGeachy in New Malden, Surrey, England. His parents divorced when he was five; Martyn spent his childhood alternating between England and Scotland. His professional musical career began when he was 17; a blend of blues and folk resulting in a unique style that made him a key figure in the London folk scene during the mid-1960s. He signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records in 1967 and released his first album, London Conversation, the following year. This first album was soon followed by The Tumbler which 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 Stormbringer in 1970, which also had Martyn's then wife, Beverley Kutner, as his collaborator. She also appeared on The Road to Ruin in 1970.
Comments (0) More...
Leadbelly
By Fusive on Thursday, December 15, 2005
Leadbelly (born Huddie William Ledbetter; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949) was an American folk musician, notable for his clear and forceful singing, his virtuosity on the twelve string guitar, and the rich songbook of folk standards he introduced. Leadbelly was born to Wesley and Sally Ledbetter in a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana, but the family moved to Leigh, Texas when he was five. It was there he received his first instrument, an accordion from his uncle, and by his early-20s, after fathering at least two children, he left home to find his living as a guitarist (and occasionally, as a labourer). His boastful spirit and penchant for the occasional skirmish sometimes led him into trouble with the law, and in 1918 was thrown into a Texas jail for the second time, this time after killing a man in a fight. He was released seven years into his thirty year sentence after writing a song appealing to Governor Pat Neff for his freedom, but in 1930 was back in prison, this time in Louisiana for attem
Comments (0) More...
Bert Jansch
By Fusive on Thursday, December 15, 2005
Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 - ), known as Bert Jansch, is a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and, particularly in his early career, was sometimes characterized as a British Bob Dylan. This, however, was misleading, in that Jansch's best work has always been fundamentally instrument-driven unlike Dylan's which is primarily lyric-based. In the 1960s, he was heavily infuenced by the guitarist Davey Graham and folk singers such as Anne Briggs. His work influenced such artists as Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler, Led Zeppelin and Neil Young, and earned him a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2001 BBC Folk Awards.
Comments (0) More...
Pentangle
By Fusive on Thursday, December 15, 2005
Pentangle is a British folk-rock band. The original band was active in the late 1960s and the 1970s; its successor has been active since the early 1980s. The original line-up, which was unchanged throughout the band's first incarnation (1967-1973), was: Jacqui McShee vocals; John Renbourn guitar; Bert Jansch guitar; Danny Thompson bass; and Terry Cox drums. Of the original members, only McShee survives in the current line-up (though Jansch also was a member of the second incarnation of the band for some time, between 1982 and 1995). The original group formed in 1967. Renbourn and Jansch were already popular musicians on the British folk scene, with several solo albums each and a duet LP, Bert And John (they also shared a house in London). Although nominally a 'folk' group, the members each shared catholic tastes and influences.
Comments (0) More...
Woody Guthrie
By Fusive on Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967), known almost universally as "Woody", was a folk singer and raconteur who wrote some of America's best-loved songs. He is best known for "This Land is Your Land". Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma, in 1912, the year his namesake Woodrow Wilson was elected President. At age 19 he left home for Texas, where he met and married his first wife, Mary Jennings, with whom he had three children. He left Texas (and his family) with the Dust Bowl, following the Okies to California. The poverty he saw on these early trips affected him greatly, and many of his songs are concerned with the inequities faced by America's working men and women. A lifelong socialist and trade unionist, he also contributed a regular article, "Woody Sez," to the Daily Worker and People's World newspaper.
Comments (0) More...
Martin Carthy
By Fusive on Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Martin Carthy (born May 21, 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring later artists such as Bob Dylan and Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days of the folk revival. He was born in Hatfield and grew up in Hampstead, London. After training as an actor he sang in coffee bars. He became a resident at the Troubador folk club in Earls Court in the late 1950s. He joined Redd Sullivan's Thameside Four in 1961. He is a renowned solo performer of traditional songs in a very distinctive style, accompanying himself on his trusty old Martin Guitar; his style is marked by the use of alternate tunings, and a strongly percussive picking style that emphasizes the melody.
Comments (0) More...
Richard Thompson
By Fusive on Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Richard Thompson (born April 3, 1949 in London, England) is a musician, best-known as a guitar player, singer, and songwriter. A solo artist since 1971, he first became widely known as a founding member of the British folk-rock ensemble Fairport Convention. He is a Muslim convert, although this is not apparent from his songs, which are mostly concerned with the darker side of life. He enjoys a loyal fan following, despite lack of mainstream commercial success.
Comments (0) More...