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Pistol Pete Wearn & the Wildwood Flowers

by Pistol Pete Wearn & the Wildwood Flowers

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Pistol Pete Wearn & the Wildwood Flowers is a brand new collaboration between two-time Moonshine Magazine solo blues artist of the year Pistol Pete Wearn with singer-songwriter Helena Francesca & fiddle player Olly Parry. Moving away from traditional blues, it focuses on country-influenced songwriting, melancholy harmonies and traditional acoustic instruments.

    About the CD edition: Sure, you *could* just get the download, but you really want that feeling of anticipation as you rip the cellophane off and the 'new' smell hits your nostrils. You really want to sit and gaze at the gatefold Digifile sleeve as you listen intently to the beautiful harmonies emanating from your speakers. Or else you really want to be able to play it in the car, without having to muck about setting up Bluetooth connections.

    Also, it comes with a free sticker. How cool is that?

    Includes unlimited streaming of Pistol Pete Wearn & the Wildwood Flowers via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days

      £8 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £5 GBP  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    8
    releases

    Get all 8 Pistol Pete Wearn releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Blues, Ballads & Barnstormers, Pistol Pete Wearn & the Wildwood Flowers, Live at Liège, Timber Framed, Service Station Coffee, Footstomping Acoustic Blues, Cigar Box Stomp, and in glorious high fidelity sound!. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      £20.80 GBP or more (20% OFF)

     

1.
Young, Free & Beautiful 03:53
lyrics
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Young Free & Beautiful I remember the smell of baking bread always hanging on my clothes And endless queues of valley boys all slurring their prose I remember a girl in a green t-shirt with plum coloured hair And a nervous smile that crossed her face whenever I got near And we were young free and beautiful I didn’t know it back then Oh to be young and free and beautiful To be young free and beautiful again There were days in pretty seaside towns during bleak winter storms We’d kill some time in Woolworths’ aisles and find a pub to keep us warm There was a picnic in a frozen park and a famous limestone cave There was crazy golf at the pleasure park during the oh-three heat wave Chorus Now the time has come that a young man’s clothes grow faded and tight And I look back on halcyon days in rose coloured light And as I sink through middle years into ages dark sea Well the best thing about growing old is that you’re still here with me Chorus x 2
2.
'68 Harmony 04:11
lyrics
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’68 Harmony It was a fateful morning in ‘74 When I picked that guitar off the floor Where it had sat for a year or more Underneath my girlfriend’s bed And I guess her folk weren’t much disposed To having guitars picked & songs composed Because that there case had stayed shut closed It became my guitar instead It was a ’68 Harmony Wasn’t much to look at but it sounded good to me It was real well battered And real well played And I fell in love with the sound it made Well I played it for her by the shore And in the parking lot of the ice cream store I played that guitar more and more Until the day that we got wed And I played it for our firstborn son I played Twinkle Star and Aiken Drum And the day that he took his first strum Felt so much pride that tears were shed Chorus And I played it for my daughter too I played camping grounds and school revues I learned every Disney song right through Just to sooth her pretty head And I played it once more on my own When my wife had left and my kids had flown I played for a girl from San Antone She was the second one I wed Chorus One day I loaned it to my new wife’s son Who headed straight down to the Pawn & Gun He traded it for a stack of ones He could spend on crack instead And I hope whoever has it today Has friends to love & songs to play & my old guitar has things to say & music it can spread Chorus
3.
What Kind of Man 03:42
lyrics
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What kind of man What kind of man do you think you are Do you look in the mirror and see some superstar What kind of man treats folk like you do When they show you their loyalty you leave them feeling used Is it easy for a man like you to sleep at night Do you just take want you want from life and think that that’s alright Oh tell me how, what made you say I’m going to take something beautiful and burn it all away Tell me how could you walk away Once you’d made the bed of thorns in which others have to lay Because you’re the kind of man who’s going through life on your own There’s a greater sense of decency in a tree or in a stone What kind of man could have such gall You’ve clearly got more faces than a clockmaker’s back wall Tell me how you feel no shame There’s people here that trusted you with not a penny to their name And if you’re jumped in an alley on a dark and lonely night Well I promise that it won’t be me but I might just feel alright What kind of man has no remorse Well a self-centred bullshit act I should have guessed of course What kind of man would run and hide Well the kind without a stomach or a backbone inside You must know that your choices will come back to you someday Yet somehow you stumble on and make them anyway Well there’s a place that’s reserved for men like you in hell So don’t expect a handshake just consider this farewell
4.
Redemption 03:08
lyrics
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Redemption Well it ain’t your forty acres it’s my grandpa’s farm Taken from him by Sherman’s arm It’s the place Where I used to play Until some blowhard yankee took my birthright away We’re just looking for redemption Some place for free determination I woke up and it’s just not my nation No place for a man like me anymore After two years in Elmira got my ticket home Headed back to a life that’s gone I had to take off the patches But I still wear my grey I’m holed up in a shack and living from day to day Chorus Those carpetbaggers in the statehouse couldn’t give a damn They’re all worshiping the wrong Abraham They sold off the railroads Where we might have got paid They just quarrel and quibble as the Blood Stained Banner fades Chorus Headed up to the plantation with a few good men Guys I’ve known since way back when You know we figure There’s a lesson needs learned We’re going to build us a fire and watch those free men burn
5.
In A Cold Cold Jail 02:28
lyrics
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In a cold cold jail I used to sip champagne on ocean liners No man was richer no clothes were finer I would dine each night on veal and quail Now I’m here in a cold cold jail I was the toast of the town a man of wealth and power I wrote my name on a golden tower I was lord of an empire of epic scale Now I’m here in a cold cold jail Now there never was a mistress who was quite so funny So queer and fickle as the lady money Now I haven’t got a penny to pay my bail So I’m here in a cold cold jail Well life was easy and life was sweet Streets paved with dollar bills were at my feet I could buy anything in a world for sale Now I’m here in a cold cold jail I used to have fast cars and have fast blonds And have eight million dollars in mortgage bonds Now it seems that things have gone off the rails And I’m here in a cold cold jail Well oysters were shucked and corks were popped Then we watched in terror as the market dropped And the judge said “wrongdoing can’t prevail” So I’m here in a cold cold jail so nemesis comes from grace I fall Now I scratch the days in my cell wall Oh hear my story hear my tale I’m here in a cold cold jail
6.
Going Down The Road Feeling Bad 03:30
lyrics
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Going down the road feeling bad I’m going down the road feeling bad Going down that road feeling bad Going down that road feeling bad, good lord And I ain’t gonna be treated this way I’m going where the water’s sweet like wine The water here it tastes like turpentine I’m going where the weather suits my clothes These two-dollar shoes they hurt my toes I’m going where the dust storms never blow Oh I miss my home & family so I’m going down that old dusty road

