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SIF 1064 JOHN FAULKNER: KIND PROVIDENCE
KIND PROVIDENCE is a landmark - the first solo LP in John Faulkner's distinguished musical career. For more than 25 years, John has been an acclaimed singer, first as a member of the group that gathered around the noted songwriter Ewan MacColl in London during the 1960's and early 70's and more recently as a mainstay of Reel Union (later Kinvara), the band John founded with his wife, the brilliant Irish singer Dolores Keane. Reel Union toured Europe and America to universal critical plaudits and recorded several albums. This milestone LP contains eight songs and four instrumental tracks that are John's personal favourites and represent influences that have shaped his musical life. One in all, they live, as good music should, because the artist has sung the songs and played the tunes enough to infuse them with his own spirit. John sings and plays 6 and 12-string guitars, bouzouki, fiddle, string bass, hurdy gurdys. KIND PROVIDENCE is a major event in the life of a musician of unimpeachable integrity. Sweet Thames Flow Softly * The Whalecatchers/The Drunkan Landlady * Planxty Gan Anim * The Wild Rover * Johnny Coughlin * McCaffery * The Banks of Newfoundland * The Forger's Farewell * The Road to Cashel/Jackie Daly's * Newry Town 'Relativity' in the NCH - By George Hodnett (Irish Times) RELATIVITY's visit to the National Concert Hall on Sunday was opened by special guest John Faulkner with a set of mainly social significance songs from way back - very interesting. He has done research into the actual circumstances (e.g. Michael Hayes, small farmer, excited, assasinates landlord, is hunted, gets to Dublin, then away to USA, but actually says John, he went from Inishbofin, via Westport). Napoleonic period; and John stated that a lot of the English folksongs of that period were sympathetic to "Boney", seen for a while as a liberator. Can this really be so, or has a certain modern folk-music establishment, not free from its own bias in interpreting historical material, been selecting? The mainstream popular view in most periods has been the chauvinistic one. An interesting item was the 1860s one about the victimised soldier who went mad from glasshouse internment; it's very specific about names - 42nd Regt., Tom McCafferty, Captain Hanson, Colonel Blair - and should be easily researched. (And presumably has been). There was a good guitar treatment, as well as of course vocal, in the one about william Taylor, pressgang victim, of Drogheda. John Faulkner Nomads Fáaithe Cló Iar-Chonnachta, CI 071 (Irish Times) Journeys of the disposessed and disinherited provide the main theme of this new solo album by John Faulkner. The first six tracks are loosely organised around the exodus of Scots clanspeople after the Clearances to north America; four traditional ballads from the English language tradition are included, and the last and title track composed by John Faulkner is dedicated to the gypsy nation whose music culture he first encountered under the tutelage of Ewan MacColl in the 1960s. Indeed the album is in a way a tribute to MacColl, in its musical and political preoccupations. "Big" songs like "Parcel of Rogues", "Cha till Mac Criumean", and "Child Owlet", feature strongly, sung with obvious feeling and inventively instrumented. Snare drum and piano work particularly well on "Parcel of Rogues". "I Love a Lass" is spoiled by too much unnecessary reverb on the voice. The French Canadian Reel du Pendu is played with great gusto and panache and does justice to the late Jean Carigan. The instrumental section on "Nomads of the Road" gives the song an attractive MIddle European structure, and is superbly played by a gallery of accomplished musicians. |
JOHN FAULKNER: "Kind Providence" (Hotpress) John Faulkner's work already resides in many Irish hearts through his tremendous work down through the years with Dolores Keane. With "Kind Providence" he turns in a real solo album, all the playing, singing and production being done by the man himself. The selection of tunes could not be more varied, ranging from Ewan MacColl's "Sweet Thames Flow Softly" to the Newfoundland song "Johnny Coughlan", "The Road to Cashel", composed by Leitrim fiddler Charlie Lennon, "Newry Town" learned by John from Terry Yarnell in London and "The Forger's Farewell" picked up from the noted singing of Robert Cinnamond of Tyrone. With "Kind Providence" John Faulkner has made an album of which he can be truly proud. JOHN FAULKNER ~ Nomads ~ ClÓ IAR-CHONNACHTA (Dublin Events Guide) JOHN FAULKNER'S work with traditional music is well known, but here on this album he uses his knowledge and love of the music to trace some of the musical links from the Isle of Skye to the Lousianna bayous. It starts with "Cha till MacCriumean" before graduating to "Farewell to Scotland" and original number which he composed for a BBC documentary about emigration from Scotland to Canada. This segment of the album end with "Je Suis Orphanin" a traditional cajun song. It's a wonderful album to listen to, to get a feel of the history behind music. Very engaging. - Chris Bellew Galway Advertiser John Faulkner will be special guest artist at the Relativity gig in the Great Southern Hotel on Wednesday, 25th September. John was the special guest at Leisureland for De Dannan's Ballroom gig and he was a big hit with the audience. Hopefully he will play a solo gig here in Galway in the not too distant future. 
John Faulkner's Galway city date (Tuam Herald) John Faulkner, whose brilliant album "Kind Providence" (Green Linnet) is available in any top record store, plays an eagerly awaited date in support to Relativity at Galway's Great Southern Hotel tonight (Wednesday). "Kind Providence" is a superb collection of folk songs and ballads near and dear to John's heart and no doubt he'll be singing some of them tonight. I reckon John's solo opening of the memorable De Danann Arts Festival concert in Leisureland might have stolen the limelight had his wife Dolores and friends not been in such scintillating form. To our delight, John later came back on stage to join De Danann for some numbers. This quiet spoken and relaxed performer is possibly better appreciated as a solo artist however and I hope he gets the response he deserves tonight. Irish Times YET a further welcome release is John Faulkner's "Kind Providence" (SIF 1064) on the American-based label Green Linnet, many of whose titles, I am glad to say, are now readily available in this country. Faulkner was of course a member of Ewan McColl's "Critics" group and must rate as one of the most experienced folk singers and musicians in these islands. Listening to this selection, one is conscious of that special quality of experience. He performs the songs in way that toucheson their basic spirit. While presenting his material in a manner that utilises all sorts of musical resources, he somehow never loses sight of the roots. That, I think, is what must be demanded of the folk singer of today, if the folk tagis to mean anything in terms of identity. Faulkner fulfils that demand and much more. It's an excellent selection of songs, with some attractive instrumentals for luck. |
Celtic Music & Arts Festival, March 4&5 1995 John Faulkner John Faulkner was a member of Ewan MacColl's "Critics" group and must rate as one of the most experienced folk singers in the Celtic lands today. He has seven solo albums to his credit and recorded a futher five with Dolores Keane. The Faulkner/Keane album, "Broken Hearted I'll Wander" on the Mulligan label must rank as an all time classic. Faulkner's recent solo album "Nomads" chronicles the journey's of the dispossessed and the disinherited in true folk fashion, with a mixture of mainly Scottish and English songs. The title track, "Nomads of the Road" is composed by John himself and dedicated to the Gypsy nation whose music culture he encountered in the '60s through Ewan MacColl. In between touring with the Dolores Keane Band and the Woman's Heart Band, John takes time out to do solo gigs. An accomplished fiddler, bouzouki and guitar player, Faulkner never lets his musical resources interfere with his songs. He has a wide repetoire of material and performs songs in a way that touches their basic spirit. He knows the story behind the song, understands it and can connect with its roots: the true hall mark of a folksinger. At the SF Celtic Music & Arts Festival, John Faulkner will be accompanied on guitar and mandolin by Stuart Cowell. |