News received via e-mail from Jeff Warner:

Jeff Warner has a new album! It’s called “Long Time Travelling,” and is just out on the English label, WildGoose.

WildGoose Records is a respected UK label, focusing on traditional folk music, mostly English. They asked Jeff to record because of his many appearances at UK folk clubs and festivals, and because much of his music shows its British roots. Nine of the eighteen songs on “Long Time Travelling” were originally English or Scottish – or are American songs that became popular in 19th-century Britain.

In England, Keith Kendrick added his peerless Anglo concertina work to five tracks, and Vicki Swan offered her flute accompaniments and the ancient-sounding nyckelharpa to several songs. In America, Pete Sutherland contributed authentic East Coast fiddle backing and David Surrette displayed his New England’s-best mandolin playing.

Vocal harmonies were provided by Barbara Benn, who also appeared on Jeff’s Jolly Tinker (Gumstump, 2005), and Carolyn Robson from the northeast of England, widely recorded and known for her work with the harmony singing group Craig; Morgan; Robson.

The songs on “Long Time Travelling” are from the California Gold Rush, the American Civil War, 19th-century seafaring, mountain churches of North Carolina and from men who worked on America’s rivers. All eighteen songs are out of American tradition. Half of them are from the Anne and Frank Warner Collection, recorded by Jeff’s parents in rural America between 1938 and 1966. “Travelling” reflects their work and the respect they had for the tradition bearers.

Samples of the songs can be heard at the WildGoose website:

Jeff Warner at a concert in Hampstead, NH in 2009. Photo by James Cummings
See Jeff performing some of his songs on YouTube. A favorite of ours, using this toy, is “Buffalo Gals.”

In the US and Canada, the album can be ordered from

Click “Music.”

We also want to mention another WildGoose album called “Short Sharp Shanties,” released this past May. It brings together several folk revival artists from the UK – and Jeff – to give their interpretations of work songs sung on Yankee sailing ships in the 1860s.

In 1914, Cecil Sharp collected some sixty shanties from English sailor John Short. Devon Folklorists Tom and Barbara Brown have worked tirelessly to make these often unique versions available to us all. Jeff leads a couple of songs on this album and lends concertina, banjo and vocal harmonies to others.

You can read a great deal about it on the WildGoose website:

Currently, the only place to get the album in North America is on Jeff’s website: http://www.jeffwarner.com

We hope to see you again this coming year, at home or abroad.

–
Jeff Warner – American Traditions
Portsmouth, NH, USA
Office e-mail: jeffwarner.office@comcast.net
Jeff’s e-mail: jeff@jeffwarner.com
Jeff’s website: http://www.jeffwarner.com

This is a courtesy announcement by Quilter’s Muse Publications. We have seen Jeff Warner in concert and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. If you love music in the folk art tradition, you will appreciate his efforts to keep these songs in the public realm. A one word description of any performance by Jeff would be “wonderful!”.

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