about

From the press release:

Pistol Pete Wearn, twice crowned Blues artist of the year by Moonshine Magazine, releases Pistol Pete Wearn and the Wildwood Flowers on 20th September 2019.

The EP takes a more Americana-focused approach than Wearn’s earlier Delta-driven work, and acts as a showcase for his mature songwriting. It is performed on traditional instruments – including fiddle and autoharp - by a trio that features Wearn himself on guitar and lead vocals.

“Coming off of my 2018 European tour,” he explains, “a new project in which I could express some more personal feelings and thoughts - away from the rawer, bluesier sound I’d been playing - made a lot of sense.”

An Adventure in Country Music

Country music is having a moment on the British music scene, recently being named as the fastest growing genre in the country. Wearn’s enthusiasm for the form goes back much further, however, and is part of his more general love of American roots music.

“Although this release is a departure for my music, the songs are also very much a progression,” Wearn says. “I love artists like Gillian Welch and Willie Watson, who take country music back to its rawer beginnings. That’s what we’re trying to do here.”

The trio is completed by BBC Introducing favourite Helena Francesca on backing vocals and autoharp, and Olly Parry on fiddle. The musicians met in their native town of Stafford, where one of the leafier suburbs, Wildwood, shares its name with the titular flower in a famous song by country royalty The Carter Family.

Personal, Emotive Songcraft

The songs performed by the trio were all written by Wearn, and emphasise the personal and emotional.

On evocative opener “Young, Free and Beautiful”, Wearn sings of being happy to “sink into my middle years” alongside a loved one, as Helena Francesca’s soaring backing vocals lift the sentiment towards the redemptive. On the snarling “What Kind of Man”, meanwhile, Olly Parry’s fiddle bites and snipes at a target of Wearn’s ire: “Is it easy for a man like you to sleep at night?” he asks as Parry plays.

Melody is another focus of the songs: on “In A Cold Cold Jail”, attentive listeners will recognise in Wearn’s wry delivery an echo of Jimmy Rodgers; in “’68 Harmony”, the trio paint a shimmering and memorable picture of a storied guitar: strummed across different generations, it finds new life each time. This motif of passing down a tradition is as good a metaphor as any for the Wildwood Flowers’ fresh take on a time-honoured music.

credits

released September 20, 2019

Pete Wearn: vocal & guitar
Helena Francesca: vocal & autoharp
Olly Parry: vocal & violin

Produced & engineered by Matt Bishop at Inspire Music
All songs written by Pete Wearn, except 6 Traditional arranged by Wearn/Raby/Parry
Percussion by Pete Wearn & Matt Bishop

The band would like to thank: Matt Bishop; Nia & Brit; Dan Hartland; Jamie Parkes; & Ursula Griffiths

Footstomping Records #FS1010 ℗ & © 2019. All rights reserved.

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Pistol Pete Wearn Stafford, UK

"old-school blues" - Nottingham Post

"If this don't get at least one of your feet stomping, then there's really no hope for you..." - Indie Music Mag

"local blues legend" - Stafford Radio

"music to drink, dance and stomp your feet along to... a real stripped down blues session in all its glory." - Derby Gig Guide

"devilishly catchy...an abundance of soul" - Staffs Live ... more

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