Ragged Kingdom

June Tabor & Oysterband's 'Freedom And Rain' (1990) was hailed one of the finest collaborative folk albums of the past 4 decades

Bringing together the immense, individual talents of the sublime English folk singer Tabor and the raucous roots rebels Oysterband, it produced something quite not only new but enduring. When they reunited to perform at fRoots Magazine's 30th birthday party at The Roundhouse in 2010, they felt the chemistry spark again. And so, twenty- one years on, they went reconvened to record the magnificent 'Ragged Kingdom,' a brilliant, belated follow-up that mixes the traditional with the contemporary in startling fashion.

The trad. 'Bonny Bunch Of Roses' rubs shoulders with PJ Harvey's 'That Was My Veil'; a lush, acoustic version of Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' nestles beside the Scottish trad. song '(When I Was No But) Sweet Sixteen'. Stylistically, the participants have each grown even more in stature in the intervening years. June becoming an eclectic song interpreter, drawing inspiration from many sources and Oysterband systematically re-exploring their own acoustic folk roots. Together, they bring all of this added artistic weight to the project yet with a deftness of touch.

Ragged Kingdom was recorded first at Rockfield Studios near Monmouth and then at Metway Studios, Brighton, with Oysters' regular producer Al Scott, Feb to April 2011. "What unites the material on Ragged Kingdom" Telfer continues "is finding the story in the song, and the exact drama in the story: pop songs are often story songs too, and we tried to find things where the story wasn't banal, which had some shading in them.' Love Will Tear Us Apart is a great lyric, and so is 'The Dark End Of The Street'." 

Bonny Bunch Of Roses / That Was My Veil / Son David / Love Will Tear Us Apart / (When I Was No But) Sweet Sixteen / Judas (Was A Red-Headed Man) / If My Love Loves Me / The Hills Of Shiloh / Fountains Flowing / The Leaves Of Life / Seven Curses / The Dark End Of The Street