Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: folk

  • Wildflower in my Heart

    Wildflower in my Heart

    In a delightfully upbeat tribute to love and Spring, released in time for Valentine’s Day, The Song Gardeners’ Wildflower in My Heart celebrates the love of life, new beginnings, a new romance and hope renewed, that comes from watching the earth bloom into Spring, painting the ground in riotous colour.

    At the forefront of popular New Age music, The Song Gardeners’ with their contemporary compositions and delightful lyrics always send a gentle message built into both the words and music. This catchy single also celebrates the beginning of a new love with the analogy, a wildflower seed sown in the heart, growing and beginning to bloom.

    Wildflower in My Heart also captures the true essence of time passing as the wildflowers, in their wide open spaces, have only a short time to grow, bloom and send seeds onto the wind, to remain in the earth for another year, when the cycle will begin again.

    The lyrics penned by Corrie Dunn and Mary Gospe are delivered with a lovely folksy panache. One for the playlist for sure, especially when you need a little splash of colour in your day.

  • Sonic Landscape

    Sonic Landscape

    The latest release from the Song Gardeners, pop duo Corrie Dunn and Mary Gospe Sonic Landscape ask a time old question over the eight song of feeling the energy, healing the issues and listening to the world around us as we can hopefully live in harmony in the not too distant future.

    It is in essence catchy, up-tempo and message driven with a hope that mankind can move past the tragedy that surrounds us on a daily basis to look toward the greater good; Peace.

    Present is a track full of energy pulsating with a solid base rhythm which is followed by two songs, both of which have been released as singles.  Send Love To Everyone (Heal the Divide) is a prayer to mankind to forgive, to stop taking sides.

    Talking to Trees is a lovely whimsical little song that encourages a return to nature, to sit under a tree, to hug a tree, to share and understand hopes and dreams as only a deep connection to nature can deliver.

    Snazzy percussion with deep bass lead in More of This a new up-tempo song in celebration of the future that contains more of holding hands, babies precious first smiles, dancing to a seductive beat, enjoying the rhythm, the joy, and happiness. More of this please is wished in the wonderfully, hopeful lyrics.

    Looking at the rules of life and what never changes, is the catchy Future Lives followed by April Sky; a prayer asking the heavens to keep us safe and sound, while we are able to enjoy and dream of things wondrous under an April Sky.

    The simple lyrics to The Little Things celebrate all the little things that bring joy, put smiles on faces and add a light to a day which all help make the world a far better place.

    Within brings a refreshing collection of songs delivered in what has become The Song Gardeners signature style, New Age Pop, to a delightful conclusion. Their music, has hints of 1960’s folk music, prayerful lyrics which can very easily become a daily mantra, underpinned with a genuine desire to help spread love and understanding to the world.

    Sonic Landscape looks to a brighter, happier, future by using the healing power of music to reach out and send a message of love and peace to the world.

  • I’ll Cry for Yours (Will You Cry for Mine) SINGLE

    I’ll Cry for Yours (Will You Cry for Mine) SINGLE

    I’ll Cry For Yours (Will You Cry For Mine), sung by award winning Country Folk vocalist Miko Marks, gives this heartbreaking set of lyrics penned by Alice Randall, a rich, deep, Blue’s feeling reminiscent of Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin.

    Sensual, and full of feeling this is a song that not only tells a story, but does it in a style which is synonymous with many of the African American singers as their music, their songs come from a place deep, deep within.

    Marks considers much of her music is sung to help heal, to reach out. With this particular song she achieves this with authenticity and a wonderfully soothing delivery, backed with some very, very nice instrumental’s as she shares a mothers grief for her dead son.

    I’ll Cry for Yours (Will You Cry For Mine) is a woman’s song, a song of grief, love and despair for the sons lost to society’s ills. It is one song, the words resonating, which will remain with you long after the last note has been delivered.

