Singer-songwriter Ben Avison teams up with his father, Jon and a host of willing collaborators to celebrate Britain’s long-distance walking trails and our relationship with nature for Wild Wisdom – a project that combines music, artworks and creative writing.

A CELEBRATION OF LONG-DISTANCE WALKING TRAILS

Raised in The Yorkshire Dales and now based in Oxford, Ben Avison is a singer, songwriter and guitarist of repute.  He’s been performing from a young age – he made his debut stage appearance aged just 15 – and his diverse CV includes stints with Uganda’s top band, Afrigo, folk outfit The Moonbeams and UK indie-ska pioneers The Blue Arsed Flies.  He’s also played and sung alongside Ugandan multi-instrumentalist Seby Ntege and Bhundu Boy Rise Kagona. 

Ben released his solo debut album, Good Day Mr Magpie in 2013 and Wild Wisdom: Songs Of The Green Trails is his third collection.  It’s a collaborative, multi-media project that combines music, creative writing and visual art in a package that includes a CD, vinyl album or digital recording, together with a pocket-sized booklet that features written passages and illustrations from a wide range of contributors.  The project is a reflection on our relationship with the natural world and a celebration of Britain’s long-distance walking trails – routes that include The Pennine Way, the Coast to Coast Walk and The Ridgeway.

For the project, Ben has teamed up with his father, Jon, and a host of other willing collaborators that includes vocalist Belle Kay and musicians Sam Lawrence, Phil Kay, Thom Paisley, Sam Parkinson, Jacqui Ibbotson and Idle Woman, Steph Pirrie. 

TIMELY AND NEEDED

Ben’s – and Jon’s – love of the great outdoors comes across loudly and clearly in every aspect of Wild Wisdom, and also in their overview of the project: “We wrote some songs about nature and inspiring places, including long-distance walking trails.  We thought it would be nice to create a book with contributions from artists and writers we admire – people with shared interests – reflecting on the themes of each song.”

In his foreword to the booklet, broadcaster, musician and outdoor exponent Mike Harding goes further: “In a world where it has become possible for tyrants to stifle democracy, we need this music and these songs even more.  This collection is a gift of love which, like Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi and Dick Gaughan singing Redwood Cathedral, is both timely and needed.”

BLOOD ON FIRE AND HEART A-PUMPING

The impact of Ben’s African adventures is evident from the outset on opening track, Run To The Top Of The Fell, a light, poppy song that blends Ben’s northern roots with a dusting of township jive.  Belle adds some nice backing vocals as Ben gets pulses racing with lyrics like: “You run to the top of the fell, with your blood on fire and your heart a-pumping” and, by the time he’s finished, listeners are almost convinced that they could do just that!

Memories of Ben’s African sojourn are also evident in the hints of harp that add sparkle to the softly strummed guitars that accompany the atmospheric, evocative Green Heather.  The song celebrates the wild scenery of the Pennine Moors and Ben’s voice almost cracks as he expresses the fear that his days of roving those moors may be coming to an end: “Don’t say ‘never.’  Never say ‘never again.’  Forever, let me lie in green heather.”

FROM COAST TO COAST

Ben and Belle share the vocals for the short, wistful, If, before Ben turns his attention to the inhabitants of our skies, with Michael And The Red Kite.  It’s a song with a country feel and the wheeling motion of the titular red kite is reflected in howls of violin, as Ben muses over the recent proliferation of this most graceful of birds.

“In St Bees, the bells are ringing,” sings Ben, as he rallies his co-hikers to get their Coast to Coast walk underway in The Path.  Plodding banjo sets the pace for the walk, as the company climb the fells and cross the becks, on their way across Cumbria and North Yorkshire.  Ben looks ahead to the end of the grueling walk, as he sings: “One day, we’ll surely reach the ocean and cool our feet in the endless sea.”  I hope that they managed it.

ORNITHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS

We’re served another dose of ornithological observation  with Skylark In The Rain, a pleasant duet, sung to an accompaniment of fingerpicked guitar.  It’s another evocative song, with lines like: “Even in the rain, the skylark sings, constant on the wing,” conjuring vivid scenes of peaceful, open countryside in the mind of the listener.

A harmonized a capella intro is followed by some of Ben’s deft fretboard mastery, as he recounts a famous Yorkshire legend, in The Wild Boar of Bradford.  Ben uses a mystery-laden baroque folk tune to tell the tale of the ferocious boar that terrorized the town and of how it was hunted and killed by John Northrop.

THE HEART AND SPINE OF BRITAIN

Organ and fingerpicked guitar provide the accompaniment to Ben’s half-spoken, half sung lyrics in Horses’ Eyes – and the flute fills are a nice touch – before the African influence returns for the bright Sense Of Place.  The pulsing African rhythm is highlighted by sprinklings of electric guitar, as Ben extols the pleasure of discovering new places and meeting new people.  But, he admits, it’s at home where true peace and contentment can truly be found: “It’s good to embrace a sense of place.”

Lead single, Making Memories On The Pennine Way has already been described – by a BBC reviewer, no less – as “…music to capture the connection between people and landscapes,” and I’m happy to go along with that assessment.  It’s the album’s closing track and it’s another song that evokes powerful images of the Pennine scenery.  Ben may be a city dweller now, but it’s clear that his memories of The Dales, “The heart and spine of Britain,” remain vivid.  Ben’s sung lyrics are echoed – in speech – by Jon, and the effect is both joyful and – slightly – melancholy.

Watch the official video to Making Memories on the Pennine Way – the album’s lead single – below:

Ben Avison: Website

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