Ahead of Bridget St John’s gig at The Trades Club, we zipped back in time to 1969 – the year John Peel fell in love with Bridget’s velveteen folk voice and launched a label to pro…
There are many words you could use to describe the late broadcaster and DJ John Peel. Passionate. Obsessive. Instinctive… One thing’s for sure, he was a man who knew his own mind. When Peel liked something, he went all-in. He had the gumption to commit.
On its release in 1978, Peel famously played The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks twice in a row on his radio show, hailing it “the perfect pop song”. The opening line – “Teenage dreams so hard to beat” – is etched on his gravestone in Great Finborough, Suffolk.
Peel was always fiercely devoted to the subjects of his admiration. He granted 24 BBC Peel Sessions to his most treasured band of all time, The Fall. And his gushing promotion helped boost a catalogue of other artists in their raw infancy, not least The Smiths, Marc Bolan, The White Stripes, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Kanda Bongo Man, Joy Division and, of course, Half Man Half Biscuit.
In the late 60s, when he moved from pirate radio to the BBC, Peel stumbled across a young folk singer, Bridget St John, and instantly became a colossal fan. So much so, in fact, that he felt the burning desire to start his own record label, largely in order to capture Bridget’s work and get it distributed to a wider audience.
Speaking years later he explained “nobody else was going to record her stuff.” Through artistic endeavour, he felt he had to.
So, in 1969, Peel set up Dandelion Records – named after his pet hamster – with business partner Clive Selwood. The label’s first release was Bridget’s debut album Ask Me No Questions, recorded in just 10 hours and produced by Peel himself.
In honour of Shirley Collins’ 90th Birthday, Domino are happy to present this new, faster version of Hares on the Mountain was recorded as part of the sessions for Bridget Christie’s 2023 series The Change.
Hares on the Mountain is Shirley’s signature arrangement, first appearing on her seminal debut album Sweet England in 1959. Since then, it has featured on two more albums, including 2023’s Archangel Hill. Over the years, it has become the benchmark rendition of this traditional English ballad, inspiring new interpretations by artists such as Lankum, All Them Witches, and Alt-J—66 years after Shirley first made it her own.
I know that many among us dislike the early onslaught of Christmas music playing in grocery stores, shopping malls, government-run immigration detention centers, etc. Years ago, I wrote a Hobbledehoy post claiming there are only ten good Christmas songs. I’ve since expanded that total to thirty songs, which of course destroys my entire original premise. Serves me right for being such a pretentious bastard!
Hrumph.
Anyway, last Sunday I guest-hosted the weekly radio show Shades of Blue on WRIU and played three hours of classic Blues music, sans the mistletoe. During the show, I received a phone call at the studio thanking me for not playing any Christmas Blues tracks (B.B. King, Charles Brown, and John Lee Hooker each recorded Christmas songs) Is there an LP out there titled “I Saw Mommy Kissing Peg Leg Howell?” I wouldn’t doubt it.
Soon it will be time to just “give in” to the Christmas music blitz, but until then, I thought a replay of my Shades of Blue program might be appreciated by the hobbledehoy among us. As John Lee Hooker would say, “I’m in the mood, baby. Yes, I’m in the mood.”
LISTEN TO THE SHOW (Below)
PREACHIN’, MOANIN’ & HOWLIN’
• Rev. D.C. Rice “The Same King of Power Over Here” [Rev. D.C. Rice Complete Recorded Works (1928-1930]
• Miles Caton & DC6 Singers Collective – “This Little Light of Mine” [from the film Sinners, 2025]
• Son House “Preachin’ Blues” [1930]
• Tedeschi-Trucks Band “So Long Saviour” [I Am the Moon: II. Ascension, 2022]
• Tom Waits “Chocolate Jesus” [Mule Variations, 1999]
• Harmonica Frank “Howlin’ Tom Cat” (Bo Carter)1952
• Lead Belly “Moanin'” [1935]
• Howlin’ Wolf “Howlin’ for my Darling” [1959]
THE BIG HOUSE & A SMALL KITCHEN
• Bukka White “When Can I Change My Clothes” [1940, Chicago]
• Paul Geremia “Skin Game Blues” (Peg Leg Howell) [Gamblin Woman’s Blues, 1992]
• Delaney & Bonnie w Duane Allman “Come On In My Kitchen” [Anthology Vol. 2]
