Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours Volume One | RE:WARM
RE:WARM Records are more than delighted to announce a collaborative release between the label and Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours’ main man Paul Hillery.
… claimed to know of the existence of a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain situated somewhere up in the sky, a little distance beyond the clouds, and in Sugarcandy Mountain it was Sunday seven days a week…
Known in collectors’ circles for his deep digging antics & his immersive mix series on his blog, Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours. Paul has gained a reputation as the go-to man for many compilers and labels for information pretty much unavailable anywhere on the net. He’s built long-standing relationships with many lost and forgotten artists and is on a mission to give these guys the exposure he believes they deserve. Paul is a very well-respected collector of private press obscurities, lost loner folk, strange musical fauna and intricately played floral powered wonders.
For Volume One in the series, Paul has compiled 19 tracks that represent the journey he’s been on with the Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours sound to date. There’s music here that has never seen the light of day, demo versions that never made the cut, new exclusive material and beloved classics from the FFTT Vaults. The compilation is a sonic landscape of Canyon Rock, Hot Tub Soul, Frisco Folk, Balearic Breeze & Trippy Troubadourial Treasures all lovingly handpicked for the series.
So what is this ‘Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours’ thing anyway? It’s tricky to put a finger on. Folk-funk has been around for a while, it’s a groove that sounds like it has one leg shorter than the other, let’s call it a funky limp. ‘Feel The Spirit’ by Heaven & Earth, ‘Taking So Long’ by Kathy Smith, ‘Mountain Song’ by Penny Nichols, and ‘Woodenships’ by Christine Harwood are all great places to start. ‘& Trippy Troubadours’ was added to give a little wiggle room from the genre police and incorporates things as disparate as private lost loner folk to modern singer-songwriters that ooze with just the right feeling.
All tracks handpicked by Paul Hillery; a heathen, conceivably, but not, I hope an unenlightened one. Father, friend, vinyl hunter and curator at Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours. pH has carried his record boxes to many a venue and played alongside The Polyphonic Spree, Arthur Lee & Love, Bonnie Dobson, Spiritualized, 4 Hero, Happy Mondays, Simian, The Bees, Julian Cope, Courtney Pine and many, many, more. He has also graced the turning tables at Spiritland, Refuge, Festival No.6, Lunar Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Psychemagik’s Magik Forest and supplied guest mixes broadcast on stations all over the globe.
‘Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours Volume One’compiled by Paul Hillery and released by RE:WARM is available to purchase at this link
Duncan Pryce Kirk ~ Space Out
Duncan Pryce Kirk was a much-loved musician from Richland, Washington. He was well known and respected throughout the Tri-Cities music scene. ‘Space Out’ is taken from his only album ‘Journey To Beyond’ released in 1982. A multi-instrumentalist, Duncan Pryce Kirk was on vocal duties, acoustic, electric and twelve-string guitar, synthesizer, string machine, and keyboard. Backed with John Plows on percussion, the engineer was Dave Carpenter and the album mixed by Tom Fortier. It was recorded at Music Machine Studio, Kennewick, Washington State.
Duncan is survived by his daughter, Phoebe.
Eik ~ Mr Sadness
‘Mr Sadness’ is the flip of ‘Hotel Garbage Can’ a 1975 Icelandic single released on Demant. Eik featured Lárus Grímsson on flute, Sigurður K. Sigurðsson on vocals, Þorsteinn Magnússon on guitar, Haraldur Þorsteinsson on bass, Ólafur Sigurðsson on drums, Sigurður Long on Saxophone and Berglind Bjarnadóttir, Helga Steinson, Janis Carol on backing vocals. An Icelandic funk fusion band with a definite progressive-leaning.
Releasing two albums; the privately pressed ‘Speglun’ (1976) and a follow-up ‘Hríslan Og Straumurinn’ (1977) on the Icelandic label Steinar.
Joe Hall & Eyeball Wine Company ~ Moveable Feast
Joe Hall was born Hans Joachim Boenke; May 15, 1947, in Wuppertal, Germany. His family moved to America to flee post-war Germany settling in Ontario, Canada. A gifted musician, Joe began performing at coffee shops and with local bands. By the early ‘70s, Joe had begun performing and touring as Joe Hall and The Eyeball Wine Company. A fixture on the Toronto music scene for over 40 years, Hall called Peterborough, Ontario his home. A highly regarded and inspirational musician, a true original, whose sharp wit, insightful social commentary, and wildly entertaining stage presence made him one of Canada’s legendary folk-rockers.
