Really great authentic sounding interpretation. Love Anne Briggs and Sandy Denny

A Quiet Heart Is an Unused Heart

A Quiet Heart Is an Unused Heart (feat. Ciaran Lavery)

Marti West - Hold You Home
Buy & stream Marti West's collection here: linktr.ee/martiwest

www.martiwest.com​

Mixed and mastered by James Yates at Majetone Industries

© ℗ all rights reserved

Hold You Home

Sadcore guitar acoustic voice memo folky pop

Apple pie

This song appealed strongly to both of us. The supercharged emotion conveyed through a storm of many vivid details (like an imagist or concrete poem) each detail sparse and understated but diamond clear, the plucked heart not given to displays of emotion here shattered by heartbreak recollected in tranquility; the hard glittering edges of naked female vulnerability; holding a smashed mirror up to Dylan and giving the counter story to the one we usually hear. 

"You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
'Cause I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly
Yes, I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid"

plus of course the throat-throbbing Baez vocal. The two protagonists were both brilliant performers and the rapport they still had together in the 1974 rematch (Baez managing to be even cooler than Bob) after their glorious early 60s partnership is well worth looking up. Apparently she has performed the song every decade since - including a fabulous recent reinterpretation with Judy Collins (both still sound amazing) - but has decided to stop updating the "Ten Years Ago..." once she got to "Fifty Years Ago...".

Maz's first venture into finger plucking guitar.


Well, I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall
As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin's eggs
My poetry was lousy you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the midwest
Ten years ago
I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust
Well, you burst on the scene
Already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes, the girl on the half-shell
Could keep you unharmed
Now I see you standing
With brown leaves falling all around
And snow in your hair
Now you're smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there
Now you're telling me
You're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
'Cause I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly
Yes, I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid

Diamonds And Rust

Old Star, the first single from Noah Solt’s upcoming indie folk album The Flight of Fallen
Leaves, is a heartfelt reflection on finding rest and clarity, inspired by the quiet wisdom of life at
sea. Through gentle, hymn-like melodies, poetic lyrics, and warm acoustic textures, the song
invites listeners to pause and reconnect with their inner luminosity.

Old Star

it's alright by ryan harris, indie folk

for fans of; hazlatt, ocie elliott, jack johnson, and beyond.. 

it's alright

Verse 1
I stand beneath the burning lights
You murmur, "They’ll see through you tonight."
You don’t speak for me, you don’t…
The silence locks me in its vice
As you say, "What if you fail tonight?"
You don’t speak for me, you don’t…
Verse 2
I step up, hands like chains
Breath too sharp, throat in flames
You don’t speak for me, you don’t…
Watch me freeze, I hear the hush
As you whisper, "You’re not enough."
You don’t speak for me, you don’t…
Short Chorus
Get out of my head, get out of my mouth
You drink my fear and you spit it out
You call yourself truth, but truth deceives
You don’t speak for me
Verse 3
You tell me, “Stay down, play it safe.”
I won’t bow down, I won’t obey
You don’t speak for me, you don’t…
You try to drown me in my doubt
But I’m still here, I’m climbing out
You don’t speak for me, you don’t…
Long Chorus
Get out of my head, get out of my mouth
You drink my fear and you spit it out
I write these lines to set me free
No hands, no hold, no voice in me
You call yourself truth, but truth deceives
You don’t speak for me
Verse 4
Your words once held me, now they’re dust
I don’t look back, this is enough
You don’t speak for me

You Don't Speak For Me

​ @PeacocksTaleFolkIndieDuo  for all our music videos. Watch this one here - https://youtu.be/yXIy0qNWFDc

One evening fair to take the air
Down by Blackwater side
It was gazing all, all around me
Towards the Irish lad I spied

All through the first part of that night
Well, we lie in sport and play
Then this young man, he arose and gathered his clothes
He said, "Fare thee well today"

Well, that's not the promise that you gave to me
When first you lay on my bed
You could make me believe with your lying tongue
That the sun rose in the west

Then go home, go home to your father's garden
You go home and weep your fill
And you think of your own misfortune
That you brought with your wanton will

For there's not a girl in this whole world wide
As easily led as me
Sure, it's fishes will fly and the seas run dry
Tis then I'll marry thee.


Trad/arr Peacock's Tale. The beguiling tune is Irish as is the young man. The River Blackwater in Essex is the probable scene of the story and the words are an old English folk lyric telling the same old folk tale of a young woman beguiled, though in homage to Mary Wollstonecraft and of modelling a more modern female we adjust it slightly so that she sees through him before the end. We got it in one take and in one lump (apart from the brief hand drum on the instrumental) as I'm playing a foot drum with each foot under my bass while Maz is doing her usual multi task thing. Nice and simple.

Blackwaterside

An acoustic version live in the front room of this wonderful David Francey song (following the version by Leslie and Miller) with the amps off and a bespoke foot bodhran in place of the big bass drum. With bells on the instrumental bridge. youtu.be/PBL_l0p5ukQ  Some call this an anti-hymn but we've always found it a genuinely spiritual song carrying the real message of all faiths out to everyone and suffering humanity's yearnings for truth and love rather than the dogma and parrotry which often poses in its stead , which is rather the point we thought. It is after all a very long way from heaven to Bethlehem. The picture is the ceiling of Ely cathedral in December. 

