CHARLOTTE PETERS ROCK - The Human Condition – 1
Manatee Press MP07
Charlotte Peters Rock is a performer, poet and songwriter who writes mostly in a folk style. She is a well-known face on the folk scene in the North West of England. Over the last few years she has been responsible for producing a large body of work, first on her The Peaceful Weavers Of Peterloo album, released to coincide with the 200-year anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre, then with a four-CD series of songs entitled Lifeboat Rescues that covers the various aspects of the world of lifeboats and their crews, from their building to their loss at sea and the tragic repercussions that result.
Here, she begins a new series under the title of The Human Condition. As with previous CDs, it features Charlotte’s unaccompanied voice throughout, with its pleasant light vibrato and natural accent. This series aims to “tell the stories of our history and up to the present day, firmly based on the way people are, in all their foibles and angers, their sadnesses, pleasures and work.”
Charlotte’s expressive voice covers the varied moods here, and you can hear anger, defiance, laughter, pain and hope in her tone at appropriate points in the songs. There are historical characters such as Captain Swing of the Swing Riots of the 1830s, and characters from more recent history such as Dylis the Barnardos Girl. There are songs about some of the many challenges we face in life, and how we deal with them; about hope; about loss; and about life and issues in this COVID-age. Many of her songs deal with injustices of one kind or another, as she encourages us all to question how we accept the unacceptable in our world, and how we might improve our collective future.
www.charlottepetersrock.blogspot.com
Fiona Heywood
This review appeared in Issue 140 of The Living Tradition magazine