CELT
IN A TWIST:
A solo artist has a
lot of
responsibility.
Unlike a group, where
duties can be shared
among its members, the
solo performer must
oversee every aspect
from choosing the
songs to playing the
instruments to helping
produce the
recordings. Jim Moray
has taken on this
awesome responsibility
at a young age. In
fact, he is only 23,
and already an
established artist.
His album is Sweet
England, a collection
of traditional tunes
with distinctly
un-traditional
arrangements. We’re
speaking to Jim today.
Hello!
JIM MORAY:
Hi, How are you doing?
CIAT:
Great. More about the
production of the
album in a minute.
But did you play all
the instruments?
JIM
MORAY: Yeah, pretty
much. I had some
string players come in
to play some strings
on it. And I had a
friend of mine play
some drums, and I
played the rest of the
drums on it. But
other than that,
that’s pretty much all
me on the record.
CIAT:
Very good. The album
was produced at the
Afro Celt’s studio,
under the fine hand of
Simon Emmerson and
Mass. How did you
hook up with them?
JIM
MORAY: Simon got in
touch with me about
another project he was
doing. That’s got
lots of guest
contributors on it,
which is actually
still ongoing. I mean
I basically produced
the album on my own at
home and then I needed
help to mix it and to
master it and get it
all sorted. And Simon
very kindly stepped in
to help out. I think
initially we were put
in contact by Ian
Anderson who is the
editor of Folkroots
magazine over here in
Britain. He came out
to meet me at a pub
gig I was doing in
Camden in London, and
we kind of struck it
off and took it from
there. It was very
exciting to work with
him.
CIAT:
The album is very
highly produced, with
strings and horns and
lots of instrumental
support. But you
perform a solo act.
How does that work?
JIM
MORAY: What I do is I
play a bit of piano
and I play a bit of
guitar and I take a
lap top around with me
and kind of build it
up into something
resembling the album.
It caused me a lot of
sleepless nights, how
to reproduce the album
live, until I realized
the answer is you
don’t try to reproduce
the album live, you
just try and make the
songs as good as they
can sound. Quite
often I take them off
in a completely
different direction
live, it’s the same
songs but they might
sound completely
different or they
might sound the same
depending on how they
turn out. That’s one
good thing about
playing solo I think.
You can reinvent songs
in the heat of the
moment, you’re not
tied down. But now as
well I’ve got a band
with me in Britain and
that helps. So we’re
able to present
something a bit more
like the album.
CIAT:
As a musician, you had
your choice of every
kind of music, from
classical to rap. But
you’ve been drawn to
very traditional songs
like “Early One
Morning” and
“Gypsies”. I’m sure
that’s an interesting
story.
JIM
MORAY: I grew up with
folk music. My dad
was a Morris Dancer,
and my mom and dad met
at a folk club. So me
and my sister were
kind of brought up on
their record
collection which was
mainly folk and
traditional music. I
grew up with that.
But my teenage
rebellion kind of
consisted of me going
off to join a punk
band. I played drums
in a punk band. I
didn’t really think
about folk very much.
But then when I went
off to university, I
went to study
classical
composition.
Eventually it came to
a point where I wanted
to go out and play
gigs on my own. When
I did that, the songs
that came out of my
mouth ended up being
folk songs. I kind of
forgotten I knew. The
thing that makes me so
enthusiastic about
traditional music is
the fact that I’ve had
that gap to go and
re-evaluate it. Being
into folk as a child
and coming back to it
as a young adult you
kind of re-evaluate it
on your own terms a
bit more. So I kind
of understand what the
music’s all about in
my own way. I try my
best.
CIAT:
Your website, Jim
Moray dot co dot uk
offers music and other
merchandise, as well
as information. I also
read that the new
album that you are
currently working on
will be darker than
Sweet England. Sweet
England is already
pretty gloomy. How
far over to the dark
side do you want to
go?
JIM
MORAY: I think I feel
naturally drawn to
those kind of songs,
the dark things, and
the darkness in it. I
did say, after Sweet
England was finished,
one of the things I
would leave out one or
two of the tracks that
are slightly more
light-hearted. The
new album that’s
nearly finished is a
lot more dark and it’s
a lot more intense in
some ways. But then
again, listening to it
in one go feels like a
lot more of a release
to me. It feels like
more of an event, you
go on more of a
journey. It takes you
right down into some
kind of dark
underbelly of the
world and then back up
the other side again.
If I continue to do
this for as long as I
want to continue to do
it I’ll have my time
to sing gentle
older-person songs or
slightly more
light-hearted ones.
CIAT:
You’ve worked with
long-time headlining
artists like
Oysterband and Richard
Thomson, and you’ve
picked up a couple of
awards in the past few
years. It’s obvious
that your music is,
well, striking a chord
with the
establishment. And
it’s no exaggeration
to say that you’ve
taken the folk music
world by storm. Why do
you think that is?
JIM
MORAY: I think , when
I was making Sweet
England, I just wanted
to make music that
appealed to me to see
if anyone else would
like it. So it’s
always a pleasant
surprise to find that
other people do
appreciate what you
do. I mean, I’m
loathe to say that
there’s a niche in the
market for what I do
because that sounds
like such a cynical
way to put it. But I
think I do feel like
I’m slightly out on my
own. That nobody else
is playing this music
like this at the
moment. Virtually all
the folk music that I
buy on CD and I go and
see at concerts with
other people playing,
is for people who
aren’t very much like
me. You know, it’s
older audiences, or
it’s people like Kate
Rusby and Eliza Carthy
and Cora Dylan, who
are a little bit more
gentle and a little
bit more feminine,
obviously. There
isn’t very much kind
of visceral boys’ folk
music out there. So
if nobody else is
making it then I guess
it’s my prerogative to
go and make that
music.
CIAT: You will be
heading down to WOMAD
soon, being held down
under in Adelaide and
Taranaki, New
Zealand. How did you
become involved with
that?
JIM MORAY: I got
invited to play WOMAD
Redding, which is the
original WOMAD in
Britain. Last year.
It was a really good
festival and it was
really fun to do so I
was really excited
that I was asked
back. We played WOMAD
Redding on the Village
stage which is a kind
of open-air stage that
faces out onto a big
field. So just as the
sun was setting we
were going on. I took
my whole show and did
it and it was really
fun.
CIAT: Yeah, I love
WOMAD. We’ve only
been once but it was
such a total
experience.
JIM MORAY: Do you
have a WOMAD in
Canada?
CIAT: No, this was in
the northern United
States, in Redmond
Washington.
JIM MORAY: Right,
yes.
CIAT: We’re going out
on The Suffolk
Miracle, and I have to
tell you, I’ve heard
the song twice and
it’s just stuck in my
brain. Tell us about
that song.
JIM
MORAY: It’s quite a
common song in
Britain. It appears
under various
different titles, the
Holland Handkerchief
is the other main
title it appears
under. And it’s been
collected lots of time
and there’s lots of
different versions.
So this is my kind of
edited version of it.
It’s basically a ghost
story. So if you can
follow the plot, it’s
a ghost story. And I
kind of wrote a bit of
new tune for it. I
just thought it might
be a nice idea to
invite some of my
friends to play horns
over it. So it’s got
some jazz trumpeters
over it. So this is
the Suffolk Miracle.
