Beverley Martyn – The Phoenix And The Turtle.
First album in 14 years from legendary folk singer; among many jewels, expect a co-write with Nick Drake.
“My last album was No Frills in about 2000, but I’ve always kept singing. We started work about two years ago, but stopped for a while because I was quite ill. It was recorded in Wales, in Mark Pavey’s studio. I would start just with guitar and a click track, and through the magic of computers we’d send a track to Matt Malley, ex-Counting Crows, and Victor Bisetti, ex-Los Lobos, in California. They would put the bass and drums on, then other things were added. It still has that in-a-room feel, it sounds like an old style analogue record. It’s very me, very transatlantic.”
“I’ve recorded Going To Germany and When The Levee Breaks, which are songs I used to do with my old ’60s jug band, The Levee Breakers. Reckless Jane, was started in ’74 with Nick Drake. When John and I lived in Hampstead, Nick lived one stop down the tube line, he’d come and babysit sometimes. We started writing Reckless Jane one day as a bit of a joke. I had the guiatar and he was sitting on the floor, trying to look small and not be in the way, as usual! I couldn’t look at it for a long time after he died, but finally I decided to finish it. It’s a pastoral English thing – the strings are a tribute to Nick. Women And Malt Whisky is about John. There’s a verse about our son, who is a bit wild. He didn’t have a good father’s hand, John didn’t teach him good things. Another line is about Davey Graham, John’s hero, and Bobby [Dylan] who was mine. The whole album is very personal.”
Graeme Thomson
Uncut
1 February 2014
