This is not a review but really, a plea as well as a great opportunity to get your hands on an album by one of the best bands i’ve heard in a very, very long time, Red River Dialect. With the likes of Hiss Golden Messenger, Arbouretum and Six Organs Of Admittance all being big fans, the latter saying ‘“some of the greatest fist-in-the-air fisherman jams since the Waterboys. Awesome stuff.” They have a campaign via Indiegogo to try and raise the funds for pressing costs and get the album out. Donations range from as little as $8 for a digital download to $38 for the album on vinyl, cd + worldwide shipping but loads of other stuff too.
They intend to make them extra special for the people who pre-order them, so far everyone will get sent a download code for their 2010 album ‘White Diamonds’ and a bonus cdr with some live recordings of Red River sets.
The album is recorded, they just need the funds to get it pressed into physical form and by donating what you can you can be involved in this. I was fortunate enough to be sent the digital album a little while back and to say i was completely blown away is an understatement. They sound like no one i’ve ever heard before with influences from Pentangle to the above mentioned Waterboys but really, you have to listen to them as they have their own unique sound. Take a listen to see what i mean. At timer of writing they have less than two days to go to raise the remaining funds.
Please help if you can and please spread the word. Thanks.
Often, while searching around for new music to put up on this blog it’s very easy to ignore the stuff happening on your own doorstep. I guess sometimes the music happening locally can be kept secret for a while until you see how a band or singer develops. I mean, in any town in any city across the world there will be people who form bands with the best of intentions but within a year they realise how hard work it can be and give it up to go back to their day jobs. However, in the case of Brighton’s Hatful Of Rain this couldn’t be further from the truth. Although they still have day jobs, this could all soon change if the reaction to their soon to be released debut album is anything to go by.Within 48 hours of them announcing the release date of their album, Way Up On The Hill and posting a video of the title track on Youtube, they’d received over 1000 hits, Mike Harding (Radio 2 folk show) requested a copy after seeing the video which he then posted on this Facebook page. The legend that is Bob Harris re-tweeted it to his 20 thousand followers, describing the title track as “beautiful”,Bob’s Folk Show loved it and quickly slipped it into the schedule for this Thursday, Barry Marshall-Everitt made it album of the week for next week on hisHouse of Mercy Radio show! That is high praise let me tell you.
This is not a review as i don’t have the album myself yet but check this amazing band out. Chloe Overton is the lead singer/songwriter and has a voice to match anyone. I’ve had them play a couple of Drifter shows in the past and are a great live band too.
I’ve written about Serious Sam Barrett a couple of times on this blog before, here and here and will continue to do so because for me he is the most genuine folk singer the UK has to offer and has been for quite a while now. He’s kindly sent me his new album which is going to be out in the coming weeks (exact date to be confirmed soon) and i think it’s his best work to date.
At 31 years of age, i think Sam is at those crossroads in his life many of us are aware of when we pass thirty, realising we’re not kids anymore although in our hearts we still are, our heads are telling us we need to get serious (no pun intended). We start reminiscing about our childhoods and ex relationships, wondering what happened to those you don’t see anymore but at the same time trying to work out what the future may hold for yourself, are the dreams we had when we were young still possible or have they changed with the passage of time. Sam touches on all of these things on his brilliant, self-titled new album and boy, is he on fire! Drawing influence from early twentieth century folk, fifties rock ‘n roll and the punk era (if Sam was around in the mid to late seventies, he’d be a punk) he touches on the past, relationships and his dreams and does so in rip-roaring style.
Straight from the off he is on breathtaking form as he sings a song for his grandfather who was a union man all his life and ‘never cared much for the law’ and is a fitting tribute to him and i think the perfect opener given that the album then goes on to have songs of reminisce, hopes and dreams. His guitar playing on this first track (and throughout the album) is really quite staggering, whether it’s at lightening speed like on this first track or a slower, waltz tempo like on the song Streetlights. I don’t know if it was a conscious decision to start with a song about the past given how the album then develops, but in my mind it’s Sam reminding us he knows who is is and where he’s from and how proud he is of that but then goes onto sing ‘Hennessy Nights’, a song about never been too old to go skateboarding and drink into the early morning with your mates. If the opening track was played in a more traditional style, then Hennessy Nights is a song that i could hear Joe Strummer singing! Then there’s ‘Streetlights’ which Sam wrote in the early hours of the morning while watching the snow fall from his window, dreaming of driving through Dixie with his brother, a place he’s been to a few times playing solo as well as with The Pine Hill Haints as well as others.
The saddest song on the album is ‘Kerosene’. Spilling his guts and pleading with the person in question to ‘stay away from those that hurt you and make you feel bad ’cause i worry more than you’ll ever know.’ I imagine being a musician and away on tour a lot, relationships suffer and have to remain strong and trustworthy but there are bound to be moments of doubt and anguish and this is Sam attempting to deal with those things although i’m unsure if in this particular song he knows something is already over?
The album then goes onto have tracks titled ’16 again’ and ‘Holding Out’. The former, a song about heartbreak and booze and the latter, his quest after a few failed relationships to find his true love who he’s going to make ‘feel like his queen’
Finishing off the album are probably my two favourite tracks on the album. The incredible Dreams and Long Gone. Dreams because it’s a song that is simply telling us he would love nothing better than playing and singing in a different bar every night of the week because ‘the road is long and he’s too far gone to live any other way’ and ‘dreams don’t chase themselves’. Long Gone, because it’s somewhere we’ve all been when we’re no longer with someone we once loved, trying to drink the pain away and find the answers in the bottom of the empty glass.
Having listened to the album a few times now, what comes across more than anything to me (and always has done really) is not very deep down, what a hopeless romantic Sam is. I don’t say that in a negative way, i think it’s a brilliant thing that he can expose his heart like he does when singing about a girl he misses or loves, or the joys of skateboarding with his mates, but also i hear what a dreamer he is and what he hopes to be doing for a long time to come. We all have dreams, right? Also, although some of the songs touch on subjects like failed relationships and heartbreak, they don’t have a negative slant, if anything Sam shows what a perfect gentleman he is by either wishing them them well or trying to find reason why they ended.He also sings about a lot of places in America, Tennessee, Alabama, all places he’s been on tour a few times now and clearly loves but he still often reminds us, he will always belong to his beloved Leeds.
People are always talking about the ‘real deal’ these days, in America right now, two folk singers you can definitely call that are, Malcolm Holcombe and Charlie Parr (who Sam supported last year and Charlie informed me he’s almost worn out the vinyl of Sam’s record, HIGH PRAISE INDEED!) In the UK the real deal is Serious Sam Barrett, they don’t come any more authentic.
No mp3 at this moment but hopefully be able to offer you one when the album is officially released. In the meantime, you can listen to a track here and also watch the video below of ‘Henessesy Nights’. Follow Sam on his Facebook and website to be kept up to date with the album release date and gigs etc. Enjoy.
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