Unlikely Pilgrimage

I was up early today because a friend came around at 9.00 to mend my front door. It only took about half an hour so that was a good start to the day. I didn’t know what to do then so I went for a little walk. In the Lions charity bookshop I found a few books, a book signed by the late Willie Rushton, a book signed by cricketer Tony Lewis and a really nice book published by the British School Of Rome about the archaeology of Sardinia which is in mint condition. I’ll put those three in my shop tomorrow. I also found a hardback novel by Rachel Joyce called The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry. I was pleased to find that one because last year I read another book by her called The Music Shop which was very enjoyable. I have been reading it today and have reached page 80. It has me gripped to find out what happens next and is giving me ideas about doing more walking so that I have something to write about. I might go for a walk tomorrow if it’s not raining.

Anne Briggs

Listening To Anne Briggs.

This evening I have been listening to Anne Briggs who I rate as one of Britain's greatest ever singers. This is how I discovered her music. In 1968 I started going to Peterborough Folk Club which was held every Sunday evening at the Grand Hotel just off Bridge Street. I was only about 17 but loved the folk music, probably because of being from an Irish background. One night I saw this young singer who had just returned from busking in Paris and was paid £19 for appearing. his name was Ralph McTell and he was later to achieve worldwide acclaim for his song Streets Of London. The following year I discovered the music of Fairport Convention. The first album I bought  was What We Did On Our Holidays which is still one of my favourite albums of all time. Fairport contained two of the greatest talents of English music, Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny. I thought Sandy was great, the most perfect singing voice  had ever heard. Other people said Sandy was nearly as good as Anne Briggs.

Fairport then brought out Unhalfbricking followed by Leige And Lief. The latter was a defining moment in music when Fairport invented the genre of English Folk Rock. Sandy Denny left Fairport Convention after this album and founded the short lived Fotheringay .One of the songs on their eponymous album was called The Pond And The Stream which was about Anne Briggs. 'Annie wanders on the land. She loves the freedom of the air. She finds a friend in ev'ry place she goes. There's always a face she knows. I wish that I was there'.

When I attended my first ever festival in 1972 at Bardney near Lincoln they had a folk tent and Anne was due to play on the Sunday night (See Poster) but I think the Folk tent collapsed on the Friday night, so I don't know if Anne was there or not. Years went by going into decades and I had gradually lost interest  in buying new Fairport Convention albums without Sandy & Richard but  still liked Richard Thompson and followed his career. In 1994 I first heard a song of Richard's called Beeswing. I thought it was fantastic, one of the best songs he had ever written, sad and haunting. She was a rare thing, Fine as a beeswing, So fine a breath of wind might blow her away, She was a lost child She was running wild, she said as long as there's no price on love, I'll stay, And you wouldn't want me any other way, Brown hair zig-zag round her face, And a look of half-surprise,Like a fox caught in the headlights,There was an animal in her eyes.

I don't know if it is true, but I was told the song was inspired by Anne. My curiosity grew. Apparently she had lived in Ireland for a while where Johnny Moynihan had taught her to play the bouzouki.  I decided to find out what I could about Anne Briggs. She had recorded three albums before disappearing from the music scene.
Early in 1973 she recorded an album called Sing A Song For You. The album includes the song Standing on the Shore, previously recorded by Sweeney's Men. It was to be her final studio recording. By the time it was issued, she was living in The Hebrides, The album sank without trace until re-released in 1996, when it was acclaimed by folk music aficionados as a lost gem. She became a market gardener and avoided all contact with the music scene. Despite coaxing from some of the brightest names in British folk music, she refused to return to the studio.
Anne Briggs's musical legacy as well as her recordings is her significant influence on the work of other musicians, rather than recognition by the general public. Her earlier partner, Bert Jansch, who described her as one of the most underrated singers recorded Anne's songs including Go Your Way  and Wishing Well on his albums. She was also his source for several of the traditional songs which he recorded, including Blackwaterside. Jansch's instrumental accompaniment to this song was later copied, virtually note-for-note by Jimmy Page and recorded as Black Mountain Side. Her name continues to be praised by younger singers such as Eliza Carthy and Kate Rusby, to name but two.
A few years ago I bought the Anne Briggs Collection and I love it. It might not be to everyone's taste because a lot of the songs are unaccompanied,  but there is no doubt that Anne has a wonderful voice and her legend continues to grow.

Reading Big Bill Broonzy

I have been listening to Big Bill Broonzy this afternoon because I was inspired to listen to him again after reading the Bert Jansch book. He was a hero to Bert and many others on the Folk and Blues scene in the early 60's. I first heard of Big Bill Broonzy when I listened to the Hymns To The Silence album by Van Morrison. I wrote a piece about Bill quite a while ago in 2012 so today I thought I would dust it off and republish it. This is it......................................

