Martin Simpson is not a man to sit still for very long. Undoubtedly one of the hardest-touring musicians on the UK folk/roots circuit, he also averages a brand new studio album almost every two years. Skydancers, due for release on 12th April, comes hot on the heels of last year’s Nothing But Green Willow, the guest-packed collaboration album with the American producer/guitarist, Thomm Jutz.
Recorded by Tom Wright and Andy Bell in Simpson’s hometown of Sheffield, Skydancers collects new, Simpson-penned originals alongside 18th century broadside ballads and reverent reworkings from the songbooks of, amongst others, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Woody Guthrie, Nancy Kerr, June Tabor and Craig Johnson.
Skydancers’ title track, commissioned by TV presenter and naturalist, Chris Packham, highlights the plight of the endangered Hen Harrier – ornithology, a keen interest of Simpson’s. Elsewhere he narrates the life and times of Billy Waters, a black, peg-legged man who became famous busking in London in the nineteenth century. ‘Roger’s Cascade’ is a very personal, jaunty, 5-string banjo homage to master instrument craftsman, Roger Bucknall. Simpson is joined on Skydancers by American pedal steel maestro, Greg Leisz, Andy Cutting on diatonic accordion, Louis Campbell on acoustic and electric guitar, Liz Hanks on cello, Ben Nicholls on string bass and a bevy of accompanying singers.
Label: Topic Records
UPC: 714822056137 (2xCD) | 714822186131 (LP)
Catalogue Number: TXCD613 (CD) | TXLP613 (LP)
Release Date: 12 April 2024