I was trying to remember when I first saw Blowzabella play. I think it was sometime in the late ’80s at some folk festival in the north of England but I cannot say for sure. Except for an extended break in the ’90s, they’ve been active as a band for 32 years!
(Founder Bill O’Toole, who left before they recorded their first album, has an interview with us in which he discusses the very early days of the band.)
For those of you who don’t know them, Blowzabella (who may or may not be named after a certain whore in a song in Wit and Mirth: Or Pills to Purge Melancholy, a large collection of songs by Thomas d’Urfey, published between 1698 and 1727) is an English band who play bagpipes, hurdy-gurdies, saxophones, accordions, and an array of acoustic instruments including violins and guitars to produce a wall-of-sound drone — somewhat influenced by British and European traditional dance music. Many of their tunes have become ‘standards’ in the current folk music scene, some tunes to the point that they are thought to be traditional, arranged by Blowzabella!
Strange News is their 13th album and I’m proud to say that the Infinite Jukebox, the music server here at the Kinrowan Estate, has all of them on it, including the one they did with Frankie Armstrong, Tam Lin. The band has had a number of changes over the years, including the death of Dave Roberts, the musician who replaced Bill O’Toole, and so it comes to be that the current version is Andy Cutting, Jo Freya, Paul James, Gregory Jolivet, David Shepherd, Barn Stradling, Jon Swayne, and Patrick Bouffard guesting on ‘The Diggers / Cotillon’.
It starts off with one of the four songs to feature Jo’s voice, ‘All Things Are Quite Silent’, which is a woman’s lament for her husband who has been abducted from his bed and press-ganged into the navy. Ralph Vaughan Williams collected it in 1904.
Don’t worry — there’s lots of upbeat, fast-tempoed dance music here! Indeed I’m listening right now to ‘Falco’, a tune described as an English rant step dance tune which Paul James composed. And as is always the case, there are French tunes here as well — including Gregory Jolivet’s ‘Malique’ and others. There’s also an extremely goofy waltz by Jolivet, ”Nain Dans La Main’.
All in all, it’s the usual superb album by them, something of course that I expected. It’ll take a few more listenings to see if it’s one of my favorite albums by Blowzabella. Right now Blowzabella’s Bobbityshooty, Pingha Frenzy (recorded live on tour in Brazil), and Octomento are the ones I listen to the most, but Blowzabella’s Strange News has a good chance of joining them. Do check out Blowzabella’s Website.
(Self-released, 2013)
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