Jake Walton

 

Originally from Nottingham, came to the attention of  the folk music scene in Cornwall in the late 1960’s. There he heard musicians like Ralph McTell, Clive Palmer, Mike Chapman, Pete Berryman, and Wizz Jones. Although originally influenced by 1960’s American blues and singer songwriters like Bob Dylan, Donovan and Tom Paxton. Jake came across Roger Nicholson in the 1970’s at the Peelers Club in London, there he learnt to use a dulcimer as a second instrument to his guitar. Coming to the dulcimer from the guitar was fairly easy for him, (a lot easier than it would have been from dulcimer to guitar!) and throughout the 1970’s Roger and Jake toured clubs and festivals in the U.K. and Europe as well as the U.S.A.

It was the dulcimer that got Jake into the more traditional and modal styles of music. Later, he joined Wizz Jones’ ‘Lazy Farmer’ and made one LP for EMI. in the mid 70’s which was produced by Connie Plank in Germany. Jake was also teaching guitar as a sideline. He was always looking for new and different approaches to music especially from the Celtic and Breton forms. Celtic bands like Planxty and the Bothy Band, and Breton bands like Alan Stivell and Bleizi Ruz (Red Wolves). The latter took him to France, and eventually the hurdy gurdy.

Jake found a revelation in the gurdy; he discovered it actually worked very well with other more traditional folk instruments as the rhythmic droning and the buzzing worked extremely well with the music. He found the gurdy to be surprisingly versatile. He now played his part in introducing a new and exciting sound into the British folk scene.

During the 1980’s Jake made two solo LP’s 'Gloaming Grey' and 'Sunlight and Shade' both had traditional and original material and also featured the Hurdy- Gurdy. He also formed a successful duo with Jez Lowe, the singer songwriter from the North East. Together they recorded ‘Two A Roué’, and although 'Two A Roué' was the only L.P. they recorded together as a duo, it was voted among the top six albums of 1986 in Folk Roots. 'Two A Roué' was produced by Jo Partridge and Jake went on to help him set up the Airfield Studios at St Merryn in Cornwall.

In 1991 He took part in the Irish Folk Festival tour in Germany, accompanied by Eric Liorzou, the Breton guitarist and Cittern player with Bliezi Ruz. This tour coincided with the release of his CD 'Songs from the Gurdy Man’.

Jake continued playing throughout the 1990's and featured on many CD's including that of his old partner Jez Lowe. He also collaborated on a song called 'Deep Peace' on Donovan’s 1996 album 'Sutras'.

In 2002 his CD ‘Emain’ was released which featured Eric Liorzou. They toured together throughout Europe, and were well received in both Germany and the U.K.

More recently he played Hurdy-Gurdy on Seth Lakeman’s album ‘Poor Man’s Heaven.'  and is currently working on a collection of songs to be published in Germany by Heupferd Music.

 

...."I first remember Jake Walton as a shy teenager playing his Gibson J45 at the legendary Folk Cottage at Mitchell in Cornwall. Plainly influenced by the music of Donovan he already developed a delicate finger style and clear diction in his singing. The most outstanding feature for me though, was his commitment to the spirituality of the music he was playing. His attraction to Arthurian legend and his inferences from Donovan's dreamy album Sunshine Superman led him in to the world of Celtic myth and legend. This was long before the Celtic thing became a cause with 'band-wagoning' from those eager to climb aboard. For Jake it was a totally natural progression, a journey that has led to collaborations with Wizz Jones, Jez Lowe, Eric Liorzou and Stephen Cooney and the patience to learn the music of the Hurdy Gurdy. In spite of some divergence, a long period away from live work and a severing of partnerships with those with ambitions toward different goals, Jake's has been a single minded quest and pretty much a solo one with only the barest nod to 'career'. The words that most come to mind when others talk of Jake are those that speak of his purity of intent. Jake employs an unforced gentle approach toward the poetry and music that fall into his criteria, hence we see John Masefield's' deeply moving poem 'The West Wind' set to music and included here. This is a beautifully wrought album from a man of Cornwall. Proud of the inspiration this Celtic corner of England has brought him and confident in its contribution to the music of other Celtic nations. Jake offers the story of the island of Emain''.......Ralph McTell