Ralph McTell
Encyclopedia
Ralph McTell is an English singer-songwriter
and acoustic guitar
player who has been an influential figure on the UK
folk music
scene since the 1960s.
Ralph McTell is best known for the song "Streets of London
", which has been covered by over two hundred artists around the world. In the 1980s he wrote and played songs for two TV children's programmes, Alphabet Zoo
, which also featured Nerys Hughes
, followed by Tickle On The Tum
, featuring Jacqueline Reddin. Albums were also released from both series. He also recorded the theme song to Cosgrove Hall's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows
with Keith Hopwood
, and this was released as a single in 1984 after the series was aired on ITV
.
McTell's guitar playing has been modelled on the style of the US's country blues
guitar players of the early 20th century, including Blind Blake
, Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell
. These influences led a friend to suggest that he change his professional name to McTell as his career was beginning to take shape.
, London
. During the Second World War she was living in Banbury
, Oxfordshire
, with her sister Olive when she met Frank May. They married in 1943 while Frank was home on leave from the army. Winifred moved to Croydon
, Surrey
, and McTell was born on December 3, 1944 in Farnborough
, Kent
. He was named after Ralph Vaughan Williams
- Frank had worked as the composer's gardener before the war. A second son, Bruce, was born in 1946. Frank was demobilized, but after a year or so at home, he walked out on his family in 1947.
Winifred was left to support herself and bring up the boys unaided. She told McTell's biographer, "I remember Ralph saying to me quite soon after Frank left us, 'I'll look after you, Mummy'. I guess he'd got used to Frank being away all his short life." But despite their father's desertion and the consequent poverty, Ralph and Bruce May had a happy and fulfilled childhood in Croydon.
McTell's love of music surfaced early. He was given a plastic mouth organ and his grandfather, who played the harmonica
, taught and encouraged him. The brothers spent many contented summer holidays at Banbury
with their uncle and aunt and their grandparents. Banbury and north Oxfordshire
would figure throughout McTell's life. Later, he recalled those childhood summers in his song "Barges".
teacher: "I loved the ceremonial and the music," he says, "you can hear the influence of hymn tune
s in my song structures."
In 1952, two youths attempted to break into a Croydon warehouse: one, Derek Bentley
, surrendered to the police but the other, Christopher Craig, shot and killed a police officer. Yet at the trial Bentley was sentenced to death. "My mum knew the Bentleys," McTell recalls. "I was about eight, but even then I could see the horror and injustice of executing a teenager for a murder he didn't commit." Many years later, McTell expressed that sense of injustice in the song "Bentley & Craig".
Grammar School
. He hated his time there, and despite being a very bright pupil, he did not do well academically. Many of his fellow pupils were from wealthier backgrounds, and though having many school friends, he felt he didn't fit in.
Musically, his tastes tended towards being an outsider as well. He was captivated by skiffle
and American rock'n'roll. Acquiring an old ukulele
and a copy of The George Formby Method, he played his first chord
. He later recalled, "I was thunderstruck - it was like magic!" Soon, he mastered skiffle classics such as "Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O", and by his second year at school, he formed a skiffle band.
By the age of 15, McTell was very anxious to leave grammar school and the British Army
looked like a way out, so in 1959 he enlisted in the Junior Leaders Battalion of The Queen's Surrey Regiment. Army life proved far worse than school. After six months, he bought himself out and resumed his education at technical college, passing several O level exams and an A level exam in art.
culture that flourished in the 1950s and early 1960s. Besides reading the works of writers such as Jack Kerouac
and Allen Ginsberg
, he discovered African American
music - jazz
, blues
and R&B. Inspired by musicians such as Jesse Fuller
, Ramblin' Jack Elliott
, Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters
, he bought a guitar and practised assiduously.
He and a group of like-minded friends became habitués of London's Soho
jazz clubs and regularly went down to Brighton
to "...sit on the beach looking windswept and interesting," as McTell put it. Soon he was spending much of his time away from Croydon, supporting himself with temporary work in factories, laundries and hotels.
During his travels, McTell met musicians who were destined to remain life-long friends, among them Jacqui McShee
(later to gain fame in the band Pentangle
), Martin Carthy
and Wizz Jones
. He was persuaded to join a bluegrass
-influenced band called the Hickory Nuts, who performed all over England and, despite playing in some dire places for pin money early on, ended up with decent fees and respectable crowds in venues such as Croydon's Fairfield Halls
.
around Europe
with his guitar
. He spent time in France
and visited Belgium
and Germany
. Other trips took him to Italy
and through Yugoslavia
("I felt a madness there, even then") to Greece
.
Paris
was a city which McTell revisited frequently. Late in 1965 he and a friend from Croydon took a room in a cheap hotel on the Left Bank
, earning their rent by busking cinema queues. After braving a bitterly cold Paris winter, McTell met a young American, Gary Petersen, who had studied with the legendary guitarist Reverend Gary Davis
. "There was a great anticipation every time I got to play with (Petersen)," McTell recalled. "Each time I learned something new, and through him I learned how to play ragtime
properly."
In the spring of 1966, McTell met another émigré to Paris, a student from Norway
named Nanna Stein. The pair soon became inseparable. Back in England, they lived in a caravan in Cornwall
. McTell and Wizz Jones were regular performers on the Cornish circuit, especially at The Folk Cottage in Mitchell
. It was Jones who suggested the stage name 'McTell', "...after Blind Willie McTell
, whose 'Statesboro Blues
' we both loved".
Cornwall captured McTell's heart - a place whose "unique spirit got to me" - and the county has always remained a place for him to retreat to. By the end of 1966, Ralph and Nanna were expecting their first child. They married on November 30 in Norway and returned to live in Croydon with Winifred. Ralph and Nanna's son, Sam, was born on January 21, 1967.
After an unrewarding spell at teacher training college
, McTell decided he'd try to make it full time in music. As well as his vocal and instrumental talents, he was developing as a songwriter and was in demand in folk clubs and festivals.
and by the end of the year was recording his first album. Arranged by Tony Visconti
and produced by Gus Dudgeon
, the album, Eight Frames a Second
, was released early in 1968. It came to the attention of the BBC
and was featured on radio programmes including Country Meets Folk in August and John Peel
's Top Gear
. The release of the album meant more live work so McTell's brother Bruce became his manager and booking agent.
His second album Spiral Staircase
, recorded for Transatlantic in late 1968, included the first recording of "Streets of London
", which was recorded in one take by McTell on guitar and vocals.
The third album, My Side of Your Window
, released in 1969, became Melody Maker
magazine's Folk Album of the Month. In July, McTell had appeared at Cambridge Folk Festival
for the first time and at the end of the year headlined at Hornsey Town Hall.
By May, he was sufficiently successful to fill the Royal Festival Hall
in London
. In August, McTell played the huge Isle of Wight Festival
alongside Jimi Hendrix
, Joan Baez
, and Leonard Cohen
.
Bruce May had bowed out and McTell was now being managed by impresario Jo Lustig
. In October 1970, McTell sold out the Royal Festival Hall again and the album Revisited
was released. This remixed compilation was originally intended to introduce McTell to American record-buyers but was released in the UK.
Ralph and Nanna's daughter Leah was born on February 9, 1971.
You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here
was released on the Famous label in 1971. Among the highlights of this fourth studio album was "The Ferryman", inspired by the Herman Hesse book Siddhartha. That year also saw McTell's first tour in the United States
.
Initially, Paramount Records
had been McTell's American label but had not been supportive, and he later signed with Warner Bros. Records
. While in the US, McTell hung out with the British folk-rock band Fairport Convention
, establishing a lifelong professional relationship as well as personal friendships.
Paramount put a new recording of "Streets of London
" on the US release of You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here, and, in April 1972, issued it as a single in the Netherlands
, where it charted, climbing slowly to No. 9 in May.
McTell's fifth album, Not Till Tomorrow
, was produced by Tony Visconti, and released on Reprise in 1972. His UK concert tour played to packed houses and he met one of his guitar heroes, the Rev Gary Davis. By the end of the year, he'd parted company with Jo Lustig and his brother Bruce was again managing his career.
Although living in Putney
, south west London, Ralph and Nanna bought a derelict cottage in Cornwall during 1972.
on 5 May, whilst the winter tour was completed in front of a full-house at London's Royal Albert Hall
on 30 January 1974. By the end of the year, McTell was in the studio with Visconti again working on his next album. Released early in 1974, Easy
won critical acclaim and became McTell's first album to do well in the charts. It was promoted by lengthy tours of Britain and Europe with Danny Thompson
and Mike Piggott as backing musicians. Despite the civil unrest and violence in Northern Ireland
, the tour included concerts in the province - in fact, McTell continued to play there regularly throughout 'the Troubles'.
" with bassist Rod Clements
and backing vocalists Prelude
. Released as a single late in 1974, it rocketed up the charts to No. 2 over the Christmas period, became a worldwide million-seller, and won McTell the Ivor Novello Award.
In early 1975, McTell released the album Streets...
, which sold strongly and spent twelve weeks in the album charts. Backing musicians on the album included Lindisfarne
's Rod Clements, Fairport Convention's Dave Pegg
and Jerry Donahue
, and Maddy Prior
from Steeleye Span
. He decided to tour with a band to promote the album, but the experiment was not a success. That tour, he recalls, "became a nightmare." It was time for a break. McTell went to America with his family where he spent time relaxing and writing. Refreshed, he returned to the UK.
During 1976, McTell topped the bill at Montreux Jazz Festival
and played another sold-out concert at The Royal Albert Hall. This was followed by his first tour of Australia
and the far east. At McTell's insistence, local buskers were given free tickets for the flagship concert at Sydney Opera House
.
Ralph and Nanna's son Tom was born on 7 September 1976.
McTell's eighth album, Right Side Up, was released late in 1976 and the year ended with a packed-out Christmas concert in Belfast
where he got standing ovations both before and after the show.
The concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and Sydney Opera House had both been recorded and in 1977, Warner Bros. Records released the live album Ralph, Albert and Sydney.
During the year, McTell met John 'Jonah' Jones, a popular figure on London's music scene. It was the start of a close friendship that lasted until John's death in 2003. After tours in the US and Britain, McTell again appeared at Cambridge Folk Festival
.
Professionally, it was a quieter year so Ralph May was able to enjoy his family. He and Nanna divided their time between their London home and their house in Cornwall.
In March 1979, McTell played The Royal Festival Hall accompanied by Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks
of Fairport Convention, and Nigel Smith and Mike Piggott.
McTell had written a lot of new songs and went into the studio with backing musicians including Richard Thompson, Dave Pegg and Simon Nicol
. The resulting album, Slide Away The Screen was released by Warner Bros. Records.
The recording contract with Warner Bros. Records expired in 1980 so Ralph and Bruce set up Mays Records as an 'own brand' label. It would be a year or more until they had an album to release but meanwhile McTell continued to tour.
During 1981, McTell, Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks and Richard Thompson formed an impromptu band called The GP's. They performed half-a-dozen concerts but contractual restrictions meant the band couldn't be developed further.
The first release on Mays Records was the 1981 single "England", a song later adopted as the theme for a television travelogue presented by comedian Billy Connolly
, a long-standing friend of McTell's. Mays Records' first album release was Water Of Dreams, which featured "Bentley & Craig", the song that led to McTell's support of the campaign to grant Derek Bentley a posthumous pardon.
commissioned Alphabet Zoo
, a series of children's programmes built around songs written and performed by McTell. Although initially reluctant to accept the offer, the fact that one of his heroes, Woody Guthrie
, had composed dozens of songs for children, convinced him it was worthwhile. The first series, broadcast in 1983, was a big success. A second series followed and Mays Records released two albums of the material - Songs From Alphabet Zoo and Best of Alphabet Zoo.
During 1983, McTell presented his own music series on BBC Radio 2
. His guests included Billy Connolly, Georgie Fame
, Simon Nicol with Dave Swarbrick
, and Mike Harding
.
In 1984, McTell fronted another children's TV programme, called Tickle On The Tum
, again built around his songs. McTell featured in three series alongside guests including John Wells
, Willie Rushton
, Kenny Lynch
, Penelope Keith
and Nerys Hughes
. Mays Records released The Best of - Tickle on the Tum in 1986. The first series was released on DVD by Revelation Films in 2010.
McTell was still playing concerts between his television commitments and he toured during 1984 at home and in Canada
and the US. After composing the music for a Skol
lager advertising campaign, he decided to concentrate on his musical career and turned down further television work.
, a company that pushed its products heavily with major advertising and hyping campaigns. McTell was persuaded to record an album which mixed his own material and 'classic songs' such as "Penny Lane", "Morning Has Broken" and "Scarborough Fair". The result, At the End of a Perfect Day, released late in 1985, was one of McTell's least satisfactory recordings. It was "a totally commercial venture and a miserable failure," he said later; "...while I was reluctant to do it, the possibility of getting the kind of back-up that Telstar were offering was too good to miss."
The next year McTell was back on form with Bridge of Sighs. Released on Mays Records in 1986, the album gathered together a lot of hitherto unfinished songs. It included "The Girl from the Hiring Fair" (originally written for Fairport Convention, and in whose core repertoire it remains to this day), and "The Setting", influenced by Sean O'Faolain.
' UK tour. He greatly enjoyed working with Don and Phil who, he admits, were musical heroes of his.
McTell's end-of-tour gift to himself was Albert, an African Grey Parrot
. In years to come, the bird would not only learn to talk but, by mimicking its owner's cough, would spur McTell to give up the hand-rolled cigarettes he'd smoked all his adult life.
After tours in Europe, the US and Australia
, McTell was back in the studio in February, 1988 to record the album Blue Skies Black Heroes. Released on his own Leola Music label, the album was a homage to the blues and ragtime musicians who had so influenced his playing.
"Nearly all my guitar heroes are black, American, usually blind and most of 'em dead," McTell explained. All the tracks on Blue Skies Black Heroes were recorded as live takes, four with Danny Thompson on bass. The follow-up tour that summer saw McTell on the road with a veritable arsenal of guitars.
1988 also saw the release of a compilation album, The Very Best of Ralph McTell. Issued by Start, it was McTell's first album to appear on CD.
McTell was a regular visitor to, and occasional performer at, Fairport Convention
's annual music festival in the village of Cropredy
, near Banbury. The location inspired him to pen the ballad "Red and Gold" about the English Civil War
, which has become another staple of Fairport's repertoire.
At the end of 1988, Bruce ceased to be McTell's manager, the post being taken by Mick McDonagh.
's Woodworm
Studio in Barford St. Michael. The resulting album, A Collection of His Love Songs, was subtitled 'Affairs of the Heart'.
To support the album's release, McTell undertook an extensive tour in the autumn and early winter. The tour was well-supported with PR
material and was managed on the road by John 'Jonah' Jones.
The next year, 1990, Castle released Stealin' Back, another collection of McTell's blues and jug band
numbers.
In 1991, McTell shared the billing with Donovan
on a tour of Germany
. He also toured in his own right in the UK.
A second Castle compilation was released in 1992 to celebrate McTell's 25 years of recording. Silver Celebration featured a selection of tracks including "The Ferryman", "From Clare To Here" and "Streets Of London". A very extensive Silver Celebration tour occupied much of the year, again managed by 'Jonah' Jones.
Castle had by now obtained the rights to the Transatlantic catalogue, and released a "Best of" CD with 24 tracks from McTell's earliest albums. Castle subsequently licensed the early McTell back-catalogue to other labels, resulting in the release of several CD compilations under such titles as The Best of Ralph McTell or Streets of London.
in words and music'. It was re-recorded and released on McTell's Leola label as an album. McTell is very proud of this ambitious piece. "Two or three years went into that," he said. "It's grown-up work."
During 1993, McTell toured Australia and the Far East
, and back home he undertook The Black And White Tour. Road Goes On Forever Records released The Complete Alphabet Zoo, presenting the songs from the two television series in alphabetical order. McTell and Mick McDonagh parted company.
In 1994 McTell took part in a concert at the Royal Albert Hall to commemorate the life of Ken Woolard. Ken was the founder of Cambridge Folk Festival
and McTell assembled a band, Good Men In The Jungle, to play at that summer's festival. He also celebrated his fiftieth year by giving up smoking.
Slide Away The Screen was released as a CD by Road Goes On Forever Records with three previously unreleased songs added.
Sand in Your Shoes was recorded at Woodworm, by now relocated in Barford St Michael
near Banbury. The album came out on the Transatlantic label during 1995.
McTell performed his song "Bentley & Craig" at a special service for Derek Bentley
held in Croydon cemetery with the Bentley family. Sadly, Bentley's sister Iris died before he was pardoned and, at her request, McTell performed at her funeral a few years later.
A high point of 1995 was an invitation to perform songs from The Boy With A Note at the Year Of Literature Festival in Swansea
, in south Wales
.
Festival and toured the UK, Europe, and the US.
McTell's long-standing sound engineer, Gordoon 'Doon' Graham, had captured many of McTell's concert performances on the desk, and an album of live material from 1976 to 1995 was released on Leola as Songs for Six Strings Vol II.
Early in 1997, McTell began his association with Tickety Boo, the company which produced Billy Connolly's 'World Tour of...' television series. "In The Dreamtime", the song played over the closing credits to Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia, later featured on McTell's album Red Sky.
In the same year, McTell was the subject of a major feature in The Independent newspaper. An authorised biography of McTell, entitled Streets of London, was published by Northdown Publishing. McTell's concert at Croydon Town Hall was filmed, and released on videocassette as Live at the Town Hall by Leola in 1998.
By now, Leola had taken most of McTell's management arrangements in house. Two sell-out concerts in London's Purcell Room
were recorded by McTell's tour manager and sound engineer, Donard Duffy, and released on Leola as a two-CD set. Entitled Travelling Man, the double album came out in time for McTell's 1999 spring tour. A two-page feature about McTell appeared in The Guardian newspaper in May 1999.
.
McTell's output was not restricted to songs, however. He had been working on an autobiography for some years and the first volume, entitled Angel Laughter, was published by Heartland Publishing in 2000.
