Folk Roots, New Routes - Shirley Collins and Davy Graham (1964)
The cover of Folk Roots, New Routes, which is a simple studio portrait of Shirley Collins and Davy Graham sitting, isn’t the type that would ever win a design award and it’s hard to imagine it attracting the attention of a casual record shop browser even in its original 12” format, but in its quiet way it’s one of the most beguilingly weird album sleeves in existence.
The two figures appear to have come from parallel worlds that should never meet. Shirley Collins looks like a well to do 1950s country mother ready for her regular Sunday visit to church—she looks directly at the viewer with an easy, if slightly studio-frozen, smile on her face. Except for his guitar, Davy Graham looks like someone who’d glass you in a Glasgow pub—he stares with a slight frown, or perhaps just a look of concentration, out of the picture frame, past the viewer and almost, but not quite, at Collins who is seated in front of him.
For the most part, this is an album of British folk tunes, save a few exceptions. Fans of English Folk Revival will find a number of familiar folk tunes ("Reynardine," "Hares on the Mountain," "Love is Pleasin'") as well as some that are a bit more obscure.
It's pretty clear that this album was an inspirational force in that fledgling folk renaissance (before the real British folk-rock boom that blossomed in the late 60's/early 70's). Collins/Graham's version of "Reynardine" was borrowed from heavily by Fairport Convention, and the more well-known female singers of the aforementioned bands (Sandy Denny, Maddy Prior, Jacqui McShee) all owe more than a small debt to Shirley Collins' crystal clear, gossamer and emotive vocals, which are uniformly superb throughout, including a few endearingly organic flaws.
The two figures appear to have come from parallel worlds that should never meet. Shirley Collins looks like a well to do 1950s country mother ready for her regular Sunday visit to church—she looks directly at the viewer with an easy, if slightly studio-frozen, smile on her face. Except for his guitar, Davy Graham looks like someone who’d glass you in a Glasgow pub—he stares with a slight frown, or perhaps just a look of concentration, out of the picture frame, past the viewer and almost, but not quite, at Collins who is seated in front of him.
For the most part, this is an album of British folk tunes, save a few exceptions. Fans of English Folk Revival will find a number of familiar folk tunes ("Reynardine," "Hares on the Mountain," "Love is Pleasin'") as well as some that are a bit more obscure.
It's pretty clear that this album was an inspirational force in that fledgling folk renaissance (before the real British folk-rock boom that blossomed in the late 60's/early 70's). Collins/Graham's version of "Reynardine" was borrowed from heavily by Fairport Convention, and the more well-known female singers of the aforementioned bands (Sandy Denny, Maddy Prior, Jacqui McShee) all owe more than a small debt to Shirley Collins' crystal clear, gossamer and emotive vocals, which are uniformly superb throughout, including a few endearingly organic flaws.
This is more than just a revival of British folk tunes, though--enter Davy Graham! Folk was never a static thing for Graham, and this album is no different. His lively fingerstyle guitar owes as much to jazz and blues as it does to traditional British music, and it gives these tunes a vibrant, progressive feel. The Indian-influenced raga-folk version of "Pretty Saro" is an album highlight, predicting Graham's later manic Indian-styled guitar workouts, and "Rif Mountain" is one of his most jaw-dropping Eastern-flavored instrumentals (worth the price of admission alone, for me). "Blue Monk" and "Grooveyard" further display Graham's guitar prowess in more of a jazzy vein. It's also worth noting that "Jane, Jane" pretty much lays the blueprint for the groovy, jazzy folk updates that the Pentangle get credit for inventing four years later!
Breathtaking
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