Pyewackett

Pyewackett's members got together in the late 1970s. Early on they were introduced to Playford's English Dancing Master by Michael Barraclough, a dance caller and scholar. He served as the group's caller when they played for dances and on some occasions would do a solo Morris jig in a bear suit.

Pyewackett was:

Ian Blake — Clarinet, recorders, sorano sax, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals
Rosie Cross — Bassoon, hammer dulcimer, tambourine, vocals
Mark Emerson — Violin, viola, keyboards, drum, whistle, vocals
Bill Martin — Guitar, accordion, piano, keyboards, vocals
Laurie Harper — Violin, mandolin, mandola, bass guitar, vocals

Harper only recorded on the first album. Other performers who performed with the group at various times were Huw Warren (known for his work with June Tabor) on keyboards and Mickey Barker, Mark Doffman and Ralph Salmins on drums.

Pyewackett was known for breathing new life into old tunes and a willingness to use instruments such as the clarinet, bassoon, and synthesizer not often associated with the material. They liked having fun with the tunes, sometimes taking them in surprising directions. On The Man in the Moon Drinks Claret, their version of the old ballad "Tam Lin" is probably one of the jazziest versions recorded. It's immediately followed by a very playful arrangement of "The Merry-go-round Broke Down," which will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen one of Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoons.

Pyewackett's name was originally that of an imp that possessed a 17th century Essex woman, or so she claimed. Matthew Hopkins, the self-proclaimed Witch-Finder General, said was a name that "no mortal could invent."

Trivia: Pyewacket (spelled with only one "t") was Gillian Holroyd's cat and familiar in the 1958 film Bell, Book and Candle. Gillian Holroyd was played by Kim Novak in the 1958 movie. Also appearing were James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold and Elsa Lanchester. Yvette Mimieux played Ms. Holroyd in a 1976 TV version.

Most of the instrumental tunes on this first album come from John Playford's "English Dancing Master," which was first published in 1651. The song "Tomorrow the Fox Will Come to Town" is set to the tune "Trenchmore," which appears in "English Dancing Master." All except the final two selections are from the English tradition. The 1947 song "We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye" was written by Harry Woods and recorded by Paul Whiteman and Guy Lombardo. "Aunt Hessy's White Horse" is a South African dance tune given influences of the Hot Club de Paris and Glen Miller.

The album was engineered by Bill Leader. It was produced by Dave Foister and Pyewackett.

Track listing:

1. Halfe Hannikin
2. Harry the Tailor
3. The Weary Cutters
4. The Bonny Hawthorn
5. Two Sisters
6. Peppers Black/Tomorrow the Fox Will Come to Town
7. Kettle Drum/Goddesses/Parsons' Farewell
8. Hey The Up Go We/Jack-a-Lent
9. Reynardine
10.We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye
11. Aunt Hessy's White Horse

Album information is from the cover of MobyD's copy.

The album is out of print. Clicking on the album cover will take you to rateyourmusic.com which has links to sites which may have some copies available.

This is the only Pyewackett album currently in print, having been re-released on CD in 1994 by Music & Words. It was originally released in 1982 on Familiar Records. The album was recorded by Colin Peter. It was produced by Pyewackett and Andrew Cronshaw. Cover art is from "The Phases of Night" by Max Ernst (1946). This album features more vocals than the first one, with music originating in England, Italy, France, Belgium and the United States. The melody of "The Merry-go-round Broke Down" was used by Warner Brothers for its Looney Tunes cartoons from 1937 to 1969. Other songs feature madness, magic, incest, murder, ghosts and drinking (naturally) — all subjects lovers of English folk music expect.

Track listing:

1. Amoroso
2. Hey We to the Other World
3. Bedlam City
4. Grays Inn Maske or "Mad Tom"
5. Tam Lin
6. The Merry-go-round Broke Down
7. Ce Mois de Mai
8. The B de B/Borborygmi/The Bear Dance
9. The Well Below the Valley
10. The Grey Cock or "The Lover's Ghost"
11. Dan and the Wombat

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This album is not only out of print, it also appears to be very hard to find anyone offering a copy for sale. The album cover is a link to rateyourmusic.com which has a number of links you can try. There are no tunes from this album on YouTube.

The album begins with the 1930s Rogers and Hart tune "Ten Cents a Dance," the only vocal on the album, sung by Rosie Cross. Most of the tunes are dance tunes from Playford's English Dancing Master. "Bransle du Chien" was written by Bill Martin. The album was recorded by Colin Peter. It was produced by Ian Blake and Bill Martin.

Track listing:

1. Ten Cents a Dance
2. Moll Pately
3. Portsmouth
4. Rufty Tufty
5. The Limousine
6. Woodicock/An Old Man Is a Bed Full of Bones
7. Bransle du Chien
8. Cuckolds All a Row
9. Mount Hills
10. Winter's Night Schottische
11. Nonesuch

Like 7 to Midnight this album is also difficult to find. Clicking on the cover takes you to rateyourmusic.com, where a search turned up a few copies. This is the one LP I don't have, and I was unable to find any more information about it other than the year of release, label, and track listing.

Track listing:

1. Christmas Day in the Morning
2. Ek se ou Windhoek toe nou
3. Fever
4. For Saheli
5. Homes for Heroes
6. Illusions
7. Love Me or Leave Me
8. Resting Place

In the early 1980s I was the emcee for a coffeehouse held in the basement of the First Parish Church in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Those of us involved decided to form the Northern Lights Folk Arts Society, using the name we'd given the coffeehouse. We decided to host a monthly contra dance.

Fitchburg is very close to the New Hampshire border. There were several contra dances in southern New Hampshire and Vermont. Our fiddler was Allan Block, former Greenwich Village sandal shop owner who'd moved to the country. (The shop in the Village became a hangout for famous folkies. Allan is also Rory Block's father.) Peter Barnes of the English country dance group Bare Necessities played piano. Our caller was a real pro, Mary DesRosiers, who is still very active as a caller, singer and teacher. Mary, it turned out, also did a weekly folk music show on a station in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

I began listening to her show, A Delicate Balance. The show featured the playing of an entire album. Since I was interested in expanding my collection of folk music, I often recorded that part of the show (and frequently bought the albums when I could find them). One night I was lucky enough to be listening and recording when she played Pyewackett's The Man in the Moon Drinks Claret. It wasn't long before I sought out that album and later found the band's first album and, later on, 7 to Midnight.

I went a long time without hearing Pyewackett's music. I got more interested in Celtic music, so some albums just didn't get played much. In 2000, I moved from Massachusetts to Oregon. I brought along enough LPs to fill a four-foot shelf, but I left my turntable behind, along with some albums I didn't care to sort. It wasn't until recently that I found Pyewackett's music online, so thanks to YouTube, I've been able to hear the band again. At first I didn't think I had 7 to Midnight but when I found the album cover at rateyourmusic.com, it looked very familiar. Months ago I'd found the first two albums among my collection that made the transcontinental trip, but those four feet of albums are in fairly random order, and the third one was not with the other two. I decided to flip through the albums from left to right. 7 to Midnight was about the third album in — third from the right, of course!

Not long after I first published this lens, I finally bought a turntable so I can digitize that shelf full of LPs. 7 to Midnight was the first one I played. It's a wonderful album and it was great to hear it after at least a decade.