To promote Angel Laughter, McTell undertook a tour of bookshops and libraries .
Ralph and Nanna's first grandchild, Ezra, was born on 25 June 2000.
In 2001, McTell undertook a special tour of the UK. Billed as 'The National Tour', it gave McTell a chance to present concerts featuring his newly-acquired National Steel
resonator guitar
. Two live recordings from the National Tour made their way onto the 2002 Leola album National Treasure.
Heartland published Summer Lightning, the second volume of McTell's autobiography, in 2002. Another highlight of the year was the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting presented to McTell at the annual BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. By then, McTell had written and recorded well over 200 songs.
McTell had been touring extensively at home and abroad for many years so in 2003 he decided to take a break from the road. He split the year between his London and Cornwall homes and spent the time writing, travelling and spending time with his grandchildren - by the end of the year there were seven of them.
Early in 2004, McTell co-headlined on Steeleye Span
's tour of Australia and New Zealand
as well as touring in the UK, Ireland
and continental Europe.
McTell appeared at the fortieth Cambridge Folk Festival
(the performance was broadcast on BBC Four
television) and also played at the fiftieth Sidmouth Festival
. He made a guest appearance at Fairport's Cropredy Convention in August.
in November, 2004. The entire show was filmed and released on DVD in 2005 as The London Show.
Leola published Time's Poems - The Song Lyrics of Ralph McTell towards the end of 2005. Dedicated "to Woody Guthrie
, the man who started it all for me", Time's Poems contains "...all the songs I could find in notebooks, on scraps of paper and old tapes, on records and CDs".
In 2006 McTell's 'Walk Into The Morning' tour was a sellout success, creating such long queues to talk to him at his customary 'meet and greet' sessions after concerts, that he was forced to announce in June 2006 that he would no longer be coming out into the foyers after shows to chat with fans.
For his 'up close' tour in September, 2006, McTell performed a set billed as 'Dylan, Guthrie and The Country Blues', featuring his covers of songs by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan
and black American blues artists such as Big Bill Broonzy
. He also recorded an album of the material, titled Gates of Eden. McTell described the music on this CD as "…the beginning of my own journey… these songs are almost sacred to me".
A boxed set of four CDs (accompanied by an extended essay on McTell's songs by Paul Jenkins) was released in October, 2006. Compiled by David Suff from recordings made between 1965 and 2006, The Journey was promoted with several radio interviews and a major tour that included two 'gala' concerts at London’s Union Chapel
. The box set's packaging was designed by John Haxby, who also took the cover photograph.
A solo tour of Australia early in 2007 was followed by 'The Journey Continues' tour in the UK. In August, 2007, Sanctuary Records
recognised the 40th anniversary of McTell’s first recording contract by re-releasing his three Transatlantic albums as CDs with bonus tracks.
, a location that featured in the first volume of autobiography.
A compilation CD comprising McTell’s own selection of songs, including the 'hit' version of "Streets of London
", was released in December 2007 on the Highpoint label as The Definitive Collection.
During 2008, McTell combined the two volumes of his autobiography into a single volume under the title As Far As I Can Tell for publication to coincide with his autumn tour. The new edition featured additional chapters illustrated by photos from the May family album.
On 9 October 2008, McTell appeared on BBC1 TV's nationally-broadcast magazine programme The One Show
in a pre-recorded package about the song "Streets of London
". The interview was filmed in Paris and conducted by Myleene Klass
.
The appearance on The One Show was the springboard for two 'official' McTell internet videos. Made by Leola Music Ltd and published on YouTube
, the videos featured McTell talking about his work and about "Streets of London
", with concert footage shot at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
.
The Institute of Contemporary Arts
concert footage was released during 2008 as a full-length DVD titled McTell on The Mall.
McTell embarked on his most extensive UK tour for many years in October, 2008, visiting thirty venues throughout England. The concert at Birmingham Town Hall was unusual because McTell, who rarely appears with a supporting act, shared the bill with The Dylan Project.
album in July, 2009, titled Streets of London and Other Story Songs, comprising twelve tracks from his back-catalogue.
McTell's summer 2009 festival appearances included a solo set at Fairport's Cropredy Convention on Saturday 15 August. He also joined Fairport Convention
onstage during their set later the same evening.
In October, 2009, McTell was honoured by the UK Parliament
’s All Party Folk Music Group
at a special award ceremony in the House of Commons, to celebrate his lifetime's contribution to folk music. This was only the second time such an award had been made, the previous recipient having been Tom Paxton
.
In early 2010, McTell's Leola Music record label released Affairs of the Heart, a four CD box set of love songs in a presentation package. In keeping with its theme, the album was released on Valentine's Day
, February 14. There were no previously-unrecorded songs among the fifty-six tracks on the set. Two tracks were specially re-recorded but the remaining fifty-four were digital remixes of previous recordings. Comedian Rory McGrath
contributed extensive sleeve notes in the set's accompanying booklet. The sleeve design and set packaging concept were by designer Peter Thaine.
During 2010, McTell recorded an album of new songs, his first for ten years, and released in October as Somewhere Down the Road. He kept an on-line diary of the album’s progress which described assembling the material, the recording sessions and preparing for release. McTell’s UK autumn tour was branded with the same title.
On 21 November 2010, McTell released a seasonal song, "The Things You Wish Yourself", as a download-only single.
.
McTell embarked on a 36-date UK Autumn tour in September, 2011, culminating in a concert at London's Cadogan Hall
on 11 December. On the first night of the tour, McTell launched his new "Songs For Six Strings" boxed set. Eventually there will be six CDs, one for each guitar string, and each with live recordings of six McTell songs. The first CD, representing the '1st - E' string, is available to purchase only at the concerts and from the official McTell website.
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
and acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
player who has been an influential figure on the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
scene since the 1960s.
Ralph McTell is best known for the song "Streets of London
Streets of London (song)
"Streets of London" is a song written by Ralph McTell. It was first recorded for McTell's 1969 album Spiral Staircase but was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974...
", which has been covered by over two hundred artists around the world. In the 1980s he wrote and played songs for two TV children's programmes, Alphabet Zoo
Alphabet Zoo
Alphabet Zoo is a series of ten minute programmes for young children, produced by Granada Television and was broadcast on ITV for two series in 1983 and 1984. It was presented by singer Ralph McTell and actress Nerys Hughes...
, which also featured Nerys Hughes
Nerys Hughes
Nerys Hughes , is a Welsh actress, known primarily for her television roles.Nerys Hughes was born in Rhyl, . She studied drama at Rose Bruford College. She is best known for the role of Sandra Hutchinson in the enormously successful BBC TV series The Liver Birds which ran from 1969 to 1978 with a...
, followed by Tickle On The Tum
Tickle on the Tum
Tickle On The Tum was a series of ten minute programmes for young children produced by Granada Television and aired on the ITV network from 1983 until 1988. The series was set in a shop in the fictional village of Tickle-on-the-Tum...
, featuring Jacqueline Reddin. Albums were also released from both series. He also recorded the theme song to Cosgrove Hall's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...
with Keith Hopwood
Keith Hopwood
Keith Hopwood is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer, businessman and record producer, who served as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocals for the 1960s pop band, Herman's Hermits...
, and this was released as a single in 1984 after the series was aired on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
.
McTell's guitar playing has been modelled on the style of the US's country blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
guitar players of the early 20th century, including Blind Blake
Blind Blake
"Blind" Blake was an American blues and ragtime singer and guitarist.-Biography:...
, Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell
Blind Willie McTell
Blind Willie McTell , was an influential Piedmont and ragtime blues singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont blues, although, unlike his contemporaries, he used exclusively a twelve-string guitar...
. These influences led a friend to suggest that he change his professional name to McTell as his career was beginning to take shape.
Biography
McTell's mother, Winifred (née Moss), was born in HammersmithHammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. During the Second World War she was living in Banbury
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, with her sister Olive when she met Frank May. They married in 1943 while Frank was home on leave from the army. Winifred moved to Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, and McTell was born on December 3, 1944 in Farnborough
Farnborough, London
Farnborough is a settlement in the London Borough of Bromley. It is a suburban development located 13.4 miles southeast of Charing Cross.-History:...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. He was named after Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
- Frank had worked as the composer's gardener before the war. A second son, Bruce, was born in 1946. Frank was demobilized, but after a year or so at home, he walked out on his family in 1947.
Winifred was left to support herself and bring up the boys unaided. She told McTell's biographer, "I remember Ralph saying to me quite soon after Frank left us, 'I'll look after you, Mummy'. I guess he'd got used to Frank being away all his short life." But despite their father's desertion and the consequent poverty, Ralph and Bruce May had a happy and fulfilled childhood in Croydon.
McTell's love of music surfaced early. He was given a plastic mouth organ and his grandfather, who played the harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, taught and encouraged him. The brothers spent many contented summer holidays at Banbury
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
with their uncle and aunt and their grandparents. Banbury and north Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
would figure throughout McTell's life. Later, he recalled those childhood summers in his song "Barges".
