Tag: Folk Music

Update on Adélie Album, Steep Learning Curves, Songwriting Bronze Medal and Reveal of Album Launch Date

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02Oct

Adelie Mixing

I was looking back on the Adélie album log today and realised how long it had been since an update – March to be exact! A lot has happened between now and then but essentially I decided to mix the album myself.

I had never done anything like this so it was a very steep learning curve! After a few false starts (and some despairing!) I finally began a couple of weeks ago. I had bought a short online course to help me along and it really helped me learn the basics and get to grips with the tracks.

Throughout the two weeks, I started to learn what things I liked (or didn’t) on each instrument and, because I obviously wanted a Folky sound, I tried not to fiddle (pun intended!) too much with EQ-ing, effects etc. (although I do really like reverb, so that features quite a bit!), prefering a raw sound for the album. There were several things that suprised me, including the very rich, bassy sound that the Chin-Cello was able to acheive on the tracks, the way some instruments sound very different when played solo VS in the mix with the rest of the instruments, and how you can use different takes of vocals of a line and combine them to make a very full-sounding main vocals!

I did what you are not supposed to do and used headphones to start the mixing off, later using studio monitors to help rebalance and make sure the tracks were going to sound right across other listening methods. The headphones meant that I was able to take the mixing with me into coffee shops, which really helped to give me some brain-space and a different working environment.

Mixing this album myself has been a really valuable experience for me and gives me complete creative control of how the tracks are going to sound. I really can’t wait to share Adélie with you all!

Adélie Release Date and Album Launch

Now that the mixing process has been completed, I have been able to set the release date for the album. I am also having an album launch at Albert’s Shed in Shrewsbury to celebrate the release of Adélie. Lots more details to come but I am so excited about some of the ideas that have been floated.

The day of the release and album launch is 24th November at Albert’s Shed, Shrewsbury

Make sure to save the date to come and join in the celebrations with me!

Songwriting Bronze Medal

A few months ago, I saw that Lichfield Festival of Folk were running their songwriting competition and I thought “why not enter one, it can’t hurt and it doesn’t matter if I don’t get anywhere with it”. So I entered This Gift, my song about the preciousness of the countryside and the importance of preserving it for future generations to come and didn’t expect to hear anything else about it.

A few weeks later, I received an email telling me I was one of the six finalists and I was shocked and delighted at the same time, thinking that I wouldn’t get any further and was very pleased to get that far.

A few weeks after that, I got a phone call from Lichfield FF to say that I had won third place (bronze medal, if you prefer) in a very tight contest and that they would like me to perform at the festival on the 5th of October, as well as attend a songwriting workshop run by the legendary John Tams next year! As you would imagine, I was absolutely overjoyed and totally speechless. I would also be sharing a stage with The Magpies, who I love and really enjoyed their performance at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival earlier this year.

This has been such a wonderful and unexpected treat and I am so looking forward to performing and going to the festival on the 5th of October.

Listen to my submission here: https://soundcloud.com/quantumpenguin/matthew-woolley-entry-to

And find out more about Lichfield Festival of Folk here: https://lichfieldarts.org.uk/the-lichfield-festival-of-folk/

Upcoming Gigs

5th October: Lichfield Festival of Folk

16th October: Bristol Folk House Cafe

21st October: Shrewbury Songwriters’ September of Sound Showcase

23rd October: Albert’s Songwriters Showcase with Quantum Penguin and The Mountain Hares

24th November: Adélie Album Launch

Fiddler Players That Are Amazing- Part 1

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31Jan

Over the years playing Fiddle, I have been (and still am) influenced by many different Fiddle players. Their style of playing, techniques and composition and improvisation methods all add to and make up each musician’s unique sound. In the first of this two-part blog, I would like to share with you some of these amazing musicians who may well influence your sound too.

Phil Beer

An amazing Fiddle player and accomplished with sound engineering, Phil Beer cites his main instrument as the Guitar. I am reminded of a Guitar workshop I attended, led by Phil Beer at Sidmouth Folk Festival several years ago, where he said that he wouldn’t call himself a Fiddle player, which completely bemused me at the time, as his skill with the Fiddle was incredible.

As a founder of the Folk group Show of Hands, this Devonshire Fiddler has played at huge venues and festivals, including multiple performances at the Royal Albert Hall and the BBC Folk Awards. He is also a skilled solo performer and has performed with his band The Phil Beer Band for many years.

Beer has been and still is one of my Fiddle idols, inspiring me with his innovative and soulful Fiddle playing and rich vocals, combined with his skilled use of reverb, delay, EQ and other effects. This man has very much shaped my musical development.

Phil Beer’s Website: www.philbeer.co.uk

Show of Hands Website: www.showofhands.co.uk

Nancy Kerr

Renowned both individually and as a duo with her husband James Fagan, Nancy Kerr is a very experienced and popular musician. Her Fiddle playing is a mixture of different styles, including Scottish and Irish, with techniques such as Scottish snaps, twiddles and twirls playing a prominent role in many tunes, which can be seen in her performance of Dance to Your Daddy.

