FINDLAY NAPIER & GILLIAN FRAME WITH MIKE VASS - The Ledger
Cheery Groove Records CHEERY008
Some 60 years ago, collector Norman Buchan was publishing a traditional song every week in The Scotsman, and Findlay’s grandfather was waiting to cut them out of the paper and place them in a ledger. While many of these songs were later published in book form, Findlay’s family selections, carefully preserved since then, forms a more personal collection. This is underlined by the 24-page insert in this CD package, which is almost entirely taken up by reproductions of the original newspaper cuttings – no other comments or biographical details, just the essential credits on the back page.
The songs themselves are all well-known old friends, and none the worse for that when they’re as well handled as they are here. Husband and wife Findlay and Gillian’s excellent voices weave their way through the tracks with assurance and sympathy, and the musical side adds an extra dimension that ensures your attention at all times, where a lesser performance might have allowed the listening mind to wander. The accompaniments are restrained enough to allow the song itself to remain the focus, which is exactly as it should be on this sort of recording.
I recall that Gillian’s CD, Pendulum, was one of the more memorable recordings that I heard in 2016, but I was less familiar with Findlay’s music. The Ledger has shown that there are two very talented people in the Napier household (not forgetting Mike Vass’s multi-instrumental skills). I hope they’ll get a chance to tour this album – an entire evening of these three would leave me with a smile on my face.
www.findlaynapier.com/the-ledger
John Waltham
This review appeared in Issue 134 of The Living Tradition magazine