Songs of philosophical folklore

“I had an art college education and on a rainy night in 1966 I went into a pub in Cornwall, but I couldn’t afford to pay to go in. So, I said, I’ll tell you what, I don’t want to stay outside in the rain, I’ll play guitar for half an hour for you. They offered me a job for the rest of the summer, and I’ve been at it ever since.”

These words of a picturesque ‘60s pub in the gloomy weather is the perfect introduction for the English folk singer/guitarist, Michael Chapman. Chapman learned to play as a jazz musician, but his kickstart into his career began at the turning point of him transitioning to folk music. While playing for 50 years as a successful artist, he has recorded a whopping 40 albums! Chapman has a plethora of eclectic albums, none of which are alike, for he never repeats himself. His most recent record is True North. Similar to his experience in the Cornwall pub, the album cover is a mysterious, black-and-white blur of scattered faces, perhaps in a club or café setting.

“It’s Too Late” possesses spooky, gothic imagery in the lyrics, discussing “ghosts in the corridors of this broken-down hotel” and “wreckage on the highway.” This first track has an eerie, fingerpicking guitar melody, with Johnny Cash deep-sounding talk-singing. “After All This Time” is a melancholy song of growing up and growing apart, while learning to move on without closure.

“Caddo Lake” and “Eleuthera” are guitar-centered, instrumental interludes with peculiar background noises of cellos here and there. Following this break, “Bluesman” is a more upbeat song with a multitude of voices, unlike his other tracks that represent a single voice and a single guitar. This song is filled with a simplistic, yet powerful energy that can be compared to a Bob Dylan single.

“Full Bottle, Empty Heart” is a narrative song of being intrigued by listening to a country female singer in a pub. Chapman describes the details of her “soft and low” singing “tearing [him] apart” in a low, wispy voice.

With only guitar and vocals, Michael Chapman sings of wisdom and folklore that emulates that of Johnny Cash.