From Linn Records Recorded at Mark Angel Studios 7 - 9th October 2001 Produced and engineered by Calum Malcolm A&R Howard Thompson
All vocals & vocal arrangements: Barb Jungr
Julie Walkington: double bass Arrangements: Simon Wallace, James Tomalin, Barb Jungr, Russell Churney, Julie Walkington and Sonia Oakes Stuart. Last summer I was walking on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. I went up inside the corrie on the side of the Cuillin Hills, which lead down to Glen Brittle and up beyond the Fairy Pools. This was above the spot I had been in exactly ten years ago when I saw a black snake by the river. The sun was setting; the sky was the most extraordinary array of colours; the air was clear. There was no one to be seen and not any sound of cars. There, inside the mountains I had an incredible urge to sing a song and that song was Every Grain of Sand. Some months later while I was touring in Norway, my promoter’s partner took me to his favourite place. This was a small sacred island off the coast of Ålesund (the most western point of Scandinavia), where the Gulf Stream meets the Siberian winds blowing down from the frozen Arctic. I jumped out of the car and watched the sky rapidly change formation – one minute it was clear and sunny and the next it was charcoal grey and hailing huge lumps of white stone. Again I was filled with an amazing urge to sing Every Grain of Sand. I shall sing that song in every wonderful place I go to, and like the other terrific songs on this album, I doubt I will ever tire from singing it. One night about eighteen months ago, I was watching the television after having done a gig when a voice came to me as clear as a bell and said, “You must sing the songs of Bob Dylan.” I actually laughed out loud as I only knew a small portion of Dylan’s work, and I had only come to appreciate Dylan quite late on in my listening life (although I always knew Blind Willie McTell was a work of genius). When a voice comes out of the blue like that, I do as I am told and diligently researched like crazy and absorbed masses of recordings that long-time fans of the great American songwriter gave me. I started to realise what a mammoth task I had undertaken. How was I going to search through so much utterly brilliant material?
Eventually certain songs emerged which spoke directly to me, and my list whittled down to what is largely here on this collection. It is not meant to be any kind of statement about the quality or relevance of the particular songs, but these were the ones that just wouldn’t let me go. I had such a wonderful team of musicians and arrangers and Calum’s recording brilliance, and somehow things just kept falling into place. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it. |
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