Big hugs and kisses! Thanks! I have "False Knight on the Road" on a few things I think... let's see... (I could swear I have Frankie Armstrong singing it but if I do it's LP and I haven't heard it in years so maybe that's wrong)
I have Steeleye Span doing False Knight on albums: "Marrowbones" and "Please to See the King" (not apropro here but can't help mentioning I also have a charming Neil Gaiman/Charles Vess illustrated version of it that ran in Dirty Linen, signed by Vess) ;-)
I have June Tabor doing Anachie Gordon on her album: "Always"
I've also always been fond of "Thomas the Rhymer" but think it may be overdone, and "Allison Gross/King Henry/etc". That one does tempt me. Doubtless I could find a lot of interesting versions of that.
I also have long meant to play around with Geordie because I want to add that one to my songs with strong female protagonists collection. (I particularly love the way that it is done on the Silly Sisters album.)
Thanks for the ideas. Re: my voice... Hmm... I know what you mean about my voice being "too good" I suspect you mean "too trained". I'll never sound traditional, certainly not traditional appalachian. I like to think that I could take a ballad and make it my own though. One reason Lyle sucked me into early music so quickly was that I could do a nice straight tone without ornamentation and although through the years I've just naturally picked up various ornamentation styles I can still use them or not as tools pretty well I think. Probably what I'd do is try to pick up as many recorded versions of the ballad as I could and play around with mimicing them until something uniquely mine coalesces out of the mix. (that's typically how I approach a cover I guess).
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-01-18 01:21 pm (UTC)I have "False Knight on the Road" on a few things I think... let's see...
(I could swear I have Frankie Armstrong singing it but if I do it's LP and I haven't heard it in years so maybe that's wrong)
I have Steeleye Span doing False Knight on albums: "Marrowbones" and "Please to See the King" (not apropro here but can't help mentioning I also have a charming Neil Gaiman/Charles Vess illustrated version of it that ran in Dirty Linen, signed by Vess) ;-)
I have June Tabor doing Anachie Gordon on her album: "Always"
I've also always been fond of "Thomas the Rhymer" but think it may be overdone, and "Allison Gross/King Henry/etc". That one does tempt me. Doubtless I could find a lot of interesting versions of that.
I also have long meant to play around with Geordie because I want to add that one to my songs with strong female protagonists collection. (I particularly love the way that it is done on the Silly Sisters album.)
Thanks for the ideas.
Re: my voice... Hmm... I know what you mean about my voice being "too good" I suspect you mean "too trained". I'll never sound traditional, certainly not traditional appalachian. I like to think that I could take a ballad and make it my own though. One reason Lyle sucked me into early music so quickly was that I could do a nice straight tone without ornamentation and although through the years I've just naturally picked up various ornamentation styles I can still use them or not as tools pretty well I think. Probably what I'd do is try to pick up as many recorded versions of the ballad as I could and play around with mimicing them until something uniquely mine coalesces out of the mix. (that's typically how I approach a cover I guess).
How do YOU approach working on a ballad vocally?