Out of His Tree
The twelve tracks on this CD were recorded in Whitstable and Faversham, Kent, between February and June 2004. Eight of my own songs, two traditional and two covers.
A few years ago I invested in a new recording machine which fits easily under my arm, so a quick phone call to see who was up for it and by the time the tea was brewed and the cake was cut, I was ready to record. And that’s how it was.
Many thanks to the following, both musicians and friends. Martin Elliott, Double Bass, Chris Wood, Violin, snare drum, piano, Robert Harbron, Concertina, bass drum, Robert Jarvis, Trombone, Justin Mitchell, Trumpet, congas, spoons, Piet Clark, extra vocals, Andrew Ling, some words & some lyrics.
From inside the Album Cover:
Home Boy
Nigel Hobbins is one of those people who go white and wobbly at the thought of leaving their home county - for him, even Dover is a dangerous place, the way those ferries go to foreign countries (at least the boats in Whitstable just go out and bob around on the estuary before coming back again).
How come, then, you can hear Cajun, African, Hillbilly and Sea Shanty sounds echoing in the songs moulded in or by the fields and woods of Kent? All stamped with the mark of those Cockney hop-pickers and their music-hall traditions (just what was Grandma up to while Grandad was down the pub singing authentic Kentish songs, drinking authentic Kentish ale and coming home with authentic brewers droop?).
Somewhere in Louisiana, or Nigeria, or on an oil tanker in the Pacific, someone is plucking or scraping at some stringed instrument: they work out a tune, and add some words that seem deeply familiar to them, not knowing they're playing their version of a song first performed at some celebration in a little town 5000 miles and 100 years away. That's how folk music works, as every home boy knows - just below the local disguise that he puts on.
Signed: A very important and influential local person who drinks a lot.
Tracks:
1.Tom Paines Bones 4:58 (G. Moore)
2. The Teenage Boy 3:40 (Hobbins)
3. The One Legged Polka 3:58 (Hobbins)
4. Glory of a Crown 4:58 (Hobbins)
5. Shoals of Herring 4:04 (E. MacColl)
6. Sweet as a Nut 5:10 (Hobbins)
7. Anti-Poll Tax March 3:46 (Hobbins)
8. My Master and I 4:00 (Hobbins/Trad)
9. Hang on to You 3:20 (Ling/Hobbins)
10. These Simple Ways 4:22 (Hobbins)
11.pm Last Orders 4:48 (Hobbins)
12. Little by little and bit by bit 3:26 (Hobbins/Trad)
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