Devonshire Roses

Devonshire Roses is a generous collection of 20 of the most famous Devon folk songs, including ‘Widecombe Fair’ and ‘The Mallard’, an accumulative song beginning with the unfortunate duck’s toes, ending with the bill, and chronicling the consumption of everything in between, adding the parts to the refrain. Singing this is a feat as challenging as what it describes. Causley accomplishes this with gusto, in the proper accent.

A comedic vein runs through the Devon canon; the music of Dartmoor is joyfully sprightly. But the moor is a dangerous, sinister landscape and Causley includes the murder ballad ‘Ockington’; ‘Childe the Hunter’, about a man caught in a blizzard who, like Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant, guts his horse and climbs in to keep warm; and the ghost song, ‘My Lady’s Coach’. There are also seafaring and smuggling songs, and a couple about, strangely, bell ringing competitions.

Causley has a wonderful voice and sings and plays (squeezeboxes, mostly) with warmth. He is joined by Matt Norman and Nick Wyke (banjo, violin, guitar); two more Causleys, Josephine and Ross, sing, as do Mariners Away, a shanty crew from South Zeal. So, it’s an entirely ‘made in Devon’ enterprise. Devonshire Roses is a lockdown album; the musicians recorded themselves at home. You would never know; Jim Causley can play the studio, too.