Fay Hield, Old Adam, album review

Save for a Tom Waits song in the traditional mode, Old Adam comprises old folk material in spruced-up new arrangements, offering a kaleidoscopic view of storytelling through the centuries. Fay Hield’s singing throughout is open and honest, delivering the stories unencumbered by needless ornament or moralising. The most familiar are probably “Raggle Taggle Gypsy” and “Jack Orion”, twin tales of sexual deception where carefree carelessness is conveyed by sprightly banjo-picking and dervish fiddling, respectively. But the oldest and most intriguing is “The Hag In The Beck”, an enchantment tale of spooky circularity set to the eerie squeak and drone of fiddles. By contrast, the drolly philosophical title-track describes Adam’s life as free from worry or fear, but wonders where, without danger and temptation, lies his nobility?