Alasdair Roberts - The Amber Gatherers '2007

Tracks list

       On 2005's No Earthly Man, Scottish singer/songwriter Alasdair Roberts
offered up eight traditional ballads with minimal accompaniment. That he pulled
it off without nailing the listeners eyes shut within the first two minutes is a
testament to both his gift as an interpreter, and his reedy, yet impossibly
fluid and melodious voice. On the Amber Gatherers, Roberts balances regional
folk songs with his own self-penned odes to heartache, death and drink,
successfully blurring the line between the two like a young Nic Jones or Martin
Carthy. A full band is employed this time around, and their lightly brushed
drums, fingerpicked guitars, accordions, and backing vocals wrap themselves
around Roberts' careful phrasing like a winter coat. Standout tracks such as "I
Had a Kiss of the King's Hand," "Cruel War" and "Old Men of the Shells" sound
like lost cuts from the late-'60s and early-'70s British folk heydays, and a
hand-drawn map of the U.K. with songtitles for cities, as well as a handy tuning
chart that explains where to capo your guitar for each song, gives the whole
affair a rustic, communal vibe that manages to avoid feeling contrived.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Alasdair Roberts - Riddle Me This (3:48)
1.02 - Alasdair Roberts - Where Twines The Path (3:50)
1.03 - Alasdair Roberts - Waxwing (4:13)
1.04 - Alasdair Roberts - I Had A Kiss Of The King's Hand (3:38)
1.05 - Alasdair Roberts - The Cruel War (3:16)
1.06 - Alasdair Roberts - Let Me Lie And Bleed Awhile (3:46)
1.07 - Alasdair Roberts - Firewater (3:59)
1.08 - Alasdair Roberts - River Rhine (3:33)
1.09 - Alasdair Roberts - I Have A Charm (4:03)
1.10 - Alasdair Roberts - The Old Men Of The Shells (5:09)
1.11 - Alasdair Roberts - The Calfless Cow (2:14) 

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