Manafonistas

„Edward“

from the Album Nothing But the Green Willow. The Songs of Mary Sands and Jane Gentry

topicrecords.co.uk

Switching back to pasttime paradises, searching for some sugar songs, sweets of easy listening. It does not always have to be the structured, complicated fairytale told by Tim Berne, Miss Halvorson or Mister Coleman. Isn´t it fair enough to have some light food for the ear like having breaks, some simple stories? And to be honest, it is not Wolfgang Rihm who is permanently dancing on my turntables. By accident I came across Martin Simpson these days and became curious. Other guitarists of the singer-songwriter scene got the attention far more in that era, the long past folk times, time of open tunings – as there were John Martyn, Nic Jones and Paul Brady. Simpson played with Steeleye Span, in the Albion Band – and I darkly remember a record cover presenting him with June Tabor on a London bridge at the River Thamse. In September a new record of Martin Simpson will be released containing one of my most covered songs, end of the seventies, playing gigs in english folk pubs: the Blues have run the game. Later on in life the Samba followed, and all that Jazz, of course. „Look Up, Look Down“ – the song I downloaded this morning is now uploaded right and ready on YouTube. With little disappointment: the double bass of Danny Thompson is hardly recognizeable, caused by a lack of bits.

„What has happened down here is that the wind has changed –
clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain.
And it rained real hard and it rained for a real long time,
six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline …
 
Louisiana, Louisiana –
they’re tryin‘ to wash us away,
they’re tryin‘ to wash us away.“

(Randy Newman)

 
Martin Simpson – „Louisiana 1927“