In addition to her Fiddle skills, she is a talented singer and has performed and recorded many different songs. She is also very talented at singing and playing the Fiddle at the same time, which is something I’m still working on and I have great respect for anyone who is able to do this! Kerr has released several albums with Fagan and one solo album, while winning several awards, including BBC Radio 2’s Folk Singer of The Year and Best Duo awards for her and James Fagan’s collaborations.

Website: https://nancykerr.co.uk

Sam Sweeney

Sam Sweeney has had a very successful career, being a member of several Folk bands including the hugely successful Folk collective Bellowhead (which he left University to join!) and the band Leveret (with Rob Harbron and Andy Cutting). He has also collaborated with several other Folk artists, including Hannah James and Eliza Carthy.

His versatile Fiddle playing seems to be very much influenced by Scottish Fiddle music, featuring snaps and snatches. From slow, beautifully resonant Waltzes to powerful and fast-paced Bellowhead numbers, Sweeney seems to have the ability to turn his bow to whatever is the required energy of the piece.

In addition to his band work, he won the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award’s Musician of the Year, released his second solo album Unearth Repeat in 2020 and is currently offering Fiddle lessons via Zoom. As another one of my Fiddle idols, I’m very excited to see what Sam Sweeney’s next project is!

Website: www.samsweeneymusic.com

Brittany Haas

MGP_9409 (Dylan Ladds) — © Brittany Haas. By Dylan Ladds.

I came across Californian Fiddler Brittany Haas when I saw her performing as a member of the American Folk group Crooked Still, in the very early days of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival (after it moved from Bridgnorth). I was really taken by her Fiddle style, which seems to incorporate techniques from Cajun and Scottish music as well as elements from what I would describe as Nordic Fiddle. These elements all form into a really beautiful style that sounds brilliant for both slow, melodic pieces and rip-roaring, barn dance-style tunes.

Haas has performed at festivals and venues across the world, also performing at Late Night With David Lettermen. She has also collaborated with and been a part of many different musicians and groups, such as Crooked Still and Steve Martin’s Bluegrass Band, as well as recording her own albums and performing with her quartet Hawktail.

Website: www.brittanyhaas.com

Summary

Look out for the second part of Fiddle Players That Are Amazing, which will feature another four amazing musicians! To make sure you don’t miss any of my blog articles, you can subscribe to my newsletter using one of the forms on the website.

You can also listen to music from all the musicians in this series in the Spotify playlist for this blog, which you can find here.

Songwriters Spotlight – Harry Glasson

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11Dec

Welcome to the latest in the series of weekly blog posts about songwriting, which includes interviews with composers and artists about their views and experiences in this field. This week’s interview is with Cornish singer-songwriter Harry Glasson, who has written an incredible wealth of songs.

Matt:

What is your background in songwriting and performing?

Harry:

I made an acoustic guitar in woodwork class at school, it was not great but it played. I joined the Merchant Navy and took the Guitar with me and swapped it for a transistor radio on leaving my first ship. A couple of years later I met and worked with a lad who has become a lifelong friend and fellow singer/songwriter Jonathon Ryan. He already had a Guitar so I got me one too, an EKO as I remember, like playing a railway sleeper with strings on. We performed at parties and later at the local pub and the performing just sort of grew from there.

Matt:

Everyone has different reasons for writing songs, sometimes to express themselves, to tell a story etc. What drives you to write a song and where do you get your inspiration from?

Harry:

From as far back as I can remember I have loved to read and as a kid I read anything and everything. I grew up the eldest of a family of eight my father was mainly on agricultural wages and liked a drink, so buying books, even borrowing books was not easy. So, I wrote things, little bits and pieces and enjoyed condensing these stories down into poems and eventually songs. Living here in Cornwall it is not difficult to get inspired as we have the history, the beauty, legend and culture at a fingers touch. The men have dug underground here since at least Roman times for the tin and copper. Sailors have navigated our miles of coastline, including the smuggling of contraband. We have the standing stones, stone circles and the villages of prehistory. The legends of King Arthur, Merlin, giants and piskys, all set in wonderful rugged landscape. Who can fail to be inspired?

Matt:

There are often differing views about songs, both on what the most important aspect is and what the most difficult element of a song to compose is. What do you think is the most important part of a song and do you struggle with a particular stage of composing?

Harry:

I think the most important part of a song is getting it real, truthful and as accurate as possible. I have usually found that the initial lines drawn from inspiration come easily, the hard work is fleshing out the story around them within the confines of the arrangement.