Influences
Other childhood experiences shaped McTell's songwriting. A young Irishman and his family were the Mays' upstairs neighbours. Needing a father figure, McTell greatly valued the young man's friendship, which later inspired the song "Mr Connaughton". Similarly, "Mrs Adlam's Angels" recalls his Sunday schoolSunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
teacher: "I loved the ceremonial and the music," he says, "you can hear the influence of hymn tune
Hymn tune
A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm , and no refrain or chorus....
s in my song structures."
In 1952, two youths attempted to break into a Croydon warehouse: one, Derek Bentley
Derek Bentley
Derek William Bentley was a British teenager hanged for the murder of a police officer, committed in the course of a burglary attempt. The murder of the police officer was committed by a friend and accomplice of Bentley's, Christopher Craig, then aged 16. Bentley was convicted as a party to the...
, surrendered to the police but the other, Christopher Craig, shot and killed a police officer. Yet at the trial Bentley was sentenced to death. "My mum knew the Bentleys," McTell recalls. "I was about eight, but even then I could see the horror and injustice of executing a teenager for a murder he didn't commit." Many years later, McTell expressed that sense of injustice in the song "Bentley & Craig".
Teens
After passing his 11-plus school examination, McTell attended the John RuskinJohn Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
Grammar School
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
. He hated his time there, and despite being a very bright pupil, he did not do well academically. Many of his fellow pupils were from wealthier backgrounds, and though having many school friends, he felt he didn't fit in.
Musically, his tastes tended towards being an outsider as well. He was captivated by skiffle
Skiffle
Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
and American rock'n'roll. Acquiring an old ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
and a copy of The George Formby Method, he played his first chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
. He later recalled, "I was thunderstruck - it was like magic!" Soon, he mastered skiffle classics such as "Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O", and by his second year at school, he formed a skiffle band.
By the age of 15, McTell was very anxious to leave grammar school and the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
looked like a way out, so in 1959 he enlisted in the Junior Leaders Battalion of The Queen's Surrey Regiment. Army life proved far worse than school. After six months, he bought himself out and resumed his education at technical college, passing several O level exams and an A level exam in art.
Discovering African American music
At college, McTell became interested in the beatnikBeatnik
Beatnik was a media stereotype of the 1950s and early 1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s and violent film images, along with a cartoonish depiction of the real-life people and the spiritual quest in Jack Kerouac's autobiographical...
culture that flourished in the 1950s and early 1960s. Besides reading the works of writers such as Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
and Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, he discovered African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
music - jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and R&B. Inspired by musicians such as Jesse Fuller
Jesse Fuller
Jesse Fuller was an American one-man band musician, best known for his song "San Francisco Bay Blues".-Early life:...
, Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...
, Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, he bought a guitar and practised assiduously.
He and a group of like-minded friends became habitués of London's Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
jazz clubs and regularly went down to Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
to "...sit on the beach looking windswept and interesting," as McTell put it. Soon he was spending much of his time away from Croydon, supporting himself with temporary work in factories, laundries and hotels.
During his travels, McTell met musicians who were destined to remain life-long friends, among them Jacqui McShee
Jacqui McShee
thumb|300px|right|Jacqui McShee performing with [[Pentangle]] at the 2007 [[BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards]]Jacqueline 'Jacqui' McShee is an English singer. Since 1966 she has performed with Pentangle, a jazz influenced folk rock band.-Biography:McShee's musical career began as a soloist in British folk...
(later to gain fame in the band Pentangle
Pentangle (band)
Pentangle are a British folk rock band with some folk jazz influences. The original band were active in the late 1960s and early 1970s and a later version has been active since the early 1980s...
), Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...
and Wizz Jones
Wizz Jones
Raymond Ronald Jones better-known as Wizz Jones is an English acoustic guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has been performing since the late 1950s and recording from 1965 to the present...
. He was persuaded to join a bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
-influenced band called the Hickory Nuts, who performed all over England and, despite playing in some dire places for pin money early on, ended up with decent fees and respectable crowds in venues such as Croydon's Fairfield Halls
Fairfield Halls
Fairfield Hall is an arts centre in Croydon, London, England and opened in 1962. It contains a concert hall, the Ashcroft Theatre , the Arnhem Gallery civic hall and an art gallery....
.
The busker
By now, McTell had begun travelling abroad, buskingBusking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
around Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
with his guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
. He spent time in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and visited Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Other trips took him to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and through Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
("I felt a madness there, even then") to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
was a city which McTell revisited frequently. Late in 1965 he and a friend from Croydon took a room in a cheap hotel on the Left Bank
Rive Gauche
La Rive Gauche is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two: looking downstream, the southern bank is to the left, and the northern bank is to the right....
, earning their rent by busking cinema queues. After braving a bitterly cold Paris winter, McTell met a young American, Gary Petersen, who had studied with the legendary guitarist Reverend Gary Davis
Reverend Gary Davis
Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was an American blues and gospel singer and guitarist, who was also proficient on the banjo and harmonica...
. "There was a great anticipation every time I got to play with (Petersen)," McTell recalled. "Each time I learned something new, and through him I learned how to play ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
properly."
In the spring of 1966, McTell met another émigré to Paris, a student from Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
named Nanna Stein. The pair soon became inseparable. Back in England, they lived in a caravan in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. McTell and Wizz Jones were regular performers on the Cornish circuit, especially at The Folk Cottage in Mitchell
Mitchell, Cornwall
Mitchell is a village in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated 14 miles northeast of Redruth and 17 miles west-southwest of Bodmin on the A30 trunk road....
. It was Jones who suggested the stage name 'McTell', "...after Blind Willie McTell
Blind Willie McTell
Blind Willie McTell , was an influential Piedmont and ragtime blues singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont blues, although, unlike his contemporaries, he used exclusively a twelve-string guitar...
, whose 'Statesboro Blues
Statesboro Blues
"Statesboro Blues" is a blues song in the key of D written by Blind Willie McTell; the title refers to the town of Statesboro, Georgia. Covered by many artists, the version by The Allman Brothers Band is especially notable and was ranked #9 by Rolling Stone in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar...
' we both loved".
Cornwall captured McTell's heart - a place whose "unique spirit got to me" - and the county has always remained a place for him to retreat to. By the end of 1966, Ralph and Nanna were expecting their first child. They married on November 30 in Norway and returned to live in Croydon with Winifred. Ralph and Nanna's son, Sam, was born on January 21, 1967.
After an unrewarding spell at teacher training college
Teacher training college
A teacher training college is a college of higher education that specialises in training students to be teachers.Many universities offer similar facilities, a number of which acquired their provision by taking over a teacher training college or by a teacher training college evolving into a...
, McTell decided he'd try to make it full time in music. As well as his vocal and instrumental talents, he was developing as a songwriter and was in demand in folk clubs and festivals.
Record deal
During 1967, McTell landed a deal with Transatlantic RecordsTransatlantic Records
Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. It was established in 1961. It started began primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records - by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom. Within a couple of years, the company had...
and by the end of the year was recording his first album. Arranged by Tony Visconti
Tony Visconti
Anthony Edward Visconti is an American record producer and sometimes a musician or singer.Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers; his lengthiest involvement with any artist is with David Bowie: intermittently from Bowie's 1969 album Space Oddity to 2003's Reality, Visconti...
and produced by Gus Dudgeon
Gus Dudgeon
Angus Boyd Dudgeon , most commonly known as Gus Dudgeon was an English record producer, most notable for production of many of Elton John's recordings.-Early career:...
, the album, Eight Frames a Second
Eight Frames a Second
Eight Frames a Second is the debut album by British folk musician Ralph McTell. Released in the UK in 1968, it is notable for being the first record produced by Gus Dudgeon, and the first arranged by Tony Visconti.-Track listing:...
, was released early in 1968. It came to the attention of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and was featured on radio programmes including Country Meets Folk in August and John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
's Top Gear
Top Gear (radio show)
Top Gear was originally a short-lived pop music show on the BBC Light Programme in the mid-1960s.- Origin and format :It was one of the Corporation's few attempts to compete with the pirate radio stations and Radio Luxembourg, who had attracted large audiences of young British pop music listeners...
. The release of the album meant more live work so McTell's brother Bruce became his manager and booking agent.
His second album Spiral Staircase
Spiral Staircase (Ralph McTell album)
Spiral Staircase is British folk musician Ralph McTell's second album. Produced by Gus Dudgeon and released in the UK in 1969, its opening track, "Streets of London", has become McTell's signature tune.-Track listing:...
, recorded for Transatlantic in late 1968, included the first recording of "Streets of London
Streets of London (song)
"Streets of London" is a song written by Ralph McTell. It was first recorded for McTell's 1969 album Spiral Staircase but was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974...
", which was recorded in one take by McTell on guitar and vocals.
The third album, My Side of Your Window
My Side of Your Window
My Side of Your Window is the third album released in the UK by British folk musician Ralph McTell, and the first produced by the artist himself.-Track listing:All titles by Ralph McTell except where stated...
, released in 1969, became Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
magazine's Folk Album of the Month. In July, McTell had appeared at Cambridge Folk Festival
Cambridge Folk Festival
The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival held on the site of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is renowned for its eclectic mix of music and a wide definition of what might be considered folk. It occurs...
for the first time and at the end of the year headlined at Hornsey Town Hall.
