For Folk's Sake » Diane Cluck

Why I love Joni Mitchell: Diane Cluck, Louis Gilbert, Ciara McPolin, Katie Carroll, FFS’s dad

Lynn Roberts — Thu, 20 May 2010 07:15:19 +0000

US anti-folk legend Diane Cluck says: “I’ve never covered any Joni Mitchell songs, but I’ve enjoyed singing ‘Help Me’ since I was a kid in the 70s. The melody was swooping and fun to sing, and I imagined whoever was singing it was the gentle sort of man I could fall in love with. She continunes: “I read an article about the ‘Dylan slam’ and have to believe that if she was quoted correctly, she was being defensive and silly. Both she and Dylan have made great music, neither is more fake or authentic than the other, and no one needs to justify changing his or her name, in my book !”

Ciara McPolin says: “Woodstock” from “Ladies Of The Canyon”. The song itself is about Joni wanting to go to Woodstock, but not being able to, so she imagines what it would be like. However, it’s more than that. It’s a song about community, about longing to be with other people and celebrating that. The last chorus has the lines, “We are stardust/Billion year old carbon/We are golden…” So throughout the song, Joni sings about how wonderful existence is (when she is talking about “stardust”), but here she undercuts this sentiment with “billion year old carbon”. This is where she has us – there will always be a sense of community with others because we are all made of the same thing (“carbon”). She also makes the point that it’s up to us to realise that how wonderful it is to feel this sense of belonging with others and that we make the bare elements of our existence special (“We are golden..”).”

Louis Gilbert of the Dufflefolks says: “I came across ‘Car on a hill’ quite by accident. I had known the singles of ‘Court and Spark’ due to a greatest hits. I subsequently found the album in a charity shop and bought it. When I got home’ Car on a hill’ really entranced me. It moved on from the confessional Joni Mitchell I had been used to on ‘Blue’. It seemed like she was having fun. The evocative lyrics deal with a high school crush waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up ‘I’ve been sitting up waiting for my sugar to come’. However the earnest nature of ‘Blue’ was not completely gone with the line of ‘He makes friends easy, he’s not like me’. With the amazing jazz infections of this song, you can feel her anxiety as she waits with sympathetic trumpets, electric guitar and piano. A true storyteller’s classic.”

Katie Carroll says: “I fell in love with Joni Mitchell somewhere around age six. I was singing along to “Woodstock” long before I knew anything about the iconic music festival; I had no idea that the pigs referenced in “California” weren’t actually farm animals. All I knew was that these songs were beautiful and expressive, and they were my childhood. When I was about nine, I was able to attend one of her concerts (my very first!) at a massive venue in northern California. It was a bittersweet moment for me: the songs of her early days, those I knew and adored, were sadly absent from her set. Looking back, I realize that she was no longer the woman who had once sung of Chelsea mornings; Joni was someone who had lived, loved, and lost. In the twelve years since then, I’ve grown to appreciate her musical transformation—and that sense of emotional resonance, when you hear yourself in a piece of music, has only gotten stronger. ”

Ladies of the Canyon

FFS’s dad Alan Roberts (who bears full responsibility for FFS’s love of Joni) says: ” I first heard of Joni Mitchell through Ladies of the Canyon. It was a stunning album. Every track has a beautiful melody. After the initial impact, the album gets better with each listen. the powerful emotions and the narrative keeps your attention. ‘Morning Morgantown’ is an evocative description of small time America. ‘For Free’ is a wonderful description of the effect of a pavement musician she sees on her way to perform at a big venue concert. The next four tracks are intensely personal and emotional. The atmosphere is lightened by an early protest on behalf of the environmental movement and rounded off by a tribute to Woodstock and a reflection on life. The album still brings goosebumps. I subsequently found her earleir album Clouds. It is also a very good album, but don’t have the consistent excellence. Blue, the big commercial success is also a great album, but LOC pips it for sustained perfection”

Diane Cluck and Anders Griffen announce new UK shows

Lois Jeary — Sun, 02 May 2010 12:20:46 +0000

There are some names that every self-respecting folk fan should know; in my humblest of opinions, Diane Cluck is one of them.

