04 August, 2021
We asked some of our Campfire Club guest artists what music they would choose to listen to around a campfire: tracks or whole albums that are the perfect accompaniment to sitting fireside and watching the smoke rise under starlit skies.
When we gather round a campfire together, it is a moment in time to connect to the present, to calm our whirring minds from jumping to the future or mulling over the past. Our senses heighten and our ears become attuned to nature’s orchestra around us – the crackle of the fire, the rustling of trees, the harmonies of the evening chorus, the buzz of insects. In these moments of tranquility and presence, certain songs lend themselves to the setting, tunes that yearn to be sung or melodies that sit perfectly alongside the symphony of nature; music that brings us into deeper meditation, elevates our energy and induces euphoria, or gets the body dancing in ceremony with our surroundings. We call these songs Campfire Classics – bringing magic to a campfire scene in their own way. Everyone’s choices are different, but the goal is the same – to gild the moment and create a sort of alchemy between music and nature.
Grab a blanket, huddle closer to the fire, and enjoy a soundtrack chosen by some exceptionally talented folk musicians…
Polly Paulusma
Cosmo Sheldrake’s Wake Up Calls, because it really suits the campfire mood perfectly!
The Bird in the Bush (Traditional Erotic Songs) with A.L. Lloyd, Anne Briggs, Frankie Armstrong because it’s the perfect singalong around a campfire record.
Soma by John McSherry because it’d be nice to have some beautiful instrumental music to chill out to and I just love the uilleann pipes.
Kit Hawes & Aaron Catlow
Elizabeth Cotten – Folk Songs and Other Instrumentals
She wrote great songs (including “Freight Train”), many of which I grew up singing around campfires as a child. She was also a guitar pioneer, inventing a style of finger picked guitar accompaniment that would inform and influence countless songwriters and guitarists after.
Django Reinhardt – The Great Artistry of Django Reinhardt.
My grandad was a musician who toured across Europe before the second world war, and supported Django on a number of occasions. As a teenager rifling through his record collection, I came across this LP. I’d listen to it on repeat, often sat around campfires with friends, trying to imagine what the music sessions would have been like in the Romani travelling camps that Django grew up in.
Cameron De La Isla – Al Verte las Flores Lloran
The narrative and delivery is astonishing, seeing this live in an intimate campfire-like setting must have been breathtaking.
Burd Ellen
Gayle and I love music that is explicitly for ritual use, and works that lean in to that space but remain ambiguous. For our campfire records, we’ve chosen some brilliant examples…
Frost & Fire -The Watersons
This folk classic has a track for all seasons! Perfect for fireside sharing
the reed flute is fire – Kelly Jayne Jones
Out last year on TakuRoku, this stunning collection evokes many landscapes using synth, drone and field recording
Deep England – Gazelle Twin & NYX EDC
A bold companion to Gazelle Twin’s 2018 album Pastoral, we recommend their take on the Wicker Man classic Fire Leap in particular
Three Cane Whale
The Incredible String Band “The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter” (for its magical, childlike way of looking at the world)
Gavin Bryars “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet” (for its celebration of the vulnerability and resilience of the human spirit)
Joni Mitchell “Hejira” (for its free-spirited out-in-the-woods-ness, and strains of Sidney Bechet in the pinewood trees)
Granny’s Attic
Cohen: Pete and Chris Coe, Out of Season, Out of Rhyme: Primarily for its final track ‘Welcome Cold November’ one of the finest songs about bonfire night.
George: Emmylou Harris, Pieces Of The Sky. This album has lots of potential for singing along, and lots of variety – some lush, reflective songs, and some outright cheesy country classics that always make me and my friends smile.
Lewis: Joni Mitchell, Blue: Probably a lazy pick, but it’s one of my favourite albums ever, and would be a good fit. The production is on point, as is the playing, and the songs are just phenomenal. I never really ‘got’ albums with very personal lyrics until I heard this one.
Jenny Sturgeon
Oooh that is a good question, probably Bonny Light Horseman’s self titled album for the memories of sunny days spent snoozing in the garden.
Anything by A Winged Victory for the Sullen (ideal music for contemplating life while staring at a fires embers)
Grace Jones ‘Island Life’ for some fire side hoolahooping.
Gnoss
Kris Drever’s ‘Black Water’: Something to sing along to! I’d say us four know every word.
KAN’s ‘One, Two, Three’
James Duncan Mackenzie’s ‘Sromos’: two of our favourite instrumental records to bliss out to and really sink into the fire (not literally)
The Hut People
Che Che Cole by Willie Colon. I learnt to play by jamming along. Still get goosebumps!
Dance to the music by Sly and the family stone, because it’s fab to vocalise the brilliant Larry Graham baseline and you’ll have to boogie around the fire.
So What by Miles Davis after the boogie I’ll need a refreshing escape into chill land with one of the greatest tunes ever written.
Catherine Rudie
I’d listen to my childhood friends from Bettyhill sing ‘Gleanna Gollaidh’ live – a signature local tune written by the Sutherland poet Rob Donn… it was something we always sang together growing up – sometimes round a fire on summe nights at the beach. That would lead to other tunes… hopefully some I’d never heard before but could maybe learn – that was always the most magical thing.
Intarsia
Jo: Manu Delago – Circadian – I just love it!
Sarah: Danish String Quartet – Wood Works – it’s engaging, relaxing and very beautiful.
Both: Spiro – Polestar – it’s very rhythmic and powerful, and totally hypnotic and mesmeric, perfect for a campfire!
