Folk In Cornwall

There was far more to the Cornish folk scene of the 60s & 70s than the few records that seeped through onto the Sentinel label. It was a remarkably fertile training ground for many artists; this movement has been newly documented in a book by Rupert White, entitled “Folk In Cornwall”. The book tells the story from the early years of the beatnik scene in St Ives & Newquay in the early 60s, right up to the final days of the Pipers Folk Club & the Folk Cottage, and encompasses world-renowned artists including Donovan, Ralph McTell, Clive Palmer, Michael Chapman and Wizz Jones (the cover star), all of whom either served musical apprenticeships in the county, or were attracted by the ambience of the area & chose to stay. And, of course, all the key natives (Brenda Wootton, Richard Gendall et al) are heavily featured too.  The narrative is told almost entirely through the voices of the interviewees (all the above -and many more- are heavily quoted throughout), and there’s little expansion from the author on their quotes. White has simply carried out the research & joined the dots. I say “simply”; the research is meticulous to say the least, and is impressive enough to carry the book on its own.

Even so, this makes “Folk In Cornwall” quite a dry read, and one which could definitely have used a(nother) proof-read. But it’s a fascinating story, and one which casts a wider net than you might imagine. This is the only place you can hear the story told. My favourite quote is this striking piece of scene-setting from Michael Chapman, in which he explains the genesis of “Fishbeard Sunset” from his second LP “Fully Qualified Survivor”....

“When John The Fish was playing at The Count House, he always had one eye out of the window, as we had a tradition that the gig would stop and the entire audience would walk out onto the cliff to watch the sunset, then come back in again and we’d restart. So one night I was sitting to one side of the stage watching the sunset through Fish’s beard. And that’s where the title comes from....”

I was delighted to read in a recent issue of The Cornishman that this tradition still stands. Can we have more gigs where people leave the venue to watch the sunset, please?

Buy “Folk In Cornwall” here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161057817420

Hear “Fishbeard Sunset” (but not Chapman’s version, sadly) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x2aspndm-w