Photographs

Here's a selection of photos, taken by me, of various folk persons going about their business in 2011.

FESTIVAL AT THE EDGE

Fay Hield

Robin Williamson

GREEN MAN FESTIVAL

Hannah Peel

Lisa Jen 

WADEBRIDGE FOLK FESTIVAL

Wizz Jones

Amadou Diagne

Rory McLeod

SPREYTON VILLAGE HALL, DEVON

Jackie Oates

THE BLUE ANCHOR, HELSTON, CORNWALL

Martha Spencer

fRoots

Ah, another month, another copy of fRoots - a folk music magazine that has now published 340 issues, thanks to its founder and sole editor Ian Anderson   The first issue that I bought was number 27,  September 1985. I haven't missed one since and now can't imagine life without it!

If you want to read some endorsements of the magazine, from important musical persons, you can read what these folks have to say.

If you're interested in any of the music that fRoots covers, it really is well worth reading. In fact, it's well worth subscribing. If you're any kind of folk music "activist," then it's essential. I do occasionally get messages from friends who are professional performers, along the lines of: "Steve old chap, we know you get fRoots, so would you please send us a copy of the glowing review they just gave our album?" The usual answer is: "yes, I could, but don't you think it's actually worth supporting this publication that you're just about to quote in all your publicity? Isn't this a bit like a doctor saying: "oh, I only ever glance at The Lancet if there's a review of one of my surgical procedures?" 

John The Fish

Hark! This morning the postie cometh, bearing a square cardboard package. The record therein is “Coelacanth,” a 1975 album by John The Fish.

I first heard this record in the mid-1980’s, thanks to my friend Terry Silver and his vast collection of obscure folk and jazz L.P’s. I remember being immediately intrigued by the name of the artist. As a teenager during the punk era I was very familiar with the idea of musicians using aliases (eg Joe Strummer, Johnny Rotten, Ari Up), and by then I’d discovered the older, mysterious likes of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, but a folk singer called John The Fish?  What the hell does a man called that actually sound like?!

The Folk Cottage, 1967

When I eventually moved to Cornwall, I  quickly learned that John had a weekly folk show on BBC Radio Cornwall. With a presentation style that could never be called “slick,” John was one of those broadcasters blessed with the ability to just talk to the listener in a conversational manner. He obviously cared a great deal about both the music that he played, and the people who made it, and his on-air introductions demonstrated his vast store of knowledge and personal anecdotes without ever talking-down to the listener. 

I loved listening to John, in the same way that I loved, at other times, the Alexis Korner and John Peel shows. Sadly, the BBC decided that “specialist music” programming was somehow far less important to the people of Cornwall than endless phone ins, and John (along with the Jazz and Classical music shows) was unceremoniously axed from the airwaves. Once-upon-a-time you could turn on the radio and hear John The Fish playing an unreleased topical song, specially recorded by Robb Johnson . Nowadays it’s just a perpetual, unrelenting  wave of  Queen, Elton, Cliff and more of that bland, tedious ilk, punctuated with people opining that it’s a disgrace to build a wind farm within a thousand miles of their lovely view. 

There's a wonderful short film about John The Fish from My Cornwall TV here. Watch it!

I can't claim to know John well, and only see him very infrequently, but I'm always genuinely gladdened by those meetings. He's not only a truly charming man but is also, for me, pretty much a living embodiment of all the things that make this whole folk music movement malarky worthwhile. 

John with Wizz Jones at Wadebridge Folk Festival

Mr Natural and Flakey Foont

"Welcome, fool. You have come of your own free will to the appointed place."

This is the blog of Steve Hunt the male lump of Corncrow, a folk duo, and founder of Barley Folk in Cornwall, UK.

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of visiting The Slak Bar in Cheltenham, to catch up with the very wonderful Jason Steel, who was playing a short, but hazily-perfect gig there.

Jason's music is available from Rif Mountain Records, and is unhesitatingly recommended.

This evening, I will be ensconced in a village hall in darkest Devon, in the delightful company of Jackie Oates and her merry band. Her latest album, Saturnine, is truly a thing of beauty.

Here we are, back in June, at The Square and Compass in Dorset. Yoinks, what merry larks!