Time for a Stottycake
by Mat Green and Andy Turner
£9.99
Overview
Mat Green recently celebrated 50 years of dancing the morris, including 25 years as Squire of Bampton Morris. He took up the fiddle at the age of 14, learning from Bampton musicians including Arnold Woodley and Frank Purslow. For many years he played with the Woodpecker Band, favourites on the English Ceilidh scene.
Andy Turner developed a love of traditional song in his late teens. His approach to dance music was informed by dancing to, and later playing with, the Oyster Ceilidh Band. Currently he plays in Geckoes and the Oxford NAGS. He danced with Canterbury-based Oyster Morris in the 1980s, and is now the musician for Headington Quarry Morris Dancers.
As founder members of Magpie Lane, Mat and Andy have been playing together for over 30 years. For much of that time they have also performed as a duo, and thought it really was about time they recorded a CD together.
Notes
Rosalie the Prairie Flower / James Winder’s / Lucy Farr’s Barn Dance
Like many a good dance tune, ‘Rosalie’ started life as a song, in this case a sentimental ballad written by the popular American songwriter George Frederick Root (1820-1895). We got the second tune from Andy Hornby’s excellent Lancashire tunebook, The Winders of Wyresdale. It’s from the manuscript of James Winder, compiled between 1834 and 1842. The final tune is from Galway-born fiddle-player Lucy Farr.
The Banks of Inverary
Learned from George Deacon’s book John Clare and the Folk Tradition. Clare (1793-1864) was a village labourer, fiddle-player and “peasant poet”, who lived at Helpston near Peterborough. Having collected the words to this song from a ploughman, he appears to have rewritten them somewhat. He didn’t note the tune, but this melody from a Dorset version works very well. Please note that we do not approve of the rather unsubtle approach the young man takes to win the woman’s hand in marriage.
Bobbing Joe / Kempshott Hunt
Two dance tunes from John Clare’s manuscripts. He wrote ‘Bobbing Joe’ out in 3/4, but a waltz it most definitely is not. Kempshot is in Hampshire, near Basingstoke. The Prince Regent took Kempshot House as a hunting lodge in 1788, and this tune seems to have first appeared in print in the 1790s.
Auchdon House / The Blue Eyed Stranger
The first tune is from the Shetlands, but Mat learned it many years ago from Jonathan Pearman, on the bus coming home from a morris dance-out in Ilmington. ‘The Blue Eyed Stranger’ is more or less the Headington Quarry version, from the great anglo-concertina player William Kimber.
The Barley Raking
Collected in Hampshire by George Gardiner, and included in Frank Purslow’s book The Wanton Seed. Andy learned the song in the late 1970s from John Jones and Cathy Lesurf, who often sang it in the interval at Oyster Ceilidh Band dances. We combine the song with ‘Maid of the Mill’ a morris tune from Kirtlington in Oxfordshire.
The High Tea / Lemmy Brazil’s
‘The High Tea’ was written by our friend Michelle Soinne after she paid a visit to fiddle-player Willy Taylor and his wife Nancy, at their home near Wooler in Northumberland. The second tune is from one-row melodeon player Lemmy (Lementina) Brazil, a traveller who lived for many years on a caravan site near Gloucester.
Flowers of Edinburgh / Princess Royal
Two Bampton morris jig tunes. It doesn’t happen so often these days, but Mat was famous for dancing these while accompanying himself on the fiddle.
On board a ‘98
One of many fine songs collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams on a trip to King’s Lynn, Norfolk, in 1905. This one was sung by Robert Leatherday, who had been a sailor but was by then a resident of the workhouse. A “98” was a warship with 98 guns.
Old Black Joe / Banbury Bill
‘Old Black Joe’ is one of two morris tunes with this title from Badby in Northamptonshire. ‘Banbury Bill’ was the first tune Mat learned to play on the fiddle. It’s thought it might have been written by Bampton morris fiddler Jinky Wells.
