Kate Rusby - Philosophers, Poets and Kings '2019

Tracks list

Listening Post 238. There’s an exquisite equilibrium to Kate
Rusby’s voice, at once celestial and cozy, planting a wistful note in the
most comical saga and a vein of comfort in the most tragic. On Philosophers,
Poets & Kings, her seventeenth solo album, the folksinger-songwriter covers a
sweeping range of experience and emotion drawn mostly from her South Yorkshire
surroundings—old and new tales of wine and wisdom, celebration and
gravity—based on characters intimately real or just as intimately
mythical. Rusby was born into a musical family in Barnsley and in her teens was
already one of Britain’s best-known traditional singers. She was a rare
folk artist nominated for a Mercury Prize (given annually for best album in the
British Isles) and has won four BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. All acoustic for most
of her career, she has in recent years discretely integrated
electronics—aided by husband-guitarist Damien O’Kane—into
her sound arsenal. She wrote Until Morning to offer solace to a friend who was
in the “deepest, darkest hour” and who passed away not long after
the album’s release (video 1). The Farmer’s Toast is a traditional
drinking anthem, enchantingly reprised to honor the planter family that hosts
the Rusby clan’s annual Underneath the Stars music and arts festival
(video 2). The drinking takes an erudite turn in the title track (video 3),
evoking Plato and Socrates and carrying an elegant echo of Monty Python’s
Philosophers Song. The collection’s most stunning chapter, Halt the
Wagons, recalls an 1838 flood that killed 26 children working in a South
Yorkshire mine—for which Rusby enlisted members from the Barnsley Youth
Choir (the same ages and gender makeup as the victims) to give the song blazing
immediacy (videos 4 and 5). More than the most philosophical chronicler, this
timeless nightingale of folk brings—and sings—history and legend
to life. (Pure Records)

Philosophers, Poets & Kings
Kate Rusby: Vocals
Damien O’Kane: Guest vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
Sam Kelly: Guest vocals
Barnsley Youth Choir: Guest vocals
Chas MacKenzie: Electric guitar
Duncan Lyall: Moog, double bass
Anthony Davis: Piano, keys, synths
Nick Cooke: Diatonic accordion
Michael McGoldrick: Whistles, flute
Ross Ainslie: Whistles
Ron Block: Banjo
Josh Clark: Percussion
Gary Wyatt: Cornet
Rich Evans: Flugelhorn
Sam Pearce: French horn
Robin Taylor: Euphonium
Mike Levis: Tuba

Tracklist:
01. Kate Rusby - Jenny (4:38)
02. Kate Rusby - Bogeys Bonnie Belle (4:24)
03. Kate Rusby - Philosophers, Poets & Kings (4:27)
04. Kate Rusby - Until Morning (4:27)
05. Kate Rusby - Crazy Man Michael (4:57)
06. Kate Rusby - Dont Go Away (4:13)
07. Kate Rusby - The Squire and the Parson (3:41)
08. Kate Rusby - The Wanderer (3:39)
09. Kate Rusby - The Farmers Toast (4:24)
10. Kate Rusby - As the Lights Go out (3:46)
11. Kate Rusby - Jenny (Ordinary Remix) (4:31)
12. Kate Rusby - Halt the Wagons (4:52)

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