Label: FatCat Records
Release date: 06/21/2024

Further to having acquired the exclusive rights to the music from the Breadminster County Council’s ‘Partnership of the Perpetual Musket’ songbook (see last post for details), we are delighted to welcome the somewhat elusive Elijah Minnelli to the FatCat fold – ‘the ongoing artist-in-residence and de facto Night Czar of Breadminster’.

Elijah has announced his forthcoming album ‘Perpetual Musket’ (out 21st June), released a first single from the Lp – ‘Vine & Fig Tree (featuring Little Roy)’, and shared a string of live dates including an album launch.

Born of an equal love of outsider folk, and the interwoven musical lineages of South America and the West Indies, Minnelli stands out by balancing influence with a unique irreverence. ‘Perpetual Musket’ fuses dub reggae with traditional folk, reimagining classic standards with a cast of renowned reggae vocalists to breathe new life into traditional and folk songs. Each track is paired with a live dub version that shines a light on the instrumental adaptations of these traditional melodies.

Veteran Little Roy lends his tone to ‘Vine & Fig Tree’, an explicitly anti-war song originating from the Old Testament, Shumba Youth enlivens ‘A’ Soulin’’, the old ballad about a winter ritual of the poor knocking on doors of farm owners and the rich (a tradition believed to have influenced carolling and ‘trick or treating’). Earl Sixteen emotionally imparts Peggy Seeger’s ‘Lifeboat Mona’ – the story of a lifeboat disaster in 1959, and Bristol’s Joe Yorke sings ‘The Wind & The Rain’ – a tale of weather and weariness from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

“Elijah Minnelli’s rendition of ‘Lifeboat Mona’ is truly excellent. It is a moving mixture of percussion, harmony and vocals that knows how to tell a story. Vocalist Earl Sixteen does it JUST RIGHT. All the elements of the song, as I wrote it back in December 1959, are still there. Thanks to all for doing it so well.” – Peggy Seeger

1. Vine & Fig Tree (feat. Little Roy)
2. Soulcake (feat. Shumba Youth)
3. Lifeboat Mona (feat. Earl 16)
4. Wind & The Rain (feat. Joe Yorke)
5. Ploughshare Dub
6. Ha’penny Dub
7. Gallant Dub
8. Swaggering Dub

Earl Sixteen, Elijah Minnelli, FatCat Records, Joe Yorke, Little Roy, Shumba Youth

Albums, Dub, Reggae