Folk Music ~ by Pete Morton

Folk songs came to me from an unexpected route and ended up

Young Pete Morton

colouring the songs I’ve tried to write from the day it happened. Because of them, I’ve aspired to bring something from them into what I’ve been doing ever since. 

I’m happy to be a troubadour passing through an age old minstrelsy, but I wouldn’t have reached that place if it wasn’t for the revved up complaint of Eddie and the Hot Rods driving out ‘Do anything you wanna do’ 40 years ago. 

Yes, very different in obvious ways, but it’s all part of a rich minstrelsy for me and the best way to explain is to remember Leadbelly’s answer when asked "What is folk music?" He replied by saying he’d never heard a horse sing. 

It's funny how things turn out. I never thought further down the line I’d be looking up at a traditional folk song and an Essex pub band song with such equal gratitude. But with regard to folk songs, it's like always wanting to capture something of its indescribable wonder. 

The way I feel now about many traditional songs is that they’re too good to touch by me most of the time - I like to leave them to others. And even though I’m always learning traditional songs, it’s the writing of songs with their influence that has made the creative engine tick for 30 odd years. 

It's the timelessness of recurring human life and love in song. Simple good songs that hold the treasure. This journey to trad began in a very different place with the new wave songwriters of the late 70’s. I loved the clever writing and the energy of Elvis Costello, The Undertones, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, The Boomtown Rats, Squeeze, and through to the wilder stuff -The Sex Pistols, Sham 69, The Ramones, and The Stranglers. That was what I was into up to leaving school at 16. It was perfect for one with a serious lack of concentration and excess of energy. 

Buffy St. Marie

Then, in the summer of 1980, I discovered the songs of Buffy St. Marie. It sort of happened by accident, but I was surely beginning to look for something else to continue my disaffection from a stayed, conservative, sleepy culture while becoming more aware of an unjust world. It wasn’t that conscious, but I was on the hunt for a different kind of social commentary. So, I came to folk songs through the American route. After coming across Buffy St Marie, this led to a wider discovery of the early 60’s protest revival and singers of the civil rights era. I can almost remember the order I got records out of the library . 

‘It’s my way’ , ‘Spin little wheel spin’, ‘Many a mile’ then a Dylan bootleg ‘Little white wonder.’ I was properly hooked.

More Dylan, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and lots of blues greats followed. I learned a lot of the songs from these albums. 

I was desperate to find places to play. Someone told me about Folk Clubs so I got a list from somewhere. Then off I did go. My first floor-spot was two Buffy songs and one Dylan. Not many people at the clubs were singing American songs. They were singing British isles stuff, mainly English, which was quite alien to my ears.

Nic Jones

Growing up, the only folk music I really heard was the Spinners and Jake Thackeray on the telly, but this stuff was different. I made friends and got affected. Does anybody ever forget the first time someone played them ‘Canade-i-o’ by Nic Jones? It was another momentous twist of fate. The intro, the understated delivery and the story blew me away. I began to understand what it was all about. 

I was soon learning songs from earlier Nic Jones’ albums. ‘The Noah’s Ark trap’ and ‘From a devil to a stranger’. My next call of traditional education was ‘Crown of Horn’ by Martin Carthy. Then onto Andy Irvine and Paul Brady. 

I was on a wonderful journey. I began listening to a lot of non-accompanied singers too. Old crackly Topic records of source singers. Murder ballads, love songs, or songs from defiant poachers and weavers. It was border ballads that gripped me next and since then this love of traditional folk songs has never gone away.

It’s important to me for something of the tradition to be in my song. It walks a line between avoiding pastiche, keeping the contemporary edge but never deviating too far from the tradition.

It feels like being part of carrying something on along this merry minstrelsy. But in the end it’s a kaleidoscope - 70's British pub rock owes so much to blues and rock’n’roll, as well as music hall. And music hall owed something to folk. Country and folk owe so much to blues...and I could carry on like this all day. 

Do anything you wanna do, until you hear a horse sing.

Pete Morton is a singer - songwriter in the folk tradition who lives in London.  He has recorded a number of solo albums as well as various collaborations. Besides his life as a singer, he also is a father, a yogi and keen walker. Please visit his  WEBSITE 

All photos used in this article are the property of Pete Morton and may not be reproduced or used without permission of owner.