This live album was recorded on January 6th 2023 at the Bacca Pipes Folk Club in the Riddlesden Institute in Keighley Yorkshire where Sam's road worn folk songs, as a hard touring Skateboarding folksinger always finds a warm welcome, as a returning local singer.
The album comes with its own A5 folded fanzine that has the stories behind all the songs, it's released on Sam's own record label Crow Lane Records that I hope isn't named after the Cemetery off Whalebone Lane in Romford.
The concert opens with an acapella version of Every Night Has An Ending that's apparently a re-working of Derry Gaol, as the narrator reflects on the pain he feels for every night he's away from his true love.
Alf's Song is an original that has some very spry guitar, as Sam sings about the life his Grandfather led as a Leeds based leatherworker, the hard scrabble life of the industrial north and his role in the Amalgamated Society Of Leatherworkers, fighting for the rights of the put upon workers.
Drive Your Way Home is about one of those late-night dashes in the pouring rain to get your backing band to Heathrow at the end of a tour, the wipers have quit, and you're trying to see, to get them safely home at the end of another tour organised on a shoestring, a wing and a prayer.
Sailor's Song has the ringing 12 string to emphasise all the sentiments of love that pour out as Sam imagines all the different trades he will happily give up if you'll only love him till the end of time.
Back On The Jack is a good times drinking song, full of the sort of rueful reflections you get after sipping a glass or three too many of your favourite Whiskey.
The Female Drummer is about a woman who dresses as a man so she can serve in the army, so shares its sentiments with David Bowies She's Got Medals, although this is a bit more direct, as the audience join in on the chorus as the truth is found out.
Holmfirth Anthem is acapella as the entire audience joins in this classic local folk song giving it a choral feel as the bucolic imagery unfurls.
The Recruited Collier is a song Sam learnt from Anne Briggs and Dick Gaughan's reading of this dark song of the life of a Cumbrian miner, how harsh a life it was and the dignity the Colliery men had despite the terror of mining disasters never being far away.
Bushes And Briars is a sparser song, evocative of a love that's never returned, the pain and sorrow at the heart of that imbalance.
Liverpool Packet has harmony backing from the audience on this song about the dangerous journeys the Liverpool Packet steamers undertook sailing between Liverpool and New York with all the dangers of passing through Newfoundland in winter, as the sailors dream of going on the rampage in the Bowery.
Last Of The Yorkshire Outlaws is Sam's tribute to the hard drinking folk who hang out at The Duck & Drake in Leeds, one of the cities last spit and sawdust rock & roll pubs, all the barflies telling road worn tales like the one in the lyrics of this magnificent tune.
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The Wagonner isn't about the pub in Heston, but about the life of the Wagonners pushing wagons full of coal out of the pits, in this classic Geordie folk song attributed to Al Lloyd and Bob Davenport.
Was On An April Morning is another song that the club sing with Sam, on a song he learnt as a kid, that he sings acapella with the clubs assistance.
A Drop of The Morning Dew was inspired by one of the regulars at the Bacca Pipes Molly Binns who told Sam if he wanted to keep his look's he should rub the morning Dew into his face as the secret to eternal youth.
Long Gone is a song for dancing your way through the deep south in America, dreaming of out drinking George Jones with regrets you have for the love who's long gone by the time you sober up, as he attempts to waltz his way through life.
Where The White Roses Grow sounds like the modern classic it is, having been the title song of one of Sam's earlier albums, as this tale of roaming the Yorkshire dales as a kid, makes you realize what a wonderful place to grow up the Dales could be.
Darling Where You Are that opens with the tune played solo on Sam's 12 string before the vocals are sung acapella, that gives this a good impact as the love he feels for the love he's left at home is made clear, as he remembers everyone he's met along the road, while dreaming of being back home with his true love once more.
The set concludes with Lullaby Of Leeds probably his most famous tune, full of love for that Leeds lass that will happily stand you up, while you'll do anything to make her yours, these days this makes me think of Michelle Shooman who was one of the first Leeds girls I knew as a kid, whose sadly no longer with us, who I hope would have liked this song.
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