Verse 1]
It was Sunday morning in our town
And I sat on they steps and I stared at the ground
And I bowed my head while they shuffled past
All the saints being called to the morning mass

[Chorus]
And off in the distance there rang a bell
Way off in the distance there rang a bell
And it rang for saints and the sinners as well
Way off in the distance there rang a bell

[Verse 2]
I remember the lessons of Sunday school
And I can't help but think, maybe I'm the fool
But I see no sign of a greater plan
Just the joy and sorrow of my fellow man

[Chorus]
And off in the distance there rang a bell
Way off in the distance there rang a bell
And it rang for saints and the sinners as well
Way off in the distance there rang a bell

[Bridge]
And here we stand while life rushes past
Between the first breath and the last
And here we stand between East and West
And here we stand between birth and death


[Verse 3]
I was watching the news the other night
There was a war on the Left, there was a war on the Right
And it's no surprise that it's us or them
It's a long way from heaven to Bethlehem

[Chorus]
And off in the distance there rang a bell
Way off in the distance there rang a bell
And it rang for saints and the sinners as well
Way off in the distance there rang a bell

©David Francey 1999


from Saints and Singers (Our Christmas album), released December 6, 2022 https://peacocks-tale.bandcamp.com/album/saints-and-singers-our-christmas-album
Maz - lead and harmony vocal, acoustic guitar.
Gaz - support vocal, bass guitar, foot drum, bells.

Saints and Sinners

Humanism raised to the level of sacred ("words of the prophets written on the subway wall") In another age, Paul Simon would have been Bach or Allegri. We used to sing this in the car on long road trips; never thought we'd actually record it. The three knells/chimes in the 'mortal man' verse took longer to get right than the basic track! The angel wings are Maz's harmonies.
credits
from Untied States of Americana (LP), track released May 12, 2021 https://peacocks-tale.bandcamp.com/album/untied-states-of-americana-lp
Maz - lead vocal, harmony vocal; acoustic guitar.
Gaz- backing vocal, acoustic and electric bass, djembe drum, Spanish dancing shoes, industrial triangle.

Words and Music by Paul Simon

Thanks as always to Warwick "Just Around The Corner" Jones.

Slip Slidin' Away

This song is as old as us! Dusty Springfield's sprightly country folk version with the Springfields was the first British single to reach the top 20 in the American Billboard chart in 1962 (over a year before the 1964 British invasion). youtu.be/uz6HB9HYQz4 Written by Jack Rhodes and Dick Reynolds, it was first recorded by Wanda Jackson in 1956 and covered by Linda Ronstadt in a kick-ass country rock version in the 1970s. youtu.be/pmQpYSBkwag
Not to mention Dolly Parton's happy honky tonk take on it youtu.be/VO4SYPRa3pI
Ours is nearer the much slower, much sadder version by Sandy Denny on her 'Rendezvous' album. If the lyric really does have an arch reference to the recreational drug use of the rich ('silver threads' 'golden needles' 'dare not drown my sorrows in the warm glow of your '"wine"') it rejects it (along with all the other consolations of money) as actually solving anything. Only 'the love you promised' can do that.
lyrics
I don't want your lonely mansion
With a tear in every room.
All I want's the love you promised
Beneath the haloed moon.
But you think I should be happy
With your money and your name
And hide myself in sorrow
While you play your cheating game.
Silver threads and golden needles
Cannot mend this heart of mine.
And I dare not drown my sorrow
In the warm glow of your wine.
You can't buy my love with money
Cause I never was that kind.
Silver threads and golden needles
Cannot mend this heart of mine.
...
Silver threads and golden needles
Cannot mend this heart of mine.
And I dare not drown my sorrow
In the warm glow of your wine.
You can't buy my love with money
Cause I never was that kind.
Silver threads and golden needles
Cannot mend this heart of mine.
Silver threads and golden needles
Cannot mend this heart of mine.
credits
from Untied States of Americana (LP), released September 8, 2022
https://peacocks-tale.bandcamp.com/album/untied-states-of-americana-lp
Songwriters: Jack Rhodes / Dick Reynolds
Silver Threads and Golden Needles lyrics © Campbell Connelly And Co. Ltd., Campbell Connelly And Co.ltd.

Maz - lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Gaz - bass, bass drum, hi hat, tambo, tom, floor tom, bells, backing vocal.

Silver Threads and Golden Needles

A marriage (and we are actually married, 45 years so far) of melody and rhythm. We do folk, indie, Americana, Norfolk noir, beat poems &  ghazals. Traditional tunes with contemporary beats. Music videos  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb8wV0-DNiFs1R5G2VSytBQ
Maz lead & harmony vocals, acoustic guitar. Gaz vocals, voice, bass, drums & percussion, harmonium, recorders, lyre harp, field recordings.

Blackwaterside

Peacock's Tale Musical Storytelling

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