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Traditional songs and new songs in traditional style.

SPRING TIDE RISING   HATRACD04 2011

This doesn’t smell like the typical Revival CD. For a start, the spare, spacious arrangements—solo or unison singing, occasional minimalist accompaniments—are innocent of late Revivalist flounces and filigree. Add to that a prevailing sense of close connection between the singers and the songs. Paul and Liz Davenport both hail from Humberside, an area in which, like Tyneside or East Anglia, the last tatters of a living tradition still fluttered into the middle of the last century. They’re able, therefore, to draw on a still-warm body of songs from family and childhood recollection, and much of this album comes from these sources. Paul D also has a knack of being able to write new songs that focus on local traditions and ways of life but never sound like mere pastiche or book larnin’. Both the title song and Davy Cross have that tang of authenticity to them, and a pair of grand tunes to boot.

  Spring Tide Rising complements these first-hand resources with the fruits of diligent research into lesser-known material. The rarely- heard ballads Glasgerion (not the Bert Lloyd rewrite) and Judas turn up here in flinty, dramatic tellings. All On A Falling Tide is a gripping version of Fair Annie with a tune akin to the more melancholic class of shanties. There’s a couple of songs collected by Paul from Arthur Laycock of Wentworth Woodhouse in the mid-’80s. He also collected Jenny Storm from a Mrs Carthy of Robin Hood’s Bay—over the phone while her husband sat bleating for his tea.

   This isn’t a duo recording in the normal sense of the word. The majority of tracks, in fact, feature either Paul or Liz in solo performance. Both singers have strong, dark, brumal voices that sound great on their own, and when lifted in duet lock together like badger’s jaws—they’re mostly singing in the same register, à la  Dave and Toni Arthur, which occasionally sparks off some eerie harmonics.

   All in all, then, Spring Tide Rising achieves a graceful balance between the scholarly and the personal. It can be quarried profitably in the cause of assembling a repertoire, but it pleases at all points as a purely listening experience.

Stirrings – Spring 2011

Paul & Liz’s first two CDs were both very good and well received, yet this is even better. As it’s not due for official release until early 2011, I’m not sure if it should be my album of the year for 2010 or 2011 – or both!

The album has well over an hour of playing time with 19 tracks, mostly traditional. There is a good mix of tracks with Paul and Liz singing together, mostly unaccompanied, Paul singing alone, sometimes accompanying himself on guitar or melodeon, and Liz singing on her own. It is these latter songs with just Liz’s unaccompanied voice that makes this album stand out from the crowd. She sings amazing versions of Stowe Brow, Scarborough Sands, A Rich Farmer From Sheffield and others. Her singing of A Blacksmith Courted Me is easily the best that I’ve heard since that of Phoebe Smith in the late 60s or early 70s – simply beautiful. There are many other tracks that build this album into a most important collection such as a version of Judas, reputedly the oldest recorded ballad, and a couple of outstanding contemporary songs - Pilgrimage by Jess Arrowsmith and John Warner’s Bring Out The Banners, which makes a superb final track to the album. If you only buy one CD this year, it must be this one.

Mardles  - Winter 2010/11

It’s very definitely a family affair at Hallamshire Traditions as musicians from the Davenport family, based in South Yorkshire, the centre for English folk music these days, receive an airing.  Paul and Liz have been singing together for many years, with a deep abiding interest in the real music of the people, and that shows in the way they tackle the materials here. With the exception of a very few modern pieces, these all come from deep in the tradition, and the emphasis of the voices, mostly together, sometimes solo, along with minimal accompaniment, throw the songs themselves into high relief.

It’s a very interesting selection of material with a few Child ballads and plenty of lesser-known items, including “The Rich Farmer from Sheffield”, where you can really hear the traveller background in Liz’s voice, the same roughness that’s apparent in Norma Waterson. The harmonies throughout are a thing of beauty, and the stripped down arrangements make this an absolute joy.

Sing Out! Vol. 54 #2   2011 

Paul and Liz are well known as guardians for traditional north-east song and Spring Tide Rising in no exception. This is their 3rd CD together and it’s a bare, stripped down affair which is especially fine for this fact. Both provide vocals, often singing in unison, and the musical accompaniment is kept minimal through Paul’s melodeon and guitar. At the forefront of their passion is the song itself, often choosing ones unfamiliar to wider audiences, and sung in a carefully balanced revivalist manner.

The bulk of the tracks are traditional, include a large portion from Child which Paul and Liz have long been carriers for - including a version of Judas, reputedly the oldest recorded ballad. With 19 tracks on the album it’s difficult to stress particular highlights but Liz’s solo versions of Scarborough Sands, If I Were A Blackbird and A Blacksmith Courted Me are especially beautiful. Davy Cross, on the other hand, demonstrates Paul’s talents as songwriter and guitarist with an excellently judged sense of history and atmosphere.

In accordance with the duo’s aim to present the album as “live” as possible (each track is a recording of a single performance) the creak and gasp of the melodeon is evident in both The Threshermen (the tale of a Squire’s largess) and Captain Bart (a pirate’s response to the more famous High Barbary). The sleeve notes are also most welcome, providing as they do an excellent history and survey of each track.

With its potential criticism as a musical history lesson Spring Tide Rising may be an acquired taste to many, however it’s actually a little gem. Worthy it may be but vital it most certainly is and any album which opens up the folk repertoire to new and less familiar material is always welcome. Anyone interested in the history of trad song should seek this CD out - you won’t be disappointed, but if you simply want to hear some rarely performed but beautiful old songs sung with a mastery and confidence in the human voice then Spring Tide Rising ticks the box too, it’s a sensitively performed and produced album which deserves a wider audience.

Living Tradition #88 Spring 2011

Contact;

admin@hallamtrads.co.uk

07947 490052

We specialise in unusual versions of Ballads and other narrative material. Our songs stem from research and personal experience. We are available as a duo or a trio with Gavin Davenport for club and festival bookings, concerts, workshops and other events during 2011.

Lyrics for our albums

available here

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Here’s a song from our second album - ‘Songbooks’ (2008)

This one’s based on a true story from East Yorkshire