"Sara"
CD on Harbourtown HARCD 028 in 1994
Sleeve Notes
Shire Folk - Sept-Dec 1994
Cheshire
Folk on Tap
Dave Henderson
Tykes News
Listening Post, Essex
Sing Out Vol 39 No 3
The Living Tradition April/May 1995
English Folk Dance and Song
WRDV-FM Radio Delaware Valley
Dirty Linen
Hexham Courant(20 October 1995)
Rock ‘n’ Reel
Scotland on Sunday (21 July 1996)
This is a joy - a collection of songs and tunes performed in quiet style by Sara, a UK-resident American singer and 5-string banjo player. It covers a range of traditional and semi-traditional American material; variants of well-known ballads (e.g. The Unfortunate Rake, The Lady Gay), gentle humorous songs, and lively tunes. there are two hymns, sung in harmony - the belted-out gospel-style My God He is a Rock, and the reflective Across the Bridge. Some songs are unaccompanied, some have simple banjo accompaniment, some have guest musicians on guitar, mandolin, fiddle and additional vocals. The songs generally have interesting tunes, made more so by Sara’s original and sometimes powerful combination of vibrato and swinging syncopation. The whole makes for very good listening - it may not have you rocking in your seat, but I’m more than satisfied. It is rare that a studio recording captures a folk performer’s true style, but here the process has lost none of the unassuming charisma of Sara’s live performances.
BH
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Cheshire
First of all, a warning! You are not going to get an unbiased review. This album has been sent to one of Sara’s long-standing fans. She is one of the finest interpreters of American old timey music and Appalachian ballads, but she reflects her long residence over here with three British traditional songs. Her message is ‘keep things simple’, which is fine if you have as much talent as Sara has. As usual, she has chosen an excellent selection of songs and tunes. The certainty and warmth of her singing means that she passes that most difficult of tests, being able to sing unaccompanied on record. Elsewhere the riveting quality of her frailing banjo, plays dance tunes, and accompanies such beauties as AS I ROVED OUT and a deliciously different version of GOING TO LEAVE THIS COUNTRY. She uses other musicians sparingly and the most effective of these is the fiddle playing of her countryman Jeff Davis.
This is an album characterised by quality, enthusiasm, excellent taste... (Oh! Somebody stop me ...)
Vic Smith
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Folk on Tap
Sara is one of the great balladeers currently working out of Britain. She is a goldmine of American domestic folk song, and she sprinkles in a selection of good versions of British and Irish songs such as "The Banks of Kilrea" (compare with Ulsterman Sean Donnelly’s version). Her melodious and vibrant voice is perfectly suited to these come-all-ye type songs, eschewing the irritating mannerisms of so many contemporary singers. And yet the epic ballad is not beyond her, and she renders a splendid version of "Sweet William" and another good one - "The Unfortunate Rake", best known as "The Streets of Laredo". There is a very mixed bag of 16 tracks on this super-value tape. Sit back and be transported to another age by this lovely singer and instrumentalist (banjo and guitar).
JPB
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Dave Henderson
Sara Grey, her banjo, backing from a guitar, a mandolin or a fiddle. Some handsome backing vocals on a couple of old-time hymns. Interesting versions of ballads from across the Atlantic along with comic songs of a more recent vintage, all recorded live, straight onto DAT. There is a directness and an immediacy in this album which could almost be a field recording.
From a wide range of tracks it’s hard to pick out which to mention especially, but I particularly liked The Unfortunate Rake, a version of The Young Soldier Cut Down In His Prime/Streets of Laredo with the protagonist changed to a young woman with (whisper it not!) a venereal disease; also Last Winter Was a Hard One, an Irish-American song recording the perennial complaints of two women about their feckless men. Of the ‘Muckle Sangs’ there is an Irish travellers version of Willie o’ Winsbury, Johnny Barden and a very fine sprightly tune.
Of course, the songs and tunes are very thoughtfully chosen and are presented with the storyteller’s attention to every word and in a refreshingly straightforward manner. This is clearly the work of someone who loves traditional music and has been presenting it in public for over 25 years.
