Music review: 'Kraken Up' features traditional tunes stripped naked, well-sung
Monday, 02 January 2012 07:52
Kraken Up, the latest album by the Wisconsin-based Bounding Main, is a fresh arrangement of traditional and contemporary shanties, fo’c’sle and maritime ballads performed almost entirely without accompaniment. It will have you tapping your feet and singing along in short order. I loved the harmonies -- the reliance on voice, rhythm and lyrics rather than over-production. The resulting album is easy to listen to yet closer to the spirit of true shanties and shipboard entertainment. For a little variety "Day of the Clipper" (track 6) is sung with the accompaniment of a guitar.
Listen to music samples at CD Baby.
Bounding Main consists of three men and two women. Although traditional shanties are often performed by male singers, the addition of the soprano and alto voices is imaginatively reminiscent of the many young boys (and perhaps a few women in disguise) who worked aboard ships in former centuries.
If, like me, you are partial to traditional shanties, you’ll be pleased to know that Bounding Main delivers eight favorites on Kraken Up, their fourth CD. Yet the remaining compositions are contemporary, proving that the genre is indeed alive and well. "Night Watchman’s Lament" (track 7) is an original song written by Maggie Hannington (a former Bounding Main member) and "Barbershop Shanty" (track 11) is an imaginative mash-up of maritime lyrics performed in barbershop style and written by member Jon Krivitzky.
This CD is perfect for boat music, road trips, and old-fashioned sing-alongs. If you like male and female voices singing lively, harmonic maritime music -- you’ll want to Kracken Up. (Warning: You can’t resist singing along!)
Linda Collison is a sea music lover and author of the Patricia MacPherson nautical adventure novels. Do you have a new sea music CD to share? Send info to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Sinking of the Reuben James - Woody Guthrie
Friday, 25 November 2011 13:20 Written by Tom Haugen
Sinking of the Reuben James - Woody Guthrie (via YouTube) Woody Guthrie sings the Sinking of the Reuben James from the Asch Recordings Vol. 1 (1944) www.woodyguthrie.com
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New folk music video features Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse in N.H.
Thursday, 03 November 2011 06:20 Written by Joe Follansbee
Folk/Alt-country duo Neptune's Car--Holly Hanson and Steve Hayes--has released a music video of their song "Lighthouse Keeper", which was included in their 2010 debut album Strawberry Moon. The video was produced by Jeremy D'Entremont, one of New England's foremost lighthouse photographers and writers.
Inspired by the heroic life stories of female lighthouse keepers Abbie Burgess, Ida Lewis, and Katherine "Katie" Walker, singer/songwriter Holly Hanson wrote the song "Lighthouse Keeper" to teach a home school history lesson to her two young boys. Hanson lived the life of a lighthouse keeper in March as she and her two sons cared for the Rose Island Lighthouse in Newport, R.I. She publishes her thoughts about the lighthouse keepers' life on her lighthouse blog.
The music video was shot on location at the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse and Great Island Common in New Castle, N.H. D'Entremont, a lighthouse historian, author, preservationist, tour guide, photographer, and president of the American Lighthouse Foundation, directed, filmed, and edited the video.
Review: John Mock's 'The Keeper's Companion' is definitely a keeper
Thursday, 09 June 2011 15:22
If you liked John Mock’s first album, The Day at Sea, you will enjoy his latest release, The Keeper’s Companion, another maritime inspired musical collection. Mock combines traditional, folk and classical instrumentation in original compositions that feature the artist on classical guitar, the concertina, mandolin, tin whistle and low whistle.
A concertina, if you’re new to the genre, is rather like an accordion. The musician stretches and squeezes it between his hands, pushing air across reeds and using buttons to change the notes. Whistles, traditional Celtic instruments, are woodwinds similar to flutes and recorders. The low whistle is known for its haunting timbre.
The string orchestra in Mock's new release provides a rich background to alternate selections, giving the album more texture than if it consisted entirely of solo performances on the unadorned folk instruments.
As a novelist, I use music to inspire me and this CD fits the bill. Mock titles his compositions with evocative phrases and poetic place names like "The Wee Mad Road," "Fort of the Rounded Hills," "The Ghost of Castle Hill," and "Moon over Pemaquid." On the inside of the cover art, John gives listeners a glimpse of his muse, sharing with us what it was that prompted him to compose the piece.
For me, the music speaks for itself. When I play this album I feel like I’m listening to the sound track for a movie set in a previous century. The music suggests a story, conjures up an image of a young lad or lass setting off on a long journey, or of an old sailor homeward bound.
Linda Collison is a writer, historian, and the author of the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series. She sings sea shanteys in the shower. In the video, John Mock performs the title track to The Keeper's Companion. Can't see the video? Click here.
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30th Annual Sea Music Festival at Mystic Seaport
Thursday, 09 June 2011 06:22 Written by Tom Haugen
30th Annual Sea Music Festival (via YouTube)
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