Career Defining Album

Every so often a performer will come up with a career defining album and that is the case with English folkie Tim Van Eyken and the album Stiffs Lovers Holymen Thieves ( no commas on the cover ). Van Eyken has been an established component of Waterson:Carthy but the success of this album, both artistically and commercially, has prompted him to now pursue a full time solo career. The album features English traditional songs given a respectful contemporary twist in the production and featuring a cast of characters falling into the categories of the disk's title. The basic band lineup is Van Eyken includes electric and acoustic guitar, telling vocal violin and viola contributions from Nancy Kerr and a bass and drums rhythm section. Van Eyken plays either acoustic guitar or accordion and there are telling guest appearances, particularly the brass section on the magnificent Twelve Joys Of Mary which closes the disk in triumphant fashion. The opening is equally impressive with new life being breathed into the old chestnut John Barleycorn and all tracks in between are a delight with topics ranging over brutal murder, military misfortune, lusty country lads and comely country lasses, the injustice of the judiciary and all driven along by a couple of medly folk dance tracks. If you want confirmation of the rude health of English traditional music in the first decade of the 21st century, then the proof is here.