Chris Smither Toby Hay Bryony Griffith
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fR421 PAGES 108-133 (21 Pgs)_Layout 1 31/05/2018 23:31 Page 5 f 112 which are woven fabrics of history, lore and personal experience. Inspired by a bird whose call and cry is sadly becoming less common, the guitar suitably disturbed as it chimes the chords of decline. Recorded with precision and detail in an astonishing four-day burst of creativity at the splendidly named Giant Wafer studio, mixed by brother Tim and produced by the man himself, aided by a simple sleeve with fasci- nating notes and thoughts on each track, Toby Hay has produced a small package of wonder. Listen to it in your quieter moments, the contents are thrilling. tobyhay.com Simon Jones BRYONY GRIFFITH Hover Selwyn Music SYNMCD0009 ROBBIE SHERRATT Provenance Robbie Sherratt RS01 Here are two fiddle-centred Photo: © Judith Burrows albums of invitingly contrast- Chris Smither ing character, both compara- tive rarities on the market CHRIS SMITHER TOBY HAY even in the narrow field of fiddle albums, but with an Call Me Lucky Signature Sounds SIG CD The Longest Day The State 51 Conspiracy interesting and unexpected 2093 CON214CD common denominator, the Chris Smither has the magic The light’s just dimming as I involvement of Ian Stephen- ability to weave words that type these words and as I son (not a fiddle player, but a mean guitarist float in and around a theme, gaze across my garden from and a skilled producer/engineer). drawing you in, then keep- the study to the copse just Bryony Griffith’s new album is that rare ing you mesmerised as the beyond, the hedge frames beast, a quintessentially English solo fiddle verses unfurl. Both head and two sides of the hill behind, album, but with the above-mentioned differ- heart are engaged by Chris’s in the twilight. It’s a peaceful ence. Hover is her second solo CD, but her creations and Call Me Lucky sight at any time but just first wholly instrumental outing. Consisting has some really excellent now with Toby Hay’s title entirely of “traditional tunes for an English examples… Down To The Sound, By The track spinning in the background it’s entirely fiddle player”, it’s very much a what-it-says- Numbers, Everything On Top, and Lower The appropriate. His guitar playing is butterfly on-the-tin job – but a thoroughly excellent Humble all have a captivating, wistful, ethe- light and with bucolic support from a small one at that. Bryony’s sparky, honest-to-good- real quality. But Chris also has a bluesier, ensemble of brass, percussion and various ness playing style is justly famed, and the more rock’n’roll side which surfaces on his strings, the music is the equivalent of dappled sheer vigour and fun with which she invests song The Blame’s On Me and his versions of light playing through the branches of a wood- each bow stroke makes for both compelling Chuck Berry’s Maybellene and the Mississippi land. Debut album The Gathering released and stimulating listening. There’s an immedi- Sheiks’ Sitting On Top Of The World. Chris has last year was one of those recordings which acy to Bryony’s playing that’s thoroughly cap- such a recognisable individual sound, both kept nagging at the back of your head for tivating whether she’s tackling hornpipes or vocally and playing guitar, that his recorded repeat plays, here was a guitarist so connect- tunes for morris or rapper dance; but there’s performance of Lennon & McCartney’s She ed to place – in Toby’s case Rhayader in also a flowing elegance that complements Said She Said feels as though he was the actu- Wales – that it seemed to form naturally with- the attack. This juxtaposition undoubtedly al writer of the song. in his music; one listen is to be transported. stems from Bryony’s background in playing for dancing (including of course the Demon This CD (Chris’s eighteenth) has a ten- Stylistically kin to Jim Ghedi, his northern Barber Roadshow), yet her playing and track ‘A Side’ on one disc, and a six-track ‘B cousin, both have the happy knack of turning arrangements also exhibit considerable sensi- Side’ on a second because he went into the out melodies that speak of the physical as tivity and imagination. Especially intriguing is studio with the intention of recording eight well as the more ancient. (Their upcoming her conversion of the South Yorkshire originals and two cover songs (those on CD 1) joint album will be one to savour.) That does- manuscript tune Burnett’s Jig into a slow air but, on impulse, he, his fellow musicians and n’t mean Hay’s stood still and gazed inward (now that takes some doing!). The disc is his regular producer David Goodrich also with this new offering. Whilst