    I’ll Cry for Yours (Will You Cry for Mine) can also be enjoyed as a music video on YouTube “I’ll Cry For Yours” – Miko Marks ( Official Video) (youtube.com)

  • Sign of the times

    Sign of the times

    Folk music is an interesting genre, as it can capture almost to perfection a lost love, celebrate a new one, record a phase of history in a unique and timeless way, or simply spread the word throughout society of things gone, to come or to celebrate as it has done since the days of traveling troubadours bringing with them the news of the day.

    Boxrattler ergo singer songwriter Tony Mawdesley, has created another lovely folk/blues/jazz style collection in  Sign of the Times, a work which has been coming together for a period of time, interrupted with moving countries and then the tragedy of COVID-19, which has, despite many challenges, born a album as enjoyable as it is indeed talking about a Sign of the Times.

    As the signature piece, Sign of the Times,  asks the question ‘will we ever be the same again………, all dressed up and nowhere to go’, which at the time of composition was perhaps more about a failing relationship, but ironically has captured almost to perfection the sad, frustrating and  ever changing landscape of society, 2020 style.

    The beautiful sentimental ballad Dare To Dream looks at hope, a fresh new dawn, different but the same. Some lovely guitar work is presented in this piece which is followed by the upbeat Fingers and Thumbs, looking at the beginning of a new romance and how a fresh new love often feels; romantic, a little scary and hopefully wonderful.

    Bopping along is The narcissist and the muse which is a rather introverted piece, clean, catchy with a set of interesting lyrics, looking the good and bad side of love and possession, laced with regret and a form of acceptance.

    Reminiscent of times past the bitter sweet One for the road, can be related to in so many ways; as a final drink before heading home, as a down at the heal pub which has seen its glory days but lives in hope to once again being glamorous, or as a place to go and forget ones sorrows in a glass of wine before moving on.

    Mawdesley has included some old favourites, The Undertakers Daughter and the rather funky Making Hay in this retrospective look at love in its many forms, and in so many ways, unwittingly, has captured the emotions of the times in which we now live; times in which we are all having to look at life, at love and a fresh new road leading to a future that is none too familiar.

    Sign of the Times is definitely a unique and fresh work to be enjoyed over and over again.

  • Three Apples Fell from the Sky

    Three Apples Fell from the Sky

    “And three apples fell from heaven. One for the storyteller, one for the listener, and one for the eavesdropper.” This old Armenian fable, Three Apples fell From The Sky, is the basis of this rich story. It is set in the tiny, remote village of Maran, in the mountains of Armenia. Most of the young people have left the village and moved to the valley for more amenities and work. Maran is connected to the outside world by an aging telegraph wire and a treacherous, winding mountain path. The villagers are bound to each other by proximity and loyalty.

    The author so richly describes everyday life, that the reader feels they are actually in the village. You get to know the characters and their foibles, the acts of kindness, their wit and charm, and customs. The story begins with Anatolia, who believes she is going to die. She puts on her funeral clothes, then opens the window so her soul can escape. She has had a hard life, married to a brutal man. She sought solace in organizing a small library, where she arranged the books by the colour of their covers. She made curtains and cushions for the place and gradually it became a haven.

    We meet other members of the village, and sigh for the postman who must use the overgrown track from the valley to deliver any mail. The famine and war which devastated the small community, made the remaining characters resilient and accepting of fate. They once had a thriving marketplace where you could barter any goods, but the shrinking population has erased that. So, imagine how the locals feel when the blacksmith asks if he can marry. A wedding and a great surprise are about to overtake the village. The joy in the simple everyday sharing, planning and baking, transforms even the gloomiest character.

    Narine Abgaryan has deservedly won many awards for this book which is described as “Balm for the Soul.”

  • Dare To Dream

    Dare To Dream

    Many will know veteran singer songwriter and guitarist Tony Mawdesley from his many incarnations, that of Boxrattler, You and I, The Brendan Collins Band, Made By Machines and many other solo gigs throughout Florida and his earlier days in Britain.

    Returning to his native Britain, this talented musician has released his latest solo album Dare To Dream, in which he looks at life, simply as it is, the ups, downs and often sideways times that come whenever major change takes place.