Into the 1970s
By 1970, "I'd got a family," McTell recalled in an interview, "and found I had a musical career, somehow." He was getting extensive radio play, and the audiences at his concerts were growing.By May, he was sufficiently successful to fill the Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In August, McTell played the huge Isle of Wight Festival
Isle of Wight Festival 1970
The 1970 Isle of Wight Festival was held between 26 and 31 August 1970 at East Afton Farm an area on the western side of the Isle of Wight. It was the last of three consecutive music festivals to take place on the island between 1968 and 1970 and widely acknowledged as the largest musical event of...
alongside Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, and Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
.
Bruce May had bowed out and McTell was now being managed by impresario Jo Lustig
Jo Lustig
-Early career:Jo was born on October 21, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of 12 he saw Billie Holiday singing in a club and fell in love with music. He became an apprentice music journalist, meeting up with Gloria Swanson and Mel Brooks. Having gone solo, he handled publicity for Miles...
. In October 1970, McTell sold out the Royal Festival Hall again and the album Revisited
Revisited (Ralph McTell album)
Revisited is an album of remixed or re-recorded tracks from British folk musician Ralph McTell's albums Spiral Staircase and My Side of Your Window...
was released. This remixed compilation was originally intended to introduce McTell to American record-buyers but was released in the UK.
Ralph and Nanna's daughter Leah was born on February 9, 1971.
You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here
You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here
You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here is the 1971 album by British folk musician Ralph McTell. The album was produced by Gus Dudgeon, who also produced Elton John's early albums.-Track listing :All tracks composed by Ralph McTell...
was released on the Famous label in 1971. Among the highlights of this fourth studio album was "The Ferryman", inspired by the Herman Hesse book Siddhartha. That year also saw McTell's first tour in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Initially, Paramount Records
Paramount Records (1969)
Paramount Records was a record label started in 1969 by Paramount Pictures after acquiring the rights to the name from George H. Buck. The previous label with the same name had been unconnected to Paramount Pictures. The new Paramount label reissued pop releases by sister label Dot Records, which...
had been McTell's American label but had not been supportive, and he later signed with Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
. While in the US, McTell hung out with the British folk-rock band Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
, establishing a lifelong professional relationship as well as personal friendships.
Paramount put a new recording of "Streets of London
Streets of London (song)
"Streets of London" is a song written by Ralph McTell. It was first recorded for McTell's 1969 album Spiral Staircase but was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974...
" on the US release of You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here, and, in April 1972, issued it as a single in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, where it charted, climbing slowly to No. 9 in May.
McTell's fifth album, Not Till Tomorrow
Not till Tomorrow
Not till Tomorrow is the 1972 album by British Folk musician Ralph McTell. Produced by Tony Visconti, it was McTell's fifth album to be released - and first album to chart - in the UK; and his third album to be released in the U.S...
, was produced by Tony Visconti, and released on Reprise in 1972. His UK concert tour played to packed houses and he met one of his guitar heroes, the Rev Gary Davis. By the end of the year, he'd parted company with Jo Lustig and his brother Bruce was again managing his career.
Although living in Putney
Putney
Putney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
, south west London, Ralph and Nanna bought a derelict cottage in Cornwall during 1972.
The Royal Albert Hall
During 1973, McTell undertook two major tours. The spring tour culminated in a sell-out concert at London's Royal Festival HallRoyal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
on 5 May, whilst the winter tour was completed in front of a full-house at London's Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
on 30 January 1974. By the end of the year, McTell was in the studio with Visconti again working on his next album. Released early in 1974, Easy
Easy (Ralph McTell album)
Easy is the 1974 album by British Folk musician Ralph McTell. Guest musicians include folk pioneers Wizz Jones; Bert Jansch and Danny Thompson from Pentangle; Gerry Conway from Fotheringay; and Dave Mattacks from Fairport Convention.-Track listing:...
won critical acclaim and became McTell's first album to do well in the charts. It was promoted by lengthy tours of Britain and Europe with Danny Thompson
Danny Thompson
Daniel Henry Edward 'Danny' Thompson is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist and businessman...
and Mike Piggott as backing musicians. Despite the civil unrest and violence in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, the tour included concerts in the province - in fact, McTell continued to play there regularly throughout 'the Troubles'.
The hit and the band
McTell re-recorded "Streets of LondonStreets of London (song)
"Streets of London" is a song written by Ralph McTell. It was first recorded for McTell's 1969 album Spiral Staircase but was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974...
" with bassist Rod Clements
Rod Clements
Rod Clements is a British guitarist and singer-songwriter.-Career:...
and backing vocalists Prelude
Prelude (band)
Prelude are an English based vocal folk group, who in their most famous line-up consisted of Brian Hume , his wife Irene Hume and Ian Vardy...
. Released as a single late in 1974, it rocketed up the charts to No. 2 over the Christmas period, became a worldwide million-seller, and won McTell the Ivor Novello Award.
In early 1975, McTell released the album Streets...
Streets...
Streets... is an album by British folk musician Ralph McTell. It was McTell's most successful album, entering the UK album chart on 15 February, 1975 and remaining there for twelve weeks. It opens with McTell's hit single, "Streets of London"....
, which sold strongly and spent twelve weeks in the album charts. Backing musicians on the album included Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne (band)
Lindisfarne were a British folk/rock group from Newcastle upon Tyne established in 1970 and fronted by singer/songwriter Alan Hull. Their music combined a strong sense of yearning with an even stronger sense of fun...
's Rod Clements, Fairport Convention's Dave Pegg
Dave Pegg
Dave Pegg is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, arguably most visible as a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the pre-eminent electric folk band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of important folk and rock groups including The Ian Campbell...
and Jerry Donahue
Jerry Donahue
Jerry Donahue is an American guitarist and producer primarily known for his work in the British folk rock scene as a member of Fotheringay and Fairport Convention as well as being a member of the rock guitar trio The Hellecasters.-Biography:Donahue was born in New York, the son of big band...
, and Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...
from Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
. He decided to tour with a band to promote the album, but the experiment was not a success. That tour, he recalls, "became a nightmare." It was time for a break. McTell went to America with his family where he spent time relaxing and writing. Refreshed, he returned to the UK.
During 1976, McTell topped the bill at Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
and played another sold-out concert at The Royal Albert Hall. This was followed by his first tour of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the far east. At McTell's insistence, local buskers were given free tickets for the flagship concert at Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
.
Ralph and Nanna's son Tom was born on 7 September 1976.
McTell's eighth album, Right Side Up, was released late in 1976 and the year ended with a packed-out Christmas concert in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
where he got standing ovations both before and after the show.
The concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and Sydney Opera House had both been recorded and in 1977, Warner Bros. Records released the live album Ralph, Albert and Sydney.
During the year, McTell met John 'Jonah' Jones, a popular figure on London's music scene. It was the start of a close friendship that lasted until John's death in 2003. After tours in the US and Britain, McTell again appeared at Cambridge Folk Festival
Cambridge Folk Festival
The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival held on the site of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is renowned for its eclectic mix of music and a wide definition of what might be considered folk. It occurs...
.
Quieter times
Ralph and Nanna's son Billy was born on April 19, 1978.Professionally, it was a quieter year so Ralph May was able to enjoy his family. He and Nanna divided their time between their London home and their house in Cornwall.
In March 1979, McTell played The Royal Festival Hall accompanied by Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks
Dave Mattacks
Dave Mattacks is a rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician, and as a performance artist...
of Fairport Convention, and Nigel Smith and Mike Piggott.
McTell had written a lot of new songs and went into the studio with backing musicians including Richard Thompson, Dave Pegg and Simon Nicol
Simon Nicol
Simon John Breckenridge Nicol is a guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He was a founder member of British folk rock, or electric folk group Fairport Convention and is the only founding member still in the band...
. The resulting album, Slide Away The Screen was released by Warner Bros. Records.
The recording contract with Warner Bros. Records expired in 1980 so Ralph and Bruce set up Mays Records as an 'own brand' label. It would be a year or more until they had an album to release but meanwhile McTell continued to tour.
During 1981, McTell, Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks and Richard Thompson formed an impromptu band called The GP's. They performed half-a-dozen concerts but contractual restrictions meant the band couldn't be developed further.
The first release on Mays Records was the 1981 single "England", a song later adopted as the theme for a television travelogue presented by comedian Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
, a long-standing friend of McTell's. Mays Records' first album release was Water Of Dreams, which featured "Bentley & Craig", the song that led to McTell's support of the campaign to grant Derek Bentley a posthumous pardon.
Television
In 1982, McTell's career took an unexpected change of direction. Granada TelevisionGranada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
commissioned Alphabet Zoo
Alphabet Zoo
Alphabet Zoo is a series of ten minute programmes for young children, produced by Granada Television and was broadcast on ITV for two series in 1983 and 1984. It was presented by singer Ralph McTell and actress Nerys Hughes...
, a series of children's programmes built around songs written and performed by McTell. Although initially reluctant to accept the offer, the fact that one of his heroes, Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
, had composed dozens of songs for children, convinced him it was worthwhile. The first series, broadcast in 1983, was a big success. A second series followed and Mays Records released two albums of the material - Songs From Alphabet Zoo and Best of Alphabet Zoo.
