#4119: Tales From the Folk Tradition
Hear some tales from the folk tradition, some darkly tragic, some not as much. Listen to musical partners Bruce Greene and Kore Loy McWhirter perform mostly dark and mostly quiet traditional songs from the southern Appalachians. Their unaccompanied, mostly Southern, songs and ballads contain hair-raising close vocal harmonies and a sense of communion. We have Vermont-born singer/fiddler/banjoist/guitarist Sam Amidon, to thank for introducing us to the music of this duo. So, we'll hear a bit of re-imagined folk from his record, Lily-O, the title track.
Then, there’s music from northern England and The Unthanks, a fluid ever-expanding folk-rooted quintet co-fronted by the two sisters, Rachel and Becky Unthank. Listen to their version of “Magpie.” from the recent record, Mount the Air. There’s also music from all-star Scottish-English group called The Furrow Collective, whose four distinctive singers and instrumentalists - singer-songwriter Emily Portman, Lucy Farrell and Rachel Newton, and singer/guitarist Alasdair Roberts - all provide lead vocals on mostly bleak narrative ballads. Plus, hear an American duo called Among the Oak and Ash who do old Appalachian murder ballads and other tunes.
Listen to collaborative music from British folk singer Sam Lee on an arrangement of a song collected from the travelers, “Lovely Molly,” which is not just accompanied, but also augmented by the Roundhouse Choir. Plus, enchanted dark folk from singer-songwriter Emily Portman from her 2015 record Coracle.
PROGRAM #4119: Tales From the Folk Tradition (First aired 5/24/2018)
ARTIST: Sam Lee
WORK: Lovely Molly [1:00]
RECORDING: The Fade in Time
SOURCE: The Nest Collective Records TNCR 003
INFO: samleesong.co.uk
ARTIST: Bruce Greene & Kore Loy McWhirter
WORK: Come Near My Love [2:32]
RECORDING: Come Near My Love
SOURCE/INFO: brucegreene.net
ARTIST: The Unthanks
WORK: Magpie [5:08]
RECORDING: Mount the Air
SOURCE/ INFO: the-unthanks.com
ARTIST: Bruce Greene & Kore Loy McWhirter
WORK: O, Lily-O [:35]
RECORDING: Come Near My Love
SOURCE/INFO: brucegreene.net
ARTIST: Sam Amidon
WORK: Lily-O [8:53]
RECORDING: Lily-O
SOURCE: Nonesuch 543642
INFO: nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Sam Lee & Roundhouse Choir of London
WORK: Lovely Molly [5:19]
RECORDING: The Fade in Time
SOURCE: The Nest Collective Records TNCR 003
INFO: samleesong.co.uk
ARTIST: The Furrow Collective (Rachel Newton, Lucy Farrell, Emily Portman and Alasdair Roberts)
WORK: Handsome Molly [3:41]
RECORDING: At Our Next Meeting
SOURCE/INFO: thefurrowcollective.co.uk
ARTIST: Bill Morrissey ft. Suzanne Vega
WORK: Handsome Molly [3;27]
RECORDING: Legacy: A Collection of New Folk Music
SOURCE: Windham Hill Records
INFO: Out of print, but try Amazon.com
ARTIST: Ballake Sissoko & Vincent Segal
WORK: Histoire de Molly [5:31]
RECORDING: Chamber Music
SOURCE: Six Degrees Records #1171
INFO: sixdegreesrecords.com
ARTIST: Among the Oak & Ash
WORK: Hiram Hubbard
RECORDING: Among the Oak & Ash
SOURCE: Verve Forecast 2704938
ARTIST: Bruce Greene & Kore Loy McWhirter
WORK: O, Lily-O [:35]
RECORDING: Come Near My Love
SOURCE/INFO: brucegreene.net
ARTIST: Emily Portman
WORK: Seed Stitch, excerpt [2:19]
RECORDING: Coracle
SOURCE: Furrow FURR 008
INFO: emilyportman.co.uk