‘Moveable Feast’ was originally featured on the 1972 private press compilation produced in association with the ACME Sausage Company radio show on CKUA. Joe Hall & The Eyeball Wine Company featured Joe, along with Roger Brant on bass and vocals, George Dobo on lead guitar, and session musician Richard Hart on saxophone.
Christian Besa Wright ~ Cherry Blossom Oak
Christian is a DIY producer/songwriter from Hawaii. ‘Cherry Blossom Oak’ was written and recorded in 2017 as an assignment for an Asian-American History course and released independently in March 2018. Initially inspired by an article concerning the experience of mixed-race contestants in Japanese ‘Cherry Blossom’ beauty pageants the song explores a complicated dynamic of cultural assimilation experienced by second-generation immigrants. Written and tracked in a single night, the song features slide guitar, fingerpicked nylon string guitar, bass, baby grand piano, programmed drums and double-tracked vocals. The result is an intimate bedroom recording.
Wendy Grose ~ Blue Sunny Sky Day
Wendy Grose (now Wendy Grace) originally played piano and flute but fell in love with the guitar aged 15 after listening to her brother learning to play. Wendy began guitar lessons, learning to play on a 12 string guitar. She played intricate Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young tunes until she had very strong fingers. She performed in folk clubs around Sydney, Australia. Starting work at Clover Recording Studios, where she was originally assigned to reception work, Wendy’s talent was soon recognised, and she began to work as a session/studio singer and guitar player.
She was given a recording contract with Albert Music. ‘Blue Sunny Sky Day’ is a track from her first album Backyard of Blue, recorded at Albert Studios in Sydney, Australia in 1975 when she was just 19.
Wendy continued to release music and now lives in the Tweed Valley, surrounded by the spectacular beaches of New South Wales, Australia. She runs popular singing workshops and weekly singing groups.
Ruth Finlay ~ Deep Calls To Deep
Ruth Finlay was born and raised in Birchcliff Village in Toronto. At the age of six, she began her music studies on piano at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto. Ruth studied flute, music theory, and guitar. She sang in several folk groups as a teenager.
Music eventually introduced her to many opportunities to travel to various countries of the world with Shekinah, a Christian performing arts company. She toured England, Holland, and travelled with the group to North America before joining them for almost a year in Israel. While in Israel she studied flute with the first-chair flautist of the Jerusalem Symphony – Hanoch Tel Oren.
Ruth produced her first album of original songs at age 22. ‘Awake North Wind’ was created at the Master’s Workshop with co-producer Doug J McKenzie. She worked as a singer/dancer/actress in the repertory theatre troupe ‘The Inner Stage’ from the age of 23 to the age of 25 and at 26 joined Merv and Merla in Israel. After returning home she continued to write music and study with voice teachers in her hometown of Toronto while studying music and drama at U of Toronto.
‘Deep Calls To Deep’ is a track taken from Finlay’s album ‘The Borderlands’ originally released on her own record label, Jesse Records in 1999. Ruth co-produced the album with Paul LaChapell at Quest Recording Studio, Oshawa, Ontario. Inspired by inner reflections and hopes for humanity and enhanced by the performances of master flautist Ron Korb, guitarist Ray Hickey Jr., bassist Steve Lucas, drummer Larry Crowe, cellist Daniel Domb, (from the Toronto Symphony) keyboardist John Cleveland Hughes, (Ruth’s brother), and blues guitarist Buzz Upshaw.
Finlay has had a long and consistent music career collaborating with many musicians as well as performing in more than 2,000 concerts. She has completed and released altogether 13 albums. Ruth continues to write
and record her original music as well as teach her music students of all ages to develop their music skills and share their music with others.
Will & James Ragar ~ Clouds Lift
The first time James Ragar remembers hearing his older brother perform was in Lafayette, Louisiana. Will was the singer alongside the American blues musician Sonny Landreth, who was backed by his original trio. Sonny, known for his slide guitar technique, was also from Southwest Louisiana.
