EWAN McLENNAN – new album

Artist: Ewan McLennan
Stories Still Untold
Label: Fellside Records
Release Date: 29th September 2014

 

Autumn 2014 sees the release of Ewan McLennan’s 3rd album, Stories Still Untold.

It follows on from his debut release of 2010, the BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award-winning Rags & Robes and his second, critically acclaimed, 2012 album Last Bird to Sing. More recently, 2013 and 2014 have seen Ewan performing and recording alongside some of the world’s finest folk musicians on the latest series of Transatlantic Sessions, which featured both his self-penned and traditional arrangements. Ewan’s new release builds on all this and sees him produce quite possibly his best work yet.

Stories Still Untold has been two years in the making but it results from a process of distillation that began years before. A whole body of traditional songs long closest to Ewan were whittled down and, together with newly penned songs of his own, formed this album. The characteristics for which Ewan’s music has become known – depth of feeling, pathos and an evident respect and passion for the original material – are on show in abundance here.

More than ever this latest album has Ewan cast in the role of storyteller, with each song pulling you in and spinning a new tale before giving way to the next. There are new songs and old songs, past and present, spanning several hundred years. You’ll hear the first ever airing of powerful ‘big ballads’ like ‘Prince Robert’, dug up from some of the more obscure texts of the Child Ballads collection, as well as haunting traditional lost-love ballads like ‘False Young Man’ that have journeyed across the Atlantic and back. You’ll hear the cries of political dissent, long part of the folk song tradition, in songs such as ‘Granite Cage’ and the Chartist hymn ‘Song of the Lower Classes’. You’ll hear songs, like ‘A Beggar’ and ‘Rattlin’ Roarin’ Willie’, with a lilt and a momentum driven by both Ewan’s unique and impressive guitar work and the cast of fellow musicians who join him on this album. Sitting seamlessly beside all this is Ewan’s own modern but timeless song writing – ranging from ballads from the underbelly of society, through to poignant and personal stories and onto hard tales from the finest watering holes.

Stories Still Untold features a cast of highly regarded folk musicians of Ewan’s generation who add their exceptional talents. From Ross Ainslie’s whistles, to Beth Porter’s cello and Lauren MacColl’s viola, each musician was chosen specifically with the songs in mind and the effect is subtle yet powerful. But in this intimate and moving album, both Ewan’s performances and the stories he sings remain very much at the forefront.

Ewan McLennan sings ‘The Granite Cage’:

Tracklisting

1. A Beggar
2. Out On the Banks
3. The Shearing
4. Aye Waulking O’
5. Song of the Lower Classes
6. Tales From Down At the Harp
7. The Ballad of Amy Nielson
8. Rattlin’ Roarin’ Willie
9. The False Young Man
10. Prince Robert
11. The Granite Cage
12. Henry Joy
13. Coorie Doon