'The Rowan Tree' 'The Last Nail' 'Wreckers Prayer' etc.
10 track printed CD in a printed cardboard sleeve sent by post, also includes the lossless digital version which you can listen to straight away, and keep forever.
Includes unlimited streaming of The Rowan Tree
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Subscribe
now to receive all the new
music
Andy Roberts creates,
including
12 back-catalog releases,
delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android.
You’ll also get access to
subscriber-only
exclusives.
Learn more.
Above the stone walled harbour, down the winding hill
That’s where they put the boatshed, and the structure stands there still.
Not much boat building happens now, just repairs and fitting out
and when the wind rattles the boatmasts, you can hear the old boys shout:
"Will yer pass the last nail over we’ll knock it into place,
And with four more coats of varnish, she’ll be ready for the race."
Our grandfathers put up the boatshed, to build out the fishing fleet,
With fifty boats in the harbour, we had shops all down the main street
Then the steam age brought in the drifters,
so the boatmen became engineers
Now the wind blows straight through the boatshed,
there’ll be no more boat building here
"Will yer pass the last nail over we’ll knock it into place,
And with four more coats of varnish, she’ll be ready for the race."
With a keen eye for staying in business, we moved over to build leisure craft
And the weekend yachtsmen bought them, no expense spared fore and aft
Then wooden hulls went out of fashion, so the order book emptied last year
Then the banks foreclosed on the boatyard,
and there’ll be no more boatbuilding here
"Will you pass the last nail over and we’ll knock it into place,
Then with four more coats of varnish, she’ll be ready for the race."
Now the Vikings invented the clinker for strength in shallow seas
and the herring boats followed the coastline, til the canning ships found the key
There’s a regatta here every August, and the whole village turns out again
But the Sea Queen’s no competition, and it’s guaranteed to rain
"Will yer pass the last nail over we’ll knock it into place,
And with four more coats of varnish, she’ll be ready for the race."
Above the stone walled harbour, down the winding hill
that’s where they built the boatyard, and the skeleton stands there still.
No more boat building happens here, not even fitting out
but when the wind rattles the boatmasts, you can still hear the old boys shout:
"Will yer pass the last nail over, we’ll knock it into place,
And with four more coats of varnish, she’ll be ready for the race."
credits
from The Rowan Tree,
released April 10, 2021
With Geoff Peckham on double bass, mandolin, and accordian.
The new EP from Scottish songwriter Alec Bowman_Clarke goes deep, setting vulnerable lyrics to gentle melodies & stripped-back arrangements. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 30, 2021
Alec Bowman perfectly captures the dark soil under the pastoral world of British folk with this collection of melancholy originals. Bandcamp New & Notable May 12, 2020