''Country Life'' is the eleventh studio album by English acoustic roots duo

Show of Hands Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots/folk duo formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter Steve Knightley (guitars, mandolin, mandocello, cuatro) and composer and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer (vocals, guitars, violin, viola, mandolin, mandoc ...

. Released in 2003, it marks a departure for the band, with stronger socially and politically lyrics than the duo's previous albums, as well as showcasing the duo exploring a larger musical palette. Some of the album's lyrics concern rural issues which Knightley had taken to heart in previous years, including in the aftermath of their previous lyrical album ''

Cold Frontier ''Cold Frontier'' is the ninth studio album by English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands. It was recorded in early 2001 on location by the Countess Wear at the River Exe, Exeter, Devon, with Mick Dolan, engineer for Steve Winwood, co-producing th ...

'' (2001). Prior to the release of ''Country Life'', the duo had released an instrumental album named '' The Path''. Both ''The Path'' and ''Country Life'' were released close together. The album was packaged in a lavish set which included a bonus disc of demo versions and other bonus material. The album's title track was also promoted by the band's first music video. The album received a positive reception, with praise greeting the album from the likes of Tom Jewsbury of the

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,BBC – Radio 2 – Folk and Acoustic
/ref> Iain Hazlewood of ''

Spiral Earth Spiral Earth is an online news channel and website, based in Cambridgeshire, England. It covers folk music, roots music and the alternative music scene in the United Kingdom. It is edited by Iain Hazlewood, who founded Spiral Earth in 2004. Sp ...

'', and Jane Brace of ''The Living Tradition''. The album ranked at number 22 in the "Devon's Top 50 Albums" poll organised by

BBC Radio Devon BBC Radio Devon is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Devon. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Mannamead area of Plymouth. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 1 ...

in April 2004 to find the all-time favourite albums of

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

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/ref> The duo toured in support of the album from 2003–2005.

Background and recording

After completing and releasing their eighth studio album ''

'' (2001), Show of Hands embarked on a nationwide tour in which they played a great deal of unreleased or "rare" material. The band's live album ''

Cold Cuts Lunch meats—also known as cold cuts, luncheon meats, cooked meats, sliced meats, cold meats, sandwich meats, and deli meats—are precooked or cured meats that are sliced and served cold or hot. They are typically served in sandwiches or on ...

'' (2002) was drawn from material from the tour. The tour coincided with the start of writing material for the album. Both the recording of ''Cold Frontier'' and the subsequent tour were in an era of several social and political concerns for Knightley, culminating in the more "heavy" lyrics that landed on the album. With a focus on rural issues,

Steve Knightley Steve Knightley (born 1954) is an English singer, songwriter and acoustic musician. Since 1992 he has been one half of folk/roots duo Show of Hands along with Phil Beer. Knightley was named "Songwriter of the Nineties" by BBC Radio 6 Music in ...

of the duo named the album ''Country Life''. The duo had been commissioned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

and

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

to record an instrumental album to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises a ...

. The resulting album, '' The Path'' (2003), was quickly recorded as the duo were preparing for their next canonical album. As such, the duo entered a busy in period in which they were working on two albums. ''The Path'' was released on 14 April 2003, by which point ''Country Life'' had been recorded at

Riverside Studios Riverside Studios is an arts centre on the banks of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London, England. The venue plays host to contemporary performance, film, visual art exhibitions and television production. Having closed for redevelopment in ...

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

in the early part of 2003. The album was co-produced between Mick Dolan and the duo.

Music and composition

At the time of release, Jane Brace of ''Living Tradition'' described ''Country Life'' as the duo's "most ambitious, exciting and keenly awaited project to date". Iain Hazlewood of ''Spiral Earth'' noted "the diversity of musical style, mood and pace on the album is always held in control; as an album it is totally cohesive - nothing unbalances it," and noted the album incorporates elements of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

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rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, but also that despite this, "they don't fall into the trap of creating '

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

' music that isn't rooted to any real place or time. Their place is the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...

and

South West of England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities an ...