    Commencing with the lovely piece Sign of The Times, a folk song offering a warm invitation to come in, spend a little time reflecting on times long gone and the lessons learned; the lyrics posing the timeless question “will we ever be the same again?”

    A delightful, mellow song Don’t Know Why, penned by Jesse Harris in 1999, covered by Norah Jones in 2002 has a gentle, reflective melody with introspective lyrics once again questioning; a piece which will resonate and interestingly, offers an unusual understanding of life and its many journeys.

    All of Me is a very personal cover of the song made famous by John Legend on his Love In The Future album released in 2013, raw, emotional and dedicated to love, pure, personal and often imperfect, whereas Starlight is a rather sombre song about breaking up, cutting loose, reflection and acceptance.

    Further into the album is the catchy Rent Man, a blues style piece which changes the pace, presenting a loose narrative common to modern ‘blues’ and when sung with Mawdesley’s slightly gritty style, is upbeat, catchy and toe tappingly enjoyable.

    The beautiful song Holding you up to the light, offers a very real set of lyrics in gratitude to making things all right, and how one person can create change by simply being themselves.

    A very wry piece is Don’t Make Me Laugh, a piece everyone can relate to at some time of their life, when ego gets the top billing and then the fall out needs to be dealt with, cleaned up and a result achieved. Wry indeed!

    Dare to Dream is the title track but also the final one, a piece in which the guitar work offers a gentle, all-encompassing element for a fresh new beginning, a beginning where the sun and rain have washed away the emotions of the past, to usher in a new beginning where you can Dare to Dream once again.

    Folk music at its very best, simple, clean and well-constructed, the fourteen tracks on Dare To Dream are emotive, interesting, cathartic and in spite of the sombre element, absolutely enjoyable, presenting a collection of both original scores and covers which will certainly be enjoyed time and time again.

  • Rowing In Eden

    Rowing In Eden

    When you combine the talents of songstress Rebekah Eden, with the timeless lyrics of the poetry of Emily Dickenson, William Butler Yeates and Arthur Earl Jones, Led Zepplin’s “Ramble On’ as a ballad, and the Capellen Orchestra of the Czech Republic you have something very special, something unique and beautiful to enjoy, relate and contemplate in Rowing in Eden.

    Eden began her vocal career as a student at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio where she trained as a classical singer, singing the arts songs of Germany and France, as well as Italian opera and contemporary classical scores. She completed an internship with the Dusseldorf Opera in Germany where she had to learn and perform a different Opera each evening.

    Eventually returning to the United States to study for her Masters in voice performance, she was hired by the San Francisco Symphony Chorus to perform Adam’s composition ‘Harmonium’. Sacred Music was also sung, as during her studies she became acquainted with the music of St Hildegard of Bingen, recording three of her sacred chants over her past two albums.

    This eclectic background has come together to create, in this third album, a wonderful pot-pourrie of music that will enchant the listener and take them on a magical journey filled with sacred vibration, laments in the almost traditional manner of the song style, a journey into the world of classical music and a soupçon of contemporary  story telling.

    Woven throughout each composition is her firm belief that the concept of ‘Heaven on earth is not so much a place, as a state of mind, that is created from love, sacredness, heart and purpose(sic)’, all of which has been combined within this work to express, through the medium of music, that ’Life is a sacred adventure’

    Each piece tells its own story with the compilation beginning and ending with the delicately beautiful piece A Message from the Stars, which both introduces and concludes this amazingly fantastical journey into otherworldly matters, created by a lifetime love of music and enjoyment of the many wonderful aspects that literature brings into the world.

    Let your imagination take flight and enjoy the mystical journey throughout the hills and valleys, the fantastical and real, the sacredness of 12th century religion, knights and dragons. Couple this with divine music from the stars, as well as allowing your psyche to travel where it will and you will feel all the better for trip into the wonderful world of make-believe, courtesy of Rebekah Eden!

    Fantastical!