Playlist:

* Spoken introduction by Ashley Hutchings 1:35

* Mr. Trill’s Song Ashley Hutchings 3:15

* Morris dance tunes The Albion Christmas Band 3:07

Music notes

All of today’s posting is from the Albion Christmas Band’s live concert album One for the Road, recorded in 2013 at the King’s Place Performance Centre in London.

Bass player Ashley Hutchings is a legend in British folk-rock scene, having been a founding member of three of the most highly-regarded bands in that genre – Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band. He also participated in a number of spin-off groups, such as when he and Simon Care formed the Albion Christmas Band after the original Albion Band had, well, disbanded. You can read the story about the group’s formation here.

Four members of the full Albion Band began doing pre-Christmas tours as the Albion Christmas Band while the full band was on hiatus 2003. The membership of the group has since evolved, although Simon Care and Ashley remain as its core. The members in 2013 when this was recorded was made, in order of seniority are Ashley and Simon, Kellie While, and Simon Cichol. I see on its Facebook page that the Albion Christmas Band is touring again this year. Hutchings seems to have had never-ending energy for music-making. He is now 80 years old now.

I don’t need to tell you the story about this song because Ashley tells it himself in a spoken introduction.

How do you do, Sir? Trill is me name,I’ve heard it tell it’s all the way from London that you came.We’re four jolly fellows and we’re nimble on our feet,And it’s each year at Christmastime for revelry we meet.

(Chorus:)And it’s two pairs to dance,One pair to play:And that’s all we ever needTo drive our cares away.

It’s well do I remember, the dance when I was smallMe father like a parson with his Jim Crow hat and allIt’s true I learned me dancing over Chepstow wayBut it’s him that taught me all the steps that I showed you today(Chorus)Now Tom Payne moved in the year of ‘95,And we lost our finest fiddler to the Richard’s Castle side.But now we’ve two musicianers, on them we all depend,To play a slow schottische, or a polka, oh my friend.(Chorus)Well I can’t tell you why we dress the strange way that we do,I only know the old side did, and the one before ‘em too.And when I’m getting older and I find I’ve lost me paceMe son who knows the figures he’ll step in to take me place.(Chorus)

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