Will & James Ragar started playing rock and roll in clubs on the Crawfish Circuit, a string of venues that stretched from the Cajun country of Southern Louisiana to New Orleans. But the tide was turning. The acoustic sound of the ‘70s provided the brothers with even more venues and a songbook of contemporary singer-songwriters. Slowly, they began adding their own songs to their sets. These original songs gained popularity.
They began a series of performances opening for headline artists, including Stephen Stills, Leon Russell, and Taj Mahal. They also began touring throughout Texas, showcasing at the Kerrville Folk Festival.
It was Spring of 1980, and the grasslands of the old houses in the garden district of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were lush and filled with flowers. James Ragar sat amongst the beauty and focused on the sounds he
could hear and began to compose the first draft of ‘Clouds Lift’.
In 2016 James picked up the song again, recording it using acoustic guitars and vintage microphones to create an original old-school sound. It can be heard for the first time here on ‘Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours Volume One’.
Scott Seskind ~ I Wonder
Taken from Scott Seskind’s 1985 self-titled, privately pressed lo-fi folk album filled with melodically haunting, existential woes, political angst, and love. Recorded at home in LA on a Tascam 4-Track Portastudio cassette. The session was captured in the broom closet of childhood friend and fellow songwriter Chris Hickey, who also adds backing vocals and percussion (hear the scissors?).
Scott reports feeling as desperate and divided today as he did when he wrote the song, which he describes as a mix of worried self-reflection, social criticism and sexual innuendo.
Seskind continues to live in Boulder, Colorado with wife Julie, who he
sings of in this song, but she has somehow gone from 17 to 55 and they now have two adult children and three grandchildren.
A recently published bio of Scott in the underground music zine ‘Ugly Things’ can be found at seskind.com
Tim McKenna ~ Where Are You?
’Where Are You?’ is from the single released in 1971 on Eric Wrobbel’s Distortion imprint. Tim plays and sings everything you hear, with the exception of woodblock and triangle.
Tim McKenna met classmate Eric Wrobbel at high school in Pontiac, Michigan. Wrobbel who, in 1969 at the tender age of 15, founded Distortion Records, released several records under his own name and also with the Moonshine Forestry Outfit. McKenna was intrigued with the records Wrobbel was making and wanted to record his own songs.
‘Where Are You?’ was recorded in four tracks on March 30 and 31, 1971. The first track was rhythm guitar and lead vocal, the second was organ. The sound was achieved by recording late at night in a large, empty church. The next day two more tracks were recorded in Wrobbel’s bedroom, grandiosely dubbed Distortion Recording Studio A. On track three Tim played lead guitar and Eric played the aforementioned woodblock & triangle. Track four was a second vocal part by Tim, the result is a remarkable vocal fullness achieved with just two vocal layers.
Wrobbel recalls that at the Distortion session, Tim spent a lot of the time on the studio’s phone, talking plaintively to a certain Rhonda, for whom he apparently ‘had it bad’ but whose father disapproved of Tim. The result was a pretty forlorn-looking Tim, and at that session, he sang as he looked on a wild ride of teenage emotion. ‘Where Are You?’ is taken from the 45 rpm single (Distortion DS45-012-B). Produced by Eric Wrobbel. This recording was digitized from the original master tape in 2015 under the supervision of Mr Wrobbel. Tim McKenna is no longer with us, passing in 2011.
Jeb Loy Nichols ~ Sweet Sweet Stay Awhile
Born in Wyoming and raised in Missouri listening to bluegrass and country music. Later, his nocturnal radio adventures helped him fall in love with southern soul.
At fifteen Jeb Loy Nichols heard his first punk record and he was changed for good. In 1979 at 17 he received a scholarship to art school in New York. Dubbed ‘Fear City’ it was gritty, street-smart and a hotplate of new ideas. Punk was over but hip-hop was starting and Nichols became obsessed with this new musical expression. His first recording, in 1980, was an unreleased rap song called ‘I’m A Country Boy’.
In 1981 he visited friends in London and found himself living in a squat with Ari Up (from the Slits), Neneh Cherry and Adrian Sherwood, who put Jeb to work moving boxes of records across London. Sherwood and his complete disregard for genre purity have been one of Nichols biggest influences.
