dh lawrence and the vaudeville skiffle show

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!

Freeborn Al / 1st May 2024 / Music, Other Bands, Photos

Is this the end of it all?

It feels like it sometimes doesn’t it? The 12th December is certainly a decisive moment for the sentiment – not just because of the general election, certainly the most divisive and in my time as an eligible voter it feels like the most important and scary – but because Lawrence County (formerly DH Lawrence and the Vaudeville Skiffle Show) are launching their new single.

Hauntingly melodic and foreboding in equal measure – it strikes the perfect tone for how many are feeling in as the countdown to the election looms nearer. The polls – whilst not always a reliable bellweather – predict a continuation of the policies that have led us to where we are.

The world is on a knife-edge of recoverability from human abuses, domestically we have ever increased disparity in wealth and, whether you favour EU membership or otherwise, a ruinous and calamitous divorce and years of negotiations from a weakened and desperate position that puts our very health service at risk is probably not what the majority of ‘the majority’ voted for back in 2016.

But anyway, I didn’t start this blog to talk about politics – there are plenty of others out there that do a much more thorough job, and I’m not self-important enough to think my musings are likely to make anyone think any differently to how they do already – this is about music, and here is some!

So come the evening of 12th December if you fancy something other than sitting in and worrying about the outcome of the ballot box counts, then you could pop yourself down to the single launch event at The Running Horse and sink a few consolatory pints.

Freeborn Al / 8th December 2019 / Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Politics, Videos

2015 – The year of the Dog..

Okay, so Ferocious Dog have been around a little longer – but this last year has felt rather like a landmark. And not just because back in February it’s when Ferocious Blog was born, ha! The lead up to a new year is traditionally a time for reflecting back on the year just gone and looking forward to the next one, so I figured it’d be nice to trawl back through the months and pull out a highlight or two for each month of 2015, it will be tough to pick just one or two so feel free to chip in your own in the comments – despite my best efforts I didn’t quite make it to every Ferocious Dog gig in the year!

January 2015 – a light month, Ferocious Blog was yet to be created (although it had been an idea kicking around in my head for at least a couple of years). Checking my calendar and personal blog doesn’t reveal much at all in the way of Ferocious Dog activity – we’d have been still basking in the warm glow of Dogfest back in December – I latterly discovered that a 3 Piece Acoustic performance took place in honour of Ella’s 21st birthday in this month, but alas I didn’t know Snotty at this juncture!

February 2015 – the blog is born after an acoustic appearance by Ken and Dan at the Brown Cow in Mansfield. Seldom has one of Sam’s nights had such a huge crowd packed in. The demand for the event was the perfect excuse to arrive early and chat nonsense with friends for the afternoon. An afternoon of drinking had taken its toll on Dean who for the first time decreed I needed to get up and surf in his place – a great way to start what became a year of extreme ‘dogging’. These smaller intimate gigs are as enjoyable for me as the bigger and bolder shows that are to follow. We were first introduced to Scott at this appearance too.

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Freeborn Al / 30th December 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Thoughts

The not so Jingle Bell Ball..

Just how do you follow up a sell-out show these days? Well, two consecutive sell-out shows in Kenny’s case, well – Ken and Dan gave up their time for free to support a charity event set up by Georgi and Heather from Chesterfield College. They were raising money and awareness for FairPlay, who support children and young adults with disabilities or other needs across the North Derbyshire area, as part of their Health and Social Care studies. So far their fundraising total is over £900 – which is awesome, huge well done!

I didn’t think I was going to be able to make it to the event at Chesterfield’s Proact Stadium but as work took me to Leeds on the day it seemed like providence as that made the gig pretty much on the way home. So upon leaving our office just north of Leeds into the mysterious and misty weather it turned out the M1 was a bit of a nightmare – my sat nav came up trumps and diverted me round the back of Meadowhall and through a labyrinthine route around the backstreets of Rotherham and Sheffield to eventually spit me out on the road to Chesterfield past Dronfield.

Now as a proud Stag being asked to play at the home of the Spireites is a big ask for Ken. It’s a new ground so it’s very shiny – and The Spires restaurant is a cracking venue, it was going to be a bit odd being at a Ferocious Dog gig – albeit a two-piece one – and sat in dinner party table arrangements! Whilst Ken and Dan were sound checking I settled on a table with Karen, Bev, Emma, Jamie and Dylan – it was good to have a natter, and coo over Lacey-Lee a bit who was with Leanne and family on the next table.

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Freeborn Al / 16th December 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

A lovely ramble in DH Lawrence country..

I’ve heard people be pretty dismissive of Skiffle as a mere novelty or something not to be taken too seriously. I don’t profess to have vast experience of it, but I do know humble skiffling gave rise to the Beatles. Researching a little further I found a definition of ‘Jazz, folk or country music played by performers who use unconventional instruments such as kazoos, washboards or jugs, sometimes in combination with conventional instruments’ – which sounds fair enough.

DH Lawrence and the Vaudeville Skiffle Show fuse this, perhaps sans the jazz, with a healthy slug of Folk, Bluegrass, Americana and North Nottinghamese (I take exception to UpNorthicana as they call it, we are midlanders after all!) to create something really rather magical. I saw them performing at Splendour earlier in the year, where washboards, kazoos and a ‘skiffle boot’ nestled with a banjo, double-bass (and but for availability an absent violin) to mesmerise us with folksy bluegrassy ballads and rowdy tunes coupled with engaging crowd participation.

So it was pretty exciting when Al got in touch to offer to send me an advance copy of their forthcoming album – Sons and Lovers – to have a listen to, which is what I’ve been doing over the last couple of weeks. Once I’d got it on my phone I lined it up to listen on my way to work – time enough for two run throughs since the traffic was bad. It felt a bit like a first date that had gone well – excitement, a little bit of uncertainty but a keen desire to reacquaint myself with my new beau and get to know her better.

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Freeborn Al / 5th November 2015 / Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

We shall overcome.. Bagthorpe edition.

If I had one regret at the awesome weekend we just spent at Rockstock and Barrel it would be that it clashed with We Shall Overcome – a nationwide campaign of awesomeness, essentially gathering together artistic performers to do their thing under a single banner in protest against the terrible levels of austerity being inflicted by the current government. Performers, promoters, sound people all gave up their time at over 300 events this weekend for free in order to raise awareness and money to help those effected by homelessness or needing food banks etc.

However, I’m always happy to seek out opportunities to eke out the weekend a little more – and in between family visitations and the logistics in getting Snotty back down south I spotted an irresistible opportunity to head over to Dixies Arms in Bagthorpe where DH Lawrence and the Vaudeville Skiffle Show had organised an afternoon of performers. Working out our timings, we could get there for a little before 5 and spare an hour – and providence was our friend as the performer in that time was none other than Mr Kenny Bonsall.

As well as Ken also on offer were performances from Paul Carbuncle, King of Rome, Quiet Loner and the hosts, DH Lawrence and the Vaudeville Skiffle Show – two of which I’ve seen and thoroughly enjoyed in the past, so I am a little sad that we couldn’t make the whole afternoon work – but well, if I had to pick one, let’s face it, it worked out pretty well for us! Upon arriving we found a handy car-sized space next to the Ferocious Dog bus (Cerebus), a deft bit of reverse parking (if I do say so myself!) and we were on our way into the pub.

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Freeborn Al / 4th October 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Lee Bonsall, Music, Photos / 0 Comments