While gamekeepers lie sleeping

A song about the press gangs that used to roam British seaports such as Newcastle looking for men to 'impress' into naval service. Don't think i need a long rant about this, a quote from the royal navy museum website will suffice 

"Impressment was a long standing authority from the state for the recruitment to military service, either on land or on sea. The impress service, or more commonly called the press gang, was employed to seize men for employment at sea in British seaports. Impressment was used as far back as Elizabethan times when this form of recruitment became a statute and later the Vagrancy Act 1597, men of disrepute (usually homeless vagrants) could be drafted into service. In 1703, an act limited the seizure of men for naval service to those under 18, although apprentices were exempt from being pressed. In 1740, the age was raised to 55. Officially, no foreigner could be impressed although they were able to volunteer. If, however, the foreigner married a British woman, or had worked on a British merchant ship for two years, their protection was lost and they could be impressed. However, these limits were often ignored and the impressment of Americans into the British navy became one of the causes of the American War of 1812''

Here's The Tender Coming

A great song from the perspective of an anzac soldier sent off to fight at gallipoli written by Eric Bogle.

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Eric Bogle)

A fun song about a rambling woolcomber. Woolcombers would heat and comb the wool to make the fibres run parallel ready for spinning and weaving. This song is clearly set in the times when apprentice laws and industrial organisation kept the profession well respected and well paid. With the industrial revolution, factory systems, combination acts and erosion of the apprentice laws, by the 19th century it had become a notoriously unhealthy and underpaid profession yet it was difficult to mechanise and outlasted many other pre-industrial techniques. Effective mechanical woolcombing machines were finally introduced in the 1850's and the trade effectively ceased to exist.

I learnt this song from the version by Steve Tilston and the tune at the end is bastardised version of from dusk till dawn which i learn't at the golden guinea session in bristol although i think i am playing the second part too many times.

Rambling Comber

A traditional seasonal wassail from gloucestershire. Learnt this version off my friend Matt Green though not quite sure where he got it. Wassailing is a tradition that varies from place to place, in some places it is a ritual to bless apple trees and ward off evil by putting bits of cider soaked toast in the branches and shooting shotguns in the air, at other times it has been much like carol singing where the children or men of a village went around singing at the houses of the local squires in return for food or drink. The word comes from the saxon Waes Hail, used as a toast and in various traditions a Wassail bowl of mulled cider is shared around participants. 

Gloucester Wassail

Ash and Dan's new folk project- a rough demo of our version of The Moonshiner
Ash- Banjo + Vocals
Dan- Fiddle and Backing Vocals

Enoch's Hammer - MOONSHINER

A surprisingly sympathetic English song about the exiled Napoleon perhaps harking back to the time when the English and Irish radicals saw him as a potential saviour from the tyrannical English government and aristocracy which in subsequent decades would try to infiltrate and destroy radical revolutionary and voting reform movements ,brutally put down millitant workers ,such as the Luddites, Swing rioters, and outlaw trade unions with the combination acts. The English radicals decided later that Napoleon as a dictator wouldn't be much of an improvement. I learnt this song from the singing of Eliza Carthy and Norma Waterson

Bonapart's Lament

A song about a deserter from the army who becomes a highwayman robs Lords and taxmen. Not sure why 'getting of a maid with child' means that you have to leave your country but thats folk songs for you.

Alan Tyne Of Harrow

An old song about Robin Hood and Little John meeting their match in the form of a mysterious Peddler.

Robin Hood and the Peddler

Messing around with my Zoom field recorder and figuring out how to play an old favourite in DADGAD tuning. A song about a chimney sweep/highwayman.

Sam Hall

Dan is a folk singer, fiddle player and folk punk artist.
He likes to perform in all kinds of places, from gardens, living rooms and kitchens to stages and street corners.
The tracks on this site are mainly demo's, folk songs and works in progress. To listen or download Dan's E.P's go to https://dankemp.bandcamp.com/
The best place to contact him is probably on this site or facebook: 
http://www.facebook.com/DAnKempMusic

As well as collaborating with a number of other artists, Dan is also fiddle player and vocalist in Will Tun and the Wasters who's music you can check out here:  https://willtunandthewasters1.bandcamp.com/

Dan Kemp

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