With her distinctive, sparse guitar picking tempered by a strong, almost world-wearied voice and disconcertingly perceptive lyrics, Diane’s influence has been keenly felt this side of the pond by artists such as Emmy the Great.

Yet with the utmost respect to everyone who has admirably championed the influence Diane Cluck has had on their music, let us be honest – there’s nothing like the real thing!

In September, in an all too rare opportunity to see her play live, Diane returns to the UK with drummer Anders Griffen, who is likewise as well-connected as he is talented.

Already booked to play the End of the Road Festival, Diane will headline her own show with Anders and other special guests at The Tabernacle, West London on Sunday September 12th. Tickets for the 16+ show are £12 in advance from Platforms:live or TicketWeb and are on sale now.

Venturing further afield they will also play shows in an array of lovely little venues in Brighton, Cardiff and somewhere called Mold in North Wales, which is intriguing in itself. More shows are still to be announced so keep an eye on Diane Cluck’s Myspace for details.

Diane Cluck and Anders Griffen:

10 Sep – Dorset – End of the Road Festival

11 Sep – Brighton – Westhill Hall

12 Sep – London – The Tabernacle

24 Sep – Mold – St Mary’s Church Hall

26 Sep – Cardiff – 10 Feet Tall

The Bundles: the ultimate Antifolk team tour the UK

Lois Jeary — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:52:30 +0000

‘Supergroup’ is such a hideous term, sullied as it has been by a deluge of well-meaning yet utterly annoying charity singles, that it seems crass to use it to describe something as wonderful as The Bundles.

Yet use it we must, for how else can you adequately explain a musical entity comprising ex-Moldy Peaches and Juno songstress Kimya Dawson, Jeffrey Lewis and his amazing brother Jack, drummer for practically everyone Anders Griffen, oh and the talented Karl Blau too, just for good measure.

The Bundles, mostly spawned from the hallowed New York Antifolk community, have been making music on an ad-hoc basis for the best part of a decade, and in 2009 finally got together to properly combine old songs with new. The resulting self-titled album is a lo-fi marvel and was released on K records this March.

The Bundles will be embarking on a suitably frantic tour of the UK in May, with support on all dates coming from Your Heart Breaks (which naturally counts Karl Blau as one of its members). And if that’s not enough for you then Anders Griffen will be playing with Diane Cluck at the End of the Road Festival in September.

The Bundles:

15 May – Leeds – Brudenell Social Club

16 May – Glasgow – ABC2

17 May – Manchester – The Deaf Institute

18 May – Bristol – Trinity Arts Centre

19 May – London – Union Chapel

20 May – Brighton – Komedia

For Folk’s Sake’s festival calendar

Lynn Roberts — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:28:17 +0000

We’ve gone through the folkier end of the festival calender, and hereby bring you our picks.

You won’t find any news on Glastonbury or Reading and Leeds, mind. We’re here to tell you about the things you might not have heard about yet.

And what a selection there is this year. You can see Bob Dylan and Laura Marling share a stage at one-day festival Hop Farm in Kent. The always wonderful End of the Road is bringing the legendary and elusive Diane Cluck over from the US as well as playing host to FFS’s favourite band in the world, The Mountain Goats.

For those who like their festivals crossed with city breaks, Open House is putting on an astonishing series of gigs in Belfast including Seasick Steve and Old Crow Medicine Show. And if you’ve got your tastes firmly set to folk of all kinds, the Divine Comedy, Donovan and Johnny Flynn play Moseley Folk Festival, which mixes traditional and new folk music in Birmingham.

