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JOHN GRAHAM & JIM JACK - Sae Will We Yet 

JOHN GRAHAM & JIM JACK - Sae Will We Yet 
Munro Records MUNROCD001 

John Graham and Jim Jack are two artists who have been singing in folk clubs around Scotland since the 1960s (with Jim taking a sojourn for a while into the rock genre as well). John plays several stringed things (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki, bass) and Jim plays guitar. Both sing. On this CD they present 14 songs from well-established, mostly Scottish, songwriters and give them the John and Jim treatment.

The songs are generally good ones – My Eldorado from Graeme Miles, a couple from Iain Ingram, David Francey’s Saints And Sinners, and the obligatory MacColl song (The Manchester Rambler). There are a fair few mildly sentimental songs about Scotland and its landscapes amongst the mix, along with the traditional title song and an Americana-tinged Truck Driving Man.

The sound is fairly gentle throughout, and has echoes of a bygone era; but to their credit, Jim and John just do what they do – they don’t try to fancy it up for the sake of the recording. The only addition to their own playing is Cy Jack on keyboard and Calum Maclean on 5-string banjo (the sleevenotes tell you this much, but not much more, which is a shame).

Are there better versions of these songs out there? Undoubtedly, yes. But that isn’t really what this is about. This appears to be an accurate representation of the repertoire of these two gentlemen and what you might expect to hear at one of their gigs. It is good folk-club fare, and I’d wager it would be a good singalong night if you were to hear them live.

Fiona Heywood


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This album was reviewed in Issue 126 of The Living Tradition magazine.