|
Page 2
(Emily Slade Page 2)
Emily's own first stuterring steps as a musician were inevitably taken at Hitchin in front of an audience patiently indulging in her stumbling version of 'Streets of London'. For a period she rebelled in the way teenagers do, but she discovered it was in her blood whether she liked it or not when she teamed up with some friends who were into the music, on a theory of education course at Honiton College Cambridge.
" That's where I started playing regularly again, just for friends really in the halls of residence. I was a really boring student. I didn't spend the student loans on beer parties the way you're meant to' I actually saved the money and spent it on my first promo CD.
Freed from college she sent the CD to club organisers asking for gigs. It got a surprisingly good reaction. Three out of nine got a positive response and another third invited me along for a floor spot. The other third said they couldn't take the risk putting on an unknown act, which I understand because I've seen it from both sides. But it helped me get going".
The first demo neatly crosses the ranges from an impressive version of Michael McConnell's epic ballad The Tinkermans Daughter to arresting arrangements of traditional songs The Maid From Cool Moore and While The Gamekeeper Lie Sleeping to her own song Small Talk, Grand Ideas. It may ultimately be her own material that her forthcoming first official album (self released) consist of with songs like Ladders to Grass telling a tale of tin mining. She's rounded up an impressive cast too, including Diz Disley members of Little John England, Maartin Alcock and yes Pete Morton.
She happily admits the success of Kate Rusby has been a big inspiration. 'I remember when Kate was playing at the Hitchin Folk Club with Kathryn Roberts and she told me she had decided to give it a go as a singer but really did not know how long it would last. There was no way she was expecting what happened. It's inspiring to see her do so well and to see her do it without compromising. She has proved that folk music can appeal to a younger audience. Bill Jones, too, has acheived alot in a short time. I just wonder what happened to the male element. There's people like Tim Van Eyken, but where are the new Pete Mortons and Jex Lowes?"
"I sometimes look at my friends with proper jobs and some of them are now getting mortgages and starting famillies and you can't help wondering if your doing the right thing, but where the children of the folk revival so maybe we don't have a choice! I don't want to be rich, I just want to make a living doing what I love doing.
Colin Irwin Reproduced with Permission from Froots Magazine Sept 2001
|
