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Frankie Armstrong is considered the "godmother" of the natural voice movement. She began singing professionally in 1964 and came to wide notice in 1972 with her cult classic record Lovely on the Water (Topic Records). She has gone on to work with historic and contemporary legends alike -- including Anne Briggs, Dave Van Ronk, Peggy Seeger, Leon Rosselson, Alistair Roberts, Stick in the Wheel, and Lankum. Frankie's long and impressive career was recently marked with the Gold Badge Award from the English Folk Dance and Song Society. Frankie is now releasing her twelfth record Cats of Coven Lawn to mark her 80th birthday. The album was recorded over a couple of weekends in Brighton with critically acclaimed producer Tom Pryor and consists of mainly live takes with minimal overdubs, creating a warm lo-fi, almost anti-folk aesthetic. This is a brave record sonically -- traditional on one track, then verging towards outsider art on the next. It's bare-boned with eerie harmonies, raw unapologetic vocals, minimal instrumentation, and at times startling a capella performances. The song selection is daring and incredibly varied -- traditional songs ("Lizzie Wan", "Willow Song"), songs written by her friends ("Dead Funny", "Marcy's Guest House"), and songs that demonstrate Frankie's longstanding commitment to social and political issues ("Where I Live on the Map", "Song of Strength", "We Are Women", "Bread and Roses"). This album strives to represent the many intriguing facets of one of the UK's most important folk singers. Frankie is joined by her friends throughout the record, lending vocals, writing and instrumentation. Guest performances come from Martin Simpson, Bird in the Belly, Brian Pearson, and Bread and Roses. The warm lo-fi aesthetic, combined with the group performances from Frankie's friends creates an intimate, charming album -- an album akin to sitting around the dinner table with Frankie and her friends and reliving her memories through song. An incredibly personal album -- at times, sad, funny, odd, eerie, joyful, but always authentic.
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