7th December 2011: The Woodbine & Ivy Band / Playlist

Featured: The Woodbine & Ivy Band - S/T (Folk Police Recordings)

The Woodbine & Ivy Band is a group of Manchester musicians who came together to arrange and perform the ten traditional songs that make up this album. For each song they invited a different singer to contribute a lead vocal; Jackie Oates, Fay Hield, Nancy Wallace, Olivia Chaney, Pinkie Maclure, Jim Causley, Jenny McCormick, James Raynard, Rapunzel & Sedayne and Elle Osborne.

The musicians and singers were gathered together under the direction of Peter Philipson and Michael Doward and aimed to create an expansive sound that reached beyond that usually associated with traditional song. Although the musicians involved are not all from a folk background, there is a sly tipping of the cap towards the electric folk revival of the 1970s.

The singers were initially invited to perform the songs a cappella and, during a series of late night sessions, the band used these performances as a guide to their arrangements. The fruits of these free-ranging sessions were consolidated during recording dates in North Manchester’s Limefield Studio, where the legendary folk producer, Bill Leader, was around to lend a hand and give the band his quiet nod of approve.

Amongst their influences, the Woodbine & Ivy Band cite the music of Sandy Denny, John Martyn, The Byrds, Pentangle, Crazy Horse and the drone rock of Spaceman 3. This album is also one for fans of Joe Boyd’s Witchseason Productions and much of the music released on the Harvest, Leader and Transatlantic record labels.

Folk Police Recordings

Radio Playlist 7th December 2011 (here)

Corn Capri - 13 Bells-a-Ringing (Demo)
Starless & Bible Black - Under The Orcadian Tide (Static Caravan 7")
The Woodbine & Ivy Band - The Roaming Journeyman (sung by James Raynard) (S/T)
**
Dirt Farmer - Real Young (Demo)
Jona Byron - Changing Of The Hours (Demo)
Whistle Peak - Sailor (Half Asleep On Echo Falls)
**
The Woodbine & Ivy Band - Twa Corbies (sung by Pinkie Maclure) (S/T)
Holy Sons - Things You Do While Waiting For The Apocalypse (Decline Of The West)
Nyles Lannon - Better With Nothing (Pressure)
**
Snails - She's Like An Hour (GPS 7")
Matt Bailey - Whitey (The Three I's) 
The Woodbine & Ivy Band - Gently Johnny (sung by Jenny McCormick) (S/T)
**
Lindsay Clarke - New Light (Home Of The Brave)
A.A. Bondy - Down In The Fire (lost sea) (Believers)
Madeline Flash - Eyes Beneath The Foot (Depth Monster EP)


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