‘The Georgic’
2025 marks 20 years since the release of my debut album ‘Fruits of the Earth’ which brought me my first BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nomination. It also marks 22 years of my career as a performer on the national folk scene. ‘The Georgic’ is my second album of self-penned songs – the follow-up to 2015’s ‘Forgotten Kingdom’ – and my twelfth solo studio album.
You can order the album directly from my SHOP.
The catalyst for this new collection of songs came through my involvement in artist Simon Pope’s ‘Here’s to Thee’ project which set out to create a brand new wassail ceremony to honour the “unseen” elements of traditional cider-making; the yeasts, bacteria, lichen, mould & fungi etc. I was commissioned to compose ’The Halstow Wassail’ for this new custom which was held at Halstow Farm in Mid-Devon where the Gray family have been making traditional farmhouse cider for over 400 years. Then came lockdowns in 2021 which delayed the wassail being held in the traditional month of January so I wrote a new song for a new ceremony: the “Blossail” – which was a combination of a wassail and English maying customs.
I went on to compose two more seasonal songs for the cider-making year on the farm: one for rogation or beating-the-bounds and another for the apple harvest in the autumn. These songs were recorded live on Halstow Farm. Since the beginning of the ‘Here’s to Thee’ project I received several other commissions to write songs which related to rural life. The new album is made up of songs about the trials and tribulations contemporary rural life told through a folk idiom. From the hardship of farming in the 20th century, the loss of native species to the housing crisis, gentrification and the social displacement of rural working class people. Some are inspired by traditional songs and some are completely original. This album is as raw and earthy as the subject matter is represents but also uplifting, moving and poignant in equal measure. I am joined by a host of well regarded musicians and singers from the English folk scene as well involving many people from the local community as well. I am really thrilled with the results of this album. It is brand new but also for me it is a meeting place between Cyprus Well (2013) and Forgotten Kingdom (2015) and I can’t wait for you to hear it!