Morris for both minors and matures, to absorb and enjoy. File under ‘lovely’.

Release Date : 6th December 2024

Label : Self-Released

Format : CD / digital

time for some new?

OK, just forget Morris On for a (brief) moment, let alone all the multigenerational progeny following on, irrespective of, and they are, how good they are. Of course, the groundbreaking dynasty of albums, by the Guv’nor, the Ashley Hutchings helmed introductions to the noble art of Morris are great, getting me into the tradition for one, but few sides have the luxury of taking an electric rhythm section out onto the village greens of this country fair. For that we have to look into a more organic garden, populated by John Kirkpatrick’s great Plain Capers and Chris Leslie’s Dancing Days, acoustic celebrations around days of dance, amongst a fair few side specific vanity efforts of no small beer. Time for some new?

Boss Morris, the side, have veritably hurled themselves onto the circuit, lurching the medium, kicking and and capering, into the 21st century. Self described as “a group of female creatives, supported by professional musicians who share an artistic and progressive vision of morris dancing as a means to increase social engagement and interest in this unique and ancient folk dance,” they have subverted, supplanted and sidelined all the pre-existing angsts and blocks around the horror of women in morris. Something hitherto anathema to the Ring, the powers that be, they have rendered their existing sticklings both daft and outdated, a thing many a pre-existing female or even mixed sides have known for decades. That’s about the side, a vibrant feature of many a festival, since their formation, nigh on a decade ago. This is their music.

two fiddlers, one squeezer

Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron and Miranda Rutter we know well. Sweeney is perhaps the best known, a mainstay of Bellowhead, as well as being a core pivot of Leveret, that consummately English trad equivalent of the Necks, which features also the concertina king, Harbron. Rutter, like Sweeney, excels on fiddle, and is another of the players that Harbron plays with, so two fiddlers, one squeezer. Time to start, but before we process on, be warned, look not for meaning, look not for insightful lyrics, for this is dance music, pure, simple, unadulterated and unabashed.

With 17 tracks, with a couple being medleys of two tunes, the majority come from the well-trodden, SWIDT, cotswold morris repertoire, with a handful of new tunes, thrown in from the players and their chums. Few whistles but plenty bells acompany the three players, along with the percussion of clashing sticks, the record played and performed live, dancing included. Indeed four of the side, Lily Cheetham, Maddy McLeod, Josie Wickes and Alex Merry, get appropriate credits for their roles in this warm and summery white picket fence of sound.

anything but sparse

It would be invidious to pick each selection out in turn, or to try to rank them on tune alone, as all will be somebody’s favourite to caper to or to perform a jig. For the record, my favourite dance tune here is Constant Billy, which gets a good going over here, with Upton-on-Severn Stick Dance coming a close second. . Nonetheless, special mention still needs making of the way with which they tackle the old warhorse of Princess Royal, dropping it a notch or two, establishing a more mournful cadence into the notes. Of the new tunes, one each by Harbron, Sweeney, Rutter and one by McLeod, there needs also a special pointer towards The Iron Bell, the gloriously plangent melody, written by melodeon maven, Archie Churchill-Moss, fast becoming a standard in the circles that know.

The idea of two fiddles and concertina may sound sparse, but the reality is anything but, such the mastery of these players and the almost orchestral feel they can conjure up is rich and relaxing, no surprise given their pedigree. Relaxing might be unusual context, given the vigorous exercise enacted out to their rural rhythms, but anyone who has witnessed Boss Morris in full flight will know they are not your average side of beefy yeomen, awash with beer and sweat. Well, beer, maybe, but there is rather more grace in their performance than was ever in mine, for which my knees bear due witness.

file under lovely

So, who is this record aimed at? Is it a momento of summers spent under canvas, for those of a folk dance persuasion, or is it mood music, to listen to in it’s own right? The answer is, I would say, a bit of both and a whole lot more besides. File under lovely, forgetting not to display the sleeve artwork, this too coming from in-house team Boss, the painting by Merry and lettering by Cheetham.

I hope Tradfolk will forgive us for lifting this glorious video, which features the first tune on the record, a new melody by Rob Harbron, with the choreography by Laurel Swift and Boss Morris theirselves.

Boss Morris online : Website / Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram

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