Home / Sam Lee - Ground of Its Own

01. The Ballad of George Collins
02. On Yonder Hill
03. Wild Wood Amber
04. Goodbye My Darling
05. The Jew's Garden
06. The Tan Yard Side
07. Northlancs
08. My Auscheen My Old Shoes

Mercury nominee for Album of the Year 2012

This album is a slow burner. When I first listened to the advance copy I was unsure and only returned to it following some very positive press reviews. I am glad I did and this thoughtful album takes the tradition forward in a positive way.

 

Sam Lee is doing all he can to ensure that the British folk revival doesn't fail by becoming predictable. He's an avid song collector, a folk entrepreneur and a singer who sets out to revive lesser-known traditional material in an often startlingly unexpected style. He has a distinctive, unforced voice and his quietly compelling, at times crooned, no-nonsense approach is matched against constantly surprising backing. There are no guitars on his debut album (he apparently feels that guitar folk has little new to offer), but he makes use of almost anything else to bring out the eerie mystery or emotion in many of the songs. So The Ballad of George Collins, a Sussex story of love and death, is backed by Jews harp, banjo and fiddle, while On Yonder Hill, a bittersweet story about hares is, told to the sound of trumpet and tank drums, and on the upbeat lament Goodbye My Darling he brings out his shruti box to add Indian drone effects. He didn't need the samples of nightingales, swifts and other singers, but this is an impressively brave and original set.

 

Robin Denselow – ‘The Guardian’

Sam Lee - Ground of Its Own

CD (Cat No: 50022)

£12.99 - £17.99
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Sam Lee - Ground of Its Own