The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

Baker's Dozen

Songs Are Powerful Things: Marry Waterson's Baker's Dozen
Jude Rogers , October 18th, 2017 07:10

Marry Waterson might have been born into a folk dynasty but that didn't stop her becoming a biker. With a new LP out and her mother and uncle's Bright Phoebus LP recently reissued, she guides Jude Rogers through 13 favourite LPs from The Beatles to The Band and Billie Holiday

The_band___the_band_1508245397_resize_460x400

The Band – The Band
This record. It just gets you in the feels!  I discovered them in my teenage years – this was souped-up, folk turned up to 11. Made by such fantastic musicians too: Levon Helm's singing and his drums, Garth Hudson on the organ, Robbie Robertson's guitar, just fantastic. And everyone singing together, that feeling – it's so hard to describe. 

Is it spiritual? Well, Mam and I weren't religious, but some songs, like the gospel song, 'Oh Happy Day'… you sing that together, it's like you want to peel yourself open. There's a pattern to all these albums, I've realised: it's about meaning it, being together, but being an individual within a collective, and writing that, singing that, in your different ways.