A CURIOUS MIX OF BRITISH FOLK MUSIC AND AMERICAN POLITICS
Wagoner’s Lad (also known as My Horses Ain’t Hungry) is a popular song, which first appeared without credit and without sheet music in a 1734 book, The Vocal Miscellany.
Bob Dylan stated that the melodic structure of his song Farewell, Angelina was taken from an early 1850s Scottish sailors’ song by George Scroggie called Farewell to Tarwathie: this latter song, in turn, was inspired by the old traditional tune of Wagoner’s Lad. [Wikipedia]
Possessed of a crystal-clear voice with echoes of the style of Luke Kelly and the emotional depth-charge of Liam Weldon, Yeates’s full-bodied singing is never anything but his own
By Siobhán Long
Raucous, bawdy, reflective and wistful in turn, Macdara Yeates’s solo debut is a robust collection in which this Dublin singer revisits age-old tales and renders them anew with his own unforced imprint.
As a founder member of the Cobblestone singing session The Night Before Larry Got Stretched (as well as being a member of Skippers Alley), Yeates has a well-established pedigree in singing circles, but unlike his peers in Lankum, Landless and Ye Vagabonds, along with his erstwhile bandmates John Francis Flynn and Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, he’s taken his own sweet time to let the songs gestate.
Yeates is possessed of a crystal-clear voice that contains echoes of the declamatory style of Luke Kelly and the emotional depth-charge of Liam Weldon, yet his full-bodied singing is never anything but his own. Light on decoration, Yeates favours a bareboned setting for most of his chosen songs, with many sung solo, and those that invite his own accompaniment on bodhrán and guitar are adorned with only the subtlest backdrop, reminiscent of the buoyant touch beloved of the late Dennis Cahill.
Yeates delights as much in the nonsense of his own version of The Herrin’ as he does in the poignant emigration song The Shores of Lough Bran (learned from the Connemara singer Sarah Ghriallais) and Dominic Behan’s Our Last Hope. Yeates’s colour palette is richly hued, thanks to the welcoming gabháil of his song book, where borrowings from Frank Harte, Seosamh Ó hÉanaí, Luke Kelly, Séamus Ennis and others coalesce to form a highly cohesive whole.
In a golden age for traditional singing in Ireland, Yeates’s debut comes as a further welcome affirmation that the torch is being passed to a generation who truly understand and value its worth, while acknowledging that they are not afraid to inhabit it with their own particular voice. Traditional Singing from Dublin is a candid, clear-eyed and uncluttered snapshot from a singer who is finally stepping into the spotlight.
Patterns in Repeat was written after the birth of Laura Marling’s daughter in 2023. The songs reflect on motherhood, ageing and the patterns that are passed down through family over generations. The album opens with the sound of a man and a woman talking, alongside a baby cooing.
It was recorded at Marling’s home studio and at Bert Jansch Studio in London.
“You Wear It Well” is a song written by Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton, It utilizes an arrangement markedly similar to that of “Maggie May.”
The Faces’ lineup in 1972 clip above included: Ian McLagan (keyboards), Ronnie Lane (bass guitar, vocals), and Kenney Jones (drums and percussion), Ronnie Wood (guitar), Martin Quittenton (classical guitar), and of course Rod Stewart on vocals.
Notable in the video is the exceptional fiddle playing of Dick “Tricky Dicky” Powell.
Stewart recorded “You Wear It Well” for the 1972 album Never a Dull Moment, and released it as a single on 12 August. The song became an international hit, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart. In the US, “You Wear It Well” peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“Maggie May” has all the rock radio glory, but “Mandolin Wind” is every bit its equal, as effective a mixture of British folk and American rock (or, for that matter, American folk and British rock) as Fairport Convention’s best work from the same period. Although the song never rises beyond a midtempo stroll, even during the comparatively rocking fadeout, it’s nevertheless a masterpiece of dynamics. Almost entirely acoustic, the arrangement adds and subtracts instruments in waves, culminating in the thrilling wash of Martin Quittenton’s mandolins in the final instrumental break. Over this, Stewart sings quite possibly the most emotionally direct lyrics of his career; sung from the point of view of an aging rural husband, it’s a simple, sweet declaration of love and fidelity that’s about a hundred times more believable than later efforts like “You’re in My Heart.” – AMG
The song was covered by the Everly Brothers for their album Stories We Could Tell, and also recorded by Earl Scruggs for his album Strike Anywhere.
The identity of the mandolin player on “Mandolin Wind” is unclear. The liner notes state that “the mandolin was played by the mandolin player in Lindisfarne” but that Rod Stewart had forgotten his name.
In 2003, Ray Jackson claimed to be the mandolin player on the album, at least for the song “Maggie May.” Jackson is the mandolin player from English folk-rock band Lindisfarne. Other sources say the madolin is played by Martin Quittenton.