大象传媒

One of the things I like most about the folk scene / folk world, call it what you will 鈥� is that it is a very broad church.

At one end of the musical spectrum you have unaccompanied traditional singers such as Lar Cann and Peta Webb, beautiful singers who carry the living fuse at the core of the music, and at the other end you have singer/songwriters like Lizzie Nunnery, whose Company of Ghosts is one of my favourite albums of the last 12 months and Robinson whose England鈥檚 Bleeding does what the best songs always do and gets right into the heart of the matter.

In between there is an equally glorious cornucopia of musical riches from Barbara Dickson and Ewan McLennan to Kate Rusby and bands like Steamchicken and Steeleye Span; everything from stomping dance music to the elemental stories of the ballad.

There can鈥檛 be another form of music that can do so many things, from telling stories to making you laugh, dance, think and cry.听 There may be somebody already working on a Phd on 鈥淭he Political and Social Significance of Lady Gaga鈥檚 Lyrics鈥� but I doubt it.

The other thing I like about the folk world is that it also embraces all ages, from primary school kids learning their first tunes on the penny whistle to octogenarians tripping the light fantastic at a ceilidh.

Two CDs arrived recently that make that point exactly: The Other Crossing from Emma Sweeney the young Manchester-Irish fiddler who was a 大象传媒 Radio 2 Young Folk Award finalist a few years back and Back To You from Martyn Wyndham-Read who, like the writer of this blog, is a few moons beyond the bus pass.

Both albums are beautiful and true and have pleased me greatly. Emma is one of our finest young fiddlers and her self-released听five track EP of tunes is a real gem. The playing seems effortless and un-forced and I get the same buzz listening to it that I get when I listen to the great master fiddlers like Dezi Donnelly and Aly Bain. As well as being a world-class musician Emma is no mean shakes when it comes to composition and several of the tunes on the EP, including the title track, The Other Crossing, are her own.

Martyn, in Back to You, has produced another album of great songs sung with deep conviction and in a voice that, while it is rich and powerful is still never anything more than a vehicle for the stories Martyn brings us. Years working in Australia drew Martyn deep into the bush-ballad and bush-band tradition which shows in great songs like The Billy of Tea and The Broken Down Squatter while his love of English traditional song burns through As I Roved Out and The Banks of the Sweet Primroses.

Two albums from the Spring and Port Wine of the folk scene, both brilliant and both extremely cheering and uplifting.

Get them and listen to them. They are wonderful.

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In this week's programme, Mike is joined by Jon Boden for an hour dedicated to the folk phenomenon that is Bellowhead. from the band has done his bit too, writing a blog post for us:

"On the eve of the launch it seems incredible that it's already half a year since we went into to record Hedonism. What an amazing experience it was. Living in beautiful apartments in St John's Wood for two weeks and being able to walk to Studio 2 every day was a dream in itself; no greasy hotel breakfasts and sweaty tube rides, just a refreshing five minute stroll through leafy grandeur to the most famous recording studio in the world.

Sam Sweeney and Rachel McShane of Bellowhead recording at Abbey Road Studios.

"Of course every morning there were crowds of tourists at the gates, stopping traffic on the zebra crossing and graffiti-ing their favourite Beatles lyric on the walls. And wondering who on earth we were and if they should know us, as they parted to let us through.

"As if entering Abbey Road wasn't exciting enough, once inside, there was the legendary waiting for us. The very same John Leckie who produced one of my favourite albums of all time, Showbiz by Muse. When we entered the huge Studio 2 for the first time he casually pointed out the that I had just put my fiddle on was the one McCartney played on Lady Madonna. And the vocal microphone he was setting up for Jon Boden was the one Lennon always used. Surreal!

"And now, somehow, six months of gigs, festivals, beer brewing - more on that later - and anticipation has passed and here we are finally about to unleash the album to the public.

"To launch the album we're throwing a party with an invited audience of the great and the good, family, friends, and lucky fans who won the prize draw for tickets. It'll actually be the first time we have played some of the material since Abbey Road, and I can't wait.

"To top it all, we're promised that they'll be serving Hedonism Ale there too, brewed by our own fair hands. Back in May, John (Spiers), Pete (Flood), Ed (Neuhauser) and I arrived on the steps of the Potbelly Brewery in Kettering at 7:30am, bleary eyed and ready to brew our very own golden, summery ale to commemorate the album. It was a long but hugely enjoyable day of mashing, sparging, shovelling and disinfecting, punctuated by long gaps of waiting filled with tunes and the sampling of many other ales. Lots of sampling. And I can confirm our beer is absolutely delicious!

"So - after next week's party we have a month to prepare, both mentally and physically for the mammoth Hedonism Launch Tour. Personally, I'll be playing squash everyday until November in order to lose the weight I will inevitably put back on in beer and service station pasties"

If, like us, you鈥檝e loved the music left behind by Nick Drake, then the beautiful compositions of the late will also hold a special place in your heart. His sensitive and evocative string and brass arrangements for such classics as Way To Blue, Cello Song and Hazey Jane II form an inextricable part of the songs鈥� charm.

Robert, who sadly died in October of last year, arranged for Nick鈥檚 albums and . He also contributed to albums by Vashti Bunyan, Al Stewart and Ralph McTell, and in the late seventies joined Strawbs as an arranger and Mellotron player.

Despite spending much of his working life away from music, he later worked on albums for Paul Weller and The Magic Numbers.

We thought you鈥檇 like to know that a Robert Kirby memorial concert is being held , featuring the likes of Vashti Bunyan, Teddy Thompson and Steve Ashley. Nick Drake鈥檚 sister, , has written a few words about Robert for us:

鈥淚n the early days, I knew Robert mainly from hearsay, and as the friend of my late brother, Nick Drake. The two met at Cambridge, and Nick, it seemed to me, instantly recognised in Robert the talent that would complement his own, writing home to his parents that he had 鈥渇ound a chap who was doing some arrangements to my songs鈥� and who was 鈥渜uite hip to my kind of music鈥� (English understatement!). And he was right. Without Robert, Nick鈥檚 legacy of music would have been so much the poorer. 听From their earliest days in Cambridge, and for the rest of Nick鈥檚 all-too-brief life, as well as over the years when Nick passed from obscurity to recognition and fame, Robert was his champion and true friend.

鈥淚t was only in the latter years of Robert鈥檚 life that I came to know him for myself, as a loving friend, always ready to help, always open to new challenges. The joy with which he spoke about any group or person with whom he was collaborating was infectious, and I鈥檓 sure he must have inspired, helped and encouraged many a new and perhaps wavering talent.

鈥淚 think he would have much preferred for his life to be celebrated than for his death to be mourned. And so I am sure that this concert, with so many of his friends performing, would have had his endorsement, and will be a unique occasion by which to remember a great man, and a fine musician.鈥