Live Review: Jackie Oates at the NCEM, York

As the autumn nights draw in and darkness fell early upon the city of York, I walked cautiously the short distance between the car park and the National Centre for Early Music, carefully avoiding the fallen leaves on the ground; hazardous little blighters they are. I approached the old church with its looming bell tower, aware that I was once again being watched by an assortment of mythological beasts, the ones carved into the 12th Century Romanesque porch that is, not the early arrivals for the concert I hasten to add and I soon found myself in the warm and inviting foyer of the converted St Margaret's Church for another in the series of prestigious NCEM concerts organised by the Black Swan Folk Club.

I spoke to organiser Roland Walls in the foyer, who was slightly concerned at the number of ticket sales but still expected a good crowd nonetheless. Katriona Gilmore was carefully arranging the concessions stall, fanning out copies of the SHADOWS AND HALF LIGHT cd upon the table top, whilst avoiding the possibility of upsetting the merchandising bearing the name Jackie Oates, which now includes pretty t shirts as well as the customary CD back catalogue.

The foyer provides an ideal place for social gathering, where friends meet up and re-unite in a spirit of pre-concert enthusiasm. Many a folk luminary has been encountered in this very room over the years including Stefan Grossman, Tim O'Brien, Robin Williamson, John Renbourn, Martin Carthy and most memorably, the wonderful Nic Jones, who was in attendance the last time Jackie appeared here with her former band Rachel Unthank and the Winterset back in 2006. Crikey, was it that long ago?

Tonight I chatted to old pals Katriona and Jamie, two rising talents of the British folk scene, just prior to them scuttling onstage in order to provide the support for the main concert. During their set, Jackie watched intently from the back of the hall, seated over the threshold of the 'green room' and sipping a hot beverage. Isn't it lovely when the main act watches their support and thoroughly enjoys it? Having said that, it would be difficult not to enjoy a set by this young couple, who can often be seen around the festival circuit, whether they be Kerfuffling or Tiny Tin Lady-ing, or whether they be donning their bright red tunics as part of the Frump Tarn Guggenband. Katriona, pronounced Katrina with a silent 'o'; take it from me, I have it on very good authority (her mum), and partner Jamie, play their own blend of contemporary folk, which tonight included the tunes Middle of May/Big Nige, Katriona’s songs Suzannah and Travelling in Time as well as Jamie's So Long, together with a traditional song new to the duo's repertoire, Nothing At All and finally All Along the Barley; providing a captivating start to the evening.

For Jackie Oates, Day 10 of her current tour started in the little town of Cockermouth on the edge of the Lake District and specifically in the Cumberland Pencil Museum, where her bass player James Budden, an artist therefore a pencil enthusiast, browsed the exhibits with keen interest. Tonight though, the pencils were back in their box, the canvasses locked away in the cupboard and the instruments were out on the NCEM stage as we settled down for Concert 10 of the band's current tour. Sharing centre stage with Jackie tonight was long term musical partner James Dumbelton on guitar, mandolin, shruti and fiddle, flanked by the aforementioned artist/musician James Budden on double bass and finally multi-instrumentalist Mike Cosgrove playing all the rest, including keyboards and accordion. Although Roland's initial concerns about ticket sales were probably warranted, all fears were soon dispelled as lots of people turned up unexpectedly to pay on the door, and Roland's team were soon running in and out of the hall with more chairs just as Jackie's first set got underway.

Starting with The Miller and His Three Sons from the new HYPERBOREANS album, the band soon settled into the flow of their set, providing the National Centre for Early Music with some of the sweetest sounds since Emily Smith's appearance there a few months ago. Jackie and the band performed several songs from the new album as well as a couple from her second album THE VIOLET HOUR including the delightful Wishfulness Waltz, a song written by her brother Jim Moray, and just the one from her solo debut of 2006, the utterly gorgeous Lavender's Blue, an old folk song popularised by Burl Ives in the 1949 Disney film So Dear to My Heart. The nursery rhyme has been played about with by many a potential hit seeker over the years but Jackie captures its innocence brilliantly well here, with a simple vocal delivery and steadily building arrangement, pretty much faithful to her recorded version.

