Behaving Like A Sailor – Or Not

Last night I went to see one of my favourite musicians – Eliza Carthy, daughter of Martin Carthy and Norma Waterstone, the British equivalent of the Cash family. she is a brilliant singer, strong and pure and fiddle player and was joined by her good friend, American Tim Erikson. I’d never thought of how the … Continue reading →

Led Zepellin – Hangman

I heard this today and was suddenly intrigued by it as a piece of history. As Robert Plant explains in this live version, it is an old English folk song that went to the States and became part of Leadbelly’s repertoire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xJ9f3HjmwY The original recording has a banjo weaving through it which makes me wonder … Continue reading →

The Genius that is Steve Martin

This man is so busy and talented I needed to lie down before putting this post togetehr. It just isn’t fair on the rest of us. This is one of the funniest clips I’ve ever seen, and I have no idea how he did it, this is ‘The Great Flydini’ on Johnny Carson. Make sure … Continue reading →

Songs About Dying

This is not a maudlin post, but some of  the great songs come under this category. If you peruse the titles of folk blues and country it is an incredibly common topic. It’s the one thing we can’t escape, so as the rain continues to poor and the Redland May Fair has been cancelled for … Continue reading →

Songs About Ships and Sailors

I am interested in the few remaining dangerous professions, hence my  earlier post about coalmining. So here’s another group about ships and the men who sailed them. Shipbuilding was for centuries a huge industry in this country – the harbourside of Bristol was lined with shipyards; timber for them came in from mostly the Baltic. Bark … Continue reading →

The Soundtrack to The Fairytale

I didn’t bother to include the YouTube links in my big essay on the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s Fairytale of New York, so here are the relevant links so you can just listen to all the  tunes. The original video: The Pogues, 1987 YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwHyuraau4Q&feature=related the concert version, St Patrick’s day The Pogues & MacColl, … Continue reading →

An Earthquake in Tennessee

I grew up watching ‘the Beverley Hillbillies’ when I got home from school, so I accidentally had an early grounding in Bluegrass music which I now love.  Earl Scruggs played banjo on the theme tune that I can still remember the words to.   He popularised banjo playing and invented his own style which is … Continue reading →