Peter Bellamy was my favorite live performer. I saw him approximately annually between 1978-1990. On tour in the US, he played solo, with only a concertina for accompaniment. He was a compelling storyteller, which I think is one of the things which drew him to the Kipling material. I figure he must have had friends in the East Lansing area, because the audiences for his shows were never very large.
For years I wasn't able to listen to his recordings -- just too upsetting. Even a cover of Bellamy's setting of "A Smuggler's Song" by John Roberts & Tony Barrand would get me crying a little bit. After 25 years, I have recently decided I should try to pick up the CD reissues of Bellamy's stuff, as a good chunk of his recordings have come out anew in the last decade.
Now he's regarded as a tremendously influential figure in the British folk scene: you can hear echoes of his singing style in Spiers & Boden, and their band Bellowhead. But back in 1990 his commercial prospects were dire, and the last time I saw him live he was bootlegging cassettes of his own out-of-print albums.
(I may have written this response for you before.)
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For years I wasn't able to listen to his recordings -- just too upsetting. Even a cover of Bellamy's setting of "A Smuggler's Song" by John Roberts & Tony Barrand would get me crying a little bit. After 25 years, I have recently decided I should try to pick up the CD reissues of Bellamy's stuff, as a good chunk of his recordings have come out anew in the last decade.
Now he's regarded as a tremendously influential figure in the British folk scene: you can hear echoes of his singing style in Spiers & Boden, and their band Bellowhead. But back in 1990 his commercial prospects were dire, and the last time I saw him live he was bootlegging cassettes of his own out-of-print albums.
(I may have written this response for you before.)