One of the many things I like about listening to Van Morrison's music is that he is such a name dropper. Van's songs are littered with references to the writers and musicians who have influenced him.Van is trying to turn on the listener to the things that he enjoys. He is saying "I dig this,check it out".It is very educational being a Van fan and I have discovered lots of great music because of Van and learned a lot about the history of music. In the song 'On Hyndford Street' Van says
'And reading Mr. Jelly Roll and Big Bill Broonzy
And Really The Blues by Mezz Mezzrow
And Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
Over and over again'.

I have mentioned Really The Blues by Mezz Mezzrow and Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac in previous articles so today I would like to have a look at Big Bill Broonzy who I had been curious about for a while. I had heard the name and  knew that Eric Clapton and Keith Richards were big fans of him. I looked him up on Wikipedia and found that the book that Van must have read was 'Big Bill Blues', his autobiography which Bill narrated to Belgian writer Yannick Bruynogue. It was published in 1955. My curiosity was aroused and I knew I had to read this book. I looked on eBay and found a hardback edition published by the Jazz Book Club in the UK in 1957. "That will do nicely", I thought to myself and clicked 'Buy Now'. Then I thought that it was pointless reading the book without hearing the music so I bought a CD as well, 'Big Bill Broonzy, The Anthology' .A couple of days later they both arrived. The book is a wonderful read. It is divided into three sections, My Life, My Songs and My Friends in which Bill narrates his story in a very droll manner. It is full of amusing anecdotes about his life. There are also lots of great photos of himself and his friends such as Washboard Sam, Memphis Slim, Lonnie Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Jack Dupree, Sonny Terry and many others. I listened to the CD while reading the book and I must say that I really like it. Sometimes when I listen to Blues albums I find them a bit samey and I get bored, but not so with this double album because there is lots of variety in it. It contains his most famous song 'Key To The Highway' which as you know Eric Clapton recorded with Derek And The Domino's. The influence on Van can be seen on such songs as Outskirts Of Town, John Henry and Midnight Special. What really impressed me about the album though is the seemingly effortless blues guitar picking.You can see why the likes of Bert Jansch, Eric, and Keef looked up to him. Also you can see where the British Skiffle movement of the 50's got some of its ideas from, such as the use of a washboard as an instrument and Lonnie Donegan even took his name from Bill's friend Lonnie Johnson. Like a lot of American blues artists such as Champion Jack Dupree, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGee and Little Walter, Bill spent a lot of time touring Europe where he was a huge success and even met and fell in love with a lady in Amsterdam and had a son who still lives there. He died in 1958 from cancer. His influence lives on though and many great guitarists cite him as an influence.  During the inauguration of President Obama the words of his song Black,Brown And White Blues were used in the benediction, so thank you very much to Van for introducing me to the music of Big Bill Broonzy.

Dazzling Stranger by Colin Harper

I was up early by my standards today. That was because I had a dental appointment at 10.30. I was only there for five minutes as it was a check-up, but it still cost me £23. Then I went to the photo booth in the supermarket to get a new photo for my Glastonbury Festival workers renewal form. It is only 168 days to Glasto now. As it was a sunny day I did a bit of pottering about and sweeping up outside my house.

The rest of the day I have been chilling out and reading a book I got recently. It is called Dazzling Stranger, Bert Jansch And The British Folk And Blues Revival. It is really interesting and covers just about everyone on the folk scene in Britain in the early 60’s. I find the parts dealing with Bert’s relationship with Anne Briggs particularly interesting. There are some fabulous photos in the book as well, even of Bob Dylan’s visit to Britain in 1962 (See photos). I’m listening to BBC 6 Music at the moment and have just been reminded that it is David Bowie’s birthday today. He was born on January 8^th 1947.

Safe At Anchor by Kate Wolf.

When I got home from Warminster this afternoon, I was pleased to see the postman had delivered a CD. It is Safe At Anchor by Kate Wolf. I stumbled across Kate Wolf’s music late one night just before Christmas on youtube, liked what I heard and ordered an album on the spur of the moment. I didn’t know anything about her. On Wikipedia I discovered that Kate Wolf January 27, 1942 – December 10, 1986 was an American folk singer and songwriter. Though her career was relatively short, she had a significant impact on the folk music scene, and many musicians continue to cover her songs. Her best-known compositions include "Here in California," "Love Still Remains," "Across the Great Divide," "Unfinished Life," and "Give Yourself to Love."  Her songs have since been recorded by artists such as Nanci Griffith and Emmylou Harris (whose recording of "Love Still Remains" was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1999). Sadly Kate  died in 1986, at age 44, after a long battle with leukemia. I listened to the album twice this afternoon and I like it a lot. She has a beautiful voice and I love the playing of the other musicians instruments such as piano, mandolin & accordion. It takes a while to get really familiar with an album but after two listens I think my favourite songs are Early Morning Melody and Two Way Waltz. If you scroll down you can hear a song by Kate Wolf. It is a real shame that she died at such a relatively young age before her fame had grown.

