Rolling Home

John Tams in conversation...

Constantly in demand - acting or directing the music for productions at The National, scriptwriting for radio, TV and film, producing, composing…and performing - John Tams is a hard man to pin down. It's little wonder then that his new album - Home - is thus titled. For someone so much on the road the word must carry special resonance when for so many years home has literally been a suitcase and a hotel room.

Indeed for much of 2002 Tams and his family (wife Sally and daughter Rosie) were stateless as one home was sold and the next disappeared before they finally found a haven of peace and contentment to call their own.

Amidst such domestic upheaval Tams somehow managed to record and release his second solo album. Following up 2000's award winning, critically acclaimed and much loved 'Unity' was never going to be easy but 'Home' did so admirably. For many it emulated its predecessor and carried such thematic resonance and tonal cohesiveness that it marked a further progression for an artist who resolutely resists the temptation to rest on his laurels. For some critics and mainstays of the Folk establishment however the fact that Tams had not simply made 'Unity - Part 2' was too much to take. Hence it has received a mixed critical reception. Maybe the fact that d-j Bob Harris had quickly fallen under the album's spell confounded Folk's inner-circle as Tams was out there being played alongside James Taylor and Jackson Browne pushing the envelope and taking the music into realms beyond their curtilage.

For fans however 'Home' has been a resounding success - an album not in opposition to its predecessor but a logical continuance of Tams' artistic journey. Rich and absorbing it is possibly his finest hour, one to which the doubters will return. Like other great or 'classic' albums it will endure, and distance will allow it to be heard as the triumph it is.

So, with these issues in mind, Tams was eventually cornered one wet and windy night in November in front of the roaring log fire in his new home to talk about the album and issues surrounding it. He kicked off by explaining the album's genesis.

"It's eighteen months on since 'Unity' which is quite a short period of time - given the fact that the songs have to be made between one album and the next. I started putting down ideas for 'Home' pretty much at the same time as 'Unity' came out.

We started work on 'Home' at Keith Angel's place in Conisborough. On the first day of the sessions we recorded half a dozen ideas. One morning after breakfast I sang 'Right On Line' and we kept it - just me and a guitar. It was a demo really but Keith was taken with it as a performance and felt it did not need any more dressing, so we kept it as it was and it made the album.

We were also growing tracks from the ground. For example 'Grey & Grimy' was written from a marimba part that Keith had that I liked. I worked on a tune for that, stayed up all night to write the lyric and we recorded it the following day. Since there were only the two of us there there's only the two of us on the track. Keith plays marimba, thumb piano and kit, I played guitar, bass and keyboards. It seemed that as we'd worked on it as a duet it should be reflected that way on the album.

"Later Keith came down to Matlock where I was living at the time and we worked on the instrumental tune that precedes 'The Traveller'. It's a polska I'd originally performed fifteen years ago in Prague with the late and much missed Ian Dury. We were there making a film - 'The Raggedy Rawney' - with Bob Hoskins. It was a wild track for a wedding celebration. It was made for that particular film. It actually found its way into the movie with Michael Kamen who composed the score. He added one or two instruments to it during post-production, but by and large what you hear on the soundtrack is Ian and me 'live'. In fact 'Rolling Home' - which currently closes my live set with Barry Coope - is also in that film.

For 'The Traveller' Keith and I extended that original polska and I went to Andy Seward's in East Anglia where the two of us developed the back of it. I then wrote a song on the wing for that. That was the last song written for the album - in July 2002, a few days before we started mixing."

The album's title was not preconceived but suggested itself naturally from Tams' lyrics.

"It was only when I looked to see if there was something that unified the songs that I found a high incidence of the word 'home' in the lyrics. It's not a coincidence really because the word has always been significant in my work. I'm currently writing a film that includes a scene in which a small girl tries to teach a Spanish speaking black boy English. The word she uses is 'home'. So I am investigating it all the time in many different areas, still trying to find out what it means.

It's also not a coincidence that there's a couple of albums out at the moment called 'Home' such as the Dixie Chicks' latest. Post 9/11 I think people are trying to define what it means in different ways, it's resonating quite widely. Also significantly for me my family didn't have a home of our own and so that was another factor that came into play. It's a beautiful word and I'm constantly re-defining it as I think about it."

From the album's title the conversation returned to 'The Traveller' and the tremendous harmony singing on that which is such a significant feature of 'Home's' entire sonic texture.

