Onwards and Upwards

Although some of the ideas that came out of Dartington have been slow to come to fruition it is a continuous, steady process. 

I now enjoy writing for groups of instruments and also for voices, not necessarily including the guitar and often not fitting comfortably in the folk niche. 
However, in 1987 I was asked to put together a band for a concert in New York's Central Park.  Maggie Boyle and Steve Tilston joined Tony Roberts and myself and we called ourselves "Ship of Fools" after Sebastian Brant's early moralistic commentary, recording one album under that name for Flying Fish. 

I also worked occasionally with Isaac Guillory and, more recently, with Archie Fisher without really aiming to take things to the recording stage.

One collaboration that was recorded live, at virtually our first public performance, was with Robin Williamson whom I had known from the early days before the Incredible String Band and the Pentangle took to the road.  The 'Impenetrable Stringtangle' seemed like an appropriate name but the CD got called "Wheel Of Fortune" and earned another Grammy nomination, this time losing it to Bob Dylan.  I am thinking of calling my next band 'JR and the Grammy Losers'.

For a while, the recording of new material has been slow on my part, not from lack of prompting from the powers that be, nor from lack of material.  The problem has been how best to present it, since my musical direction has changed considerably since the old 'folksinger' days.

To complicate matters further, it seems like every time I turn around another compilation of old material has appeared.  In 1997 Shanachie offered me a contract for five CDs, the first to be recorded in Ireland with a choice of outstanding players, giving me the chance to combine traditional themes with less traditional approaches to arrangement. 
It was an ideal situation and the result "Traveller's Prayer" came out early in 1999.

This rather flattering portrait was painted by - ALAN FLOOD and is featured in his book 'Hand and Eye' published by Smith Settle Ltd of West Yorkshire, UK