‘Sweet Sweet Stay Awhile’ was recorded around 2000, Jeb Loy – “I wrote what I thought was a country song and imagined it having steel guitars and fiddles. When we got into the studio everything changed. I was working with the great bass player Wayne Nunes, who played with African Head Charge and Tricky, and he brought a new feel to it. It started to morph into something I hadn’t expected.”
The track also features the backing vocals of the talented Loraine Morley, and was cut in a fast creative session and then, when finished, they had no idea what to do with the hybrid of British folk, American country, Caribbean bass, electronica and hip-hop. It sat around for 20 years before finally being released here.
Nichols is an American living on a remote Welsh smallholding. Dubbed ‘The high priest of country cool’ by Rolling Stone Magazine.
Gary Boyle ~ So Many Times Before
‘So Many Times Before’ is the only vocal track on the ‘Step Out’ album, originally released in 1980, and has Boyle on vocal duties.
Recorded and mixed in Copenhagen during the summer of 1980 with Gary’s English band: Gary Boyle on Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, and Vocals, Gary Culshaw on Bass, Graham Dean on Drums, Paul Birchall on keyboards and the session also included prominent Scandinavian guests, such as Stefan Nilsson performing the Prophet 5 solo and Jakob Andersen on Percussion on So Many Times Before. The album featured Janne Schaffer on Guitar, and the flautist Björn J:son Lind, and Martin Levan on both engineering duties and production.
Gary Boyle joined Brian Auger’s Trinity in 1967 and he continues to play with Brian Auger. He is also a session musician and continues to release his own solo material.
Peter Wale ~ One Quiet Sultry Sunday
Originally on Peter Wale’s privately pressed 1972 album ‘The Memoirs Of Hakeford Wart (Goodbye Cape Town)’. ‘One Quiet Sultry Sunday’ was hatched during an impromptu collaboration with guitarist, Allan Faull, in the shadow of the Rhodes Monument on the lower slopes of Table Mountain.
Formerly the leader of the short-lived South African band Wakeford Hart, who had been active in the local underground rock scene in the early ‘70s. Peter continued to play with other musicians and as a solo artist, gradually growing dissatisfied with his local music scene and decided that he wanted to travel and experience the world.
In late 1971, Peter joined the crew on a yacht voyage planning to sail from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro. But before departing on his ocean voyage Peter decided to do one more concert with his friends and the live set was recorded. It was then pressed on a very limited vinyl run of fewer than 200 copies. The original album featured four songs out of the fourteen recorded. Unfortunately, few were actually sold and it’s thought fewer than ten copies survive.
During the 39-day voyage, the yacht was capsized, it was a close call. The original plan was to return to Cape Town after a sojourn in Brazil but, out from under the shadow of Apartheid, the lure of bigger ambitions grew strong for Peter and he continued to travel.
In 2010, now living in Seattle, Peter got word from South Africa. Robert Gush had come across the original master tapes of the whole 1972 concert and he could transfer the masters to digital. Peter was approached by Jason Connoy of Strawberry Rain Music, Toronto. A 3 LP expanded reissue was planned featuring all fourteen. It took five years to come to fruition, finally released in 2019.
Peter is still as engaged in the art of songwriting and lives with Rachel in an abandoned cafe in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon.
Sorahan ~ With His Siller In His Hand
Tom Sorahan formed the band Sorahan in 1974 based in the West Midlands. The band had several line-up changes over the next three years, performing up and down the UK’s pub and college circuit.
Tom borrowed the lyrics to the first verse of ‘With his Siller in his Hand’ from a Northumbrian folk song. Recorded by the band’s original line-up during the session at ZELI A Studios, Birmingham the 45 was produced by Steve Bywaters (of London based punk ensemble Running Sores) and released in 1975 on the bands’ own ‘Sorahan’ label.
In 1978 Tom Sorahan signed a recording contract with Pye and released the album ‘I’ve Seen The View, You Can Take Me Back Now’.
Cindi Titzer ~ All For You
Cindi grew up just north of Houma, Louisiana about 60 miles south of New Orleans. She had dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. She began playing Uke at age 7, which led to playing the guitar by age 11, and by 15 she was writing songs. At 18 she moved to New Orleans to pursue ballet and began singing in the local music clubs. Playing several nights a week she travelled from New Orleans to Lafayette and Baton Rouge.