Latitude is well on its way to getting the full folk set with Laura Marling, Noah & the Whale and Mumford & Sons all booked to play and also features chuckles from our favourite comedian Josie Long. Lounge on the Farm is putting on our live act of the moment, Cocos Lovers.

And finally, Green Man has got Joanna Newsom. That’s all I’m saying about that.

We don’t want you to have any nasty surprises when it comes to ticket costs so we’ve added booking fees and posting and what not into the prices below. Happy camping!

21-23 May
Wood Festival
Braziers Park, Oxfordshire
Peggy Sue, Cate Le Bon, Frank Turner, Tunng, Fionn Regan
Weekend ticket £72.74 (incl fees) link

3 July
Hop Farm Festival
Hop Farm, Kent
Bob Dylan, Ray Davies, Mumford & Sons, Seasick Steve, Laura Marling, The Magic Numbers
Day ticket without camping £76.25 (incl fees) link

9-11 July
Lounge on the Farm
Merton Farm, Canterbury
Cocos Lovers, Fionn Regan, Jesca Hoop, Tunng
Weekend ticket (incl fees & postage) £103.95 link

15-18 July
Latitude
Henham Park, Suffolk
Laura Marling, Midlake, Belle & Sebastian, Richard Hawley, Noah & the Whale, Grizzly Bear, Jonsi, Mumford & Sons, Frank Turner and comedy from Josie Long
Weekend tickets £167.20 (incl fees) link

13-15 August
Summer Sundae
De Monfort Hall & Gardens, Leicester
Fionn Regan, Fanfarlo, Johnny Flynn, Laura Veirs, Lissie, Local Natives, The Low Anthem, Mumford & Sons, Tunng, The Wave Pictures
Early Bird Weekend tickets £96 (incl fees & postage) link

20-22 August
Green Man Festival
Glanusk Park, Brecon Beacons
Joanna Newsom, Flaming Lips, Field Music, Fionn Regan, First Aid Kit, Matthew & the Atlas, The Smoke Fairies, Caitlin Rose
Weekend ticket £131.45 (incl fees & postage) link

3-5 September
Moseley Folk Festival
Moseley Park, Birmingham
Donovan, The Divine Comedy, Sparrow & the Workshop, Beth Jeans Houghton, The Low Anthem, Johnny Flynn, Cut-A-Shine
Weekend tickets £83.95 (incl fees & postage) link

7-12 September
Open House Festival
Various venues, Belfast
Seasick Steve, Wilco, The Felice Brothers, Field Music, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Low Anthem, AA Bondy
Events individually ticketed, see website

10-12 September
End of the Road
Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset
Iron & Wine, The Low Anthem, The Mountain Goats, The New Pornographers, Diane Cluck, The Antlers, Deer Tick
Weekend tickets £135 (incl postage) link

This list will be updated when announcements are made.

Is there anything we’ve missed? Let us know below.

End of the Road announce line-up additions and Union Chapel gig

Helen True — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:10:53 +0000

The super-duper folks who run End of the Road have added some more stunners to their already rather exciting 2010 line-up. Joining Wilco, Diane Cluck, The Mountain Goats, AA Bondy, The Low Anthem and The Wilderness of Manitoba are Iron & Wine, The New Pornographers, Phosphorescent, Emily Loizeau, Cymbals Eat Guitars, The Fresh & Onlys and Citay (click bandnames for MySpace links).

End of the Road takes place every summer at Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset, home to many a sparkly light and wandering peacock. Among this festival’s good points are: it shuns advertising (down with Capitalism! Yeah!), it’s small (5,000 people) and they don’t have anything shoddy: no shoddy music, no shoddy food, no shoddy merch sellers. It’s all carefully chosen, lovingly curated and beautifully presented. Tickets here.

End of the Road also have a London gig lined up at the Union Chapel on 1st June. The Unthanks will appear along with a crowd of yet-to-be-named special guests. They’ve been nominated for a Mercury and described by the Guardian as “haunting, original and magnificent”, so these ladies are well-deserving of some serious attention. Tickets here.

