Salut! Live

Andrew Curry writes:

I grew up in a family where everyone was more musical than I was, and my brother made his living for a while singing early music as a counter-tenor. I took refuge in listening as eclectically as possible.

Blues was my first love—as a teenager I caught the tail end of the British blues boom, and folk came a little later, although my parents had been fans of Pentangle and the Corries. 

It’s always hard to remember where my own folk music journey started, but I loved Charles Parker’s Radio Ballads, which I found in a library, with their topical songs by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger linking Parker’s recordings of everyday people.

These days, a quick tour of Britain and Ireland would point to long-standing favourites such as Martin Simpson, who bridges folk and blues, the Unthanks (my family background is in the north east), Kris Drever, Duncan Chisholm, and Siobhan Miller, Sian James and Christy Moore.

I still listen eclectically, and my playlist for 2023 has included jazz, blues, soul, pop, classical and world music, as well as folk. Some of the less well-known folk acts that pop up from this year’s list include Imar, Fiona Soe Pang, Ashley Davis, Lisa O’Neill, James Yorkston, Assynt, Salt House, Catrin Finch, Jack Rutter, Olivia Chaney, The Magpie Arc and Angeline Morrison. 

But this list might also underline what I love about folk music. It’s a big house, that includes a whole wealth of traditions. And it manages to encompass the whole range, from honouring those traditions to complete reinvention. 

See also:

Andrew Curry,  , offered this selection of alternative music for Christmas