Matt:

You’ve composed a large collection of Folk songs about Cornwall, which have been performed and adopted by many artists, both Cornish and wider-a-field, including The Harry Glasson Project organised by Will Keating. It feels like these songs have become a significant part of Cornwall’s musical heritage. Where do you feel Cornish Folk music and perhaps Folk music in general is heading towards?

Harry:

I think it was Woody Guthrie who said, “as long as there are disasters, wrong doings and a man wants to woo a woman, there will always be folk music” and I do believe he was right. There has been a big resurgence in pub singing here in Cornwall this last few years which is a form of Folk music. Pub singing, people with a glass in hand singing unconducted, usually in three-part harmony. For some reason my songs have appealed to this form of singing especially and has carried over to the Guitar playing folk singing in the clubs. The Cornish music scene is vibrant these days.

Matt:

What projects and compositions are you working on at the moment?

Harry:

At the moment I am working on putting a song book together, it is in its infancy but a good start has been made. Will Keating is planning a new album for next year so we are getting together on that one too, some new material has been created but needs some honing and no release date has been set.

You can learn more about Harry’s beautiful songs by joining the Facebook page Harry (Safari) Glasson’s Music where you can see other musicians performing his songs and chat about his lyrics. His songs are also currently being performed by singer-songwriter Will Keating, who you can learn more about by visiting his website and Facebook page.

Quantum Penguin Blog – September Update

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09Sep

Well these last few months have been a roller-coaster of a ride! I have completed my first year of my music degree at Falmouth University, played at Parklive in Falmouth with Lunacci (AKA Chris Baker) and Emilio Ayto, had two of my pieces played on BBC Shropshire Introducing, gone to the Shrewsbury Folk Festival (which I have been going to since it was the Bridgnorth Folk Festival, about 15 years ago!) and then had a very unexpected interview on BBC Shropshire Introducing at the festival!

It has been a real jumble of experiences and has given me more confidence in my music – when I uploaded my first track on Introducing, which was Nohambo Iphengwini, I really didn’t expect it to be played since it is just very different to the kind of music that is usually played.

To have that played gave me confidence to submit a second track, Synergy. I again wasn’t expecting it to be played but was overjoyed to have Synergy played as well. Both Nohambo and Synergy represent different sides of my music; with Nohambo I can imagine it on a soundtrack to a film set in a desert or nature documentary exploring the animal kingdom of a rainforest while with Synergy this represented the side of me that likes to experiment with Synths and effects. Both of these are almost a world apart from my Folk music background but I think that breaking out of a particular genre is incredibly important as a musician.

Genres tend to have rules which tell you what you can and can’t have in your music. Pop tends to stick to what is “in” at the time and unfortunately often creates music that sounds almost identical – certainly at this moment you would not expect a full blown set of Folk tunes played on the Fiddle. Likewise you would have a very good chance of being lynched if you played Synths, used heavy effects or sang in a Pop music accent at more traditional Folk clubs and festivals. However, I think that some of the best music is created when the genres are mixed. Take Galway Girl by Ed Sheeran, if someone had told you a week before that song came out that a Pop song with an Irish Folk Fiddle and band in would make the charts you just wouldn’t have been able to imagine it – now almost everyone I’ve met has loved that song and it has been in the top position of many of the Pop charts.

Phil Beer from the Folk band Show of Hands is another example as he uses many different effects on his Fiddle to achieve an amazing sound. The Afro Celt Sound System combine Bagpipes, Synths, samples, African Drums and Electric Guitar to create a powerful experience. In 1986 when Paul Simon collaborated with African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo they created such incredible music by combining Singer-Songwriter with African vocals and proved that music really doesn’t have to be limited. I feel that making music this way brings the best out of you and that is how I want my approach to be.

Lately I have been doing some research (on Bing) about compression in music, which is the practice of making all the parts of your music the same volume. The reason behind this is because producers and labels believe that it makes the piece louder and research has concluded that loudness sells more. The problem is that when you make a recording louder than the volume it was recorded at the quality is degraded. You also lose any quiet-to-loud build up or Timbre in your piece because the volume is the same throughout. It is called “The Loudness War” and I really recommend you do some research on it because it is really interesting and in my view it creates poor music because you’re trading quality for quantity.

Looking forward, I am doing a free gig on the 21^st of September at Jacobs Ladder in Falmouth, Cornwall along with Emilio Ayto and Lunacci. We are each doing our own 15 minute sets and then Emilio and I are playing with Lunacci in his set. It’s going to be a really fun evening and I will be premiering a new song! It is very relaxed and in a pub so you can come in and out as you want. If you can make it then pop over and say hi!

I will also be starting my second year at University, which is really exciting. There are several modules that I am really looking forward to including Film music, which is definitely an area I want to experiment in and Timbre, which will give me a load of skills in combining different sounds and instruments.
I have to say I am very lucky to have such inspiring tutors and course mates and I have learnt so much already, not just from my tutors but also from my fellow music students. I am really excited to find out new ways to make music this year.

Matt