KATHRYN TICKELL - Northumbrian Voices: Three Generations of Music, Song and Stories from Rural Northumberland
Park Records PRKCD121
This double CD was recorded live at Cecil Sharp House in 2011. Kathryn Tickell describes it as “somewhere between a concert and a play.” For me this remarkable “show” has, on disc, the pace, immediacy, intimacy and easy flow of the very best of the Parker/MacColl/ Seeger Radio Ballads of the sixties. Here we have a superb blend of song, music and spoken word narrative, reflecting cultural, economic and social change in this minstrelsy-rich area.
Kathryn has assembled a most talented team including ex and present members of her band: Julian Sutton (melodeon), Kit Haigh (guitar/voice), Patsy Reid (fiddle), Amy Thatcher piano accordion), Hannah Richard (voice/ fiddle), Kathryn herself (spoken word/song/fiddle and pipes) and, not least, her dad, the most worthy Mike, in fine voice.
There is a healthy mix of traditional, contemporary and original material and even a rendition of Your Cheating Heart – in context. It is a tapestry of light and shade, hard times and better times. This reality is presented tastefully, without gimmick or melodrama.
There are 31 tracks, all memorable, so it’s perhaps inappropriate to pick on particular ones. The instrumentals are sparkling and the songs are well delivered. This includes Mike’s rendition of the Shepherds’ anthem the traditional Canny Shepherd Laddie O The Hills.
Mike’s own composition The Company Makes The Feast provides a fitting conclusion to a work of the highest technical and artistic merit.
Geordie McIntyre
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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 94 of The Living Tradition magazine. |