"Much of the vocals on 'The Traveller' are down to Barry Coope, with a little bit of a sketch/suggestion from me. Barry peeled off any number of options for me to use, great as he is at harmonising. My job was to edit the choices that he presented and to direct the level of energy that he gives the performance. On that track here and there there's quite a light, 'feminine' energy. I was happy with what we'd got although it's missed as far as a lot of the so-called critics are concerned, it's not been as regarded as I would have hoped it would."

At this point that Tams aired a deeply held frustration towards the negative critical reaction he perceives 'Home' to have received in some quarters. Despite radio success, its inclusion in Mojo's Top Ten Folk albums of 2002 and being featured as one of the 'Albums of The Year' by What's On In London Tams feels 'Home' has not been given the time it needs to grow and has been dismissed too quickly by some.

"Much to my dismay the album has been largely set-aside in terms of critical success. The way I work is to build a record that reveals more of itself each time it is played. If anyone is to be thanked for that style of production it is Joe Boyd who taught me about how to make tracks that last. If people find access to a track and are prepared to give it a little more of their time and work at it a bit then usually that track will endure. On the other hand quite often if you like a track instantly it will die on its feet within a couple or three plays. I would rather make work that asks the listener for their input in a shared way so they and I feel that we've made a journey with the music."

Those who have heard 'Home' will know that it is a record that has been made to last. Each listen leaves something to return to. Like 'Unity' it is a layered and cohesive piece of work but possibly takes this process a step further. Despite the hurt he feels from some critical responses Tams is nevertheless buoyed by the fans' response.

"To be fair although some critics have not been too generous with the album we have had - on a day to day basis - people emailing us and sending letters to say how much they are getting from the album and how important it is to them. Some think it's better than 'Unity'. What I think some critics have missed is that 'Home' is quite a dangerous album in terms of the risks that it took. It didn't sound exactly the same as 'Unity'. There are those artists out there who keep making the same album over and over. I see no virtue in that. Up to a point you have to go on to different things, so I am dealing more with sexual politics on 'Home' than maybe I was on 'Unity' which was more of a socialist album. The politics are still there in tracks like 'You Don't Know Me Anymore' and 'Yonder'. What the critics haven't identified is that very few people are growing an album from seed all the way through to the end. These days a lot of people take three or four years between albums. I think 'Home' is terrific and I will defend it to the hilt. I stand by it, as does every member of the band.

The support I receive is from people who have rendezvoused with the album more than once or twice. It's only authors of the window-shopping style of journalism who seem to have missed the point - which is very unsatisfying and I am quite hurt by it. I've always said making an album is possibly like having a baby - except you get f**ked at the end!"

Lauded by Mojo Music Magazine as 'one of Britain's ultimate songwriters' Tams is - despite having previously been involved in some sixty or so albums - only now stepping out and making the first truly 'solo' records of his career. More to the point these are not 'safe', comfortable records but exciting, challenging pieces of work. So why does he prefer to push the envelope - knowing it will invite criticism - when most artists at his stage of Life and career are content to hit cruise control and repeat themselves?

I wouldn't know what a 'safe' album is. All I can do is make a song and service it properly with terrific support from the musicians I surround myself with. Once you have made a song finding out how to make it work is the exciting part. I'm happy to stick my neck out."

There is no doubt that 'Home' differs from other 'folk' albums currently around. In content and sound texture it stands alone. In reality it is a crossover album, one that forces the issue about just what is or is not 'Folk music'. Further it draws attention to how music is forced into genre pockets by the media and how, ultimately, this is a dis-service to both artists and listeners alike as particular genres are favoured over others when it comes to playlisting and programming. It's musical racism. Steve Earle - a victim of being labelled 'Country' when what he does goes way beyond the margins of that particular genre - summed up the ridiculousness of putting labels on artists and their music when he said, "In my mind there are just two types of music - good music and bad music." It's a sentiment with which Tams has sympathy.

"It's hard to parenthesise what the band and I are doing and stick it in a slot marked 'Folk'. I have no problem being a Folk singer - that's a great and respectable job. However what we're doing is just popular music. I think most of my albums have been impossible to pigeon-hole. 'Unity' was and so was the work I did with Home Service when they recorded a whole Percy Grainger suite, and the Albion Band records when we did an epic song about the Gresford mining disaster. Those sort of margin pushing things weren't just exercises but was us 'investigating'. There are a lot of listeners out there who enjoy the investigation as well and want to come on the trip."

Such work by both Home Service and The Albion Band was hailed as groundbreaking and it's a word that easily attaches itself to 'Home'.

Tams' decision to start issuing records in his own name is clearly a watershed in his career and came with the belated realisation that - "This is what I do! Writing and performing has always been more of a vocation than it has been a job. It's only recently that I came face to face with the fact that I actually do this for a living - I have to do it. I actually have to make these songs - it's a need in me as is the need to make contact with audiences and listeners. It's central to what I am."