Traditional song is where Jackie's heart is and Young Leonard is another in a long line of songs derived from the Lakes of Shilin, popularised by Nic Jones a few years ago and more recently by Martin Simpson as Lakes of Champlain on his award winning PRODIGAL SON album. Jackie's arrangement once again changes location to that of Marsh Green, 'a murky pond in Ottery St Mary' in East Devon, but maintains its engaging narrative and is very much in tune with the concept of an evolving tradition.

As an ardent lover of Cornish music, Jackie recently said during a festival fiddle workshop, that the music of that part of the country is gaining popularity now, largely due to the endeavours of Neil Davey, who she describes as the 'God of Cornish music.' Jackie's passion for this particular strain of Celtic music is almost tangible as the band performed a set of Cornish fiddle tunes tonight, including the same tune that Jackie taught at that very workshop at the Shepley Festival back in May. After sitting through that workshop as a spectator and hearing that tune being relentlessly dissected into each of its component parts, it was a thrill to finally hear the tune with a full band accompaniment.

Jackie described her BBC Folk Award winning arrangement of The Lark in the Morning, from her second solo album as a 'pastoral idyll' before performing this beautiful song tonight, advising the audience to avert their eyes from the normally handsome James Dumelton during the performance. James went on to contort his face throughout the song, vocalising a series of strange Indian mantras, whilst plucking violin strings with one hand and working the droning shruti at the same time with the other. This I assume is probably closer to the arrangement destined for the next Imagine Village album that Jackie has recently been working on.

The surprise song on the new album is Birthday, the old Sugarcubes song written by Bjork. The song has been given a delicious arrangement, which Jackie and the band simply glide through with no apparent concerns, especially in regard to its almost sinister undertones; of threading worms on a string and keeping spiders in a five-year-old girls pocket, not to mention the idea of sewing 'birds in her knickers.' At first the song seems at odds with what you would normally expect from Jackie Oates, but it works tremendously well. If Bjork's lyrics weren't so vividly evocative you would have thought something had been lost in translation. With the confession "it's my hidden love of pop music" Jackie sings the lyrics as innocently as the five-year-old they are about. "It reminds me of my best friend Ben when we were growing up in Stafford" she went on to tell me afterwards.

Taking up the Shruti, a laptop-shaped Indian harmonium, also popularised by Karine Polwart in some of her shows, Jackie sang one of the most heart-achingly sad songs of the night. Past Caring, based on a poem by Henry Lawson, tells of the hardships that women endured in the Australian bush, learned from the singing of Martin Wyndham-Read. Jackie tells of an 'eerie silence' whenever it is performed, and tonight was no exception, you could've heard a pin drop.

Saving the best almost until last, the band performed the infectious title song from the new Jim Moray produced HYPERBOREANS album, written by collaborator Alasdair Roberts. Describing the subject of the song as 'mythical people who dwell in Arctic places beyond the Tundra - a bit like the Lake District', Jackie recited a key line in the song, 'We'll go to our unwed bed, daring to make our ardour', going on to joke "I'd love to say that to someone."

With Dave Wood's May the Kindness as the final encore, Jackie Oates and her band concluded tonight's performance and along with it, probably made some good friends here in York. Having found her voice and her place on the folk music scene with three exceptionally strong solo albums, Jackie Oates can now boast having a tight and engaging live acoustic sound all her own, with a little help from her friends of course, whilst maintaining the integrity of the music she obviously loves.

After the show I found a quiet corner of the main hall to have a few words with Jackie, as the guys from the band, together with the Black Swan crew, began to clear the stage. Seated before me, the winner of this years' BBC Horizon Award was clearly pleased with her performance tonight and although 'giddy' would be totally the wrong word to use, there was a sense that this young girl would just love to jump up and punch the air, if her normally composed character would allow it. Smiling throughout, Jackie willingly fell into a casual and informal conversation about the road so far and the different path choices she has negotiated along the way:

AW: The last time I saw you here was way back a few years ago when you were still with Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

JO: That's right yes

AW: I remember that night particularly well because I think you'd just had your prize viola nicked.

JO: Oh yes that was horrible; I'd left my viola in the back of my car in Exeter and then the day before we went off on tour my car got broken into so it was quite traumatic.

