Ask The Unicorn - Ed Askew

In some ways Ed Askew's story is more interesting than his music.

A folk singer from the 1960's, Askew only put out one album, Ask The Unicorn, on the very hip and very underground ESP-Disk Records. Outside of this fact fairly little is known about the singer songwriter.

He played an instrument called the tiple, something like a ten string lute. Apparently the instrument was strung so tightly that it took incredible force to actually fret and hold a chord. Because of the exertion it took to play the instrument, Askew developed his idiosyncratic strained-singing style.

His next album Little Eyes wasn't released until 2003 despite being recorded shortly after Unicorn, and even then it was in incredibly limited vinyl pressings.

So what of the music? It sounds a bit like an acid fried Bob Dylan fell through a time-warp to Medieval times and is now making his living as a bard. The lyrics are appropriately psychedelic and folk tinged in equal measure. This is not bad by any stretch of the imagination.

However in many ways I have chosen today's song not because of it's excellence, but because of what it represents: An enigma of a musician who came out of the haze and then just as quickly vanished. Listened to as a record of this event, one can't help but become enraptured by the mystery.

Canadee-I-O - Nic Jones

It's hard to find a sadder story in folk music than that of Nic Jones. Widely regarded as one of the finest folk guitarists in existence with a percussive finger picking style wholly unique, his seminal album Penguin Eggs consistently tops critics polls to this day. While driving home from a gig in early 1982 Jones was in a car accident which forever robbed him of his ability to play anything like the style he had developed, and largely his ability with the instrument overall.

Some years later Bob Dylan recorded a performance of the folk ballad Canadee-I-O, which bore a remarkable similarity in it's arrangement to the version composed by Jones. Despite this, he gave him no songwriting credit. Even when called out on the fact, Dylan responded that he saw no similarity between the two versions.

Now, in the expansive grey area that is ownership over folk songs, many of which have existed for hundreds of years, it can be difficult to ascertain where the music originates. This has always been a difficulty in folk. But damn it, Dylan's version DOES sound like Jones' one. Even if Dylan felt they were different, he's a multi millionaire and Nic Jones is likely to never play again. He should have shown some kind of musical camaraderie and given Jones the credit and (in doing so) the royalties he deserves.

So thus we have Canadee-I-O. The track can be found on the aforementioned Penguin Eggs, and it perfectly encapsulates all of the best aspects of Nic Jones. His guitar playing is phenomenal, twirling, jangling and sliding around your ears to the point you almost have to question how so many melodies can be carried by one guitar. By equal turns percussive and gentle, it's genuinely unlike any acoustic guitar playing you will have heard before but, as with the best folk songs, feels gently worn and familiar.

Cutting through the vines of guitar string is Jones tenor voice, piercing and simple. Any excess and it would fight the guitar, they strike a perfect balance of call and response. The lyric tells the story of a young woman following her love to sea, and the adventure that befalls her there.

Of course, despite her happy ending, the true story in this song can only end in tragedy. Nic Jones will never be able to give us more music like this. Fortunately his wife, a dedicated fan of his music when they met, has been putting out the call to reissue the music he has recorded and for fans to send any bootlegs they own of his concerts to be released as albums to keep his music alive.

For now though, enjoy Canadee-I-O and share a thought for Nic Jones, one of the most unique and talented guitarists to grace the instrument.

Nic Jones – Canadee-I-O