One of the most affecting Tams composed tracks on 'Home' is the opening song 'You Don't Know Me Anymore' which is all about communication - or the lack of it. Like the opening track on 'Unity' - 'Whole New Vision' - it's another deft swipe at New Labour.

"It's about being marginalised and ignored by a corporate style of government. It's about access. The still, small voices aren't going to get a say these days, although it does threaten in the last verse - 'a few more zeroes on a page…one day will storm across your stage'. In any defined democracy we should have the right to storm stages so it's a much tougher song than at first hearing. Trevor Griffiths said, 'Truth is a fist that you hit with', which is a good quote and it suits that song. I think you need an impact at the beginning of a record and I think that song carries the required punch."

For many one of the great appeals of Tams' songs is that he's a great teller of tales but in the telling of the tale his songs - without hectoring - also pose questions. Tams agrees, "The songs are functional - not just passive - they should make people argue among themselves." However he is quick to add - "But I don't give answers!" "I try to avoid being confrontational if I can. I like to offer an affirming voice to those who don't have a voice - which brings us back to marginalisation. I think we're slowly losing the sense of belonging - we don't know what we belong to anymore. All those years of Thatcherism turned a lot of us into 'Me - Mine!' people. She said society was dead but bollocks to that - it's not! There is nothing without society and the community of people. We all need embracing once in a while - there needs to be mutuality. Part of the songwriter's job is to make sure that the voices are heard. And that's about the whole of it. 'You Don't Know Me' is the overture to the album. I make no apologies for the fact that it is a political address.

'Yonder' is also a political statement - a requiem for Socialism and for the loss of what I thought was an important ideal. This is why the song features a crematorium organ because I think it was a cremation of the ideal.

'Another Grey and Grim Old Grimy Day' is about the failure of a relationship and it is about the North. In a lot of people's lives the sun rarely shines and a lot of that is probably because they haven't been able to keep partnerships going. It's also about the fact that this guy can't apologise - he doesn't know the word 'sorry'. It's a difficult word to say in view of the amount of honesty it requires. Some people spend all their time apologising and it devalues the moment but this guy can't even voice it. I thought this was an important thing to deal with."

Two songs that do test the definition of 'John Tams - Folk Singer' are 'The Ballroom' and 'Red Gown'. Full band tracks they recall The Band at their 70's peak, and when Graeme Taylor's sublime guitar solo kicks in on 'Red Gown' you'd be forgiven for thinking Keith Richards had also just entered the room.

"I'm flattered by the comparisons. Those songs are respectively and respectfully homages to those two bands in some respects and are also about relationships. 'The Ballroom' is a ballad and uses iconic figures and was recorded in the ballroom at The Pavilion in Matlock Bath - you can dance to the playout at the end. It's got a Hammond organ in it and is redolent of my favourite of all bands - The Band. It's about the culture of the dancehall and the way that it's peopled. It's a 16:9 black and white short film set to music. 'Red Gown' investigates - culturally - the 'friendly invasion' some may call it - part of 'The American Dream' coming here and us batting it back across the Atlantic again. I write about 'honey-bees' whereas an American writer would talk about 'whippoorwills'. The 'red gown' is an epic image - it's another black and white film apart from the woman who's in red - but - thanks to the way the band play it and the attitude Graeme Taylor takes to the guitar figure - it turns into an early Stones sound. Graeme's ingenuity and elasticity as a guitarist comes to the fore on this song - it's not a pastiche it's Graeme playing in a style that suits the song.

The band only play together on about half the tracks on 'Home' so when they do they must be given their head once in a while! They could recognise that a track could be best serviced by just one or two of them playing but they also knew when a song needed them all to come together to play. That brought colour and a different dynamic to the record.

Rock music has been influential on me - but if you listen to The Band you've got to remember that Levon Helm - their percussionist/drummer - was actually a mandolin player. If you listen to his drumming he's playing the tune most of the time. He was a traditional musician as near as damn it. A lot of the players in The Band came out of folk music, Rick Danko was a good fiddler. Garth played anything and everything. They were all particularly rooted musicians - they came out of a ground that had been levelled by a lot of listening and a lot of playing of other instruments - perhaps not the ones they ended up playing. So they knew texturally and contextually the popular culture of North America. They were students of popular culture that's why it was such a good band. AND they had great big ears - they listened and never walked over one another."

Walking comfortably side by side with the 'Rock sensibilities' of 'The Ballroom' and 'Red Gown' is the wonderful traditional ballad 'Hugh Stenson and Molly Green'.

