Richard Trethewey
Album: Dig Where You Stand
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 13
Website: http://www.richardtrethewey.co.uk

My first encounter with Richard Trethewey was at Cambridge, when, as a fresh faced youth, not even outside of his teenage years, he pressed a cd into my hands of the band he was with at the time, Red Army and asked me to give it a listen. It was raw, but there was something in their acoustic pop/rock that suggested a band with real talent amongst its members. As seems inevitable with young bands, members of Red Army drifted away to college and other ventures.

Richard headed from his native Cornwall and headed off for the folk course at Newcastle where he was involved in a number of college combinations and I sort of lost track of what he was up to, so I was delighted when "Dig Where You Stand", his debut solo album dropped into the office.

Musically it's an album that very much takes him home, drawing on the traditions of Cornwall, the sea, the mining and the clay digging. It's the latter of those three that are responsible for one of the most thought provoking songs on the album, "The Clay Worker's Strike Of 1913", one of those events that if it weren't for songs like this would risk being forgotten. What gives the song a real poignancy is that the strike was on the cusp of the first world war, an event that would have an indelible impact on both county and country. It was also a strike that saw almost unprecedented levels of violence and intimidation. Like the majority of songs on the album, it stems from Richard's pen.

As well as fiddle(s) and a strong baritone voice, one that rivals that of album guest, Jim Causley, Trethewey also plays some interesting percussion on the album, namely an anvil made and used by his Grandfather and some chisels made by the same man as sticks, most notably on "Twanky Dillo" a song about a smith.

"Twanky Dillo" is one of the occasions where Trethewey dips into traditional songs, when he does, he arranges them well, often mixing them in sets with more contemporary numbers and as with the self-penned numbers reflect the professions of the county. He takes that local approach into the musicians that appear on the album with the likes of Steve Hunt and the Camborne Youth Band chipping in.

Songs on the album cover a mysterious pregnancy in a bal maiden and shipwrecks, with more details provided in the notes that accompany the album. I've always said that a good folk album should be a history lesson, a geography lesson and a murder. Whilst "Dig Where You Stand" misses out on the latter it more than makes up for it with pride and passion and entertainment throughout.

Neil King