Airs and Graces

Personnel includes: June Tabor (vocals); Nic Jones (guitar, fiddle).
Unlike some folk singer, June Tabor possesses a style that is largely free of ornamentation and enunciates well, making her easily accessible to a wide audience. Although later albums from Tabor saw her developing a "chamber folk" style to accompany her interpretations of traditional and contemporary songs, her earliest performances were unaccompanied. Her 1976 debut album, AIRS & GRACES, is her least adorned: half the material is performed unaccompanied. "Queen Among the Heather" was learnt from the singing of Belle Stewart, one of her influences. Her version of "Reynardine" is highly regarded and makes for interesting comparison to Fairport Convention's folk-rock version.
The song that attracted the most attention at the time was "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by Scots-born, Australia-based Eric Bogle. This moving account of the Gallipoli landings and their aftermath, as recalled by a crippled soldier, is bursting with barely restrained emotion, and concludes with some softly intoned lines from "Waltzing Matilda." The rest of the songs are given spare accompaniment by Nic Jones (guitar, fiddle) or Jon Gillaspie (keyboards, woodwind), and range from the traditional "While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping" to John Tams' account of a departing funfair "Pull Down Lads."