SHEPHEARD, SPIERS & WATSON - Over The High Hills
Springthyme Records SPRCD1043
These three names are akin to the Harris Orb of Scottish traditional music. All established and skilled musicians and singers in their own right, as a trio they serve up a musical platter that is difficult to better. One of the things for which the trio are renowned is the strength and depth of their repertoire, encompassing Child ballads, unusual versions of songs and material from the Traveller tradition.
This album is true to form, giving us no fewer than seven Child ballads, a brilliantly unusual version of John Barleycorn (a song most commonly found within the English tradition), and songs learned from the singing of Scots Travellers Jeannie Robertson, Jessie McDonald and Duncan Williamson, not to mention a song in Scots Traveller cant, Jimmy Drummond. Vocal duties and arrangements are pretty equally shared throughout the album, bringing a hearty assortment of approaches and tones: from the jaunty and rumbustious, such as Arthur Watson’s The Auld Beggarman with Peter Shepheard on melodeon, to the poignant and restrained, such as Peter Shepheard’s desolate lament for penal transportation, Fan Dieman’s Land, augmented by Tom Watson’s powerfully atmospheric double-stopped fiddle playing.
Quite simply, if you want to hear some of the cream of Scots song from three of the most committed and knowledgeable musicians around, look no further than here.
Clare Button
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this CD online from The Listening Post The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine. This album was reviewed in Issue 92 of The Living Tradition magazine. |