"That starts off as a classic traditional song - two verses at the beginning sung accapella using a traditional tune - 'The Leaves of Life'. Then there are some rewrites here and there to make it work. It's a more massive ballad in its original form than I could deal with on this album. There's a ingenuous guitar solo or two from Graeme, which I felt was pushing the margin again and which defined the song in the way I wanted it. I chose this particular song because notionally it's a traditional love song. I was trying to re-awaken people's interest in the Tradition and the fact that there exists therein some very beautiful love songs that don't have to use supernatural imagery and 'fingers long and small and elfin knights and milk white steeds'. There are some real affairs of the heart dealt with rather beautifully by the Tradition. I was hoping you couldn't see the join from the song prior to it ('The Ballroom') and the song thereafter ('Right On Line'). It shouldn't stick out as a 'Trad. Song' - it should just be another song."

Discussion of the ballad form leads Tams on to talk about the album's most epic song, 'Bound East for Cardiff', which takes its title and a line of the otherwise Tams written lyric from a one-act play by American writer Eugene O'Neill. Tams is clearly proud of this track which Bob Harris picked out to comment on very favourably and play on his Saturday night Radio 2 show.

"I think some of my best lyric writing resides within 'Bound East For Cardiff'. It's a difficult song to make work. It's based on a play of the same name by O'Neill that I worked on at The National Theatre. It's part of a quartet of plays generically called 'The Sea Plays' or 'The Long Voyage Home'. Those two quotes appear in the song and home then becomes another significant image for the track and for the album. It seemed therefore to fit in with the arc of the album. The song tells the story of an imagined merchant sailor. It takes him through a life where he never gets out of the cycle of earning money, drinking the money and therefore having to go back to earn more money but always there is the hope of a gap in the cycle so he can get home. But he never makes it home, he's trapped in this terrible circuit. It's a ballad - a story song, I will always write ballads because I like story songs. I find the sea entrancing and a significant source of inspiration. As a British writer I have to deal with the coast and the conditions of what being an islander is - it's part of the job."

Together 'Unity' and 'Home' mark John Tams long awaited debut as a 'solo' artist and so it is interesting to note that the song that has attracted possibly the most attention is the one where he is truly 'solo' - 'Right On Line'. So how does he react to the interest it has received?

"It's quite autobiographical but I think it's a bit of an indulgence to entirely autobiographise yourself into song, so you do it to a point and then you push the margin a bit more. The song has some irony. I think that's probably why it's been attractive to some of the listeners. It's a bit like one of those songs you've heard before but not in that order so it has something of a conditioned response - people find its familiarity agreeable. It wasn't difficult to write. It came in the right order. It starts tangentially which is where I like to start songs with an uncompromising opening line. Then it potters off into a bit of my life and a bit of lives I've seen around me amalgamated into one character."

It's the most 'singer-songwriter' song on the album, so what chance of a whole album of songs in this vein?

"I don't know because I can't throw a girdle around that 'vein' and say I'm going to work within it. That goes diametrically against my principles as a writer. I like to think that the songs are unrestricted by genre or vein or whatever so that they come to me the way that they want or the way that I will them to be without saying that they have to relate to each other. I throw away more than half of what I write anyway but that's part of the discipline."

'Home' concludes the album with another personal song - 'When This Song Is Ended There's No More'.

"It's a cyclical song. It's got a motif that revolves in the way that everybody says' I'm not going to do that again' - never again - and then they go and do it again! In a way it's ironic - it's how we feel at the end of a relationship - 'I can't be hurt that much again' - and then we get hurt even more! It's about that and about seasons which is right in the middle of the Tradition - it's about how seasons sometimes respond to changes of the heart - the warmth of someone and the chill of winter sometimes beset a relationship. It's using imagery that's ages old and using the song as a metaphor for the circle and the way every couple has a song that's 'their song'. This song uses that. But then the song is hi-jacked by one of the partners involved in the relationship. I hope it journalises some widespread feelings that people have shared in similar dilemmas. Identification is the job of the writer and I hope that is what that song does. And with a title like that I could hardly put it anywhere else on the album!"

As an afterthought Tams adds, "I'm enjoying performing again. I am of an age where my ambition is nightly made - I want to get on the bandstand at nine and come off at eleven 'o' clock having fulfilled the expectations of the audience and my own. That's just it - the ambition of making the show work."

Judging by his current sold-out, critically acclaimed shows with Barry Coope it would seem that Tams' ambition is being well and truly realised. Long may he run!

COLIN HALL