Description
Remarkable 20th solo album from world acclaimed, multi-Folk Award winning guitarist/singer-songwriter, Martin Simpson. Featuring special guests, Andy Cutting, Nancy Kerr, John Smith, Ben Nicholls, Toby Kearney.
Produced and engineered by Andy Bell (The Full English, Songs Of Separation, Jon Boden), Trails & Tribulations features some of Martins most inventive playing yet, showcasing his virtuosity on a variety of instruments including acoustic guitars, resonator guitars, Weissenbown lap steel guitar, electric guitars, 5 string banjo, ukulele and voice.
Guest musicians on the new album are: Ben Nicholls (string bass and electric bass guitars), Toby Kearney (drums and percussion), Nancy Kerr (fiddle and viola), Andy Cutting (diatonic accordion and melodeon), John Smith (electric guitar and backing vocals), Helen Bell (strings), Amy Newhouse-Smith (backing vocals) and his daughter Molly Simpson on vocals.
There is no doubt that after 45 years as a professional musician Martin is, right now, better than ever. Widely acknowledged as one of the finest acoustic and slide guitar players in the world, his interpretations of traditional songs are masterpieces of storytelling. His solo shows are intense, eclectic, spellbinding and deeply moving.
There is no-one who has more successfully combined the diverse elements of British, Afro-American and old-timey music than Simpson. His 15 years living in the US were well spent.
His career includes collaborations on stage and record with Richard Hawley, Richard Thompson, June Tabor, Kelly Joe Phelps, Jackson Browne, Danny Thompson, Danú, Martin Carthy, Cara Dillon, David Lindley, Roy Bailey, Martin Taylor, David Hidalgo, Steve Miller, Dick Gaughan, Dom Flemons and many more.
Martin has been nominated an astounding 27 times in the fifteen years of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards more than any other performer with 9 consecutive years as nominee for Musician of The Year, which he has won twice. 2008 saw an incredible 5 nominations for Prodigal Son and 2 wins, whilst in 2010 he had an unprecedented 6 nominations for his CD, True Stories and a win for Best Traditional Track, Sir Patrick Spens. 2012s nominations for Martin include, Best Album for Purpose & Grace, Best Traditional Track for The Lakes Of Ponchartrain and Best Musician. In 2014 his album, Vagrant Stanzas number 44 on the UK album chart, week of release was nominated for Album Of The Year, but it was a member of The Full English that he collectively took home awards that year, for Best Group and Album Of The Year. 2015 saw him working in a new trio with the wonderful Andy Cutting and Nancy Kerr and they also released an album together, Murmurs, to wide, critical acclaim. Whether playing American old-time music, blues, a Dylan song or his own material, Martin Simpson is unpredictable, individual and a guitarist of immense subtlety.
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