Ralph McTell, an icon in the Music Industry for the last 37 years is a very interesting and pleasant guy to have a chat with. I had the chance to spend some time with Ralph and his lovely Norwegian wife, Nanna, at his home in Cornwall recently
I arrived, was greeted firstly by Mollie the Dog, who was adamant that I was going to tickle her tummy before I put one foot any further into the homestead. Ralph then appeared from the back entrance having just finished doing some jobs in the garden and welcomed me like a long lost pal. I was immediately put at ease, Ralph has been on my list of greats since he wrote and sang “Streets of London”, so this was a big day for me. If he had been grumpy or difficult, 37 years would have been wiped out! I had already been told though that he is very nice, warm, funny and makes anyone feel at ease around him wherever he goes, and its true. The first thing I noticed as I walked into the lovely sunny kitchen was a guitar on the kitchen table!
As Ralph made me a cup of tea, in a teapot, we talked about common ground between us, www.folking.com,
Show of Hands and their new Album due out in October 2003, and the fabulous musicianship of
Phil Beer; Ralph has tremendous respect for Phil’s multi-talented abilities. Ralph and Show of Hands did the
Eden Sessions (
Eden Project in Cornwall ) together on Bank Holiday Monday this year, and Ralph seems to have enjoyed it tremendously.
Ralph also has tremendous regard for
Mike Silver, who recently appeared on
GMTV (a breakfast TV show in the UK) singing the title track from his new album (currently on the playlist for
bbc Radio 2). Ralph had sent a letter to Mike only the week before congratulating him on his success and wishing him all the best, as he feels Mike is “a song writer of the highest calibre.” What a compliment.
Nanna arrived back from Tesco’s and we introduced ourselves, whilst Ralph went off for a shower. I knew a little about her but she knew nothing of me, I asked her if it felt strange people reading information on the website and knowing all about the family. She agreed it probably was, but clearly is happy having her husband being “well respected” for his craft. They are a lovely couple and so grounded and normal which is very refreshing.
Ralph arrived back, “Is this black T-shirt OK,” he asked me. Well, I think he would look good in anything, so I nodded in approval. Off we went into the sitting room and carried on with our chat. I sat on a comfy sofa with Ralph and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the man and what makes him tick. I had a list of ideas of what to talk about but they really weren’t necessary.
Ralph can actually trace a link to the West Country through his family. His grandmother come from down here and was in service, as a lot of Grandmothers of our generation were. His Father wasn’t around for long in Ralph’s childhood and Ralph’s Mum worked very hard to keep Ralph and his brother Bruce fed and clothed.
Ralph’s autobiographies are well worth reading and have brought both tears of joy and sadness to my eyes. The first is called “Angel Laughter” which is followed by the second book “Summer Lightning”.
Ralph did join the Army for a while, but didn’t take to it and bought himself out (at 15), with the help of his Mum for £50, who didn’t forgive him for wanting to leave for quite a while. His love of music helped him to focus on something, and kept him out of trouble, and he worked hard on teaching himself the rudiments of what was to become his saving grace. “Streets of London” became a hit and ensured Ralph’s place on the music ladder.
From that day, Ralph has always had it in mind to stay as he is, not to be swayed from what he wants to do and not to be pushed into being a “snazzy dresser like some golf pro with a guitar”. At various times along the way, he has had management, who have tried to change him, and it hasn’t worked and thank goodness Ralph now has the presence of mind to say “No I don’t want this” and got rid. He seems quite bitter about some of the problems he has had with Managers.
Ralph plays by ear and doesn’t read a note of music. “Do I need to, now I have come this far? He asked me with a smile. I commented that I doubted it! (Humour and chuckles were quite common in our chat).Various albums in various styles along the way show that Ralph doesn’t need to read a note! “For the rest of my career, whats left of it he said (what?) he is going his own way and anything he does will be purely on his terms.
Leola, his record/business company was born out of disasters from management, so now has the tools in place to run his career as he wishes.
He has a love of the “Blues”, church music (from his childhood) which is also an extension to “Blues”, and “Country”, his love of
Woody Guthrie shows through in some of his lyrics. He is a gifted storywriter as well as a gifted singer/songwriter and can convey vivid images in the mind with words that he writes. Ralph did say that he had to work at it rather than being in a vision. A lot of effort is required and integrity must be respected. People like
Phil Beer he feels play their music as an extension to their personality; Ralph says he has to work at it. I think he is very self-depreciating as he has a lot of charisma and charm and is gifted whether he likes it or not!
Songs like “From Clare to Here” come from real people. Someone who was working with him on a building site was talking to Ralph and was homesick. A lonely person who Ralph invited for a beer after work along with a few pals. They turned up in the jeans/student look of the time, but the Irish chap turned up in a suit, hair greased, expecting a real posh evening and to impress. During their friendship he started telling Ralph about life in Ireland and Ralph was struck with him saying it’s a long way From Clare to Here instead of what we would say, from here to Clare. The line stuck in Ralph’s mind and was then turned into a song later.