In 1975 she was approached by musician Don Hull, who suggested that they make an album of Cindi’s songs. Don had recently moved to New Orleans from L.A. after working with Jackie Mills (owner of Larrabee Sound) as a songwriter. He had purchased a 3340S 4 track TEAC and his intention was to start his own studio in New Orleans. Cindi was performing regularly travelling to L.A. and San Francisco and the album took 5 years to finish, eventually released in the Spring of 1980.
Cindi moved to Laguna Beach, California in 1983. By then the music scene was shifting toward New Wave and Punk and most clubs were not using solo artists. But she played often at ski resorts and music clubs in the Sierra foothills along hi-way 49.
Over the past 30 years, she continued to play music with some wonderful musicians. Recently retired and now a Grandmother she lives in Mt. Shasta, Ca.
Smokey ~ Topaz
John ‘Smokey’ Condon grew up in Baltimore immersed in the counter-culture of the ‘60s. He lived above a nightclub as a teen and partied in the legendary John Waters scene. He sang in local groups and became involved in activism, protesting the Vietnam War, marching with civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, and fighting for gay rights at the Stonewall riots in New York City.
He hung out with the Doors’ road manager Vince Treanor and accompanied the band to the 1970 Isle of Wight festival, where he was exposed to the Who, Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He soon moved into Treanor’s house in the Hollywood Hills and was introduced to record producer EJ Emmons. Emmons was co-producing with sunshine pop mastermind Curt Boettcher. The music Smokey and Emmons would produce would be very different. The first single ‘Leather’ b/w ‘Miss Ray’, was released in 1974. It examined America’s gay underground leather and drag scenes.
Using Emmons’ industry contacts the single was shopped around to labels. But doors were routinely slammed on the duo. As a result, Smokey went on to form his own imprint, S&M Records. Five singles were released. ‘Topaz’ being the third, originally b/w ‘Topanga’, it was released in 1976 and then re-issued in 1978 b/w with a new track ‘Ballad Of Butchie & Claudine’.
In 2015 a retrospective of Smokey’s work, transferred and restored from the original master tapes by Emmons, and titled ‘How Far Will You Go? – The S&M Recordings 1973-81’, was released by the Australian label Chapter Music. The album tracks featured cameos by Stooges guitarist James Williamson and Ozzy Osbourne cohort Randy Rhoads.
Geoff Bartley ~ Don’t Want To Know About Evil
Bartley abandoned the clarinet and began playing acoustic guitar in 1963. His influences are all-over-the-map from Bessie Smith to Dave Van Ronk, John Martyn to Nic Jones, Ray Charles to Mose Allison, Joni Mitchell to Randy Newman, Bruce Springsteen to Bruce Cockburn. Primary influences are early Bob Dylan and Texas blues singer, Lightnin’ Sam Hopkins. Bartley won four guitars at the National Fingerpicking Championships in Winfield, Kansas.
Recorded in 1983 this track appears on ‘Blues Beneath the Surface’ self pressed in 1984 on Bartley’s own label ‘Magic Crow Records’. The song is played on acoustic guitar (in drop D tuning) and vocal recorded live, chromatic harmonica was overdubbed by ‘Wildman’ Mike Turk, upright bass was overdubbed by Tim Wells. The cover photo was taken by Kari Estrin, Kari Estrin Management and Consulting in Nashville, TN.
Geoff Bartley has released eleven full-length recordings since ‘Blues Beneath the Surface’ and has composed and recorded instrumental music for the German library label Sonoton. With instrumentals used on the History Channel, Animal Planet, A&E, The Learning Channel, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, NOVA and Nature on PBS, in documentary and commercial films, and in private and commercial advertising in the US and elsewhere.
He continues to play live almost exclusively in southern New England and actively supports his local music scene.
Robin Woodland ~ One Golden Moment
In 1978, aged 23, Robin Woodland was already a musician, a community organiser, a rock climber, an organic farmer, an educator, and a wilderness trip leader. He was now launching a recording studio. Melon Studio was one of the first alternative (cheap!) music recording studios in San Francisco. The first album produced at Melon was a benefit record for a high school environmental education program. Kids did internships as engineers in the studio, did all the cover art and helped raise the money for the pressings, and even sold the albums.
In Robin’s own words – a completely impractical fundraising plan,
but a rich and rewarding learning experience.