The Muffin Man / Quickstep in the Battle of Prague / Welch’s Polka
‘The Muffin Man’ is from a manuscript dated 1800 compiled by William Mittell of New Romney in Kent. The Quickstep is from John Clare’s MSS. It’s part of a longer instrumental suite – hugely popular in the concert halls of the day – composed by Bohemian instrumentalist František Kocžwara, 1750-1791. The final tune in the set is an untitled polka from the Welch family of Bosham, West Sussex, learned from A Sussex Tune Book edited by Anne Loughran and Vic Gammon.
Saucy Sailor
From a Mr. H. Webb at Stanton St. John near Oxford. It was collected by George Butterworth in May 1907 and included in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society in 1913. The couplet “I will sail o’er the briny ocean / Where the meadows are so green” makes no sense of course, but then Oxford is a very long way from the sea…
Battle of the Somme
This is a 9/8 pipe march – a Retreat March – composed by Pipe Major William Laurie (1881-1916), one of thousands who fought and died at the Somme. We’re not sure how a Scottish Retreat March is supposed to be played, but it’s probably not like this.
The Golden Glove
From the Journal of the Folk-Song Society, 1918. Noted down by Dr Marian Arkwright from a Mr Barrow of Otham in Kent. Many thanks to George Frampton who first alerted us to this song.
Glorishears / Highland Mary
Two Bampton morris tunes. In other traditions ‘Glorishears’ is a leapfrog dance, but Bampton don’t go in for such extravagant displays of showmanship! Mat’s Bampton Morris side always begin their Whit Monday day of dance with ‘Highland Mary’.
Nottingham Goose Fair
‘The Rigs and Fun of Nottingham Goose Fair’ is a 19th century broadside ballad which Roy Palmer included in his book ‘A Touch on the Times’. Andy learned it in the 1970s from the singing of Cathy Lesurf with the band Fiddler’s Dram.
Stottycake Polka / Boyne Water
Andy wrote the first tune while a student in Newcastle upon Tyne. Stotties are a local type of large, flat, white bread roll, and formed a large part of his diet at the time. ‘Boyne Water’ was noted by Cecil Sharp from Herefordshire gipsy fiddler John Locke, although Andy learned it from Martha Rhoden’s Tuppenny Dish, who use it for their dance ‘Last night with Archie’.
Reviews
Bright Young Folk
After many years of collaboration, fiddler Mat Green and singer, Anglo-concertina and melodeon player Andy Turner, two very well-known names on the trad and Morris dancing scenes, teamed up to record Time for a Stottycake, their first album together. It offers a large selection of traditional tunes, both some centuries old and modern classics, with some famous titles alongside lesser-known ones.
Tunes and songs, mainly from 18th and early 19th century collections, wisely alternate and combine, providing a good variety of styles and rhythms. The vast majority of them come from England, but the occasional Irish, Scottish or American piece helps to make the overall result more diverse and fascinating.
The most remarkable instrumental medleys include evergreen tunes such as Flowers of Edinburgh, Princess Royal, Bobbing Joe and Kempshot Hunt, a direct reference to the county of Hampshire, where the album was recorded and produced, and a faster rendition of 9/8 march The Battle of the Somme, composed by Pipe Major William Laurie, ironically killed during that tragic event.
The songs, delivered with evident passion, include some lyrics related to the sea, like the evocative On Board a 98, first recorded by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1905 during his trip to King’s Lynn, and the slightly enigmatic Saucy Sailor; but also jolly old pieces like the funny Nottingham Goose Fair and the lively The Barley Raking.
The title of the album comes from the only self-penned tune in this collection, that is the polka that opens the final medley, named after the popular form of bread from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the city where Turner spent a long period of study.
Time for a Stottycake is an album for true lovers of traditional music, but it can also appeal to neophytes of the genre thanks to the genuine love for music that oozes from every track.
