MOSSY CHRISTIAN - Come Nobles And Heroes
One Row Records ORRCD002
Mossy Christian, as you will have seen from his cover feature recently, is a young English fiddle player who also plays melodeon, concertina, sings and dances, although here the dancing is performed by Ruth Bibby. His playing is firmly rooted in the English tradition, by which I mean that he has soaked it up and, rather than treating it as a museum object, performs it with love and enthusiasm in the sort of performances which will win him many new friends – including those who may not have previously realised they like English traditional music!
The album kicks off with a couple of dance tunes which thoroughly illustrate that. Spirited, vigorous and cheerful, with a lovely tonal range created by brass, mandolin and guitar, they create an excellent atmosphere to get things under way. His songs are nicely chosen and judiciously paced and they range from Peter Bellamy’s Henry And Susannah and The Way Through The Wood to the Red Barn. Many of the songs and tunes are from the Lincolnshire area and, again, he has breathed new life into them rather than them appearing merely parochial.
Like many of today’s young performers, he is very fond of ornamenting with an upward mordent – but here this is cleverly deployed in a way which helps the tune to flow, rather than (as is often the case) becoming a tic or caricature.
So, with great performances and excellent material, I thoroughly enjoyed this exciting new CD – you will too.
www.onerowrecords.co.uk
Paul Burgess
This review appeared in Issue 139 of The Living Tradition magazine