intheboatshed.net

Tom and Barbara Brown’s new album Beyond the Quay is
made up of sea songs

Tom and Barbara Brown are old friends, and I’m very pleased that they should should put out a CD of sea-songs. Songs connected with the sea  have been out of fashion around the folk scene’s clubs and festivals for far too long in this country.

Interestingly, even though I’ve recently heard the claim that sea shanties are the new Rock’n'Roll, there are none here. Instead, this CD is full of songs about ships, ports, sailors, and of course heroes and villains. Most are traditional and most belong to the West Country.

Tom and Barbara’s performances are marked by some very effective harmony singing, of which there are two excellent samples here: a classic English woman-dresses-as-man adventure Young Susan and a version The Death of Nelson to a tune learned by the couple from traditional source singer George Dunn of Staffordshire, with additional verses from the broadside ballad.

Another aspect of this disk that I particularly like is that it includes a very nice but less well known version of one of my favourites, The Bold Princess Royal. Tom’s version from Bristol is much harder to sing than the one I know from Sam Larner - so much so that he gets extra points from me for making an excellent job of it. I gather it came originally from a singer called Albert Lightfoot.

There’s a link to a fairly rough recording in this post but you should definitely hear Larner’s verson if you can. As with everything he sang, his version of the song is touched with a greatness I can’t begin to aspire to.

In the interests of historical veracity I should explain that Tom’s version has the same problem as Larner’s – he has the British ship being chased to windward, which seems unlikely as the Moorish pirates’ xebecs were far better to windward than the British boats during the era being described.

And I should also add that Tom and Barbara have been lucky enough to be supported on this CD by our old friend Keith Kendrick and young musicians and singers Emily and Hazel Askew.

Copies of Beyond the Quay are available direct from Doug Bailey at WildGoose Studios and from folk music CD stockists generally. While you’re over at Doug’s emporium, do take a look at some of the other recordings he has on offer including Keith Kendrick’s recent CD Songs from the Derbyshire Coast.

Further information about Tom and Barbara Brown and a programme of their performances and general doings is available from their website http://www.umbermusic.co.uk .

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The Mersey Shanty Festival is under threat from local councillors and an arts establishment that doesn’t think sea songs are a worthwhile contribution to culture. I’ve no doubt it’s all part of the widespread but patronising and stupid line of thinking we have in England that says that culture is only worth having if it’s either posh or foreign. It’s a view that has led to many aspects of working people’s lives in this country being lost to history, including two things of particular importance Continue Reading »

intheboatshed.net has been doing particularly well in the past couple of months, not least in terms of the numbers of people calling by to read our daily posts. As I write, we’ve had almost 34,000 hits, which I’m told makes us very successful for a weblog about a minority activity. While I would agree that we’re not doing too badly, I’d also suggest that perhaps the people who admire traditional boats constitute quite a large minority, as minorities go…

I’m particularly pleased today as we’ve had a delightful message of support from the great US writer and editor Peter H Spectre, as you can see at Continue Reading »