Folk London
This is just my kind of album: unassuming but self-assured in the quality of its playing, the sort of album that reminds you of the quiet passion, brilliance and persistence of traditional music-making. It typifies the understated approach that these excellent musicians have been playing together for more than 30 years and, in their own words, “thought it really was about time” they got round to recording a CD. Mat Green (fiddle) and the outstanding anglo concertina player Andy Turner, who also sings and plays melodeon, were founder members of Magpie Lane, and both have long history of dancing and playing for morris sides (Mat was squire of Bampton for 25 years and Andy is Headington Quarry’s musician). That pretty much sets out their stall here, as they turn their impressive talents to a splendid selection of social dance tunes, morris tunes and songs. Most of the material is traditional, with Mat’s own Stottycake Polka sitting comfortably in the company. The familiarity of many of the tunes, such as the Bampton sets of Flowers Of Edinburgh/Princess Royal and Glorishears/Highland Mary, highlights just how good these two really are. The arrangements aren’t flashy, and they eschew pyrotechnics in favour of the joy of playing together with an evident rapport and sympathetic understanding, as on their particularly fine set of Battle Of The Somme, with its unshowy harmonies. (“We’re not sure how a Scottish retreat march is supposed to be played,” they write, “but it’s probably not like this”). They introduce a quiet variety into the arrangements, with Andy’s songs presented unaccompanied (Saucy Sailor) or backed by one or both instruments. Andy has a good way with a song, and his singing fits perfectly the overall tone of the album. As you’d expect from such dance-oriented players, they can play with a joyous bounce (as on the Muffin Man set), a quality they also bring to a song such as On Board A 98. It would be invidious to pick a favourite track, as the album is a solid and consistent pleasure. Describing it as “a comfort” risks misunderstanding, but this album really makes you feel like you’ve come home. Splendid stuff. Available from wildgoose.co.uk Paul Cowdell
Unicorn Folk
Mat Green has developed a unique, highly danceable and essentially English fiddle style and recently celebrated 50 years of dancing the Morris, including 25 years as Squire of Bampton Morris. For many years he also played with the well known ceilidh band, the Woodpecker Band, until they retired in 2012. Andy Turner plays the anglo-concertina and melodeon and has many years’ experience of playing dance music, for the Oyster Ceilidh Band amongst others, and is the musician for Headington Quarry Morris Dancers. He is also a fine singer of traditional song and is able to play in a slower, smoother style to accompany himself, as a contrast from his usual punchy, rhythmic concertina style. Together, Mat and Andy play mainly traditional English dance tunes, often little-known from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, interspersed with songs, again mainly from English traditional sources. Mat and Andy are founder members of Magpie Lane, a well known band on the Oxfordshire folk music scene for the last 30 years or so. The CD is well presented in a traditional plastic case and accompanied by an informative booklet, inserted into the front of the case and acting as the front cover, providing credits and explaining the origin of all the tunes and the songs. As I said in the CD review of WildGoose Records stablemates, Pete Cooper and Richard Boulton, the record company should be congratulated on the presentation of their CDs. I have to admit that, as a one-time Morris Dancer with Bath City Morris in the 1970s, I danced to the Bampton village tradition, amongst many others, and I may even have unknowingly brushed shoulders with Mat Green at a Bampton Day of Dance around 1977. So, a lot of the tunes have a familiarity and an instant appeal to me, though of course that is dependent on them being well played, which they are here. I also enjoyed Andy’s style of singing and the songs provide a nice counterpoint to the dance tunes. I enjoyed the whole album so it’s difficult to pick my favourites because of the familiarity of the dance tunes, but I enjoyed the combination of a Shetlands tune, Auchdon House, with the close proximation of The Blue Eyed Stranger to the great William Kimber’s version of that tune. I also particularly enjoyed the combination of The Barley Raking with the Morris tune ‘Maid Of The Mill’ and Glorishears / Highland Mary revive many fond memories. I think this album could be appreciated by a much wider audience than ex-Morris Dancers and you can find more information on this talented duo
Folking . com
Mat Green and Andy Turner are, among their other accomplishments, founder members of the popular band Magpie Lane. Mat has also marked fifty years playing fiddle for the morris, notably Bampton Morris Men and Andy plays Anglo concertina and sings and is a former morris dancer. That may give you a clue as to the direction that Time For A Stottycake, their debut album as a duo, will take.