Dave Henderson
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Tykes News
Sara Grey’s been doing her stuff for a quarter of a century or so but ageing reviewers should remember the enthusiastic young.
She’s a cuddly American lady. She has a warm, strong voice and a lovely tremolo with the craft and sense not to overuse it. She plays five-string banjo frailing and clawhammer. Her songs are mainly Trad. from both sides of the Atlantic.
I haven’t seen her since she was working with the lovely Ellie Ellis and she sounds to me to be less relaxed and a lot more urgent and exciting. A great variety of songs on this album. Only one instrumental track, which seems a shame - my three-year-old son is dancing naked to it at the moment in the sunshine and shouting "watch me". Her taste in songs is strange and wide. The blood drips, the heart breaks, the life flickers and dies and the worms wait for us all. Times get hard and the cold winds blow, and among these are rather sticky-sweet bits and bobs. Its like lollipops with whiskey and wine. But I think that’s Sara Grey for you. Its hard to get anything else done while you’re listening to her. She insists on your individual attention. One of the mature masters in good form and full stride.
The favourite of ‘im indoors is "Unfortunate Rake", a female one for a change and a real skin-prickler. ‘Er outdoors loves "Across the bridge" a hymn-cum-lullaby and the last track so she can always play it again a time of two.
John & Linda Lewis
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Listening Post, Essex
Sara is the latest offering by ever-popular American singer and banjo frailer, Sara Grey. Known for her sparkling live performances, warmth of personality, an enthusiasm for her material and a distinctive tremolo style of singing, together with some stylish banjo playing, Sara has captured much of the "live experience" with this CD. The material (sixteen tracks in all) is predominantly American ballads and is a fine collection of good stories, old timey, gospel bluesy and from humorous to mournfull. There are substantial sleeve notes with all numbers well researched and annotated. Very much Sara as you’d see her in a club, many unaccompanied, some with a little help from other musicians, A must for Sara devotees.
Elaine Barker
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Sing Out Vol 39 No 3
Peter Bellamy once lamented about singers who felt the need to progress instead of merely improve. Sara grey, thankfully, remains committed to what she does best; singing old ballads and playing clawhammer banjo. She’s in typical good form on her latest recording.
My favourites here are Dock Boggs’ bluesy "Prodigal Son" (Jeff Davis’ harmony helps give it that lonesome sound); "The Milliner’s Daughter" a romantic ballad from the logging camps; the a cappella gospel quartet number "My God He Is A Rock"; "As I Roved Out, from the Doc Watson family; and, as always, Sara’s banjo tunes.
She also sings versions of the Child ballads, "Wife Of Usher’s Well", "Earl Brand" and "Willie O’ Winsbury" (a rare Irish version), as well as "The Unfortunate Rake". An Irishman tries to coax his girlfriend into emigrating in "The Banks Of Kilrea". On the lighter side, a Glenn Ohrlin song portrays a shy cowboy at a "High Toned Dance".
It’s a pity that most of Grey’s albums have come out in England (including this one) and are not well-distributed over here. If you know Sara’s work or just love to hear traditional ballads, make the effort to track this down.
BB
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The Living Tradition April/May 1995
This album has a wonderful homely quality about it and has captured the style and spirit of a typical Sara Grey performance. Not a "live" performance but oozing with life.
Sara has suffered in her time from being classified under the far too wide a category of "American" music. This is an album that should stand out from the hundreds of folk albums as a rare classic amongst traditional releases. If you need to classify it, "Old Time" would be the best description.
Much of the material traces its origins back to Irish and Scots emigrants to the "New World" and is a style of music that is immediately accessible to listeners to Irish and Scottish traditional music.
It has a lovely "laid back" feel that can make you underestimate the technical expertise of the musicians. Sara’s five string banjo is the predominant instrument backed by guitar, mandolin and fiddle from American traditional music activist Jeff Davis, plus some guitar and vocal contributions from Mark Dowding, Brian Peters and Betty & Norman McDonald.
The accompaniments are delightful but this is very much a solo album with Sara centre stage. Several of the songs are sung unaccompanied.
