I seem always to begin these news updates with an apology for the long delay since the last one and this one is no exception! I can’t even claim to have been so extraordinarily busy. Indeed, I actually do less now than in previous years. True, I get older and hence a bit slower but that doesn’t even convince me! So …. apologies for the silent phase since … who knows when (that’s rhetorical and doesn’t require an answer.)

‘Below the Radar’ was finally released in April this year. I’m quite pleased with it and it has been reasonably well received with some very decent reviews, for which I’m most grateful (see Front page). I’m also grateful it is selling well.

Working with the wonderful musicians and singers who joined me was really exciting. I thoroughly enjoyed working with all of them: John Kirkpatrick; Martin Simpson; Andy Cutting; Andy Seward; Kellie While and David Ferrard. I’ve included two of David’s songs on the recording and had some favourable comments back about them. I think David, as a singer/songwriter is now being recognised beyond his native Scotland and I’m really pleased about that …. in my view he deserves to be! There are 4 songs by Jim Page from the USA. Jim’s ability to comment on contemporary events in song is very powerful and I hope he returns to the UK in the not too distant future for you all to hear him. There are a couple of traditional songs - as well as a few more

I now have to turn my attention to a CD for my two new grandchildren - well not so new now – Molly Simpson (4yrs) and Henry Bailey (nearly 2yrs). I began this some time ago and have managed to ‘get down’ at least three tracks. That was back last October 2008! For some reason, I ‘froze’ after that and couldn’t find the inspiration to continue. That is passing now and I hope to get into the studio again in January. I’ll use Greystone Studio again with Andy Seward and some of the usual suspects will, I hope, play for me.

My daughter Kit, is increasingly engaged in working for Smooth Operations, administrating for Martin Simpson, being a mum & raising Molly, as well as developing the important campaign, ‘Folk Against Fascism’. As a result she no longer has the time to remain an agent. Sue Webster at Routes Music has kindly agreed to ‘take me on’. I’m especially grateful to this agency as I’m not looking for too many concerts per month and no big tours, so I’m not really worthwhile to them as an artist on their books.

‘Folk Against Fascism’ is a campaign that was begun as a reaction to the BNP targetting English folk music as their kind of music. Please go to the website to find out more about this campaign: www.folkagainstfascism.com click here

Concerts are coming in for the new year so I hope to continue seeing you. Some of you may remember last October (2008) Mrs Casey Music promoted a concert in the Ballroom at Sheffield City Hall to celebrate my 50 years of singing? It was a great success, so much so that Steve has proposed another concert next year as a 'Just Roy Bailey’ concert. The penciled in date at the moment is Sunday, October 31st. It is still at the to-be-confirmed stage but Steve Heap and Mrs. Casey Music seem confident it will happen. It will again be at Sheffield City Hall, this time in the Memorial Hall. Watch this space!

I often joke about seeing familiar faces in audiences around the country, suggesting I find it stressful. I am only joking but in case anyone’s not sure, let me definitively state how much I appreciate your support and encouragement. I am truly delighted to see you and am grateful for the often not inconsiderable effort you make to get there! When people from Aylesbury turn up in Kendal or people from Coventry in Worksop and, believe it or not, from Seattle to Thame in Oxfordshire …. I am indeed humbled. Thank you, ALL of you.

The new CD: 'BELOW the RADAR

It's done and should be released at the Fareham/Gosport Folk Festival on 10th April. It may be available a day or so earlier on the net. Watch the Music page!

BELOW THE RADAR. I like this title! I was talking with Archie Fisher and I happened to use the phrase. He commented “What a great title for a CD!” I was completely taken with it so decided this recording would go by that name. In fact, the title did more than attach itself to the recording, it gave me an angle on the project as a whole. Folk songs, traditional or contemporary are a worm’s eye view of the world. They are the expression of ordinary people’s reaction to the world about them. They have always been songs that entertain and/or spread ‘the news’. Crucially, they circulate unhindered by the formulaic demands of commercialism. Their strength lies in their being outside the mainstream - from being BELOW THE RADAR.