As with most of Wildgoose Records’ output there is no messing about with the music and very few frills. The opening set of dance tunes, ‘Rosalie The Prairie Flower/James Winder’s/ Lucy Farr’s Barn Dance’, is followed by the first song, ‘The Banks Of Inverary’. This version was, we are told, reworked from the tradition by John Clare and the tune was melded to the words by Mat and Andy and differs in several respects from the versions catalogued by Steve Roud. To follow that Mat and Andy play two tunes, ‘Bobbing Joe/Kempshott Hunt’ from Clare’s manuscripts but how much of them are traditional and how much from Clare’s pen is impossible to say.
Next they pair a Shetland tune ‘Auchdon House’ with a Headington Quarry morris tune, ‘The Blue Eyed Stranger’, which work remarkably well together. The Hampshire song, ‘The Barley Raking’ with the Kirtlington tune, ‘Maid Of The Mill’. Two relatively modern tunes, ‘The High Tea/Lemmy Brazil’s’ are followed by two famous Bampton jigs, ‘Flowers Of Edinburgh’ and ‘Princess Royal’. After the rather spare style of the opening set the duo seem to have really hit their stride by this point and could be said, as Bob Dylan once put it, to be leaning forward a bit,
The third song is ‘On Board A ‘98’ taken at a rather jauntier pace than Peter Bellamy’s version which embodied the reflective viewpoint of the singer who is revealed at the end to be “nearly 98” (spoiler alert). ‘Old Black Joe/Banbury Bill’ are two more pacy morris tunes followed by a long set of dance tunes, ‘The Muffin Man/Quickstep In The Battle Of Prague/Welch’s Polka’, the second of which also comes from John Clare’s manuscripts.
We’re into the home stretch now and Mat and Andy seem to be dipping into a collection of favourites. First ‘Saucy Sailor’ sung unaccompanied by Andy, then ‘Battle Of The Somme’ is rather faster than the Albion Country Band’s version – this being a retreat march it could be said to be taken at a “let’s get out of here” tempo with several twiddly bits – and thirdly ‘The Golden Glove’ collected in Kent which is a fair distance from Tamworth.
‘Glorishears’ and ‘Highland Mary’ are two more Bampton tunes and are followed by an old broadside ballad, ‘Nottingham Goose Fair’. Finally we come to the title track. ‘Stottycake Polka’ was written by Andy while living in Newcastle and he pairs it with ‘Boyne Water’ which he borrowed from Martha Rhoden’s.
Time For A Stottycake is folk music simply, and well, performed by two accomplished and experienced musicians and that’s quite a rarity these days.
Dai Jeffries
Reviews and Comments
This is a wonderful record indeed…
James Fagan, Thank Goodness It’s FolkTime For A Stottycake is folk music simply, and well, performed by two accomplished and experienced musicians and that’s quite a rarity these days..
Dai Jeffries, folking.comYou would be hard pressed to find a recording of two gentlemen more deeply immersed in English traditional song and dance… This is a fine album which I very much enjoyed… If you don’t get the chance to see them live then do treat yourself to this CD, make yourself comfortable and sit back and enjoy two performers on the top of their game.
Malcolm Woods, Essex Folk NewsWell, this is an absolute delight. One of the UK’s finest Anglo players and a fiddler with tradition running through his veins. Andy Turner and Mat Green are a joy to listen to, great tunes and songs played with delightfully understated arrangements. No imposed big band shouty arrangements just a grace note here and a harmony there. You are drawn in to the performance, the interplay and, more importantly, the music. Two instruments, and jolly nice chaps, in perfect affinity. English music played by those who understand, respect and revel in it. Buy a copy.
Martin EllisonThis is just my kind of album: unassuming but self-assured in the quality of its playing, the sort of album that reminds you of the quiet passion, brilliance and persistence of traditional music-making…
The familiarity of many of the tunes, such as the Bampton sets of Flowers Of Edinburgh/Princess Royal and Glorishears/Highland Mary, highlights just how good these two really are. The arrangements aren’t flashy, and they eschew pyrotechnics in favour of the joy of playing together with an evident rapport and sympathetic understanding, as on their particularly fine set of Battle Of The Somme, with its unshowy harmonies…
It would be invidious to pick a favourite track, as the album is a solid and consistent pleasure. Describing it as “a comfort” risks misunderstanding, but this album really makes you feel like you’ve come home. Splendid stuff.
Paul Cowdell, Folk London
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