Folk Songs & Ballads
by Mark T
COS326CD

What people have said about Folk Songs & Ballads:

R2-ROCK AND REEL, Volume 2 Issue 26, March/April 2011
"It’s a long time since Mark T was part of the Rogue Folk boom with The Brickbats and albums like Johnny There.  Some five years ago he got back to his roots with albums of traditional English and Celtic music, of which Folk Songs and Ballads is the latest.

There is a fundamental honesty about this album.  Mark is entirely solo on guitar, harmonica and harmonium with the minimum of overdubs and the songs are generally well known- he’s singing them because he enjoys them.

Not that he’s a slave to the tradition.  The harmonica on “John Barleycorn” gives a bluesy feel and then switches to a two-note phase that echoes a hunting horn.   There’s a real earthiness about his delivery of “Young Girl Cut Down In Her Prime” that is is sometimes neglected.  It’s the story of the funeral of a whore whose corpse stinks of corruption: it needs some blood and guts. 

There are two instrumentals representing Mark’s love of Early Music giving a change of pace and this is an excellent album for any lover of traditional music."
Dai Jefferies

The Bright Young Folk Review, March 2011
"The new album Folk Songs and Ballads from community musician Mark T is an impressive piece of work. Drawing influences from the English, Scottish, Appalachian and Irish traditions, each track is clearly a labour of love, based on extensive research and drawing on multiple influences from other artists. Mark plays solo with steel guitar, bouzouki, guitar and harmonica, creating a rooted and yet scholarly feel to the album.

The highlight is ‘Hughie the Graeme’, a splendid version of the border ballad better known from the Ewan MacColl version. Also excellent is ‘Lord Ronald’, a name-changing modification of the better known ‘Lord Randal’ and ‘Pretty Saro’, originating in the southern Appalachians.

An impressive tie-in to Mark’s album releases is his website hosted by Circle of Sound. http://www.circleofsound.co.uk/markt/index.htm

The site offers a fascinating set of extended ‘album notes’ that describe not only the origins of a track, but also the influences Mark has drawn upon from its performance by other folk artists. There are links to videos of these artists or Mark himself performing, which gives a real insight into the creative process that resulted in the album."
Mike Hough

fROOTS, April 2011, No. 344
"Born again folkie Mark  (T stands for Turauskis) presents a plain-spoken but evidently committed selection of respectful personal treatments of said traditional items, to deceptively simple but masterly guitar accompaniment.  Much better than it might sound on paper..... "

What's Afoot? (Devon Folk Magazine)
"This is a strange album. The title and woodcut cover illustration suggest a very traditional offering from this singer from Berkshire. Even the list of tracks abound in classic ballads such as Lord Ronald, LadyMaisrie and Hughie the Graeme.

Mark T. is not conventional in his treatment of traditional songs, however, with some interesting variations of tunes, rhythm and words. He’s not got a fantastically strong singing voice, and indeed I feel he would have been best to keep to his imaginative guitar and bouzouki backing rather than attempt Emma unaccompanied . His vocal delivery actually comes over best on the upbeat, bluesy style rendition of Whiskey Johnny.

Among the tracks there are a couple of very pleasant instrumentals Veritas Arpie and Packington’sPound. On some tracks he also uses harmonica and harmonium.

At only £4.99 it’s got to be good value if you enjoy a rather unusual take on traditional material."
Colin Andrews