, their time is anytime they damn well like." Tom Jewsbury of the

said the duo "steer ever closer to the mainstream market with this latest studio album. All the usual SOH ingredients are present: soulful vocals, accomplished instrumentation, excellent production, original compositions featuring politically-charged lyrics, the occasional nod to the tradition." The album contains ten songs written by

, as well as the duo's arrangements of two traditional folk songs and

Kelly Joe Phelps Kelly Joe Phelps (October 5, 1959 – May 31, 2022) was an American musician and songwriter. His music has been characterized as a mixture of delta blues and jazz.Ann Powers, ''The New York Times'', February 9, 2000. Career Kelly Joe Phelps grew ...

's "Tommy", the latter being a "raw tale of schizophrenia" about "a misfit" and featuring

Phil Beer Phil Beer (born 12 May 1953 in Exminster, Devon, England) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and one half of English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands. Biography Beer first began to play fiddle, guitar, and mandolin whilst ...

's "unusual voice". The title track and album opener, "Country Life", is a "stirring" and "finely honed rant about the desecration of British country life" and "an acerbic indictment of modern values". Inspired by the

2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease in farms across most of the British countryside. Over 6 million cows and ...

, it became something of a break-though recording for the band that has brought their work to a wider audience. The song examines rural poverty and social exclusion from the experiences of an extended family, and was partly born from Knightley's frustration that English rural areas lacked a meaningful musical voice. Steve Knightley had commented that “cities in England have got their voices … The only countryside music bordered on a joke, like

the Wurzels The Wurzels are an English Scrumpy and Western band from Somerset, England, best known for their number one hit " The Combine Harvester" and number three hit "I Am a Cider Drinker" in 1976. They are known for using British West Country phrases ...

." Nonetheless, Knightley does not claim to speak for rural people or to be presenting an "authentic‟ rural voice, with the story told by the particular character of an angry young man. Traditional style cuatro of Puerto Rico

The album's mood changes quickly on the second track, "Hard Shoulder", a song about a long-standing friendship. The song was described as "soaked through with the poignancy of hindsight and memory."NetRhythms: A to Z Album and Gig reviews
/ref> "Hard Shoulder" is followed by "Suntrap", featuring Spanish guitar playing from Beer, and the poignant and gentle "Smile She Said", which tells of the journey of a relationship in five "exposures". Following this is the traditional song "

Reynardine Reynardine is a traditional English ballad (Roud 397). In the versions most commonly sung and recorded today, Reynardine is a werefox who attracts beautiful women so that he can take them away to his castle. What fate meets them there is usually l ...

" which music written by Knightley. The song also features Knightley's hallmark finger drumming, this time on the

cuatro Cuatro is Spanish language, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4 (number), number four. Cuatro may also refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), name for two distinct Latin American instruments, one from Puerto Rico (see cuatro (Puerto Rico), ...

, which he was taught by exiled Chilean musician Vladamir Vega during their time in Alianza in 1991. The track an unusual pulsating treatment. Knightley's singing on the ballad "Seven Days" is accompanied by young

singer Jenna Witts, with whom Knightley and

Seth Lakeman Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. Ac ...

recorded the album ''

Western Approaches The Western Approaches is an approximately rectangular area of the Atlantic Ocean lying immediately to the west of Ireland and parts of Great Britain. Its north and south boundaries are defined by the corresponding extremities of Britain. The c ...

'' with the following year. Following the aforementioned cover of "Tommy" are the "jaunty" song "Be Lucky", the traditional folk song "Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy" which again features Beer on vocals, and had originally been recorded by the duo with Alianza in 1991, and the "gentle" song "I Promise You". Before the album closer "Don't Be a Stranger", which was a former concert closer for the duo, is the upbeat "Red Diesel", about Terry, "the kind of guy that modern society doesn't really have much time for". The track features Knightley's mandocello and Beer's mandolin forming a "foot tapping" rhythm. Terry is a minor criminal who complains that "there ought to be a law for keeping out the yuppies and the grockles".

Release and reception

''Country Life'' was commercially released 20 October 2003 on the band's own label

Hands on Music A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "han ...

with the catalogue number HMCD19, but had already been sold at the duo's concerts since the middle of the year. The album was released as a

double disc A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

set, with the album on the first disc (subtitled ''The Album''), and a bonus disc entitled ''The Demos'', which contained demo versions of the album's songs "Country Life", "Hard Shoulder" and "I Promise You". The bonus disc also contained other

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

bonus material, namely the music videos for "Country Life" and their older song "The Train", a photo slideshow set to "I Promise You", a lyrics section set to "The Exe Estuary" from their previous album ''The Path'', live footage from their 2001 performance at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

and a downloadable screensaver. The bonus disc prompted the

to say the album was "lavishly packaged". Although no singles were released from the album, the title track had a music video produced for it. Helped to be promoted by a tour in 2003, including a performance at the

Trowbridge Village Pump Festival The Village Pump Festival is a folk music festival that takes place near Trowbridge, England. It has its roots years ago in a barn at the Lamb Inn, Trowbridge, and later moved a few miles outside the town to Stowford Manor Farm at Farleigh Hun ...

where copies of the album were signed, the album was released to a positive critical reception. Tom Jewsbury of the

said the album would "have SOH's mighty fan base in seventh heaven." Iain Hazlewood of ''

'' said that "''Country Life'' is one of their defining moments" and "a deceptively complex album, repeated listening reveals a musical and emotional depth that just picks you up and runs off with your imagination. Jane Brace of ''The Living Tradition'' said she had "racked erbrains for a way to describe this band and failed. And therein lies the 'riddle' of Show of Hands. Just when you think you've got a handle on them and decided it's 'acoustic with attitude' or out and out English folk they'll throw in some rock, shades of country, a reel of Celtic, a bit of bluegrass and then recreate the sitar sounds of India in the blink of an eye. They are without a doubt the coolest chameleons I've seen. and the release of ''Country Life'' proves they just get better and better. David Kidman of ''NetRhythms'' said the album is "another excellent product all round. Probably Show Of Hands' best". He commented that the album "gives us the best of all of SOH's various worlds." Bradley Torreano of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

later noted that the album "was well-received by plaudits and fans alike."Show of Hands , Biography, Albums, Streaming Links , AllMusic
/ref> In April 2004, less than a year after the album's release, it was ranked at number 22 in the "Devon's Top 50 Albums" online poll organised by

which listed the all-time favourite albums of participating

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

ians. The album was the only album on the list by a Devonian artist, and its inclusion surprised Nick Southall of

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

, who had not heard of the duo. Touring the album throughout 2003−2005, they won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Live Act in 2004. The award was decided by a public vote. Singer and double bass player Miranda Sykes joined them on their Autumn Tour 2004, which spawned the live album '' As You Were'' (2005). The title track of ''Country Life'' has continued to be played live by the band, it was nominated for "Best Original Song" at the

BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British ra ...

2005, and featured on the corresponding compilation album. The song became something of a breakthrough recording for the band, bringing them a wider audience. Three songs from the album appear on the band's best-of retrospective compilation album '' Roots: The Best of Show of Hands'' (2007), namely "Country Life", "Hard Shoulder and "Cold Frontier".'' Roots: The Best of Show of Hands'' track listing.

Track listing

All songs written by

, except where noted. #"Country Life" – 3:58 #"Hard Shoulder" – 5:17 #"Suntrap" – 3:31 #"Smile She Said" – 3:52 #"

" (lyrics Trad.) – 3:55 #"Seven Days" (Knightley/Jenna Witts) – 4:05 #"Tommy" (

) – 5:39 #"Be Lucky" – 5:08 #"Drake" – 3:13 #"I Promise You" – 3:54 #"Adieu, Sweet Lovely Nancy" (Trad arr. Knightley/

) – 4:08 #"Red Diesel" – 3:35 #"Don't Be A Stranger" – 5:10 Many copies come with a bonus 'promo disc' which features demo versions to three of the songs on the album. #"Country Life" #"Hard Shoulder" #"I Promise You"

Personnel

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

mandocello The mandocello ( it, mandoloncello, Liuto cantabile, liuto moderno) is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paire ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

- vocals, cuatro,

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

, guitar, mandocello,

melodeon Melodeon may refer to: * Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion *Melodeon (organ), a type of 19th-century reed organ *Melodeon (Boston, Massachusetts), a concert hall in 19th-century Boston * Melodeon Records, a U.S. record label in the ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

, Spanish guitar *Matt Clifford -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

*Mick Dolan - shaker, vocals *Jenna Witts - vocals, piano *Paul Wilson - melodeon (track 1) *Roy Martin -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(track 1) *Brian Dickenson -

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

(track 1) *Mike "the landlord" Burch - harmonica (track 10)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Country Life (Show Of Hands Album) 2003 albums Show of Hands albums