The Songs:
New songs cross my path by chance rather than from research. David Ferrard is a singer/songwriter of quality. We met at the Gosport/Fareham Folk Festival in 2006. I have included two of his songs. Take me out Waltzing Tonight (11) is a delightful and charming love song, while Visions of our Youth (13) speaks to me of a lifetime of opposition to much of what governments do to all of us. As one generation ages so the next takes its place. Tom Paxton in How Beautiful Upon the Mountain (02) makes a similar point. When Tom was touring in the UK in 2008 he came to Sheffield. We often used to meet in Australia at various festivals and concerts, so it was a pleasure to meet him in my hometown. How Beautiful Upon the Mountain (02) is a song from the set he did that night and with his permission, I’ve very slightly changed the words of the second verse in order that the song connects with our experience here in the UK. A year or so ago I was singing in a folk club in Northampton (I think it was?) when a friend of many years before, Clive Carey, sang ‘The Road to Dundee’ (01). I was reminded I used to sing this way back in the 1960’s at such places as Turville Heath, which I think is where I first met Clive. He kindly reminded me of the words and the tune. A friend from Bainbridge Island, off the coast of Seattle in the USA discovered a CD by Jim Page and thought I might like to hear it. Whether I like his writing can be deduced from the fact that there are four of his sets of words and music on this recording. His songs speak to me very powerfully. They address issues that are specific as well as universal. The use of traditional & contemporary melodies is striking and I think, very effective. Anna Mae (03) was a fighter in the USA for native people’s rights. She died mysteriously in 1976. Jim’s tune is derived from a traditional bluegrass melody ‘The Dreadful Wind and the Rain’. When Johnny Comes Marching Home (08) has echoes of the traditional Irish song ‘Johnny I Hardly Knew You’ and *Collateral Damage*(12) is a powerful story of the obscene language of war. The chorus borrows very effectively from Martin Hoffman’s tune set to the poem of Woody Guthrie’s ‘Plane Crash at Los Gatos Canyon’. (Martin Simpson and I recorded this track initially for a compilation of anti war songs produced by David Ferrard: Not in our Name, 2007). Palestine (06) speaks for itself and needs no further comment from me. Jim’s writing is as powerful and moving as any I’ve read and heard. I have been singing Gonna Rise Again (04) by Si Kahn for some time now. I suppose as I get older songs like this, songs that comment on ageing and what we might leave behind, resonate more with me so I decided to include this in the set. I also enjoyed playing the guitar for this one! In 1973 I appeared at the excellent Bothy Folk Club in Southport, Lancashire. The BBC was present and recorded a couple of the songs I sang. I had completely forgotten about this until last year (2008) a friend at Sidmouth Folk Week, told me she had heard me on the radio singing The Old Man’s Tale (07) by Ian Campbell. I was certain she was mistaken. My daughter, Katherine (Kit) subsequently told me I had indeed been played on the Mike Harding Show that week. I then heard the recording and remembered the evening. I was reminded by these events what a great song Ian had written and was determined to see if I, at 73 years of age, could still sing it and do it justice? You will have to be the judge of that. I really enjoyed revisiting the song. It is the story of too many men and women of the last century and, the way things are going, the present one! In 2008 I met Laura Boosinger and Josh Goforth in Edinburgh. They had played at Celtic Connections and were on a short tour of clubs, mainly north of the border. I was really excited by their performance. They are both excellent singers and musicians. I knew that Martin Simpson had recorded Handsome Molly (10) some years before and Laura’s and Josh’s singing and playing of it moved me to want to do it myself. My concern was not to replicate the playing or style of the former recordings. In order to do this I invited Andy Cutting with his button accordion in an attempt to create a more English interpretation. I met George Papavgeris some years ago at a folk club in Luton, or was it St Albans? He kindly gave me Friends Like These (09). It has a great sing-a-long melody and is a comment that in our celebrity culture is worth making. In 1964 I was invited to join The 3 City 4, a folk group that focussed on contemporary song. We recorded one album during my time with them entitled ‘Smoke and Dust Where The Heart Should Have Been’ (1964). On that album Leon Rosselson sang Timothy Winters (05), a poem by Charles Causley for which he had written a tune. I have long admired both the poem and the tune, hence its presence on this CD. Visions of our Youth (13) seems not only to express a sentiment to which I can relate, it also makes an appropriate closing point for the whole recording. I dedicate this track to two dear friends, Sheila and Denis Manners, both of whom never missed an opportunity to declare their support for the peace movement. They will always be, for me, Towersey Village Festival. This year, 2009, for the first time in 45 years, they won’t be there and their absence will be felt by all of us who knew them.

Roy Bailey

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
The making of this CD has taken longer than any other I’ve made. The excellent musicians and friends who agreed to play for me are busy people so their availability had to be taken into account. I’m delighted I waited. Their interpretation, as expressed in their playing is wonderful and I thank them profoundly. John Kirkpatrick has been playing for me since the very early sixties. He is one of the finest musicians on the folk scene. The energy and power of his playing energises me in a way few others can and I’m so grateful to him for that. Martin Simpson’s playing is simply astonishing. Words fail me when I hear his contribution to these tracks as well as when listening to his numerous recordings, not to mention his casual playing around the house. Brilliant! Andy Cutting rightly deserves his reputation as one of the finest and most sought after instrumentalists in the country. His playing of the Diatonic Button Accordion is highly personal and distinctive. Donald Grant is known at present, primarily as the violin player in the Elias Quartet, a successful String Quartet on the Chamber Music circuits of the world. At present he is also a member of Ensemble 360 a classical music group based in Sheffield. Growing up in Lochobar, on the west coast of Scotland, however, ensured he also enjoyed and was influenced by, the folk music of his home country. He is rapidly establishing himself within folk music circles, playing with Catriona Mckay and Kate Rusby. To Andy Seward for his bass playing I am equally indebted. His playing ‘grounds’ the songs in a way I could not have imagined. At one point in the mixing of the CD I commented “…a Banjo would be good here…” his response was to pick up his banjo and proceed to play exactly what I thought was needed. Remarkable! My thanks also to the singers who added their voices to the choruses: to Martin Simpson, John Kirkpatrick, Kellie While and David Ferrard. So, “thank you” to all these fine musicians, singers, friends and indeed, family! Their contributions and suggestions as to production were indispensable. An extra thank you to Andy Seward who, as sound engineer for the recording was superb. He was much more than engineer, his contribution was critical and without him I think both the sound and the artistic quality of the recording would have been diminished. Lastly, but not least, thank you to my son, David Bailey for his excellent design. In future I must try to give him more time, instead of asking for the finished product before I’ve even given him anything to work with.

Roy Bailey
Sheffield
February 2009