obviously still equally divided into solo fiddle excursions recorded second versions of some of the songs happy with his own backyard, At The Bright and selections on which Ian deftly yet fierily featuring quite different arrangements. Hem Of God is a glistening, gliding thing accompanies and supports Bryony, either on redolent of the Welsh hills and a huge sky, at The song that undergoes the biggest guitar or double bass – the latter’s cheeky the same time observing the smaller details transformation is Everything On Top devel- syncopations spicing up Radstock (on this that happen without anyone really noticing oping from the gentle, delicate delivery on issue’s fRoots 69 compilation) and the Hodg- each and every day. It sent chills down my CD 1 to, on CD 2, a full-on high energy elec- son Square Hornpipe, for instance. tric blast with Chris sounding remarkably like spine. Equally evocative Late Summer In Bruce Springsteen! Drummer Billy Conway Boscastle catches Hay just as concentrated I can best recommend Hover by saying really drives this version along but he can and slightly off his patch, listening to the tide that anyone who thinks they’ll get bored also drop the rhythm to a whisper as and natural sounds, pushing the boundaries with a whole album of tunes played on the required. Keith Gary, Matt Lorenz, Mike of his influence. fiddle will have their expectations well and Meadows, and David Goodrich show versatil- truly dashed by Bryony’s stimulating playing, Though England’s his calling, touring her artistry and good humour. ity playing a variety of instruments sympa- over in the States turned out to be a positive thetically behind Chris’s own guitar playing. thing, forcing him to write a tribute to the bryonygriffith.com There is no bass player in the line-up, leaving harsh urban environment of Chicago. Leaving Robbie Sherratt’s name is undoubtedly room for the acoustic instruments to be Chicago is written with an easy roll and the less well known than Bryony Griffith’s right heard clearly in the mix. motion of a train winding through a vast now, but Provenance, his debut album, may Coming after his 50-year career retro- landscape, whilst the slow starting Marvin well change that at a stroke. Robbie hails spective double CD Still On The Levee in 2104, The Mustang From Montana has slight West- from North Staffordshire and he proudly Call Me Lucky proves that, at the age of 73, ern and blues tinges, hoovering up other embraces the traditional music of his home Chris Smither is still a creative, stimulating influences. The playful and brief Bear’s Dance region, hitherto somewhat under-represent- and vital artist. turns out a fiddle duet in praise of his border ed on the circuit, yet in a manner befitting a smither.com collie (named Bear should you ask) – great classical violinist who’s studied at the Sibelius bowing from David Grubb incidentally. All Academy. His instrument is the five-string fid- Dave Peabody this and a suite Curlew Part 1 & Part 2 into dle, and with it he confidently desists from fR421 PAGES 108-133 (21 Pgs)_Layout 1 31/05/2018 23:31 Page 6 113 f merely reproducing fiddle tunes in ‘the usual’ WILL POUND DOM FLEMONS shape or format. He retains a strong sense of continuity of folk tradition while embracing Through The Seasons: A Year In Presents Black Cowboys Smithsonian modes of arrangement more akin to modern- Morris & Folk Dance Lulubug Folkways Recordings SFW CD 40224 day classical music. His chosen accompanists LULUBUG004 play oboe, bassoon, cello, concertina and Mention the phrase ‘singing occasionally vibraphone, and Ian Stephen- Will was born into a dancing cowboy’ to folks of a certain son’s supportive guitar makes an appearance family and says that he has age and chances are you’ll unobtrusively driving along some of the been “involved with morris evoke happy memories of album’s tracks. Robbie’s homage to his native and folk dance since I was Saturday morning cinema Potteries is cemented by his borrowing of a born”. He is, of course best- watching the heroic exploits theme from the landmark first symphony known for his virtuosic har- of Roy Rogers & Trigger, and (The Gothic) by that region’s composer Haver- monica playing which has Gene Autry “drifting along gal Brian (an underestimated figure in 20th already brought him a flurry with the tumbling tumble- Century English music if ever there was one). of top awards but on this weeds”. Yet beyond the dated Hollywood fantasy, a more insidious fiction still persists. Robbie’s own playing is always carefully release it is his melodeon that is more to the As Professor Mike Searle noted in a 2010 NPR considered, and yet it’s also often shot fore.