Dave Evans
THE WORDS IN BETWEEN
EARTH RECORDINGS
Chris Parkin
Dave Evans here joins a growing legion of 60s and 70s British folk musicians rescued from obscurity that counts Anne Briggs, Clive Palmer, Vashti Bunyan and more among its number. Evans fits into this reluctant crew somewhere between Bert Jansch at his most bucolic and Mark Fry’s affably meandering acidfolk – and yet, despite adhering to the typically austere accompaniment of the era, he still manages to sound unlike anyone else. On this reissued 1971 album of singer-songwriter fare, Evans’ sunny fingerpicking, which became more vigorous in later years, displays a supreme gift for melody and unique twists and turns. His songs, meanwhile, are sun-baked city narratives about Bristol and beyond, sung in a delicious Welsh lilt as comforting as an eiderdown-covered hay bale. This is yet another essential excavation from the superior Earth Recordings.