All Ralph’s songs have a message like “Streets of London” which was the first song I remember as meaning something, and this led me to folk music as opposed to Tulips from Amsterdam which was the other choice, as at the time my parents were ardent fans of
Max Bygraves!
Ralph doesn’t listen to the
BBC Radio2 Mike Harding Folk Show a lot now as he feels that there isn’t as much music played as in the past; he feels there is too much chat. He also feels more people want to play than listen. He said there are some wonderful musicians out there, and the shame of it is they don’t get listened to. He feels there is also a lot of crap around these days!
He is very unhappy about the
Licensing Bill and feels it is absolutely ludicrous as live music is our heritage. Britain is a music nation. Hundred of famous names would not have made it if the Bill had come in to force 20 or 30 years ago. We are going to lose so much.
I asked about his favourite song, after much deliberation (as he has written so many), he said “the Setting”. He was trying to convey the leaving, rather than the one left behind. A lot of thought was put into the song, but although very simple, it is a very deep and emotive piece. It is 20 odd years old now.
Ralph wore red shoes for the last tour, I was asked to ask him if he would be wearing them for the 2004 tour? He said that it started out as a joke; he did it for a laugh, but did admit to being very superstitious. He said he would see how he feels when he plans the next tour!
Lots of people I have spoken to about Ralph have all expressed a wish to see more of him on TV. Well, Ralph would love to do more TV. He feels the media have decided it isn’t hip to have folk on the box too much. They don’t realise that lots of people would enjoy seeing and listening to more of this type of music. After all, there are so may other channels to choose from. He feels the chances are remote unless someone came up with a good format. He has the knowledge to talk about the West Country or the music business as a whole, to maybe talk guitars or open to any suggestions. Another point was that we could write or email Radio and TV stations to request more of Ralph McTell. I suggest we do that, so get writing.
Spiral Staircase was a CD that someone asked me to mention. It is still around, although not on the Leola Record label. Ebay have it I think.
I asked Ralph if banjo was harder to play than guitar and his reply was yes. He has by the way added another guitar to his collection and is getting a little worried about how many he has now. He is thinking about what to do with them all.
My next question was; if he hadn’t have been a musician, what vocation would he have followed? “I would have to work outside” he said. Ralph has recently converted the hill in his back garden into a terraced, landscaped hill/garden of trees, flowers and shrubs, with a Norwegian Summer house at the top. I had a tour before I left. Lovely it was, the hard work he described to get to the end result was back breaking. He personally moved 30 tons of sand, cement, concrete, and stones, up hill and chiselled out paths and steps. A work of art. I suggested it might be a form of therapy. He agreed it probably was. In the last few years he has become a Grandfather (doesn’t look old enough) and has enjoyed his family to stay which gave Nanna and Ralph the opportunity to slept in the Summerhouse on air bags!
He decided to have a year off, simply because he has toured for the last 37 years and wondered what it would be like to have a year off, and also to reflect on what he is going to do next. He has been busy every day from sunrise! He hasn’t written any songs as yet this year. He admitted he is ready to do something “music wise” now as he does have a family to keep! “Maybe something simple like “stand up” and acoustic, and an album to go with it” he mused. Sounds good to me. He wondered if people would travel to see him rather than doing every venue in the country. I said I would and many others would to (I travelled once to Dartford, Kent from Devon before to see a band called
Celtus because I wanted to see them!) Distance doesn’t worry me. He was quite taken by that I think. “Music moves you then” he said. I mentioned that I had made a lot of friends out of folk gigs and he said that going to folk gigs is very good way of meeting new friends. Ralph “feels guilty”, “misses the life” and feels he should contact Donard his Tour Manager to get something organised.
He looked very fit, (not surprised carrying all that weight in the garden), tanned and healthy. He very kindly asked me to have lunch with them. We had a further chat whilst eating, not on an interview level, but friendly chat. I was relieved to find out that someone else hadn’t got a DVD player! Mollie stretched out at the kitchen door. I asked about “Albert” the African grey parrot? “He has gone to stay with his lady friend” Ralph explained as they felt that it wasn’t fair to cart him backwards and forwards to London. I saw a picture of him and he looked lovely along with his friend! “Ours is the scruffy one,” he said!
After lunch, we went out into the garden, which is when I had my tour around, I had taken some photographs and we wandered up the winding path to peek through the trees at the summerhouse. I said that it wasn’t a bad job for a musician!
Click
here for photo.
A lovely day, spent with a lovely couple who made me so welcome. It was truly a pleasure to meet them both, to share a chat with Ralph and to generously be given Ralph’s second autobiography, and last album Red Sky to bring back with me. Thank you for your hospitality Ralph, the time you extended to me and I sincerely hope I see you soon “on the road” and on the TV!
