Superb new Winter album just released... collaboration between Ashley Hutchings Becky Mills and Blair Dunlop
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Another blast from the past! I feel like a martian looking at this thread. I scrolled through all 42 pages of this thread so far to see if there were any references to some of the greats in American folk music back in the day. Not much oddly. I used to love Odetta and had a crush on Buffy Saint Marie. I went to the summer camp run by Janis Ian's parents a couple of summers in the late 1960s. We spent a lot of time sitting around singing folk & protest songs. One summer they took a small group of us to Newport, I think it was '68, when she was performing there. Don't remember much as we were sat way in the back, a long way from the stage. Vaguely remember Richie Havens and Mimi Farina (sister of Joan Baez), who were also friends with the older folks amongst us.
Well worth a mention, like some of their stuff.Not sure if anyone has mentioned Midlake, maybe not stricktly folk but I really like them.
Admittedly I’ve not read right through all 42 pages of this thread, yet if no one has yet mentioned Steve Ashley then there is no justice! I had never come across his work until I read that his debut album ‘Stroll On’ (Gull Records,1974) had been reissued as ‘Stroll On Revisited’ on CD (Market Square Records, 1999). With backing by members of Fairport Convention and Albion Country Band plus orchestration by Robert Kirby (Nick Drake) plus a superb song cycle referencing the changing seasons of the year then we have a winner!
Steve is perhaps one of the greatest enigma’s of the UK Folk scene, his career has been characterised by some very long silences and very sporadic releases of new material. All I can say is that I’ve amassed a fair old Folk/Acoustic music collection since the early 1990’s - all the usual UK and US suspects - but I’d gladly swap the lot to be able to hold on to Steve’s recorded output.
The Spirit of Christmas (Studio)
The Spirit of Christmas (Live)
Fire and Wine
Candlemas Carol