Biography
The imagined village - John Barleycorn
A number that's been a cornerstone of English folk music for the last century, also gets a definitive update. Back in the 1960s, folk trailblazers Martin Carthy and his brother-in-law Mike Waterson both renewed the song - a celebration of the fertility cycle (especially as it applies to the creation of ale) - on their early albums. Their versions in turn inspired rock band Traffic to cover it for 1969's John Barleycorn album, which is where Paul Weller picked up on it...the folk tradition in action. The version here brings Weller together with Martin Carthy and his daughter Eliza for a fiery tour de force that slips between acoustic and swirling beats.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.