During 1983, McTell presented his own music series on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
. His guests included Billy Connolly, Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
, Simon Nicol with Dave Swarbrick
Dave Swarbrick
Dave Swarbrick is an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. He has been described by Ashley Hutchings as 'the most influential [British] fiddle player bar none' and his style has been copied or developed by almost every British, and many World folk violin players that have followed him...
, and Mike Harding
Mike Harding
Mike Harding is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, author, poet and broadcaster. He is known as 'The Rochdale Cowboy' after one of his hit records...
.
In 1984, McTell fronted another children's TV programme, called Tickle On The Tum
Tickle on the Tum
Tickle On The Tum was a series of ten minute programmes for young children produced by Granada Television and aired on the ITV network from 1983 until 1988. The series was set in a shop in the fictional village of Tickle-on-the-Tum...
, again built around his songs. McTell featured in three series alongside guests including John Wells
John Wells (satirist)
John Wells was an English actor, writer and satirist, educated at Eastbourne College and St Edmund Hall, Oxford...
, Willie Rushton
Willie Rushton
William George Rushton, commonly known as Willie Rushton was an English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer who co-founded the Private Eye satirical magazine.- School and army :William George Rushton was born 18 August 1937 in the family home at Scarsdale Villas,...
, Kenny Lynch
Kenny Lynch
Kenny Lynch, OBE is an English singer, songwriter, entertainer and actor from London. Lynch appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s...
, Penelope Keith
Penelope Keith
Penelope Anne Constance Keith, CBE, DL is an English actress.Having started her television career in the 1950s, Penelope Keith became a household name in the United Kingdom in the 1970s when she played Margo Leadbetter in the sitcom The Good Life...
and Nerys Hughes
Nerys Hughes
Nerys Hughes , is a Welsh actress, known primarily for her television roles.Nerys Hughes was born in Rhyl, . She studied drama at Rose Bruford College. She is best known for the role of Sandra Hutchinson in the enormously successful BBC TV series The Liver Birds which ran from 1969 to 1978 with a...
. Mays Records released The Best of - Tickle on the Tum in 1986. The first series was released on DVD by Revelation Films in 2010.
McTell was still playing concerts between his television commitments and he toured during 1984 at home and in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the US. After composing the music for a Skol
Skol
Skol was initially created to be a global beer brand. Allied Breweries , Labatt , Pripps-Bryggerierna and Unibra formed a new company called Skol International in 1964. Its aim was the creation of a world-wide beer brand, Skol, which could be licensed, manufactured and marketed across the world...
lager advertising campaign, he decided to concentrate on his musical career and turned down further television work.
Commercialism
Bruce May negotiated a deal with Telstar RecordsTelstar Records
Telstar Records was a record label founded in 1982 by Sean O'Brien and Neil Palmer with a government loan of £120,000. It was founded as a specialist compilation marketing label and had hits with a range of compilation franchises such as the Deep Heat, Kaos Theory and 100% ranges...
, a company that pushed its products heavily with major advertising and hyping campaigns. McTell was persuaded to record an album which mixed his own material and 'classic songs' such as "Penny Lane", "Morning Has Broken" and "Scarborough Fair". The result, At the End of a Perfect Day, released late in 1985, was one of McTell's least satisfactory recordings. It was "a totally commercial venture and a miserable failure," he said later; "...while I was reluctant to do it, the possibility of getting the kind of back-up that Telstar were offering was too good to miss."
The next year McTell was back on form with Bridge of Sighs. Released on Mays Records in 1986, the album gathered together a lot of hitherto unfinished songs. It included "The Girl from the Hiring Fair" (originally written for Fairport Convention, and in whose core repertoire it remains to this day), and "The Setting", influenced by Sean O'Faolain.
Homage
As well as tours in his own right, McTell secured a prestigious support slot in 1987 opening the shows on The Everly BrothersThe Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
' UK tour. He greatly enjoyed working with Don and Phil who, he admits, were musical heroes of his.
McTell's end-of-tour gift to himself was Albert, an African Grey Parrot
African Grey Parrot
The African Grey Parrot , also known as the Grey Parrot, is a medium-sized parrot found in the primary and secondary rainforest of West and Central Africa. Experts regard it as one of the most intelligent birds. They feed primarily on palm nuts, seeds, fruits, leafy matter, but have been observed...
. In years to come, the bird would not only learn to talk but, by mimicking its owner's cough, would spur McTell to give up the hand-rolled cigarettes he'd smoked all his adult life.
After tours in Europe, the US and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, McTell was back in the studio in February, 1988 to record the album Blue Skies Black Heroes. Released on his own Leola Music label, the album was a homage to the blues and ragtime musicians who had so influenced his playing.
"Nearly all my guitar heroes are black, American, usually blind and most of 'em dead," McTell explained. All the tracks on Blue Skies Black Heroes were recorded as live takes, four with Danny Thompson on bass. The follow-up tour that summer saw McTell on the road with a veritable arsenal of guitars.
1988 also saw the release of a compilation album, The Very Best of Ralph McTell. Issued by Start, it was McTell's first album to appear on CD.
McTell was a regular visitor to, and occasional performer at, Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
's annual music festival in the village of Cropredy
Cropredy
Cropredy is a village and civil parish on the River Cherwell, north of Banbury in Oxfordshire.-Early history:The village has Anglo-Saxon origins and is recorded in the Domesday Book...
, near Banbury. The location inspired him to pen the ballad "Red and Gold" about the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, which has become another staple of Fairport's repertoire.
At the end of 1988, Bruce ceased to be McTell's manager, the post being taken by Mick McDonagh.
Castle compilations
In 1989, McTell signed a deal with the label Castle Communications to produce a compilation of his love songs. For contractual reasons, some songs had to be re-recorded in Dave PeggDave Pegg
Dave Pegg is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, arguably most visible as a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the pre-eminent electric folk band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of important folk and rock groups including The Ian Campbell...
's Woodworm
Woodworm Records
Woodworm Records was a record label created in 1979 to enable the British folk-rock band Fairport Convention to release their album Farewell Farewell. The album was a recording of performances taken from the band's 1979 farewell tour...
Studio in Barford St. Michael. The resulting album, A Collection of His Love Songs, was subtitled 'Affairs of the Heart'.
To support the album's release, McTell undertook an extensive tour in the autumn and early winter. The tour was well-supported with PR
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
material and was managed on the road by John 'Jonah' Jones.
The next year, 1990, Castle released Stealin' Back, another collection of McTell's blues and jug band
Jug band
A Jug band is a band employing a jug player and a mix of traditional and home-made instruments. These home-made instruments are ordinary objects adapted to or modified for making of sound, like the washtub bass, washboard, spoons, stovepipe and comb & tissue paper...
numbers.
In 1991, McTell shared the billing with Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
on a tour of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He also toured in his own right in the UK.
A second Castle compilation was released in 1992 to celebrate McTell's 25 years of recording. Silver Celebration featured a selection of tracks including "The Ferryman", "From Clare To Here" and "Streets Of London". A very extensive Silver Celebration tour occupied much of the year, again managed by 'Jonah' Jones.
Castle had by now obtained the rights to the Transatlantic catalogue, and released a "Best of" CD with 24 tracks from McTell's earliest albums. Castle subsequently licensed the early McTell back-catalogue to other labels, resulting in the release of several CD compilations under such titles as The Best of Ralph McTell or Streets of London.
The Boy With A Note
McTell completed a major project when in 1992, the BBC commissioned and broadcast The Boy With A Note - 'an evocation of the life of Dylan ThomasDylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
in words and music'. It was re-recorded and released on McTell's Leola label as an album. McTell is very proud of this ambitious piece. "Two or three years went into that," he said. "It's grown-up work."
During 1993, McTell toured Australia and the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
, and back home he undertook The Black And White Tour. Road Goes On Forever Records released The Complete Alphabet Zoo, presenting the songs from the two television series in alphabetical order. McTell and Mick McDonagh parted company.
In 1994 McTell took part in a concert at the Royal Albert Hall to commemorate the life of Ken Woolard. Ken was the founder of Cambridge Folk Festival
Cambridge Folk Festival
The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival held on the site of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is renowned for its eclectic mix of music and a wide definition of what might be considered folk. It occurs...
and McTell assembled a band, Good Men In The Jungle, to play at that summer's festival. He also celebrated his fiftieth year by giving up smoking.
Slide Away The Screen was released as a CD by Road Goes On Forever Records with three previously unreleased songs added.
Sand in Your Shoes was recorded at Woodworm, by now relocated in Barford St Michael
Barford St Michael
Barford St Michael is a village on the south bank of the River Swere in Oxfordshire, England, about south of Banbury.-History:The village is part of the civil parish of Barford St. John and St. Michael. Barford St Michael has sometimes been called Great Barford as it is much larger than the...
near Banbury. The album came out on the Transatlantic label during 1995.
McTell performed his song "Bentley & Craig" at a special service for Derek Bentley
Derek Bentley
Derek William Bentley was a British teenager hanged for the murder of a police officer, committed in the course of a burglary attempt. The murder of the police officer was committed by a friend and accomplice of Bentley's, Christopher Craig, then aged 16. Bentley was convicted as a party to the...
held in Croydon cemetery with the Bentley family. Sadly, Bentley's sister Iris died before he was pardoned and, at her request, McTell performed at her funeral a few years later.
A high point of 1995 was an invitation to perform songs from The Boy With A Note at the Year Of Literature Festival in Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, in south Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
.
Tickety Boo
In 1996, McTell presented BBC radio's coverage of SidmouthSidmouth
Sidmouth is a small town on the English Channel coast in Devon, South West England. The town lies at the mouth of the River Sid in the East Devon district, south east of Exeter. It has a population of about 15,000, of whom 40% are over 65....
Festival and toured the UK, Europe, and the US.
McTell's long-standing sound engineer, Gordoon 'Doon' Graham, had captured many of McTell's concert performances on the desk, and an album of live material from 1976 to 1995 was released on Leola as Songs for Six Strings Vol II.
Early in 1997, McTell began his association with Tickety Boo, the company which produced Billy Connolly's 'World Tour of...' television series. "In The Dreamtime", the song played over the closing credits to Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia, later featured on McTell's album Red Sky.
In the same year, McTell was the subject of a major feature in The Independent newspaper. An authorised biography of McTell, entitled Streets of London, was published by Northdown Publishing. McTell's concert at Croydon Town Hall was filmed, and released on videocassette as Live at the Town Hall by Leola in 1998.
By now, Leola had taken most of McTell's management arrangements in house. Two sell-out concerts in London's Purcell Room
Purcell Room
The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats....
were recorded by McTell's tour manager and sound engineer, Donard Duffy, and released on Leola as a two-CD set. Entitled Travelling Man, the double album came out in time for McTell's 1999 spring tour. A two-page feature about McTell appeared in The Guardian newspaper in May 1999.
New century
McTell had been busy writing during the previous couple of years and the result was Red Sky. Recorded at Woodworm and released in 2000 on the Leola label, the album contained 19 listed tracks plus "Tickety-boo" as an instrumental hidden trackHidden track
In the field of recorded music, a hidden track is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, vinyl record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener...
.
McTell's output was not restricted to songs, however. He had been working on an autobiography for some years and the first volume, entitled Angel Laughter, was published by Heartland Publishing in 2000.
To promote Angel Laughter, McTell undertook a tour of bookshops and libraries .
Ralph and Nanna's first grandchild, Ezra, was born on 25 June 2000.
In 2001, McTell undertook a special tour of the UK. Billed as 'The National Tour', it gave McTell a chance to present concerts featuring his newly-acquired National Steel
National String Instrument Corporation
The National String Instrument Corporation was a guitar company that formed to manufacture the first resonator guitars.-National resonator guitar designs:...
resonator guitar
Resonator guitar
A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more spun metal cones instead of the wooden sound board . Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than conventional acoustic guitars which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion...
. Two live recordings from the National Tour made their way onto the 2002 Leola album National Treasure.
Heartland published Summer Lightning, the second volume of McTell's autobiography, in 2002. Another highlight of the year was the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting presented to McTell at the annual BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. By then, McTell had written and recorded well over 200 songs.
McTell had been touring extensively at home and abroad for many years so in 2003 he decided to take a break from the road. He split the year between his London and Cornwall homes and spent the time writing, travelling and spending time with his grandchildren - by the end of the year there were seven of them.
Early in 2004, McTell co-headlined on Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
's tour of Australia and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
as well as touring in the UK, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and continental Europe.
McTell appeared at the fortieth Cambridge Folk Festival
Cambridge Folk Festival
The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival held on the site of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is renowned for its eclectic mix of music and a wide definition of what might be considered folk. It occurs...
(the performance was broadcast on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
television) and also played at the fiftieth Sidmouth Festival
Sidmouth Festival
Sidmouth FolkWeek , is a folk festival held every year in the first week of Augustin the coastal town of Sidmouth in South West England. It offers a range of activities including concerts, ceilidhs, pub sessions, workshops, dance displays, and children's activities...
. He made a guest appearance at Fairport's Cropredy Convention in August.
The Journey
McTell celebrated his 60th birthday with a concert at London’s Royal Festival HallRoyal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
in November, 2004. The entire show was filmed and released on DVD in 2005 as The London Show.
Leola published Time's Poems - The Song Lyrics of Ralph McTell towards the end of 2005. Dedicated "to Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
, the man who started it all for me", Time's Poems contains "...all the songs I could find in notebooks, on scraps of paper and old tapes, on records and CDs".
In 2006 McTell's 'Walk Into The Morning' tour was a sellout success, creating such long queues to talk to him at his customary 'meet and greet' sessions after concerts, that he was forced to announce in June 2006 that he would no longer be coming out into the foyers after shows to chat with fans.
For his 'up close' tour in September, 2006, McTell performed a set billed as 'Dylan, Guthrie and The Country Blues', featuring his covers of songs by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and black American blues artists such as Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
. He also recorded an album of the material, titled Gates of Eden. McTell described the music on this CD as "…the beginning of my own journey… these songs are almost sacred to me".
A boxed set of four CDs (accompanied by an extended essay on McTell's songs by Paul Jenkins) was released in October, 2006. Compiled by David Suff from recordings made between 1965 and 2006, The Journey was promoted with several radio interviews and a major tour that included two 'gala' concerts at London’s Union Chapel
Union Chapel, Islington
The Union Chapel is a Grade II* listed church and music venue in Islington, North London, England, located on Compton Terrace.An example of Victorian gothic architecture, it was designed by James Cubitt, and constructed between 1874 and 1877, with further additions 1877-90, providing an ambitious...
. The box set's packaging was designed by John Haxby, who also took the cover photograph.
A solo tour of Australia early in 2007 was followed by 'The Journey Continues' tour in the UK. In August, 2007, Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...
recognised the 40th anniversary of McTell’s first recording contract by re-releasing his three Transatlantic albums as CDs with bonus tracks.
As Far As I Can Tell
In October, 2007, McTell released an 'audio book' titled As Far As I Can Tell. The three CDs included readings from the autobiography interspersed with new recordings of the songs they inspired. The As Far As I Can Tell treble CD was promoted by a tour that included a concert at St Mary’s church in BanburyBanbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
, a location that featured in the first volume of autobiography.
A compilation CD comprising McTell’s own selection of songs, including the 'hit' version of "Streets of London
Streets of London (song)
"Streets of London" is a song written by Ralph McTell. It was first recorded for McTell's 1969 album Spiral Staircase but was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974...
", was released in December 2007 on the Highpoint label as The Definitive Collection.
During 2008, McTell combined the two volumes of his autobiography into a single volume under the title As Far As I Can Tell for publication to coincide with his autumn tour. The new edition featured additional chapters illustrated by photos from the May family album.
On 9 October 2008, McTell appeared on BBC1 TV's nationally-broadcast magazine programme The One Show
The One Show
The One Show is a topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD, hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker. Chris Evans joins Jones to present the programme on Friday...
in a pre-recorded package about the song "Streets of London
Streets of London (song)
"Streets of London" is a song written by Ralph McTell. It was first recorded for McTell's 1969 album Spiral Staircase but was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974...
". The interview was filmed in Paris and conducted by Myleene Klass
Myleene Klass
Myleene Angela Quinn is an English singer, pianist, media personality and occasional model. She was formerly a member of the defunct British pop band Hear'Say.-Early life:...
.
The appearance on The One Show was the springboard for two 'official' McTell internet videos. Made by Leola Music Ltd and published on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, the videos featured McTell talking about his work and about "Streets of London
Streets of London (song)
"Streets of London" is a song written by Ralph McTell. It was first recorded for McTell's 1969 album Spiral Staircase but was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974...
", with concert footage shot at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
.
The Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
concert footage was released during 2008 as a full-length DVD titled McTell on The Mall.
McTell embarked on his most extensive UK tour for many years in October, 2008, visiting thirty venues throughout England. The concert at Birmingham Town Hall was unusual because McTell, who rarely appears with a supporting act, shared the bill with The Dylan Project.
Story songs
McTell released his first downloadableMusic download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
album in July, 2009, titled Streets of London and Other Story Songs, comprising twelve tracks from his back-catalogue.
McTell's summer 2009 festival appearances included a solo set at Fairport's Cropredy Convention on Saturday 15 August. He also joined Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
onstage during their set later the same evening.
In October, 2009, McTell was honoured by the UK Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
’s All Party Folk Music Group
All-Party Parliamentary Group
An all-party parliamentary group is a grouping in the UK parliament that is composed of politicians from all political parties.-All-party parliamentary groups:...
at a special award ceremony in the House of Commons, to celebrate his lifetime's contribution to folk music. This was only the second time such an award had been made, the previous recipient having been Tom Paxton
Tom Paxton
Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for over forty years...
.
