So far, all of the posts I’ve written have been about music that is OLD, twenty to seventy years or older. In this post, I’m going to feature a CURRENT band that I really enjoy. Now when I say current, that isn’t really true, because although the music is new, the lyrics are often hundreds of years old.
The name of the band is Bellowhead.
Bellowhead was started by John Spiers and Jon Boden, who play as a folk duo consisting of fiddle and melodeon (a type of accordion). In wanting to have a bigger sound, they decided to form a large band with both a horn section and a string section. They ended up with an 11-piece band whose members play melodeon, concertina, fiddle, guitar, trumpet, trombone, helicon, (and sousaphone), cello, oboe, saxophone, bagpipes, and percussion among others.
Bellowhead is huge in England, but virtually unknown in the U.S. I found out about them while reading the forum, TalkAwhile. After reading some forum posts about them I looked them up on YouTube, and was hooked. I’m a sucker for bands that combine horns and strings, “folk” bands that aren’t too concerned with being “purists,” and musicians who are willing to take a chance and try something different. I always liked when The Band put horns on their songs, when David Bromberg combined fiddles and horns, and when Lyle Lovett plays with his Large Band. In the English folk scene, a predecessor to Bellowhead is Brass Monkey, which was guitarist Martin Carthy (guitar), John Kirkpatrick (squeezeboxes), and a brass section playing traditional songs. To make the connection complete, John Kirkpatrick’s son Benji plays in Bellowhead.
Bellowhead takes traditional folk songs and makes new arrangements. They combine a number of music styles, the English Brass Band tradition, fiddle tunes, Morris Dancing, funk, disco, jazz, sea shanties, Brechtian Theater, and music hall. They sing songs dealing with whiskey, cholera, prostitutes, sailors, begging, and sex. Mix it all with a lot of energy and fun, and you end up with Bellowhead.
Here’s a sampling of their music.
Sloe Gin Set
Rigs of the Time
Jordan
New York Girls
London Town
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