On the road to Nottamun Town
So I’ve found the key to the old blog, swept a few cobwebs aside and managed to get rid of a few errant spiders. And installed about twenty million updates!
Why? You might well ask!
A message popped into my messages the other day, from none other than Al Rate from Lawrence County inviting me to have a sneak peak of their forthcoming album. Well that’s rather a tempting proposition if ever I saw one!
“Are you still doing music reviews?” he asked “not really, it’s on a bit of an indefinite hiatus, but I could be lured into making an exception” – here is that exception.
The last thing I wrote about on here was Warren‘s (excellent) last album back in 2022! And he’s well on the way to release a new one soon.. I’m sure I’ll be making an exception for exceptional Mr Ireland too. The original purpose of this space was to find a creative outlet for me whilst I crammed all my free time with gallivanting off to festivals and gigs, and also give a bit of independent coverage initially to Ferocious Dog of course, and other grassroots artists that had become all-pervading in my life!
Post-Covid I must admit I’ve struggled to get my social-engine re-tuned, so frankly I don’t partake in nearly as much live music as I used to. Coupled with that, more recently I’ve taken up the bass and am performing with Darwin’s Rejects – which has both plugged that creative need gap, and also means I tend to be doing a lot more playing music than watching it – whether it be learning new songs (hey, even writing some!) and practising as well as gigging of course.
I should plug us really – if I do say so myself I think we’re creating some really cool stuff!
So yes, anyway, that’s my excuses and shameless plugs out of the way! It is a genuine pleasure to pop my head over the blog parapet for this review.
Lawrence County are the formerly wonderfully named (but possibly a nightmare for poster writers) DH Lawerence and the Vaudeville Skiffle Show and they are releasing their latest album Nottamun Town on 29th June. If you’re not familiar with them, think Americana-infused traditional English folk music with a twist, nay, several twists. Their last album came out just as we went into lockdown, I remember forlornly wandering my permitted lonely daily walks with it in my earphones, it’s melancholic vibes fitting perfectly with the general mood (I love a bit of bleak melancholy!).
This album is a selection of traditional folk songs given the Lawrence County treatment – the opening and title track Nottamun Town has an interesting backstory – there’s more detail in the sleeve notes to delve into but it earned initial prominence thanks to Jean Ritchie in Appalachia, USA. Could this be something of older English origin that somehow migrated across the Atlantic, perhaps almost certainly involving LC (and my!) home town of Nottingham? It doesn’t feel beyond the realms of possibility does it?
It’s often linked with another traditional song Nottingham Fair – surely a nod to Goose Fair which traces its origins beyond reliable recorded history.
A great opening track – guitars start, and it layers up into a rambling tale with rasping lyrics – whether or not my obsession with Viking-related things plays into this but it wouldn’t sound out of place as the soundtrack to a Ragnar Lodbrok or Ivar the Boneless preparing to blood-eagle somebody. It wouldn’t be that out of place, really, Nottingham was of course central to the Danelaw in the tenth century after all! Surely that Scandinavian influence could well have pervaded into our folk music traditions? If indeed the soundtrack creators on shows like Vikings have any mind to what Scandinavian folk music might sound like!
But anyway, music – we’re treated to percussion breaks, bass solos, haunting violin. It sets an atmospheric tone for this reclamation, bringing a lost folk song back home.
I don’t propose to go song by song, but there’s a delightful mixture of pace and sentiment here – I’m a sucker for a good murder-ballad and there’s certainly a couple in here, Molly Bawn is a particular highlight for me with the atmospheric backing vocals adding some atmosphere to a sad and haunting tale – and an example where the band have got their own back on the Irish tendency of pilfering our folk songs and making them more famous! Although Molly Bawn sounds like how we all seem to pronounce Marylebone!
For those of you who like tracing origins and influences the Roud numbers are included for all but one of the tracks in the sleeve notes. The Roud Folk Song Index was a new discovery for me – an extensive catalogue of folk songs in the English language to track the origins, reimaginings and migrations. A veritable treasure trove of trivia and discovery that I’ve yet to delve too fully into, and a proper lifetime labour of love for its creator Steve Roud.
So, if you’re in the market for a charming collection of traditional English Language folk songs with a new lease of life breathed into them – and frankly, why wouldn’t you be? This is the album for you.
And whilst in their curation of these songs, Lawrence County have pilfered from other English speaking territories, for the last track they do put an eerie but compelling spin on perhaps the most famous folk song of English origin made more famous by our Irish friends. There’s no controversy in that statement as it’s not old enough to get a Roud number. It’s very different to what you’ll have undoubtedly heard courtesy of The Dubliners or The Pogues (I’m sure you’ve guessed by now!)
I think that Ewan MacColl would most definitely approve though.
This is a delightful selection of folk songs treated reverently and creatively with cajon, bass, fiddle, accordion, mandolin, guitars, banjo and of course voices – the layers and dynamics in the mix is incredibly pleasing. Hats off to Bob, Pete, Martin, Bill and Al with backing vocals provided by Andy and Lynn. It’s been brilliantly recorded, mixed and mastered – and packaged with evocative and atmospheric photography of Nottingham.
Nottamun Town is available to pre-order on Bandcamp, and you’ll get two tracks to enjoy right away!