Kate Wolf - Two-Way Waltz

Strawbs and Sandy Denny - Sail Away To The Sea

My favourite female singer of all time Sandy Denny was born 72 years ago today. This is an early song that Sandy recorded with The Strawbs.

One Sweet Day. (When Fairport Convention Played In Peterborough.)

It's Sandy Denny's birthday today. She was born on January 6th 1947. Sadly Sandy died at the early age of 31 but her legend continues to grow. To mark the occasion I thought I would dust off this story that I wrote a while ago. ............. 

There was a time from about 1969 to 1971 when Fairport Convention were my favourite band. Up to that point my music taste was American, mainly the Beach Boys but I started going to Peterborough Folk Club in 69, went through a period of transition and entered my folk-rock era. I discovered the album What We Did On Our Holidays. This was followed by Unhalfbricking, Liege & Lief, Full House, Angel Delight and Babbacombe Lee. After that I began to lose interest in Fairport. I think that was because the two people I really admired in the band who were Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson had departed. Another reason was that I entered my Van Morrison period which has lasted to this very day. However, in the last few years my interest in Fairport has been rekindled, mainly due to seeing them live a few times and enjoying their last two albums Myths & Heroes and 50:50. They are a great live band and still producing splendid new music. Also, they are nice people who take the time to talk to the fans at the gigs as I have discovered at the Cheese & Grain In Frome in the last few years.

Recently I saw that a new biography of the band had been published so I sent off for a copy which arrived a couple of weeks ago. It was signed by the author Clinton Heylin. I don’t like him very much because he wrote a biography of Van Morrison quite a few years ago which I took exception to because of his sarcastic comments. I don’t like this Fairport book all that much either. Maybe the band should write their own autobiography to put the record straight. There was one thing though in the book which made me sit up and take notice.

On page 62 I read that Sandy’s second ever gig with Fairport Convention was supporting John Mayall’s Blues Breakers and Donovan at Whittlesey near Peterborough on June 2^nd 1968 almost exactly 50 years ago. If only I had discovered Fairport a year earlier than I did, I could have seen them on my own doorstep. Mind you, I was only 16 at the time so I probably wouldn’t have been allowed to go. Although I have seen Fairport many times over the years I never saw them when Sandy was in the band. This particular two day event was organised by the same people who a year earlier had put on an event at Spalding Nr Peterborough featuring Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Cream, and Geno Washington & His Ram Jam Band !. Imagine seeing all that lot in one day for £1. What really intrigued me reading Heylin’s book though was when he said that a tape of Fairport’s gig was in existence.

“I want a copy of that tape!”, I thought to myself. Not only was it recorded in my home town, it is also the earliest ever known live recording of Sandy Denny singing with Fairport and only two weeks after she joined the band. An important historical document. Thanks to the good old internet I was able to do some research. I discovered that the recording had been made on a Telefunken cassette recorder by a member of the audience called Anders Folke. It lay in his attic for 30 long years before it was transferred to cd and bootleg copies began to circulate. I expect this tape is well known to hardcore Fairport aficionados but not to me until today. After a bit more googling I found a site called ioffer where someone had a copy for sale.

The cd popped through my letterbox this morning and I immediately slammed it into the music machine. The sound quality is quite poor, but I was expecting that. To save his batteries Anders had also stopped recording between songs so there is no talk or introductions by the band. Listening to the music you wouldn’t think that this group in less than two years would invent a whole new genre of music, namely British Folk-Rock. On this recording which is only seven songs in just over twenty minutes the band sound like a bluesy loud rock band. Richard Thompson’s excellent guitar playing is apparent though and Sandy’s wonderful vocals. There are no original Fairport songs. It is almost all covers of American singer-songwriters. I can see why someone described them in their early days as the British Jefferson Airplane. If I had to choose, my favourite song is Sandy singing You Never Wanted Me, written by her boyfriend Jackson C. Frank.

Although the CD is very short with poor quality sound I am really pleased that I discovered it and finally heard Fairport Convention fifty years after they played in my home town of Peterborough. Thank you very much Anders Folke for making this historic recording back in the mists of time all those years ago.

THE END.