The subtitle of ths truly great album, Morris Dance Tunes from Shropshire, really gives the game away. It features tunes
used by
Shropshire Bedlams and Martha Rhoden's Tuppenny Dish - the two Bishops Castle-based sides with which JK has been associated for the best part of a generation. Some are Trad.
Arr., some are written by members of the two teams which of course include John and Sally Kirkpatrick. Capering, shouting
and general chaos are the order of the day and in fact the title track is a dance which John invented in 1998 as a finishing
off-piece.
This is just John, on various boxes including single and 2 row melodeons, treble, bass and baritone concertinas,
occasionally overdubbed in self-duets. Tunes are traditional, or original tunes 'in the tradition
Would much of the modern interest in Morris have emerged without John's work in the album Morris
On? This may be a question for future academics to debate at length. This glorious record is very far from being an academic
piece, however. Rather it is a vibrant and vigorous example of the music which has been crafted over the years, and indeed
continues to be written, to nurture the Morris traditions, and which, God knows, we need in this world. Morris On!
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