I enjoyed the song actually, I stumbled upon the song whilst watching George Gently and a very good singer called Ebony Buckle sang it and played the violin too. Both very well.
Most versions I hear are two chord progression, some violin. I think this jazzed free-form version adds character to a great song. Wish Sandy was singing though. The bass is perfect.
Interesting that the instrumental introduction was "ShadyGrove". There are millions of variants of this ballad. Look them all up. You'll like them all.
Not bad, despite the usual silly comments from the bearded fundamentalists. Lovely bass sound, great mix, great gig. Now, where"s my Liege and Lief been since I last saw it in 1974? Try the attic, or granny's cellar. Then try & find the record deck......
That’s Ric Sanders on the fiddle. Chris Leslie is playing the banjo. I’m not going to get into a debate about the fiddle playing - which is wonderful (to me). But perhaps it’s the slight processing in the sound that he’s using that you don’t like? Swarb’s fiddle sound - back in the day- was very raucous, raw and squealy sounding (from its pick up)- not a conventionally “beautiful“ sound. Love it myself. But then Fairport rarely do any wrong - to my mind and ears