A partnership with seeds sown during a whiskey-drenched binge at the 2024 Maldon Folk festival. The talents of Ithica, NY polemicist George Mann and Aussie folky Mick Coates fit together very well as Ghosts Of The Old West – the fruits of their collaboration – demonstrates
Release Date: Out Now
Label: Running Scared Productions
Formats: CD, Digital
A GREAT COLLABORATOR
George Mann is a semi-regular presence within these pages. We first came across the former union organizer – turned singer-songwriter – back in 2021, when we were thrilled by his album, A World Like This – a rare example of a political album that also contained a rash of great tunes.
George.as we’ve learned, is a great collaborator. Last year, he participated in the 80th birthday celebrations of singer-songwriter and activist Si Kahn on Labor Day, an album billed as “A tribute to working people everywhere,” that also featured a host of guest appearances from the likes of Peggy Seeger, Kathy Mattea and Billy Bragg. It’s no surprise then, to learn that, during a visit to the 2024 folk festival in Maldon, Victoria, Australia, George fixed himself up with another partner – Mick Coates, a like-minded Australian folky with a particular liking for cowboy songs.
THE SEEDS OF A PARTNERSHIP
The seeds of this latest partnership were sown when George found himself amongst a group of 20 or more people jockeying for floor space at Mick’s Maldon home during the festival., At some point during the four days of the festival, Mick and George started to talk about the possibility of recording together and the idea of Ghosts Of The Old West was born. George takes up the story: “I thought the contrast of our voices, alternating lead vocals on the songs, would be an interesting blend – and we both love the kind of story-songs that we feature on this album.” And, when the title Ghosts of the Old West came to him, George suggested to Mick that they each write a song with that title.
Ghosts of the Old West is a true collaboration, with each partner chipping in their share of songs and both selecting numbers from favourite songwriters – Wheeler/Leiber/Stoller, Peter La Farge, Harry Stamper and Charlotte Buckton – to complete an enticing bill of fayre.
AN AUTHENTIC WESTERN THEME
The predominant theme of Ghosts Of The Old West is, as one would expect, old-time country and western – but that’s not the whole story. In between the cowboy songs, the shootouts and the tales of thwarted love, there’s also the occasional folk song-with-a-message to enjoy, and even a couple of excursions into the wilds of the Australian outback.
But, it’s an authentic western theme that gets Ghosts Of The Old West underway. For the West has the requisite shuffling drumbeat, chiming guitars and sorrowful-sounding fiddles to set the country mood. George’s voice is soft and reassuring and Alice Saltenstall’s harmony vocals add an extra layer of warmth.
CHANNELING THE MAN IN BLACK
Mick is clearly a big Johnny Cash fan, a fact he lays right on the line from the opening bars of That Sweet Plaintalking Country Girl, the first of his contributions to this endeavour. His voice is eerily similar to The Man in Black’s, even down to the vocal tremors. It’s an easy-going country song, with the same shuffling rhythm and fiddles of its predecessor and, this time, it’s Elbonee ‘SingTrecel’ Stevenson providing the harmony vocals – with the same warming impact.
The pace is cranked up slightly for George’s shot at the title track. George’s lyrics tell a familiar story of a jealous parent ‘protecting’ his daughter against the advances of a mistrusted suitor. George recounts the tale with sincerity, although lyrics like: “…so I gave her a little black kitten, but that made her father mad and, in a fit of jealousy, he shot that kitten dead” suggest that his tongue was planted pretty firmly into his cheek when he wrote them.
THE BULLETS ARE FLYING…
Mick flaunts his Aussie credentials for In Irons From Limerick City, a song that Mick co-wrote with Tom and Cathey Ryan, friends from his band, The Shallow Gravediggers. It’s an entertaining yarn about the perils faced by nineteenth-century transportees, and Mick lays the Aussie accent on thickly.
The sad, thought-provoking, They Call Her ‘Dolly Parton’ is an album highlight that features George, accompanied by just a strummed acoustic guitar and a few splashes of piano. It’s a folky interlude before we return to the dust and heat of the Arizona desert for The Ghosts Of The Old West – Mick’s title track offering (note the added ‘The’ in the song’s title to distinguish it from George’s song). Mick is back in his Johnny Cash persona, the guitars are twangy and the bullets are flying as, “From the high plains to the valleys, no matter who was best, the lilies dance upon the graves of the ghosts of the old west.”
FAITHFUL INTERPRETATIONS
A Billboard chart hit for The Kingston Trio in 1963, The Reverend Mr Black will, no doubt, be familiar to many listeners and George and Mick do the song full justice as they tell the Reverend’s story in spoken word, to a backing of acoustic guitars and sweet vocal harmonies. And, there’s a nice gospel feel to the chorus that begs the listener to sing along. And, speaking of familiar songs given a respectful treatment, Mick’s take on The Ballad Of Ira Hayes, the Peter La Farge song made famous by Johnny Cash, is another triumph. It’s tuneful and it’s thoroughly faithful to the original.
Harry Stamper was an Oregan longshoreman and union activist before he turned his hand to songwriting, and George’s interpretation of Stamper’s song, Anymore, is another highlight of this album. George delivers Harry’s potent lyrics – “I can’t sing about the railroads, or about the good old days, when there’s people who can end our world in fifty-thousand ways…” – to the accompaniment of his strummed acoustic guitar. And there’s an impressive guitar solo to enjoy between the verses, too.
COWS AND ‘ROOS
Charlotte Buckton’s The Lonesome Plains is a perfect match for Mick’s Cash-infused, world-weary tones and the slowly-strummed guitar and the plaintive howl of Tim Ball’s violin are exactly the right accompaniment.
And, to close, Mick and George take us back to that formative meeting in Maldon when this duo decided to pool their talents. “It’s hot tonight in Maldon town, and the hottest jam anywhere around, is round Mick’s table late at night,” they sing, as they recall the events of that evening. George’s memory of being either too drunk or too stoned to distinguish a kangaroo from a cow provides the subject matter for ‘Til the Cows and the ‘Roos Come Home, a sleazy, poppy singalong. Molly MacMillan’s bar-room piano adds to the sleaze and, one senses, a great time was being had by all.
Watch the official video to George Mann’s version of the Florence Patton Reece song, Which Side Are You On, below:
George Mann online: Official Website / Facebook / YouTube / Bandcamp
Mick Coates online: Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / Bandcamp
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