Tag: (We Are) The Rakes Of Mallow

With his melodic pop-infused folk album, What Happens In Cork, Hank Wedel tosses his songs into the (metaphorically-measured) sizzling singer-songwriter tuned cauldron, to add a melodic recipe. That’s not an easy feat. But while (the great!) Richard Thompson is correct in his ancient advice to “Share with your nearest till the end of your days”, and while folk music is “old”, it is, thankfully, always “changing” in its own timeless melodic “way”.

The first song, ‘Poe Park’, is a quick-stepped acoustic tune that evokes the “Raven” wisdom of Edgar Allan, while it cruises to the ‘Summer In The City’ Lovin’ Spoonful vibe – with delightful female backing voices. Ditto for ‘Ain’t Nothing Wrong With Me’, as it pumps fresh air into the traditional folk-blues tire.

Then, ‘Lonely Tree’ is even better, while a slight calypso beat flows through great lyrics that touch nature’s pathway to infinity. Donovan’s pop labyrinthic song ‘There Is A Mountain’ comes to mind. Nice!

These songs add to that sizzling caldron of folk-roots flavour. ‘Sleep Out On The Beach’ is a brilliant tune that re-imagines yet another way to sing the praises of marching to the Emersonian “different drum”. Thank you, Linda Ronstadt and those Stone Ponies! Then, ‘Word Of Mouth’ slows the river flow with an enigmatic lyric that, perhaps, explores the complexities of an X-ray-photographed relationship. In nice juxtaposition, the infectious ‘The Time We Share’ opens with the line, “Great to see you. I thought you were dead”. Again, this pop tune touches an infinity link to the here and now with a sweet sax solo. And ditto (again!) for ‘I Know I Know You Say’, with its punch at mortality and urgent advice, “We are not more than this, not more than dust”, that’s propelled with an acoustic guitar that spins like the wheels of (the before-mentioned) Richard Thompson and his ‘Vincent Black Lightning’.

And then there’s ‘Alright! Dynamite! Spiro!’, an irresistible pop-rock-folk song that sings the praises of Spiro Colovos, the father of a best friend and a man who certainly marched to that “different drum” and wouldn’t mind a night’s sleep on any beach. It’s a joyful tribute to a man who can’t be “evicted now”. But, as a good song is apt to do, it sings the universal message that’s always “blowing in the wind”.

Now, for a brief bio bit and a big endorsement (and a drum roll!): Hank was born in New York City in the 1960s but was raised in Mallow, Co. Cork. He now lives and performs in Cork, hence the title. But a true testament comes from Christy Moore (of Planxty and just about everything else fame), who covered the song, ‘Listen’ on his album by that same title(!) and wrote, “Hank Wedel sings most nights of the year. I heard him in The Tin Pub Ahakista (on The Sheep’s Head in County Cork). He silenced the room with his passionate singing. When I heard this song I straightway sought his blessing to sing it. He wrote it in a Swedish mining town inside the Arctic Circle”. And by the way, Declan Sinnott produced the album.

The rock vibe continues with the equally irresistible ‘One Too Many Goodbyes’. This is folk music with pop-metaphysical lyrics that touch the “every atom” spirit of the great poet Walt Whitman. Nice, again!

The final song, ‘(We Are) The Rakes Of Mallow’ is a joyous rave-up tune with Celtic danced and weirdly voiced humour. Indeed, What Happens In Cork!

And to get all metaphorical, again, super-scientist Carl Sagan wrote, to dispel the idea of aliens in spaceships armed with anti-gravity guns building the pyramids, he informed his readers that Egyptian artisans known as “Tiger Team Eleven” had etched their signature into their stone contribution with the enduring (loosely translated from their original inscription but often quoted in scholarly historical context!) words, “My goodness, we did it!” And many years hence, Hank Wedel has done just that: Amid the myriad of singer-songwriters who carve songs in our acoustic template, he signs his name, and then sends his tunes into that sizzling singer-songwriter cauldron, to add, thankfully, an original melodic recipe.

Bill Golembeski

Artist’s website: https://hankwedel.wixsite.com/hankwedel/about

‘(We Are) The Rakes Of Mallow’ – official video: