After All These Years

Lakeman is a familiar name: there's Seth, Sean and Sam, all of them famous musicians. Geoff is their father and, after all these years, it's his turn. At the age of 69 Geoff, who sings and plays the duet concertina, has made his first solo album. Solo? Well, his sons all contribute, with Sean producing and his daughters-in-law, Kathryn Roberts and Cara Dillon, chipping in. Then there's the neighbour he spotted in their Dartmoor village out with the dogs, whom he roped in to sing: the great Nic Jones.

This is, however, very much Geoff's project. He was born in Newlyn, the Cornish fishing port, one of the most important in the country, and has lived in the wild landscape of Dartmoor for 40 years. For half a century he was a journalist, and wrote for the Daily Mirror for 35 years. ‘The Farmer's Song’ laments the loss of a family farm after five generations, ‘Tie ‘Em Up’ protests the impossibility of fishermen making a living in the face of ‘rotas, quotas, laws and rules’ and ‘Rule and Rant’ recounts the ingenious rescue of trapped Cornish miners in 1889. After All These Years is a heartfelt and joyful musical encapsulation of Geoff Lakeman's hopes, fears, loves and concerns.