Old Spot

Singer and multi- instrumentalist Joe Danks and fiddler Rowan Piggott met in 2021 and bonded over their shared love of old-time Appalachian music. For their debut as a duo this is the very music they take on, from American folk standards like ‘Darling Corey’ to new songs like the intriguingly-titled ‘Blue John in the High Peak / Tiny Dog’ reel. Both Danks and Piggott are well-established in the UK folk scene so it perhaps will come as no surprise that their particular take on ‘old-time Appalachian’ tunes feels heavily accented with their English folk backgrounds. It makes for lovely stuff. ‘Billy in the Lowground’ is wonderfully atmospheric. It reminds me of ambient duo Stars of the Lid until the fiddle dances in over the drones. ‘Red Lemonade’ is a gentle waltz with excellent fiddle playing. ‘The Chances’ starts softly with a melody on gut-string banjo and pizzicato fiddle that lightly plod along until the pace picks up to a polite foot stomper. And if there's any reservation I have about this release, it's in that politeness. This all feels too English – no-you-first-no-I-couldn't-possibly-after-you. These really are lovely tunes, but they need more grit and abandon to live up to the ‘foot stompers’ and ‘barn stormers’ mentioned in the press release.