Music / Reviews
Review: Frank Fairfield and Alasdair Roberts
Frank Fairfield and Alasdair Roberts’ joint show at the Colston Hall on Friday was a curious affair. The show was conceived as a consequence of an Opera North production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle; Fairfield and Roberts were asked to create a show that somehow complemented the epic themes of Wagner. There was nothing obvious that connected the two folk singers – one American, the other Scottish – to Wagner’s Germanic repertoire; presumably it was felt by someone at Opera North HQ that folk ballads naturally complemented Wagner’s setting of folkloric riffs to music. But even if the parallels were not obvious, the collection of songs was compelling.
Fairfield, alone with his guitar, played for the first hour. Self-deprecating and shyly humorous, he put together a set of American songs that he apologetically described as ‘depressing’ – and death was a recurring theme, although the devil was the main character in at least half the songs. We heard sung stories of ships lost at sea, mothers who lost their children, songs of devils and cantankerous old women. One song was about a Texas ranger who experienced a bloody battle with ‘injuns’; another told of a couple of cowboys who tie the devil up, torture him and tie ten knots in his tail. Fairfield’s commentary throughout was fascinating, if diffident; in spite his self-disparaging ad libs he remained an intense and charismatic figure on stage.
After the interval Roberts took to the stage with his guitar, and played a Scottish set; some were songs learned from his father, while others were direct parallels to those sung by Fairfield – such as The Wife of Usher’s Well, about a woman who sees the spirits of her three dead children in a vision. He also sang The Demon Lover, the tale of a young woman who is visited by an unearthly suitor intent on causing her demise – another song that migrated from Scotland to America, where it is often known as The House Carpenter. What was interesting about the pairing of the two was the potential for dialogue between the American and Scottish folk repertoire, although it might be that the Wagner link was a bit of a red herring. That said, it was a treat to hear sung storytelling being given such a thoughtful and evocative treatment, and while Roberts is the more confident performer, Fairfield’s charmingly eccentric delivery is worth the ticket price alone.
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