Reviews:

The 20 tracks include many true classics, all brilliantly performed and with particular care taken over the sound quality despite the rudimentary sources. There are a number of songs written by Renbourn (‘Judy’, ‘Plainsong’) alongside his unique interpretations of classic tracks which remained in his set throughout his life (‘Candyman’, ‘Can’t Keep From Crying’, ‘Come Back Baby’) plus others written by his contemporaries including Jackson C Frank’s ‘Blues Run the Game’ and Davy Graham’s ‘Anji’. This latter is a particular find: “What’s curious is that the date on the tape box is 1962,” says Renbourn in his notes, “which would make it a very early recording of Davy Graham’s classic…it is conceivable that this is an example of a loose version before Davy’s official recording standardised things.” Renbourn had first heard ‘Anji’ via his friend and guitarist Mac MacLeod; it was MacLeod who discovered the tape box in his attic, which began the chain of events and further discoveries that led to this invaluable new collection. John Renbourn is accompanied on two tracks by MacLeod and by others on the scene at the time including Davy Graham and Beverley Martyn whose two tracks were recorded at a gig they shared with visiting American Spider John Koerner (one third of Koerner, Ray & Glover). His wonderful reminiscences provide another highlight of this album, written only very shortly before his death in March 2015. They capture the times brilliantly, written in John’s warm, self-deprecating way. “Mostly it’s me plunking – occasionally in the company of friends from way back.” He had put a lot of time into this project and over the last couple of years had carefully selected tracks, cleaned them and was looking forward to the release with great enthusiasm. John Renbourn has long been regarded as one of the world’s greatest contemporary acoustic guitarists. Over the last five decades he has pursued a remarkable musical journey - dedicated to innovation and technical mastery. His unique guitar style - often called folk-baroque - fuses English and Celtic folk music with jazz, country blues and pre-Renaissance, together with influences from Western and Eastern classical traditions.