AW: You never got it back?

JO: No, I still dream that I'll find it.

AW: It's always dreadful being a victim of crime but when it's the tools of your trade and something you cherish so much its awful.

JO: It's like losing a limb.
 
AW: Sorry for bringing that back up. Also that night it was the first time I'd seen you with what can only be described as a laptop harmonium.

JO: Yes, my shruti.

AW: Shruti? How do you spell that?

JO: S H R U T I

AW: Ah right, it's an Indian instrument?

JO: Yes it's a version of the Indian harmonium and it's taken off now; it's quite popular as a means for accompanying English ballads and things.

AW: So you're a trendsetter then?

JO: Well I think me and Karine Polwart.

AW: Oh yes she's got one hasn't she?

JO: I actually stole the idea from my brother so I can't claim all the merit.

AW: Okay, well let's talk about your brother Jim Moray or I suppose you still remember him and still refer to him as Doug don't you?

JO: Doug, Dug.

AW: Our Doug.

JO: (laughs)

AW: He said in a recent interview that you've been to Sidmouth Festival every year of your life.

JO: That's right yeah.

AW: Is that true?

JO: It is true yes, it was our annual family holiday and it was great because we used to go there and then not see our parents for the rest of the week and just explore the town and the music and it was a really brilliant way of being introduced to folk music and playing and meeting other young people.

AW: Well it presupposes that your parents have been into this music for a long time.

JO: Yeah, I think they met at Manchester University Folk Club and then they shared a love of Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention and Nic Jones, so we've just been brought up with it.

AW: Yeah and of course like you just said, you meet a lot of people in the sessions there and it always strikes me in folk music these days, lots of young artists are in various different combos and they're moving around and changing all the time, is that because they know each other from the circuit?

JO: Yes I think so, we've all grown up together so you've got lots and lots of friends and your life changes and people change but your loyalty and your friendship with each other doesn't and it's really nice to see.

AW: I think the first time you was on a record was on Jim's first album SWEET ENGLAND and then did CRUEL SISTER with Rachel, then you did your solo self-titled album, was that the germ that made you want to leave the band and pursue a solo career?

JO: Yeah, I didn't want to leave the band really, I wasn't ready to leave when I did, but I think I might not have recognised it back then but I was itching to do my own thing. The Winterset really helped me gain my confidence as a singer because I hadn't been singing that long and I was quite shy initially and once I found my voice I was just desperate to be able to sing and do my own songs so I think that triggered it.

AW: Of course. Well that was in collaboration with Phil Beer, your first two CDs.

JO: Yes.

AW: How did you meet him?

JO: Totally randomly actually, I used to go to Topsham Folk Club every week when I was a student and someone, I'm not sure who, gave him my mobile number and so one day completely out of the blue I got this phone call saying 'hello, this is Phil Beer, I hear you want to make a demo CD?' and I didn't think I did at the time. So I went along, he's got a little private studio in Exeter and I did a day's recording and never did anything with it until six months later when he phoned up. Show of Hands were having a quiet summer, so he offered to turn it into an album.

AW: Right..

JO: He's been so good to me.

AW: Well yes and also, I don't know if it's through Phil Beer but you also met Reg Meuross and you've been doing a bit of work with him.

JO: Yeah.

AW: I talked to him at the Beverley Festival earlier this year and he said that 'Jackie Oates has no artifice and no attitude' and I know what he mans by that, you're not trying to have any image at all, you're just playing the music aren't you?

JO: Yeah, yes. I'm quite a shy person really and I just think the songs are so important I’d rather let the songs speak for themselves than add any sort of ego to it, I suppose.

AW: Okay well let's get right up to date, your new album just released, HYPERBOREANS..

JO: (giggles)

AW: Alasdair Roberts? How did you get to meet him?

JO: Oh Alasdair, I discovered Alasdair when I was still with the Winterset; I came across his album and was absolutely hooked and then, again out of the blue he emailed me via Myspace and we swapped CDs and we're sort of pen pals now. He's been sending me recordings of Scottish source singers and I send him Devon music and we write, totally obsessed with traditional songs, so he's been a good friend for a few years. So then I just plucked up the courage to get in touch with him and see if he'd like to donate a song for this album and so he sent me a few and Hyperboreans was one of them. So then he came down to Devon for four days to record earlier this year and it was brilliant.

