Tuesday 1 January, 2013
When we’re not recording we still tend to be playing our instruments. They are the tools of both our work and our relaxation. Here’s a little video of us jamming out Long Black Veil while taking a break from making the album.
This is one of those songs that for years I thought was an old folk standard (by the most prolific duo in history: Mr Trad. and Mr Arr.) but it was actually written in 1959 by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin (and first recorded by Lefty Frizzell).
It is my ambition to write a song that one day gets swallowed up by the collective imagination, something that can live on independently of its creator, like Summertime or Georgia On My Mind. Long Black Veil is definitely one of those songs.
It also has a special significance for me. It was the first song Cleg and I ever played together. We met in Autumn 2006 at a pub gig we were both performing at in Manchester. He came back to mine for a few drinks and ended up staying a week. We became a folk duo and this was part of our set.
We haven’t performed this song for at least four years but, as soon as I started playing it Cleg remembered every harmony and chord. The others got the hang of it in a matter of seconds and this video is how it came out.
Right, back to work…