‘One Golden Moment’ was the title track of the album released in 1978. It was written in a moment of solitude while witnessing the sunrise in the wild beauty of the High Sierras, California. Robin Woodland – a pure song. I wasn’t trying to create a catchy tune. I was having an experience of my heart being opened by love.
Richard Pass ~ We’ll Find Love
Richard Pahigian (Pass) was born in 1946, in Worcester, Massachusetts. His earliest years were spent living with his mother and brother in his grandmother’s apartment while his father was away in the service.
Always creative, Richard had begun putting lyrics to music at an early age. As he grew older he performed at local venues, including joining several Polka bands and playing at weddings. On a sunny day at the beach in Cape Cod, 1968, Richard casually sings and plays the guitar. He was approached by a musician who was spending the summer working at ‘Your Father’s Mustache’, which was a popular local venue. He told Richard he liked what he heard. His connections resulted in Richard travelling to Chicago to meet with Cherry Records.
Richard Pahigian had written ‘We’ll Find Love’ during a quick burst of creativity. The label suggested a name change to Richard Pass and a 45 was released with ‘A World All Of Our Own’ on the flip. Soon after release the Cherry Records producer Richard had been working moved to the West Coast and their connection faded.
Through 1968 and 1969 Richard was performing more, including venues around Hyannis Port, MA. He got a regular gig at the ‘Improper Bostonian’ a venue already popular on the college music scene. After playing at the vebue for a while, Richard became concerned that he had not been paid. Asking management to look into this they found many cheques mailed to Richard Pass. They had been returned to sender as Richards postman knew him only as Pahigian. As summer was rapidly approaching Richard was hired to perform at ‘Your Father’s Mustache. Here he met John Delorenzo, who approached the young singer and told him that he had more connections. Richard had a new agent and gigs in New York City.
Moving to the Big Apple he started a residency at ‘Adam’s Rib Pub’. A group of jingle writers had started to come regularly to hear his music. They took Richard under their wing and shared his dream of landing a recording contract and finding success. Richard enjoyed the summer of music but headed back home. Richard worked as a teacher but would return to New York City on vacation weeks. Knocking on the doors of music publishers and A&R people to ask if they would give his songs a listen. But the big time was always just out of reach, leaving Richard with a back catalogue of beautiful but unreleased songs.
Richard lives with his wife Catherine, in Charlton, Massachusetts, a small rural town outside of Worcester with their little dog, Peanut.
Kip Carmen ~ That’s Enough For Me
Kip Carmen is an R&B and soul musician out of Long Island, New York. His music career has lasted over thirty years, highlights include recording at Royal Studios in Memphis for Hi Records in the 1970s. Collaborating frequently with the great Cornell Dupree and Jimmy Allen Smith from Stuff. And opening for Albert King, B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, James Cotton, and many more.
After serving in the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point, and after being given an honourable discharge from the United States Army, in 1970, Kip put together a local band and started performing. He wrote ‘That’s Enough For Me’ in the early 1970s. It was recorded by Compass for a 45 on True Love Records, and by Kip himself in 1973 for a 45 on Queen Bee records. This record receives big responses from audiences across the country, including in Memphis, Tennessee. As a result, in July 1974, Kip received an offer to record some demos for Hi Records at Royal Recording Studios. The version featured here was recorded during that demo session. With Kip Carmen on vocals and guitar, his rhythm section from Long Island, New York featured; Ben Ninmann on Hammond Organ and Fender Rhodes Key Bass, Mark Ryan on Guitar, and Jim Walker on Drums. In 1974 Hi Records released another 45 from this session – ‘Macon Woman Blues’, on their subsidiary label Mach Records.
See the artwork for the compilation by clicking on the image
Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours – Volume One was released on RE:WARM records September 2022.
“An endlessly rewarding compendium of outsiders” 8/10
Terry Staunton / Uncut Magazine
“This is a universe of sound you’ll be glad you washed up in” 4 Stars
Hugh Dellar / Shindig! Magazine
Also crowned compilation of the week on Lauren Lavernes BBC 6 Music show. Tracks from the compilation have also featured on Gilles Peterson BBC 6 Music show.
Features at No.5 in the Piccadilly Records END OF YEAR REVIEW 2022 / TOP 20 COMPILATIONS chart.
Also features in Mr Bongo’s Best Of The Year 2022 chart.