Words: Helen True

Brian’s Mixtape #22: Made by Maids

Brian — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:36:16 +0000

A Snowy Owl on Brian’s roost recently complained that she only listened to music made by boys. And as much as Brian – and the rest of us at FFS for that matter – love our bearded folkies, there’s a-whole-nother gender out there that ought not be left out, despite its lack of chin fluff.

Brian was all set to start making Snowy this mixtape of female artists and female-fronted bands when he thought ‘hang on one acorn-scoffing minute!’ You see, Brian realised that his pals at Wears the Trousers magazine are infinitely better qualified to recommend the best in estrogen-rich music, specialising in it as they do.

So from the ears of WTT’s editor Alan Pedder comes this wonderful playlist: some old, some new, all beautiful.

Matteah Baim – Bird Of Prey

Ane Brun – The Puzzle

Haunted Stereo – Cross The Sea

White Hinterland – Lindberghs + Metal Birds

Larkin Grimm – Dominican Rum

Mia Doi Todd – Muscle, Bone & Blood

Anja Garbarek – Beyond My Control

Laura Barrett – Robot Ponies

Lisa Mitchell – Oh What a Beautiful Morning

Diane Cluck – Dilapidalliance

Jessica Grace – Fybo

Piney Gir – 199 To Elephant And Castle

Pepi Ginsberg – Beautiful Star

Matteah Baim – Bird Of Prey
Ane Brun – The Puzzle
Haunted Stereo – Cross The Sea
White Hinterland – Lindberghs + Metal Birds
Larkin Grimm – Dominican Rum
Mia Doi Todd – Muscle, Bone & Blood
Anja Garbarek – Beyond My Control
Laura Barrett – Robot Ponies
Lisa Mitchell – Oh What a Beautiful Morning
Diane Cluck – Dilapidalliance
Jessica Grace – Fybo
Piney Gir – 199 To Elephant And Castle
Pepi Ginsberg – Beautiful Star

Listen on Spotify: Brian’s Mixtape #22: Made by Maids

Wears The Trousers have put together a rather lovely compilation in tribute to the great singer and songwriter Odetta, featuring performances from Marissa Nadler, Kelli Ali and Ane Brun. Listen on Spotify or buy it from iTunes.

If you’ve not got yourself registered on Spotify have a look at their website to learn more. And, if you need an invite (so you can use Spotify for free) let uncle Brian know in the comments section below and he will bestow one on you.

Have a flap around our mixtape section to find Brian’s previous efforts.

End of the Road 2010: The Mountain Goats, Wilco, Diane Cluck

Lynn Roberts — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:41:34 +0000

FFS’s favourite festival, End of the Road, has announced the first few acts for 2010.

Diane Cluck, The Mountain Goats, AA Bondy, The Low Anthem and The Wilderness of Manitoba join headliners Wilco in what is already a highly exciting line-up.

As if those six acts alone weren’t enough to part with the much-cheaper-than-Glastonbury £130 ticket fee, organisers Simon and Sofia have announced London promoters ‘The Local’ will get a bigger tent, the non-musical attractions will carry on later into the evening and that FFS’s only gripe about the festival – the design of the Tipi tent – has been sorted for next year.

Tickets are available now through the End of the Road website.

Words: Lynn Roberts

For Folk's Sake » Diane Cluck

Why I love Joni Mitchell: Diane Cluck, Louis Gilbert, Ciara McPolin, Katie Carroll, FFS’s dad

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Diane Cluck and Anders Griffen announce new UK shows

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The Bundles: the ultimate Antifolk team tour the UK

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For Folk’s Sake’s festival calendar

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End of the Road announce line-up additions and Union Chapel gig

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Brian’s Mixtape #22: Made by Maids

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End of the Road 2010: The Mountain Goats, Wilco, Diane Cluck

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