DANIEL MARTIN MOORE –Archives Vol. II – Old Stepstone (Ol Kentuck Recordings)

Daniel Martin MooreHard on the heels of the UK release of his Golden Age album of original material, Kentuckian singer-songwriter Moore has assembled this collection of traditional songs. Recorded at home over the winter of 2012/2013, Moore notes that most of the material is rooted in the oral tradition of family parlour favourites, to which end they’re treated with a simple, stripped down approach, a distinct contrast to the fullness of Golden Age. Apparently songs he’s been singing live for some years, the material ranges from Child Ballads to traditional Appalachian tunes, several popularised by the likes of the Carter Family and Woody Guthrie.

Maidens either ill done by or separated from their soldier/sailor lovers regularly turn up in the traditional repertoire and it’s one such, ‘Pretty Fair Miss’, a song dating back to the early 1800s and previously covered by such names as Jean Ritchie and Bill Monroe, though, despite her pessimistic outlooks, this one comes with an eventual happy ending, Moore’s soft rasp adding to the sweetness.

A much covered Child Ballad, the six minute ‘Lord Bateman’ tells a similar tale of hearts reunited, treated here to a bright syncopated guitar backing and sprightly step to its tune. The lively mood continues with ‘Give Me Your Heart’, a parlor tune from the 19th century that has Moore whistling while the guitar and what sounds like a tapping foot lays down the rhythm. The parlour tradition is also the source of the melancholic fingerpicked title track, a song dating back to the late 19th century, but probably best known via Woody Guthrie, and the seven minute ‘In the Shadow of the Pines’, a tale of stubborn pride, love lost and regret popularised by The Carter Family and with a tune that also found its way into Springsteen’s ‘Highway Patrolman’. Another number figuring prominently in The Carter Family is the three-quarter time waltzing ‘Storms Are On the Ocean’, a call and response number that can be traced back to Scottish origins.

The two remaining numbers take a stylistic swerve, the brief 17th century folk ditty ‘One Morning in May’ (another maiden and a solider tale, this time the latter a bit of a cad ) is given an a capella treatment that showcases the soft warmth of Moore’s voice while the closing track, ‘Jubilee’, is a traditional Appallachian step dance work song, an all whistling, all clapping, all stomping goodtime affair with album collaborators Dan Dorff, Jr., Joan Shelley, Cheyenne Mize, Julia Purcell and Ben Sollee joining in with the party

Inevitably of somewhat specialised appeal, it’s being limited to just 500 CDs (in addition to downloads), so if you like the sound of what’s on offer, I’d move pretty sharpish.

Mike Davies

Not from the new album but also a traditional song from Jean Ritchie: ‘In The Cool Of The Day’: