Ramblin' Round

Ramblin' Round

Tribute to a lifestyle & ideal, the unfettered freedom of movement & self-expression, a world where the arts, shared knowledge and spirituality equal the sciences and technology in importance, a society which emphasises community, collaboration, equality & harmonious equilibrium over profit & control from above. What is our reason for living?? A number of us would say to find harmony with nature & the universe... While the act of singing topical broadsides, protest songs and social laments must date back to the very birth of anatomically modern human communities, tens or even hundreds of thousands of years, the 20th century saw the first recorded & mass distributed recordings enabling songs by the likes of The Weavers, Ewan MacColl, Nina Simone and Woody Guthrie to reach wide audiences across both space and time. The Dylan-Baez generation & their understudies, from John Lennon to Arlo Guthrie to Dick Gaughan, kept pushing it further. The tradition has bucked trends & commercial barriers and is being carried forward to this day by artists as diverse as Jesse Welles, Bob Vylan, David Rovics, Bruce Springsteen, Kneecap, The Rainbow Girls & countless other freedom singers.

The Grateful Dead took more of a politically passive approach, successfully passing on their lifestyle, ethics & mentality just by being - though their sheer existence! Scarcely an explicit word needed be said... Some may see that as a cop out, a missed opportunity, but it was probably a conscious decision taken by the band... let the music & art do the heavy lifting. They surely did bring huge crowds of like-minded folks together to generate a planet load of positivity and love...

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Big spotlight on the man Arlo Guthrie of Woodstock fame, son of the Woody Guthrie and a legend in his own right. Songs from the late-60's and 1970s, including the hit Coming into Los Angeles and some Woody classics. He teamed up with Pete Seeger for I Ain't Got No Home at the Woody Memorial Concert (Hollywood Bowl, 1970). Arlo dedicated himself to carrying his dad's legacy forward after the great bard's passing with songs that express ideals of personal freedom & justice and raise topical issues while exploring various forms of folk music. The Dylanesque Days are Short reflects hippie attitudes to life perfectly. English balladeer Ralph McTell does a cool, reflective cut of Dylan's Song to Woody.

 

Tracks from Linda Thompson's lively 2008 album A Versatile Heart. Also from 2008 is a great LP by Peggy Seeger called Bring Me Home. Ever the feminine protagonist, her song Let Them Wear Their Watches Fine hints at female led revolution! Good tight version of Wagoner's Lad. Tracks from two fine Joan Baez live albums; Ring Them Bells (1995) & her all-star 75th Birthday Celebration (2016). There's a fine duet with the great Mavis Staples and also a cut of And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda. Another selection from irrepressible soul rebel Jesse Welles with more of his trademark deadly & insightful lyrics. We hit a mid-session vein critiical of organised religion with Welles, Baez, the Black Country Three & Jon Raven. God is God. Whatever God is must exist in everything & everyone, but we are not gods. Texan Guy Clark brings mellow vibes with memorable recordings from 1992 & 2002. Gillian Welch is always very relaxed too, tracks from earlier in her career here. If you're not yet familiar with trio the Rainbow Girls, their naturally good vibes can be found & felt all over the networks, check them out. Tracks here from their 2023 LP Welcome to... Whatever.

 The Grateful Dead pop up again with 1974 classic It Must Have Been the Roses from the Steal Your Face live album alongside tracks by the Jerry Garcia Band and a few more cool and interesting Dead cover versions. Bert Keely finds hidden depths in his cover of the Allman Brother's hit Melissa.

 The session concludes with Baez' live version of Dylan's Ring Them Bells and then Jesse Welles nails it with This Age, a rejection of both American exceptionalism and the view of civilisation as a linear progression - the past did not exist simply to bring us to this point of greatest importance! Time moves in cycles as do, indeed, civilisations. Tech cannot be allowed to override our humanity or sever our connection to the natural elements and/or one other. Music still has the power to move mountains....

Arlo Guthrie

 

Linda Thompson

Jesse Welles

The Rainbow Girls

 

Continuous mix 2hrs 30min

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