06 May 2011

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Mumford and Sons, Electric Picnic Festival, Stradbally, 5 Sept 2010.


From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

     "A few weeks ago I found a record at Isaac's up on Pleasant. Right next to Mick's. I was flipping through LPs and found this old record that had been pressed around the year I was born. On the back of the sleeve I saw my name. As a song title. I thought it meant something. I thought, maybe the songwriter was my dad just because we had the same last name. So I bought the record even though the track looked like a scratching post."
     I gave her an A.
     "So I started looking for the song. I had to know what the song said."
     From an open D string I hammered onto the E, then picked the C before strumming a few times.
     "In the process I found out a little about the place where I was born."
     I took a deep breath and picked out a slow, soft "Wildwood Flower". At the 'I will dance I will sing' part Katy stepped up to the mic and joined me.
     Right then and there an amazing thing happened. In these kids who threw down Jager by the pint every Friday, I managed to induce images of the buckwheat cakes and the lonely hollows they went back to every Saturday and Sunday. I had to let them know that I knew, and playing that song created a common ground. They were mountaineers not just in the hoodies and ball caps they wore to football games. That's why they sang "Country Roads" every week at the top of their lungs. The hall stood frozen, like in an old photograph. It was so quiet Katy could've played unplugged.


What is it about the old-timey stuff that keeps people coming back? Sometimes I think it's because, as Americans, we shed our ancestral identity to share in a national one. Some of our grandparents, or great-grandparents, took a lot of crap for speaking Czech or Croatian, or being Irish or Jewish. The melting pot began to taste like eggplant or tofu--any substance that absorbs flavors without releasing any of its own.

Then there's the guilt. Germans after World War Two. I'm sure the number of admitted German speakers dropped in the 40s and 50s. There's the slavery issue after the Civil War. And the ongoing mistreatment of Indians. Without getting to psychological, I wonder if we're celebrating this part of our culture because we can.

Folks who are into traditional music know there's been a scene for a hundred years. Through revivals and slumps it's never actually diminished in many places, but people on the outside of those worlds would never know that. I wonder why it took a group of outsiders (Brits) to bring this music to the mainstream.

Sometimes I think hipsters embraced Mumford and Sons because they let them have their 'ancestral' music back, without the trappings of Southern culture. Banjos without the Confederate flags. Songs about whiskey that doesn't come from Tennessee.

Maybe it's just because they write catchy tunes.

Download the show on Sugarmegs.


Mumford and son Electric picnic Festival stradbally 5 Sept 2010 Main stage 7-10-8-00-pm.

Rte in concert radio one 88.5 fm tx 26 sept 2010, Rte radio 2 live from stage 5 sept 2010 interview phathom fm 105 .


In concert 26 Sept 2010.

01 intro.
02 Sigh no more.
03 Awake my heart.
04 roll away your stone.
05 Nothing is written.
06 little lion man.
07 lover of the light.
08 Thistle and weeds.
09 White blank page.
10 The cave.
11 outro.

Interview phathom fm 105 Dublin arera 18 July 2010.

12 interview (Short).

Jenny Houston show Live from stage 5Sept 2010.

13 Nothing is written.
14 Little lion man.
15 Love of the light.
16 Thistle and weeds.
17 White blank page.
18 The cave.

Segments end.

Please support mumford And son with online or hard copy buy and enjoy this music.

Recived on a sony cfd s33l port unit ear out to line in via stereo fly lead audigy soundforge soundcard
split to wav files at 44 khz Traders little helper Flac front end compression level 8 to internet.


Comments

i have included both broadcasts form the festival the live one cuts in at 30 mins or so and the later one has the full set.
i find that the live from stage broadcasts can be diffrent to the later ones as there is no time to alter the sound etc.