No More the Green Hills Janice Burns & Jon Doran
Album info
Album-Release:
2022
HRA-Release:
30.04.2024
Label: Janice Burns & Jon Doran
Genre: Folk
Subgenre: Traditional Folk
Artist: Janice Burns & Jon Doran
Album including Album cover
- 1 False True Love 04:21
- 2 She Moved Through the Fair 04:22
- 3 Four Loom Weaver 03:03
- 4 As I Roved Out 03:42
- 5 The Corncrake 03:34
- 6 Up And Awa’ 02:28
- 7 Early Early 04:53
- 8 The Greenmore Hare 03:10
- 9 Johnny My Man 03:09
- 10 The Black Fox 03:33
- 11 The Weary Cutters 04:03
Info for No More the Green Hills
The defining themes of No More the Green Hills came to us when we started arranging False True Love, the lead single from the album. Working on the song we felt that spark of connection between the text, the music and our voices, and a connecting of the dots of the types of songs we’d been collecting. These were songs of love, loss, and nature, and how we navigate through our complicated relationships with them.
Most of the songs on the album are traditional, except The Black Fox and Up And Awa’. A large part of our inspiration was the idea that folk songs, rather than being treated as artifacts, are living parts of our culture, always evolving as they pass from singer to singer and place to place.
In telling these stories, we placed harmony singing at the forefront, using guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, harmonium and double bass to create a nostalgic, dream-like landscape. Working with Andy Bell (producer) and Ben Nicholls (double bassist) elevated these songs and perfectly captured our vision of a contemporary, yet timeless sound.
We collaborated with Laura Boswell Printmaker to design our album cover. Listening to our music, she chose colours that she associated with it and the themes within, and has created something truly beautiful.
Janice Burns, voice, mandolin, tenor guitar, harmonium, piano
Jon Doran, voice, acoustic guitar, bouzouki, harmonium, fiddle
Ben Nicholls, double bass
Janice Burns & Jon Doran
are an award-winning Anglo-Scottish duo who came together after discovering a shared love of traditional music and songs that tell vivid stories about the nature of life and our place in the world.
Janice & Jon’s ‘clever and uncluttered musical storytelling’ [Songlines] comes alive through tight vocal harmonies and sensitive interplay between mandolin, bouzouki, and guitar. Their arrangements have a spellbinding presence and an understated energy that transports their songs from the pages of books and manuscripts into the imagination of the listener.
Their debut album ‘No More the Green Hills' has gained overwhelmingly positive feedback, finding its place in the Official UK Folk Chart whilst gaining airplay throughout the UK and internationally, on stations such as BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Scotland. R&R describes it as ‘superb’, ‘Great singing, fantastic harmonies, and very sympathetic backing’.
They are building a reputation as one of the UK's foremost touring acts, with their relaxed and personable approach to performance. They've played at notable venues and festivals such as Cambridge Folk Festival, Edinburgh Tradfest, Sidmouth Folk Festival, Cecil Sharp House, and Sage Gateshead.
Folk songs have always travelled, put down new roots, borrowed and evolved. Janice & Jon bring together songs that have survived through the ages, shapeshifting and adapting to changing environments as they’ve been passed from singer to singer. Exploring humankind's relationship with nature, love, and loss, these are songs with an enduring resonance.
They play lovely strings, they have gorgeous harmony arrangements. Really well crafted, intimate, beautifully understated. – Karine Polwart
Janice and Jon are both delightful singers with wonderfully musical voices. Their performances of traditional folk songs have a pleasing authenticity and they make delicious harmonies. They are also both fine instrumentalists of great skill and talent. Any appearance of theirs in a folk club or on the concert platform will guarantee you an experience you’ll remember. – Sandra Kerr
This album contains no booklet.