The Hard Way.

I was going to see my friend S today but when I phoned her, she was still in bed, jet-lagged. I said I’d see her on Friday. That left me with a nice quiet day all to myself. It was nice and sunny, so I went for a leisurely stroll up town. In one charity shop for £2.00 I found a nice leather-bound copy of Scott’s Poetical Works from 1856. It’s not the sort of thing I would read of course, but it will look nice in my bookcase and might be worth a few bob. In another shop I found a very nice copy of The Wind In The Willows published by the Folio Society in 1995, in a slipcase with nice illustrations. I was well chuffed with those two finds which I’ll put in my shop soon.

I got some provisions in the supermarket and went home. I opened the kitchen door and treated my neighbours to some music. I played a couple of albums that I bought recently which I hadn’t got around to playing until today. 

Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

The first one was by James Hunter called The Hard Way. What a nice album it is. I first heard of James Hunter through his appearances on Van Morrison’s albums A Night In San Francisco and Days Like This. Several years ago my friend Colleen from San Diego said I had to see him. That came true quite a few years ago now when I saw him on the Park Stage at Glastonbury. He is brilliant live, you must see him if you get the chance. His band are great as well. You wouldn’t think he was English, James was born in Colchester, Essex in 1962. You could be forgiven for thinking he is American and black. He sounds like a soul singer from the 1950’s. I love this album. The strings on some tracks would remind you of groups like the Drifters or others of that era. The sax is great as well and James is a fine guitar player. If I had to choose, I would say Carina is my favourite track, but I love all of it.

I did a bit of gardening as well, just tidying up and pottering around, but I enjoyed it. The great thing about gardening is that there is no hurry. You do a little bit, then have a sit down and admire it, then you notice something and deal with that, and then sit down again. I like it. It is all I need. 

While I was doing all this, the sounds of my Anthology Of English Folk came wafting through the ether. This is a really nice album as well. Some of my favourite folk artists are here such as Richard Thompson, Nic Jones, Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Shirley Collins, Anne Briggs and many others. Songs that I hadn’t heard before that I really liked were Somewhere Along The Road by Maddy Prior and A Mon Like Thee by The Oldham Tinkers, great stuff.

After that I felt I deserved a pint and went to Curly’s Corner and had two pints of cider. Then I came home and wrote my blog, which is this. I'm going to Bath again tomorrow, I'll try and do something interesting to write about.