AW: It's a little gem of a song isn't it?

JO: Yeah it is. A lovely melody and I just love his use of language and words; he's got a real way of portraying things really vividly. He's also quite quirky, no one else would write a song like that.

AW: Well talking about quirky, I mean the album is packed with traditional music and traditional songs and they're all great, but talking about quirky, you do a Bjork song?

JO: I do, yes.

AW: What made you do that one? (Birthday by the Sugarcubes) That's a great song.

JO: Yeah well it's my hidden love of pop music really and it's a song I've always loved and it came on the radio a while ago and I was with my brother around Christmas time and he decided that it would work really nicely as a tango. So that was the arrangement and also I think there's this level of innocence about it which doesn't always come through in her version, aside from the slightly sinister elements, I think it really nicely portrays what it's like to be a five year-old.

AW: That's interesting.

JO: It reminds me of my best friend Ben when we were growing up in Stafford.      

AW: Of course the album is produced by Jim.

JO: That's right

AW: Well the first two were with Phil, how different was it actually working with your brother?

JO: Totally different in that we're very close in age and we're close as well; we talk a lot and so he can be as blunt as he wants.

AW: There's that understanding isn't there?

JO: Yeah, I took a thrashing in terms of my musical ability and what I was doing with my vocals and it really made me think about how I could improve as a singer. So it was infuriating at times but then when it goes well it was euphoric really. We recorded it in his bedroom in Bedminster and we had this little system where I'd turn up and I'd always have to bring him cake to put him a good mood and then we'd record a bit and then we'd go downstairs and watch The Gilmore Girls on Channel 4.

AW: Oh great.

JO: (Laughs)

AW: If you did do something that he didn't approve of or whatever, did he have to articulate that or was it just a look?

JO: There were a few times when he just went 'I hate this, I hate this.' But no, he's a very very clever man my brother..

AW: He is.

JO: I trust him implicitly and I know that now much more than I did before we made the album.

AW: That's brilliant. Okay, I saw you earlier this year at the Shepley Festival and you were doing The Navvy's Wife and you were playing Maggie.

JO: Yes.

AW: Why are you looking at me like that?

JO: Oh 'cause I have to wear a bonnet.

AW: Oh yes you do don't you? I remember that. Now that's quite a big production in terms of all those songs, I mean it goes on for about two hours doesn't it?

JO: Yes.

AW: I was talking to Mick Ryan, I think he was still on the stage and I asked him how long it took to write that and he said 'oh about four days' and then he said 'it took me twenty years to research.'

JO: Yes (laughs)

AW: It's a mammoth thing and I thought it was great. Do you enjoy doing that kind of thing?

JO: I do, I really do. Again Mick is a fantastic songwriter and he's incredible because he doesn't write music and he doesn’t really have any musical knowledge, he's just a very good singer and to think that he could write all those songs, you know, it's just brilliant.

AW: He's got a really good sense of narrative though hasn't he?

JO: Yeah a really strong sense of narrative and some really powerful poignant stuff going on and again the people in the play are people who have helped me on the way and are brilliant singers who I've learned a lot from and I've had a great time with them.

AW: Oh that's good. Well you're at the National Centre for Early Music tonight, who have you got with you?

JO: I've got an array of West Country men. I've got James Dumbelton who's my long term musical partner who I've been collaborating with for about three years. I met James in Totnes a while ago and then we've got this accordion player called Mike Cosgrove who James was in a band with and who he's toured with a band called Sin É and the Daily Planet and Jackie Leven, very talented..

AW: I love Jackie Leven.

JO: Yeah, and then we've got a bassist called James Budden from Dorset who I met very recently actually at a friends' album launch and then we've got a sound man from Sidmouth..

AW: Well it's a good sound a nice big sound.

JO: Yeah.

AW: Well it's the first time that you've toured, actually with your own four-piece band.

JO: Yeah it's a new venture for me.

AW: Okay, well Jackie thank you for talking to me

JO: Pleasure.

AW: Good luck with the album and good luck with the rest of the tour.

JO: Thank you.