Saturday, 04 February 2012 
July 2010
We interviewed the Sheffield born and bred songwriter and musician about making 'The Coast' for Radio 2, as well as his new EP False Lights from the Land
I'd like to start off with 'The Coast' programme you made for Radio Two, producing something like that, the range of people you met and the places you went to must have had a big effect on you as a singer and a songwriter I would have thought?
Yeah, a massive effect. I did it because I thought that story needed to be told. A lot of people are aware of what the ocean's brought us and what it's taken away, historically. A lot of us aren't. It was something that interested me greatly and had done for many years, 20 odd years in fact. Everything that I kind of hoped was there, and it was like a fingers crossed moment everytime I went into any place, I hoped that it wasn't some plastic version of what I'd read about, but it's all there and all real. All our history and everything is all there to be found. I can't take all the credit for that programme because the producer did a lot of the work, as well as myself. It was a joint thing between me and her.
You said at the Folk Awards when you were presenting an award to Martin Simpson that when Norma waterson sang a unaccompanied song for you it reduced you to a 'puddle of piss'
Yeah, totally, I was just in tears you know. I'd never met Norma before and she was so gracious because she invited us into her home and since that day we've sparked up a great friendship. I adore the whole family. She was sat there telling stories and we had a big pot of tea and some mince pies as it was near Christmas, and Norma just sat and sang Bay of Biscay for me and reduced me to well, a very happy man, if a crying, sobbing, weeping Yorkshireman can be called a happy man! It affected me greatly, more than anything had affected me for a long time. Beacuse it was so soulful and she meant it, and it was in such kind of beautiful surroundings in her house, it was just two people that communicated, you know? It kinda reminded me of when I was a kid and all the amazing musicians I used to meet with my dad at the folk club, and it was Norma Waterson and she's probably the greatest singer in Britain right now, and there's a good case for her being one of the greatest artists this country's ever produced. And now my mum's met her, they met at the Teddy Boy's Picnic....
Was that a good event?
We just took over a farm in Tideswell, in the Peak District and we just took it over for day, I just didn't want to do anything that was corporate flag waving bullshit, not that it was a protest against it. I wanted to do an event that was no frills, focused on the music I liked. It was joyful and celebratory, taking the word festival for its literal meaning, an exchange of ideas and lots of people smiling and having a good time, without getting nailed financially.
There's a lot of UK artists that are influenced by Americana, like The Smoke Fairies that you had on the False Lights from the Land EP...
They played at the Teddy Boys Picnic...
They're amazing aren't they?
What's great about them is that there's two parallel rivers running there. Musically when you listen to them, they're heavily influenced by very dark delta blues but vocally, it's pure English folk. It's like an amazing hybrid, I've heard people try to pull that off before but not as successfully as them. It could be oil and water that one, and could sound hideous as well but they've pulled it off, and I think it's quite natural how they've done it as well, it's not anything kind of forced.
Were the songs you picked from the False Lights from the Land EP chosen because of the Coast series as well? The 'Ellan Vannin' track sounds great on there.
Thanks. That was something I'd heard a few years before and when it came to doing the show I definitely wanted to speak to the Spinners, people probably remember them as a very uncool band but they were quite important in a lot of ways. They introduced a lot of music into this country, and were one of the first multi-racial bands too. Anyway, I rediscovered it while doing research for that show and that was something that I wanted to talk about. This stuff needs to be documented, and if something isn't recorded we're going to lose it.
Then the other track was called Shallow Brown that I did on there.
When we were in Devon in South Zeal, we got there pretty late and it was a really hard place to find, like Brigadoon, this village that only appears once every hundred years! When we eventually found it, we checked into this pub we were staying in, a 14th century inn, and the whole sky was a carpet of stars, the whole Milky way, everything, and then there were 25, 30 guys singing Shallow Brown, again the hairs on the back of my neck juts stood up. I went and met them, they were really fantastic blokes, Devon sea shanty men, and we sang songs and recorded some and I kept coming back to this Shallow Brown.
I'd heard it somewhere before and I could not for the life of me remember where. We recorded it and we had a great night. And I went away and I looked through my old records and I couldn't find it, and eventually my mum rang me up and we were chatting away and I was looking through my records as I was talking to her. I told her I was looking for this song called Shallow Brown and she said 'Oh yeah, I know it, your dad used to sing that to you when you were a baby' - so it was lodged in there somewhere.
For the EP the whole band just sang it in one take, I re-wrote some of the words, then rang Norma up and asked 'Is this blasphemy?' and she said no, folk music's something that's developing all the time. I was pleased with the outcome. It was a nice EP to make. Then the other track 'There's a storm a'coming' is one of my songs. My best mate, who was Tim McCall, Jarvis's guitar player, died the week before, and for the guitar solos on that, I used his guitar. And the EP is dedicated to Tim as well. That was pretty heavy.
There's quite a meaningful set of songs there then?
Yeah. It was meant. I want to leave a legacy of work that means something, and that's what I'm interested in doing.
I was looking through your list of bands you like and you name check the 13th Floor Elevators, probably one of the best psychadelic bands ever...
One of the best bands ever, full stop. We did SXSW about 3 years ago and Roky Erickson was playing but the rest of the guys wanted to see Willie Nelson so i ended up going with them as I didn't want to go to the gig on my own, and I regret that. He's someone I admire immensely, and their story is pretty brutal. The fact that through all that they managed to get the music out is a miracle.
Your Truelove's Gutter album - you have a hell of a range of instruments on there, as well as a vast repertoire, do you base your set list on what mood you're in?
Yeah, that's how it works really. I'm playing Latitude soon, but I'm not sure Truelove's Gutter will really work at a festival. I haven't played that many festivals as a solo artist, and the ones that I have played have been a really unpleasant experience. You've got the dance tent next door and Guns n Roses on the other stage, it tends to kill the vibe slightly. Latitude should be different, no-one I've spoken to has anything negative to say about it.
Is it a bit of a magpie existence, being able to pick who you work with and do what you want to do? Is it part of your nature to be like that?
I like working with people. It's says Richard Hawley but I work with set of musicians, and thankfully for me I've been immensely lucky. I don't feel I need to explain it really. I tend not to plan things to much, but I'm working on a lot of different projects at the moment, and will record again when the time is right.
Click here to read our review of False Lights From The Land
www.richardhawley.co.uk
pics: Steve Gullick
