Oldham singer-songwriter Ian F Ball celebrates 53 years as a musician with his appropriately-titled debut album.  Better Late Than Never is an eclectic mix of homespun stories and tunes.

Release Date:  1^st August 2025

Label: Self Release

Formats: CD, Digital

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER…

Better Late Than never is a thoroughly appropriate title for the debut album from Oldham singer-songwriter Ian F Ball.  Ian bought his first guitar – from Boots the Chemist – back in the early 1970s, thus launching his career as a musician.  And now, at the age of 67, Ian has finally realized a lifetime (well… almost) ambition; he’s become a recording artist.

Mind you, he hasn’t been idle over the past 53 years.  As well as writing and performing songs that reference a range of influences as diverse as JS Bach and Big Bill Broozny, Arthur Askey and The Purple Gang, even Led Zeppelin and The Who, he’s developed into an accomplished and influential melodeon player and has played guitar, melodeon, harmonica, mandolin, whistle, keyboard and bouzouki in various ceilidh, folk, blues and Americana bands.

A TALENT FOR STORYTELLING

Recorded in Ian’s home studio, Better Late Than Never has been described as: “An eclectic mix of homespun stories and tunes,” and that’s an accurate summary of what’s on offer.  With the honourable exception of a couple of co-writes, the songs and tunes are all his, he plays all the instruments and he sings all the words.

Ian’s talent for storytelling has grabbed the attention of Albion/Steeleye songwriter/guitarist Ken Nicol and it’s a talent that pervades Better Late Than Never, right from opening track, John Phillips.  The story of a farmer who leaves home to travel the world and seek his fortune, it’s a song with the clear potential to become a folk club standard and, with the aid of his guitar, whistle and melodeon, it’s a story that Ian tells with feeling and passion.  The listener is drawn into the the yarn and the sense of relief when everything turns out well and the newly-wealthy John is reunited with his family at the end of the song is palpable!

IT HAPPENED IN OLDHAM!

Several of Ian’s songs recall true events, and that’s the case with The Ballad of Elias Hall.  In 1701, choirmaster Elias Hall convinced the authorities to allow women to sing in the choir at Oldham St Mary’s Parish Church – a proposal that, at first, attracted accusations of witchcraft, casting demonic spells, heresy and blasphemy.  Ian tells the story to an accompaniment of fingerpicked guitar – and proudly notes that this revolutionary achievement occurred – not in London, Paris or Rome, but in Oldham!

Whilst Ian’s stories provide the bones of Better Late Than Never, Ian also takes the time to exercise his instrumental prowess with a few tunes.  Jack Point’s Galliard – the first of these – has, as its title suggests, a medieval feel, with Ian’s guitar joined by a whistle that becomes more and more passionate in tone as the tune progresses.

TALL TALES – TRUE OR FALSE?

You’ll have gathered by this point – Ian F Ball is a songwriter who loves to tell stories, and he doubles down on that theme with Tall Tales, a story about a storyteller.  Ian’s bluesy guitar contrasts with the sincerity in his voice as he recollects sitting upon his grandfather’s knee, being told tall stories of seafaring adventures.  As children, we didn’t really care whether the stories we were being told were true, or not – but we were prepared to believe that they were and Ian, like the rest of us, loved being told such stories.  But, as we get old, life takes over until, as grandparents ourselves, we find the cycle of storytelling repeating itself…

A metronome provides the count-in to Clockwork, the second of Ian’s instrumental interludes.  Ian plays the gentle, slightly dreamy tune on his melodeon and provides a soft, subtle accompaniment on his bass guitar, before the metronome returns to count us back out.

SWIMMING WITH POETS…

Yorkshire poet Phillipa Atkin is Ian’s co-writer on a couple of Better Late Than Never tracks and the lyrics to Resting Place started life as a poem, before Ian was persuaded to come up with an accompanying tune.  After a Celtic-flavoured intro on his whistle, Ian reverts to guitar and the olde-English theme of his music is the perfect match for Phillipa’s evocative description of an equestrian paradise, where the meadows are “deep, lush and sweet.”

And it’s Lewis Carroll, no less, who provides the lyrical content for Travesura (Lobster Quadrille).  Ian’s put the story of Carroll’s piscine discotheque from his Alice in Wonderland masterpiece to a lively Spanish-flavoured tune.  It might not be what Carroll had in mind but, you know what? – it works a treat!

CRAGG VALE COINERS

Ian wrote the pleasant, folky, waltz, Pour Mon Ami, for his late friend, Sam McGrady and he opted for the French title, rather than the vernacular For Me Mate that he originally had in mind.  It’s another tune with medieval references and Ian plays guitars, whistle, mandolin and melodeon. 

Some stories are just perfect material for conversion into folk songs and the story of the Cragg Vale Coiners is one such example.  The coiners were a group of 18^th century counterfeiters who would clip the edges from gold coins to provide the metal for their fakes.  They were caught, of course, and their actions prompted the decision to serrate the edges of all high-value coins.  Phillipa Atkin’s lyrics tell the story from the coiners’ point of view, with lines like: “Sod the lawmen – we’ll take what we’re due…” and Ian delivers them with real sincerity.

LIKE A TRADITIONAL FOLK SONG…

Closing track, Farewell to Clashmore, had its origins when Ian visited the Sutherland hamlet of that name and there’s a genuine Scottish feel to his tune.  The lyrics aren’t about any particular person but they tell a familiar tale: the man of the family leaving his loved ones and beloved home to go to war.  And, whether based in reality, or not, it’s a stirring tale and the song could be easily mistaken for a traditional ballad.  Which, I suppose, is what Ian F Ball has had in mind all along…

CDs of Better Late Than Never are available from Ian on his website.

Join Ian F Ball at a 2025 Narrowboat Session – watch him play The Ballad of Elias Hall, a song from the album – below:

Ian F Ball: Official Website / Facebook / YouTube / Bandcamp / Spotify

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube