Episode 193: Coco Love Alcorn

This week’s Folk Roots Radio featured another interview recorded at the Folk Music Ontario conference this past October. On this episode we talk to Owen Sound based folk, pop and jazz singer Coco Love Alcorn about her music and forthcoming album ‘The Spirit Sessions’. It was a fantastic interview, and as expected, lots of fun. You can listen to the interview on the website here. As usual, there was lots of new music on the show, alongside our mystery theme and guilty pleasure.

This week’s mystery theme was all about flowers. Winter is over, spring is here and everything is growing again which means its time to think about what you’re going to plant this year. Naturally, this week, we thought about ‘flowers’. We’re not sure if it’s feasible to do a mystery theme about vegetables – we’ll look into it. For sure, this won’t be the last gardening theme of the season though.

Alongside great flower-related songs from Martha Wainwright, Ryan Adams, Angela Harris, Dave Teichroeb, David Byrne with Caetano Veloso, we also included John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett with their lo-fi folk-punk classic ‘Beware of the Flowers (‘Cause I’m Sure They’re Going to Get You, Yeh!)’. That song doesn’t appear in the official mystery theme set because I just didn’t think it could fit there but I didn’t want to lose it from the show either which is why it appeared just after this week’s guilty pleasure.

Like the other classic early UK singles from English eccentric John Otway, ‘(Cor Baby That’s) Really Free’ and ‘Geneve’, ‘Beware of the Flowers…’ has a special place in my heart. Part of my misspent youth, I think of fondly. I especially love the way, John Otway starts off by saying ‘Let’s make this the big one for Otway!’ before racing into the song. Not sure that the big one ever turned up for Otway but I was pleased to hear, from someone that’s shared the bill with him, that he’s still putting in some great performances. Interestingly, Beware of the Flowers (‘Cause I’m Sure They’re Going to Get You, Yeh!) was mischievously voted the seventh greatest lyric of all time in a 1999 BBC National Poetry Day poll. Those were obviously some very discerning voters!

This week’s guilty pleasure featured The Zombies from 1968 with Time Of The Season. The archetypal summer of love song, Time Of The Season featured on the classic Zombies 1968 album Odyssey and Oracle. Written by keyboard player Rod Argent, the song featured Colin Blunstone on vocals. It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March that year, and No. 1 in Canada, Amazingly, however, it didn’t chart in the UK. Thanks to Bernard for suggesting we play that this week, as an addition to this week’s mystery theme about ‘flowers’.

If you have a guilty pleasure you’d like to share – that song you still love though you think other people would find it unfashionable (believe me, they won’t), get in touch. We’d love to play it for you! And, if you have a good story about why you love that song, so much the better.

A nice surprise we received in the post this week was the new album from UK based The Demon Barbers. The Demon Barbers are pushing the boundaries of trad folk into hip hop, drum n’ bass from their new album Disco at the Tavern (2015, Self). Despite my early skepticism the album is actually highly listenable and may actually attract new younger converts to trad folk. In some ways it reminds me of the upbeat collaboration between Dave Swarbrick and Scottish Canadian reggae artist Jason Wilson, “Lion Rampart” which was one of our favourite albums last year. Worth a listen, definitely – especially if trad folk is not really your thing!

Check out the full playlist with artist links below and share your love for all the great folk and roots music out there. Thanks to all the artists who share their music with us, and thank you for listening. We’ll see you next week!

Mystery Theme: “Flowers”

Nicolas & The Iceni (Theme)
Lucy She Rises (Demo)
Roll Right (expected 2015)

Martha Wainwright
These Flowers
Martha Wainwright (2004, Maple Music / Zoe Records) CDN

Ryan Adams
Wild Flowers
Gold (2001, Lost Highway)

Angela Harris
Three Little Flowers
Is This Life As It Should Be (2008, Routes Records) CDN

Dave Teichroeb
Give Me The Flowers
Lost Horizon (2008, Self) CDN

The Blue Warblers
Dead Flowers
Birds Of A Feather (2013, Self) CDN

David Byrne & Caetano Veloso
Nothing But Flowers
Live At Carnegie Hall (2012, Nonesuch)

The Shoeless
Amarelo’s Box
The Shoeless (2014, Self) CDN

Robert Earl Keen
This World Is Not My Home
Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions (2014, Dualtone Music Group)

The Early Mays
Little Darling Pal of Mine
The Early Mays (2014, Self)

Charlie Mosbrook
Up Among The Stars
A Time Long Gone (2015, Open Mic Records)

Spuyten Duyvil
O Babe It Ain’t No Lie
The Social Music Hour, Vol. 1 (2015, Self)

The Zombies
Time Of The Season (1968)
Odessey & Oracle (1992, CBS)

John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett
Beware Of The Flowers (‘Cause I’m Sure They’re Going to Get You, Yeh) (1978)
Deep & Meaningless (2007, Microstar)

The Demon Barbers
Aye Fly
Disco At The Tavern (2015, Self)

Coco Love Alcorn
Best Part Of My Day
Play (2011, Self) CDN

Interview: Owen Sound based folk, pop and jazz singer Coco Love Alcorn joined us at the Folk Music Ontario conference this past October to talk about her music and forthcoming album ‘The Spirit Sessions’. Listen to the interview here.

Coco Love Alcorn
The River (Live) CDN

Coco Love Alcorn
Wonderland (Live) CDN

Coco Love Alcorn
Joyful
Joyful (2009, Self) CDN

Same Latitude As Rome
Union Man
Early Days (2015, Self) CDN

Pete Davies
Fat Cats
Long Way Home (2014, Home Roots Music)

Phil Henry
Birdhouse In Your Soul
Aberdeen (2014, Self)

Gordie Tentrees
Camelot Hotel
Less Is More (2015, Self) CDN

Mark Martyre
This Long Road
Red Letters (2014, Self) CDN

Neptune’s Car
By The Time It Gets Dark
The 45th Parallel (2014, Self)

The Lucky Sisters
Let The Mystery Be
So Lucky (2015, Patio Records) CDN