In early 2010, McTell's Leola Music record label released Affairs of the Heart, a four CD box set of love songs in a presentation package. In keeping with its theme, the album was released on Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
, February 14. There were no previously-unrecorded songs among the fifty-six tracks on the set. Two tracks were specially re-recorded but the remaining fifty-four were digital remixes of previous recordings. Comedian Rory McGrath
Rory McGrath
Patrick Rory McGrath is an English comedian and writer. He is best known for roles in Who Dares Wins, Chelmsford 123, Three Men in a Boat and its successors. He was also a regular panellist on They Think It's All Over....
contributed extensive sleeve notes in the set's accompanying booklet. The sleeve design and set packaging concept were by designer Peter Thaine.
During 2010, McTell recorded an album of new songs, his first for ten years, and released in October as Somewhere Down the Road. He kept an on-line diary of the album’s progress which described assembling the material, the recording sessions and preparing for release. McTell’s UK autumn tour was branded with the same title.
On 21 November 2010, McTell released a seasonal song, "The Things You Wish Yourself", as a download-only single.
Tribute
McTell was invited to record his own interpretation of a Bob Dylan song for the BBC Radio 2 celebration of Dylan’s 70th birthday in May, 2011. “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” was also the title of McTell’s own six-song tribute to Dylan, which was released as a downloadable EPExtended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
.
McTell embarked on a 36-date UK Autumn tour in September, 2011, culminating in a concert at London's Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall is a 900-seat capacity concert hall on Sloane Terrace in Chelsea / Belgravia in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, United Kingdom...
on 11 December. On the first night of the tour, McTell launched his new "Songs For Six Strings" boxed set. Eventually there will be six CDs, one for each guitar string, and each with live recordings of six McTell songs. The first CD, representing the '1st - E' string, is available to purchase only at the concerts and from the official McTell website.
Main Albums released in UK
- Eight Frames a SecondEight Frames a SecondEight Frames a Second is the debut album by British folk musician Ralph McTell. Released in the UK in 1968, it is notable for being the first record produced by Gus Dudgeon, and the first arranged by Tony Visconti.-Track listing:...
Transatlantic 1968 (LPLP albumThe LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
) - Spiral StaircaseSpiral Staircase (Ralph McTell album)Spiral Staircase is British folk musician Ralph McTell's second album. Produced by Gus Dudgeon and released in the UK in 1969, its opening track, "Streets of London", has become McTell's signature tune.-Track listing:...
Transatlantic 1969 (LP) - My Side of Your WindowMy Side of Your WindowMy Side of Your Window is the third album released in the UK by British folk musician Ralph McTell, and the first produced by the artist himself.-Track listing:All titles by Ralph McTell except where stated...
Transatlantic 1969 (LP) - RevisitedRevisited (Ralph McTell album)Revisited is an album of remixed or re-recorded tracks from British folk musician Ralph McTell's albums Spiral Staircase and My Side of Your Window...
Transatlantic 1970 (LP) (Remixed compilationRemix albumA remix album is an album consisting mostly of remixes or re-recorded versions of a music artists' earlier released material.One of the earliest remix albums was 1971's Aerial Pandemonium Ballet by Harry Nilsson, which was released by Nilsson after the successes of Everybody's Talkin and The Point!...
) - You Well-Meaning Brought Me HereYou Well-Meaning Brought Me HereYou Well-Meaning Brought Me Here is the 1971 album by British folk musician Ralph McTell. The album was produced by Gus Dudgeon, who also produced Elton John's early albums.-Track listing :All tracks composed by Ralph McTell...
Famous 1971 (LP) - Not Till TomorrowNot till TomorrowNot till Tomorrow is the 1972 album by British Folk musician Ralph McTell. Produced by Tony Visconti, it was McTell's fifth album to be released - and first album to chart - in the UK; and his third album to be released in the U.S...
Reprise 1972 (LP) - EasyEasy (Ralph McTell album)Easy is the 1974 album by British Folk musician Ralph McTell. Guest musicians include folk pioneers Wizz Jones; Bert Jansch and Danny Thompson from Pentangle; Gerry Conway from Fotheringay; and Dave Mattacks from Fairport Convention.-Track listing:...
Reprise 1974 (LP) - Streets...Streets...Streets... is an album by British folk musician Ralph McTell. It was McTell's most successful album, entering the UK album chart on 15 February, 1975 and remaining there for twelve weeks. It opens with McTell's hit single, "Streets of London"....
Warner Bros. 1975 (LP) - Right Side Up Warner Bros. 1976 (LP)
- Ralph, Albert & Sydney Warner Bros. 1977 (LP) (LiveLive albumA live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
) - Slide Away the Screen Warner Bros. 1979 (LP)
- Water Of Dreams Mays 1982 (LP)
- Songs From Alphabet Zoo Mays 1983 (LP)
- Best of Alphabet Zoo Mays 1983 (LP)
- At the End of a Perfect Day Telstar 1985 (LP)
- The Best of - Tickle on the Tum Mays 1986 (LP)
- Bridge of Sighs Mays 1986 (LP)
- The Very Best of Ralph McTell Start 1988 (LP) (CD) (CompilationCompilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
) - Blue Skies Black Heroes Leola 1988 (LP) (CD)
- A Collection of His Love Songs Castle 1989 (Double LP) (CD) (Compilation)
- Stealin' Back Castle 1990 (CD)
- Silver Celebration Castle 1992 (CD) (Compilation)
- The Boy with a Note Leola 1992 (CD)
- Sand in Your Shoes Transatlantic 1995 (CD)
- Songs for Six Strings Vol II Leola 1996 (CD) (Live)
- Live at the Town Hall Leola 1998 (VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
) (Live) - Travelling Man Leola 1999 (Double CD) (Live)
- Red Sky Leola 2000 (CD)
- National Treasure Leola 2002 (CD)
- The London Show Leola 2005 (DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
) (Live) - Gates of Eden Leola 2006 (CD)
- The Journey – Recordings 1965-2006 Leola 2006 (4-CD Box set)
- As Far As I Can Tell Leola 2007 (Treble CD) (Audiobook)
- The Definitive Collection Highpoint 2007 (CD) (Compilation)
- McTell on The Mall Leola 2008 (DVD) (Live)
- Streets of London and Other Story Songs Leola 2009 (DownloadMusic downloadA music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
) (Compilation) - Affairs of the Heart Leola 2010 (4-CD Box set) (Compilation)
- Somewhere Down the Road Leola 2010 (CD)
- Don't Think Twice It's Alright Leola 2011 (Download)
- Songs For Six Strings (1st - E) Leola 2011 (CD) (Live)
Significant Album Reissues
- Love Grows Mays 1982 - LP remix of Slide Away the Screen with different tracks
- The Complete Alphabet Zoo Road Goes on Forever 1993 – CD with extra tracks
- Slide Away the Screen and Other Stories Road Goes on Forever 1994 – CD with extra tracks
- Streets...Streets...Streets... is an album by British folk musician Ralph McTell. It was McTell's most successful album, entering the UK album chart on 15 February, 1975 and remaining there for twelve weeks. It opens with McTell's hit single, "Streets of London"....
Leola 1995 – CD with extra tracks - Ralph, Albert & Sydney (Songs for Six Strings Vol 1) Leola 1997 - CD with extra tracks
- EasyEasy (Ralph McTell album)Easy is the 1974 album by British Folk musician Ralph McTell. Guest musicians include folk pioneers Wizz Jones; Bert Jansch and Danny Thompson from Pentangle; Gerry Conway from Fotheringay; and Dave Mattacks from Fairport Convention.-Track listing:...
Leola 1999 - CD with extra tracks - Right Side Up Leola 2001 - CD with extra track
- Water of Dreams Leola 2003 - CD with extra tracks
- Eight Frames a SecondEight Frames a SecondEight Frames a Second is the debut album by British folk musician Ralph McTell. Released in the UK in 1968, it is notable for being the first record produced by Gus Dudgeon, and the first arranged by Tony Visconti.-Track listing:...
Transatlantic 2007 – CD with extra tracks - Spiral StaircaseSpiral Staircase (Ralph McTell album)Spiral Staircase is British folk musician Ralph McTell's second album. Produced by Gus Dudgeon and released in the UK in 1969, its opening track, "Streets of London", has become McTell's signature tune.-Track listing:...
Transatlantic 2007 – CD with extra tracks - My Side of Your WindowMy Side of Your WindowMy Side of Your Window is the third album released in the UK by British folk musician Ralph McTell, and the first produced by the artist himself.-Track listing:All titles by Ralph McTell except where stated...
Transatlantic 2007 – CD with extra tracks
Other Albums featuring significant contributions by Ralph McTell
- Just Guitars (Various Artists) CBS 1984 (LP) (Live)
- Tickle on the Tum: Stories and Songs (Various Artists) St Michael 1984 (CassetteCompact CassetteThe Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
) - Saturday Rolling Around (The GP’s) Woodworm 1992 (CD) (Live)
- Musical Tour of ScotlandMusical Tour of ScotlandMusical Tour of Scotland is a collection of traditional and original songs and tunes, which accompanied Billy Connolly's 1994 television series World Tour of Scotland. It was released in 1995....
(Billy Connolly) Tickety-Boo 1995 (CD) - One for Jonah (Various Artists) FooPoo 2004 (CD) (Live)
- Tickle on the Tum: The Complete Series One (Various Artists) Revelation Films 2010 (DVD)