My particular favourites tend towards those with accompaniment where the music always underpins the songs rather than dominating them. (Americans have a skill with "back up" instrumentation that we could learn a lot from. Listen to "Banks of Kilrea").
The album finishes with a beautiful simple version of an old Carolina hymn which just sets you in the mood to start listening all over again. An album to savour.
Pete Heywood
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English Folk Dance and Song
We are lucky in Britain in having two of Americas finest interpreters of Old Time string band music (Tom Paley and Sara Grey) as residents. Both are fine banjo players who learnt their craft at source from a generation of old timey fiddle and banjo players now largely departed for that great porch in the sky. Sara and Tom are responsible for turning a lot of British folk music enthusiasts onto old time music, much of which, of course, had its origins in the British Isles. Also around the turn of the century, England was the centre for producing recordings of American and British banjo players. Where did all the British five-string banjo players go?
It is this Anglo-American, or perhaps Irish-American, connection that currently interests Sara. She has recently been working with an Irish singer comparing versions of the same songs from both sides of the Atlantic. A couple of Irish/American pieces appear on this cassette, ‘State of Arkansas’ - a song of the railroad navvies - and ‘Last Winter Was a Hard One’.
Sara’s love affair with Ireland is further represented with the Ulster ‘Banks of Kilrea’ (from the Butcher family) and ‘Johnny Barden’ - a unique Irish traveller version of ‘Willie of Winsbury’.
The cassette opens with one of those marvellously eery Doc Boggs songs ’Prodigal Son’, sparsely accompanied on the banjo in one of Bogg’s unique tunings.
Sara also uses her banjo to fine effect on the instrumentals ‘Betsy Liken’ (from the Virginia fiddler Henry Reed, a source of terrific tunes for the American old timey revival in the 60’s) and the delightful Jere Canote tune ‘Sadie At The Back Door’. One of my favourite songs/performances of all time is Texas Gladden’s crie de coeur ‘Young Girl Cut Down In Her Prime’ - a stunning recording of which I cherished in my youth and subsequently lost - so I was delighted to find that Sara had included it here (‘Unfortunate Rake’).
No Sara Grey performance would be complete without a driving gospel hymn, with Sara clapping, stomping and slapping out the syncopated rhythms, and here we have a great one in ‘My God He Is A Rock’.
Sara’s repertoire contains many interesting and little known, at least over here, items such as the unaccompanied medley of ‘Miss Julia/The Day I Fought Dwyer/The Kissing Song’; the cowboy’s amusing adventures or misadventures at the ’High Toned Dance’; and the song from Wysconsin logging camps ’The Milliner’s Daughter’ and these, plus the other thirteen tracks, all add up to a cassette nicely balanced between unusual versions of songs and ballads (unaccompanied and accompanied) all performed with love and deep understanding by Sara Grey, one of my favourite ‘banjo pickin’ gals’.
Dave Arthur
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WRDV-FM Radio Delaware Valley
Sara does the very difficult job of exceeding herself with militant unpretentiousness. With Pete’s ailing voice and Peggy pre-occupied with feminist editorial songs, Sara Grey has quietly and powerfully taken over the mantle of premier interpreter of American traditional music. The songs flow through her with love and a musical freshness that grows out of letting the song speak louder than the singer. But there should be no mistake made. These songs would not have such definitive renditions from any other source. Her choice of side musicians is made with an ear to quality and respect as opposed to the usual affinity for making loud pop noises. All this with a healthy helping of never before heard songs and unique versions.
Tor Jonassen
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Dirty Linen
Sara Grey, an American singer and musician living in Britain, is one of the classiest acts on the folk scene. Her clear, resonant voice is at home singing songs from the American south, from New England, from the midwest, from Ireland, from Britain, and from the blues and gospel traditions of both black and white Americans. Her latest CD, Sara, highlights her singin’ and pickin’ on a similarly wide variety of traditional material.
