RECOGNISED as bringing folk forward 30 years, the celebrated Jim Moray will be performing live in Trelawnyd this week.
Despite being only 26 years old, the accomplished musician has a collection of albums under his belt, with the latest Low Culture a ten song strong release which defines exactly where English traditional music is at in the early 21st century.
Managing to accommodate guest spots from both folk legend Roy Bailey and Jasper Future of NME darlings Art Brut, Low Culture plays on Moray’s skill for picking bits of the past and present and re-imagining them for the future.
In the process, seminal traditional ballad Lucy Wan is shaken back to life in collaboration with British-Ghanian rapper Bubbz as a Folk-Grime epic, The Rufford Park Poachers - first recorded on wax cylinder by source singer Joseph Taylor in 1906 - becomes burning hurdy-gurdy driven alt-rock, and XTC classic All You Pretty Girls is co-opted as a sea shanty for a crew featuring folk singers Tim Van Eyken, James Fagan, Nancy Kerr and Jim Causley.
But, far from the tokenistic approach of his peers, Moray weaves a cohesive whole that links traditional song seamlessly into modern popular culture rather than discriminating between the two.
A surprising pleasure for those unfamiliar with the ardent traditionalism which soaks his fresh sounding collection, Jim Moray's live performance is something you need to experience.
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Jim Moray will be performing live at Trelawnyd Memorial Hall on Saturday, March 6 at 7pm. For tickets visit www.therecordjournal.co.uk or call 07899024162. For more information visit www.jimmoray.co.uk