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Volume Two will be released in September 2023
See the artwork for the compilation by clicking on the image
Another of my compilations ‘We Are The Children Of The Sun’ was released April 2022 on BBE records. A lovingly handpicked musical excursion that takes in strummed soft rock, blissful beach beats, the soft fizz of electronica, all carried to your ears by a gentle summer breeze. It ranges from hazy, long-forgotten early 70s tapes, right through to digital compositions recorded during lockdown in 2020. Tune in and ruminate while consciousness is awoken with transmissions dropping out from the fringes of psyche tranquillity, holding hands with folk-funk that runs deep and hazy, as the bejewelled turquoise waters lap gently at the ocean’s shore
“One of the most emotionally uplifting and hazily beautiful compilations of recent years.” 8/10
Andrew Male MOJO Magazine
“INCREDIBLE! Every single song. It was sublime.”
Colleen Murphy Balearic Breakfast / Classic Album Sundays
“An exquisite selection of obscure private press folk funk and AOR lovingly hand picked and compiled by one of the most knowledgeable collectors in the field.”
Kev Beadle Mind Fluid / Focal Points
“Paul really is a trailblazer when it comes to this genre. With his never-ending and stupefying mixes over the years, I think it’s safe to say he’s the go-to guy for all things folk-funk. This compilation is a culmination of years of seriously deep digging and is something to be proud of. Congrats on a perfect selection. 10/10”
Danny McLewin Psychemagik
Features at No.15 in the Piccadilly Records END OF YEAR REVIEW 2022 / TOP 20 COMPILATIONS chart.
This will be followed up with the release of ‘Once Again We Are The Children Of The Sun’ also on BBE records.
For Cassady Bean and Cosmo Kesey, I love you with all my heart
So what is this ‘Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours’ thing anyway? Well, it’s tricky to put a finger on. Folk-funk had been around for a while so I added ‘& Trippy Troubadours’ to give me a little wiggle room from the genre police. To me, the folk-funk groove sounds like it has one leg shorter than the other, let’s call it a funky limp. ‘Feel The Spirit’ by Heaven & Earth, ‘Taking So Long’ by Kathy Smith, ‘Mountain Song’ by Penny Nichols, and ‘Woodenships’ by Christine Harwood are all great places to start. And for a trippy troubadour? Well, think lost, private press, DIY and loner folk singer songwriters as seen here on this compilation.
All tracks handpicked by Paul Hillery; a heathen, conceivably, but not, I hope an unenlightened one. Father, friend, vinyl hunter and curator at Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours. pH has carried his record boxes to many a venue and played alongside The Polyphonic Spree, Arthur Lee & Love, Bonnie Dobson, Spiritualized, 4 Hero, Happy Mondays, Simian, The Bees, Julian Cope, Courtney Pine and many, many, more. He has also graced the turning tables at Spiritland, Refuge, Festival No.6, Lunar Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Psychemagik’s Magik Forest.
Beatitudes and thank yous to: brother Bob Fletcher; Micky & Ali at Warm; Dave Philpot at Republic Of Music; all the artists and their families who helped with sleeve notes. Hugs to: Tony Higgins; Peter Adarkwah at BBE; Danny McLewin; Patrick Forge & Laura; AOR Disco’s Matthew Hamilton; Rhys Jones; Peter Beaver; Chris Maude & Fritz; James Clark; Les Fisher; Sie Norfolk; Richard Melay; Penny Carey; Nigel Pickford; ‘Geoff’ Cave; Christopher Todd Penn; Tim DeLaughter; Barnaby ‘Jah Shabby’ Harsent; Simon John Roberts & Juvenile 2000; Spinadisc Records; Asa Bricknell; Andy Pye; Alan McKinnon; Santi Oviedo; Mark GV Taylor; Üllar Siir; Matt Bruce; Steven Hickey; and friends on verygoodplus.co.uk
Blessings and virtual hugs to all the online supporters of my music. If I forgot to mention you, sorry.
Praise be; David Crosby, Terry Callier, Arthur Lee, Brian Wilson, Nick Drake, Bridget St. John, Ian Curtis, Matt Deighton, Ken Kesey and Albert Hofmann.
Music is love… Paul Hillery, 2022
Music Is Love
All artwork on this page are owned by the artist who created them © No copyright infringement is intended – this post is for eductional uses only