From the Irish and Irish-American traditions, Grey has selected several striking and unusual songs, most of which deal with emigration and emigrants. "The State of Arkansas" is a ballad about an Irish railroad navvy in America. "The Banks of Kilrea," another emigration song with a melody reminiscent of "Bonny Kellswater," came from the repertoire of Ulster notable Jimmy Butcher. "Last Winter Was A Hard One" speaks of the difficulties encountered by Irish-Americans in the first generation after the famine. One wonderful Irish song has nothing to do with America: "Johnny Barden," a version of Child ballad no. 100, known as "Willy O’Winsbury," or "John Barbour."
Grey Borrows judiciously from other American folk and country traditions as well. Blues shape-note hymns, and old country favourites all nestle comfortably together here. Grey’s sources include Dock Boggs, Dick Swain, the Carter Family, Art Thieme, and Doc Watson... as distinguished a bunch of folks as you’ll find anywhere. In addition to all this great singing, a few tunes show off Grey’s considerable skill on the five-string banjo, with which she accompanies many of her songs. Guest musicians contribute guitar, fiddle and additional vocals. Throughout the CD booklet, Grey is meticulous about mentioning her sources, and she shows the comparative interest of a folklorist in her explanations of different versions and variants of her songs.
Steve Winick (Philadelphia,PA)
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Hexham Courant (20 October 1995)
Sara Grey brought along her usual blend of songs and tales from America’s rural environs when she played Hexham Folk Club’s Royal Hotel venue.
Her cheery smile and tantalising humour were embellishments to backwoodsy traditional fare, where in some instances she aided herself in accomplished style on frailing banjo and in others a cappella fashion.
Sitting in a straight-backed chair Grey would keep time in both modes of operation by planting her right foot in rhythmic, and on occasions hypnotic fashion on the floor. She’s one of a kind as far as touring these shores is concerned - her ability to tell a tale being passed on down the heritage line.
Having played and sung ever since she can remember, the amiable Grey treated the audience to an abundance of work - none finer than when she was serving some melodic piece from the hills. Something that was illustrated with great clarity on the chirpy, unaccompanied medley of "Miss Julia/The Day I Fought Dwyer/ The Kissing Song" and her definitive, Ozark version of "Blackjack Davy".
Again pursuing her great love of accompanied singing of story songs, she struck home in style with a humour-filled "Hightone Dance". Her ability to reach deep into people’s hearts and amazing stamina at keeping up her unique rhythms also shone most brightly on "Johnny Bardon" and, with her frailing banjo adding fuel to the flame, we had "The Milliner’s Daughter" and "Last Winter Was A Hard One" - a troubled tune coming courtesy of a couple of Irish Immigrant families.
Other memorable moments included Sara’s cover of the Carolina banjoist Dock Boggs’ "Prodigal Son" and the stirring bitter-sweet "Paddy Shannon", where again it had her retelling of America’s logging camps.
While much of her music can be found on her truly excellent Harbourtown release, "Sara", it doesn’t allow for her humourous, mini-drama styled odes delivered in dialect.
Maurice Hope
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Rock ‘n’ Reel
On a cold winter’s night or on a long hot summer’s evening and you’re wanting a no frills peak into America’s true traditional, northern folk heritage (and more) well Sara’s your gal. New Hampshire born Grey, apart from her powerful, unerring vocals is a mighty fine exponent of the frailing banjo - joined on occasions by fiddle and guitar. A popular figure around the UK folk clubs and workshop presenter on both sides of the Atlantic.
It all cultivates images of mountains, America’s railroads and it’s old camp meetings - the unaccompanied jewel "MY GOD HE IS A Rock" sitting alongside "Going To Leave This Country" and Dock Boggs’ "Prodigal Son" and her warmly delivered "The Milliner’s Daughter"
Maurice Hope
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Scotland on Sunday (21 July 1996)
New Englander, Sara Grey, stole the show at one of the major concerts. She has been singing in Scotland for more than 20 years. She’s a real pro,with a warm voice and a beguiling style on the clawhammer, frailed or nail-picked five-string banjo.
Sunny, optimitic songs are her staple, and New World ballad versions of old songs from Scotland and Ireland, but she sang a beautiful, moving slave ballad, to the simple pounding accompaniment of her feet and hands.
Norman Chalmers
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