The two extremities of my listening repertoire in 2021 are those best described by the terms country pop and traditional folk. Anything from these domains crossing my path get given a chance to see what mark they can make and whether they can break out from their core market to broaden the horizon of the open minded. Serious Sam Barrett can only fall into the latter of these two camps with a moniker like that. There was a brief window to sample his music a couple of years ago but that didn't click. On this occasion more time and opportunity has been afforded leading to a greater understanding on what makes this Yorkshire artist tick.
THE SEEDS OF LOVE takes its name from a book of traditional English folk songs presented to Barrett and inspiration was subsequently sparked to working out how part of its content could form the next album. Rather than just churn out updated versions verbatim or with a little reworking, the chosen direction for a couple of the tracks is the original route of using the book as influence only. The two getting more of a Serious Sam Barrett stamp are opener 'Valentine's Day', linked only by name to a song from the book, and 'Every Night Has an Ending' that was more influenced than lifted. The other eight are straight out of the traditional folk book of tracking the song and then giving it a helping hand into the future via recorded versions for the next generation to savour and maybe re-interpret.
The versions delivered by Barrett, that can all be sampled on the BandCamp link below, are clear, concise and largely executed by an astute weapon choice - the much derided yet elegantly twanged banjo. On three occasions all instruments are stripped out and a cappella framed vocals are the lone component for a simple and straightforward rendition.
There is the adage that recorded material is a mere accompaniment to these songs flourishing in a live environment. The folk club scene is staple for Serious Sam Barrett and expect these to feature highly in any performance. Such an outing is likely to project a timeless aura as the true essence of THE SEEDS OF LOVE is that it has no indelible date stamp of 2021. Traditional songs are meant to transcend time and the exposure enhanced here importantly offers a platform for sharing and keeping some remnants of a flame flickering. Mission accomplished for Serious Sam Barrett.