Along with announcing their debut EP ‘Come Slack Your Horse!’ which is due on the 1st of May via Broadside Hacks Recordings (The New Eves, Milkweed) London Queer Folk Sextet Goblin Band have also shared their new single ‘Widecombe Fair’.
Set in a Devon Village which still holds fairs to this day, ‘Widecombe Fair’ bustles with chant-a-long, earworming refrains and deliciously authentic folk instrumentation.
Offering more insight into the track, the band say:
“Widecombe Fair is an exceptional example of a kind of folk musical local export. Widecombe in the Moor is a village on Dartmoor, a deeply haunted place and close to [vocalist] Gwena’s family home, where since at least the 19th century a popular livestock fair has been held. The song describes the story of far too many people borrowing and riding a single horse to attend the fair, resulting in the poor creature’s death, and the unfortunate gang haunting the moor forever. It is said that all the characters named in the song were real people living around Widecombe in the 19th century, and Uncle Tom Cobbley’s chair can be seen preserved in one of the village gift shops. The song is well known to older generations, and surely holds the prize for the most merchandise associated with an English folk song.”
Delivering something different, Goblin Band craft striking and unusual songs that are delivered with skill and ear grabbing talent. ‘Widecombe Fair’ typifies this as it draws you in with humorous lyrics sung with the captivating power of a Town Crier over a round of traditional melodies on traditional instruments. You don’t know you need the Goblin Band until you do.
Check it out, here
Tracklisting:
- Black Nag
- The Prickle Holly Bush
- The Brisk Lad
- Birds in the Spring/May Morning Dew
- Turmut Hoer
- Widecombe Fair
