A CURIOUS MIX OF BRITISH FOLK MUSIC AND AMERICAN POLITICS
Brìghde Chaimbeul’s first album The Reeling was met with high critical acclaim, named The Guardian’s Folk Album Of The Month and one of The Quietus’ Albums Of The Year, featuring a wealth of collaborators within the genre including Lau fiddler Aidan O’Rourke and Radie Peat on concertina.
Chaimbeul’s second album is titled Carry Them With Us, again featuring the smallpipes which are a more portable, practical version of the Great Highland bagpipes.
(Sources: The Thin Air, The Quietus)
Frailers couldn’t be more tucked away, but it is a favourite of Billy Connolly, the man known by his Scots nickname the Big Yin (“the Big One”)
By Jonathan Blackburn
It seems an unlikely place to find Billy Connolly’s favourite banjo shop, which couldn’t be more tucked away.
The term ‘hidden gem’ is overused, but if ever it were apt, Frailers is the place. On a quiet street lined by takeaways in the small industrial town of Runcorn, Cheshire, Frailers has had a host of famous faces come through the door.
The shop seems to go back forever, with rows upon rows of shimmering guitars and banjos, music memorabilia and photos of the many stars who have visited Frailers since it opened in 1979.
Glasgow’s favourite son has made six visits to Frailers, staying for hours at a time, according to Frank Murphy, 82, who opened the shop more than half a century ago and can still be found behind the counter six days a week. A signed picture of Billy takes pride of place on the wall, showing the the Big Yin strumming away in the shop’s banjo room, past shimmering rows of guitars.
Frank says Billy first visited the shop more than 25 years ago to have his famous banjo repaired at the recommendation of folk singer Mike Harding. Frank said: ”Billy came in and I thought, ‘I know this face.’
Here’s a three song playlist from The Incredible String Band’s performance on the German TV show Beat Club, recorded September 1970 but not broadcast.
Beat Club was a German music program that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. Co-created by Gerhard Augustin and Mike Leckebusch, the show premiered in 1965 with Augustin and Uschi Nerke hosting.
By the time the Incredible String Band performed, the series was known for incorporating psychedelic (read: cheesy) visual effects during the taped performances. This one is no exception.
The band is in fine form here, still having fun -despite being recently introduced to Scientology and the crooked music business. As the Scotsman will toast, “To honest men and bonnie lassies!” Well, the lassies were bonnie, anyway.
In these clips, the band plays “Empty Pocket Blues,” “Everything’s Fine Right Now,” and “Irish Jigs.” The singing, particularly Mike and Robin’s respective hi and lo, is fantastic. Both guys were also great pickers, and by this time Rose Simpson, had learned to play a competent guitar.
The “Irish Jigs” clip is terrific, though it sounds more Scot than Irish,. The clip includes some wonderfully kooky dancing (less Riverdance, more Deadhead spinner footwork) from the lovely Licorice McKechnie. I’m a really sucker for Scottish Highland dance. Love it – especially when the dancer holds hands above his/her head (see Licky at 02:30) with the thumb touching the middle finger, the other three fingers extended in the air. This signifies something important to the Scots, perhaps, “My clan is planning to slaughter your family tonight, Campbell.” With The Incredible String Band, it may have meant something more Boudin Noir en Francais than Scottish haggis: “Okay, so who is sleeping with who, tonight?”
Where are the band members today? Both Heron and Williamson still perform. Rose Simpson left the music biz and lives quietly with her family in Wales. Christina ‘Licorice’ McKechnie was last seen in 1987 hitchhiking across the Arizona desert in 1987.
