The Rails is a
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...
band from London, England, composed of husband and wife
James Walbourne and
Kami Thompson
Kamila Thompson is a singer-songwriter based in London and New York. She is more commonly known as Kami Thompson. She has been seen touring with Bonny Prince Billy, Teddy Thompson, Sean Lennon and others, as well as appearances with the Wainwr ...
. Thompson and Walbourne first met during the recording sessions for ''Versatile Heart'' by Thompson's mother
Linda Thompson in 2007. The band signed to
Island Records in January 2014 and released their debut album on 5 May 2014 on the label's Pink Label imprint, the first band to do so since the 1970s.
History
Background
Kami Thompson is the daughter of British folk rock singers
Richard Thompson and
Linda Thompson and her brother is the
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...
musician
Teddy Thompson
Teddy Thompson (born 19 February 1976) is an English folk and rock musician. He is the son of folk rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson and brother of singer Kamila Thompson. He released his first album in 2000.
Biography
Teddy Thompson ...
.
Kami Thompson had been in her mother's band as a backing singer and had worked with
Sean Lennon
is an American–British musician, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and half-brother to Julian Lennon. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, The ...
and
Bonnie "Prince" Billy before issuing solo album ''Love Lies'' in 2001.
James Walbourne is from
Muswell Hill
Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross.
Neighbouring areas include Highgate, Hampstead Garden Suburb, East Fi ...
in London and has been in various bands, including
Peter Bruntnell's band, the
Pernice Brothers
Pernice Brothers are an American indie rock band. Formed by Joe Pernice in 1998 after the breakup of his old band, the Scud Mountain Boys, and including Joe's brother Bob Pernice, the band recorded their first album, ''Overcome by Happiness'', fo ...
,
Son Volt
Son Volt is an American rock band formed in 1994 by Jay Farrar after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. The band's current line-up consists of Farrar (vocals, guitar), Andrew DuPlantis (bass guitar), John Horton (guitar), Mark Patterson (drums), and Ma ...
and
The Pretenders
Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete ...
, before releasing solo album ''The Hill'' in 2010. He has also been a touring member of
Ray Davies
Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the rock band the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother Dave on lead guitar and backing voc ...
's band and has played with
Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to atten ...
,
Edwyn Collins
Edwyn Stephen Collins (born 23 August 1959) is a Scottish musician, producer and record label owner from Edinburgh, Scotland. Collins was the lead singer for the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice, which he co-founded. After the group split in ...
and
The Pogues
The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse" ...
.
Formation (2011–2013)
Linda Thompson was recording her solo album ''Versatile Heart'' in 1997 which featured Kami Thompson alongside Teddy Thompson.
Walbourne appeared on the album after being recommended by the author
Nick Hornby and first met Kami Thompson at the session, but the relationship was not developed any further at this time.
They met again by chance in 2011 at the 50th anniversary show for
McCabe's Guitar Shop
McCabe's Guitar Shop is a musical instrument store and live music venue on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California, United States. Opened in 1958 by Gerald L. McCabe, a well-known furniture designer. McCabe's specializes in acoustic and folk i ...
in Los Angeles, this time forming a professional and personal relationship, marrying in October 2012.
In the same year they also formed
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...
duo Dead Flamingos and released the ''Habit''
EP.
Soon after the band was renamed The Rails and in January 2014 they signed a recording contract with
Island Records.
Kami Thompson has been quoted as stating "our long-term goal is to make the perfect divorce album, obviously."
This is a humorous reference to the album ''
Shoot Out the Lights
''Shoot Out the Lights'' is the sixth and final album by British husband-and-wife rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson. It was produced by Joe Boyd and released in 1982 on his Hannibal label. A critically acclaimed work, AllMusic's Mark Demin ...
'', recorded by Richard and Linda Thompson at the end of their relationship, whilst Linda was pregnant with Kami, and considered by many to be a notable break-up album.
''Fair Warning'' (2014–2015)
On 5 May 2014 The Rails released their debut album ''Fair Warning'' which peaked at number 95 on the
UK Album Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
.
Martin Kelly, the manager of the band, convinced Island Records to resurrect its pink label design for the release of the album. The pink label imprint had previously been used in the 1960s and 1970s on records by prominent folk rock artists such as
John Martyn
Iain David McGeachy (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40-year career, he released 23 studio albums, and received frequent critical acclaim. ...
,
Nick Drake and Thompson's father's original band
Fairport Convention.
The album was co-produced by the band, Scottish musician Edwyn Collins (best known for his work in the band
Orange Juice
Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As well as vari ...
) and Sebastian Lewsley.
Many of the songs feature English
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
musician
Eliza Carthy
Eliza Amy Forbes Carthy, MBE (born 23 August 1975) is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.
Life and ca ...
, herself a member of another large musical family (the
Carthy Carthy is a surname, and may refer to:
* Brian Carthy, Gaelic games correspondent and commentator
* Deborah Carthy-Deu (born 1966), Puerto Rican actress
* Eliza Carthy (born 1975), English folk musician
* John Carthy (1972–2000), Irish citizen ...
's and the
Watersons), playing the
fiddle.
All but two of the songs on the album, including three re-recorded tracks from the Dead Flamingos ''Habit'' EP, are written by Thompson and Walbourne.
The other two songs, "
Bonnie Portmore" and "William Taylor", are traditional ballads retrieved by the band from the folk archive at
Cecil Sharp House
Cecil may refer to:
People with the name
* Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name)
* Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
Places Canada
*Cecil, Alberta, ...
.
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' gave the album 4 out of 5 stars in their review and wrote that The Rails are "a duo to watch".
''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'' also gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, writing that the album "rings with the joy of a golden history while also pointing to an exciting future".
''
Folk Radio UK'' gave the album a positive review stating that "Richard and Linda Thompson established themselves as enduring British folk rock legends...daughter and son-in-law seem highly likely to follow in their footsteps".
''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'' named ''Fair Warning'' as their 2014 Folk Album of the Year and it was a runner-up in the
fRoots
''fRoots'' (pronounced "eff-Roots", originally ''Folk Roots'') was a specialist music magazine published in the UK between 1979 and 2019. It specialised in folk and world music, and featured regular compilation downloadable albums, with occa ...
2014 New Album of the Year list.
In 2015 The Rails performed 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 ...
and were presented with the Horizon Award, which is given to the best emerging artist of that year.
Both Thompson and Walbourne appear on the album ''
Family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
'' (2014) by the band Thompson (the band being named for all the Thompsons that appear) having written two songs for the project. The album was produced by Teddy Thompson and features Richard and Linda Thompson as well as other related musicians, including Walbourne's brother and Richard Thompson's son from his second marriage.
Kami Thompson commented on the project: "The whole album is like a family songwriting competition—it's a bloody nightmare. I mean, what could possibly go wrong"?
Influences and musical style
The Rails have been called
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
,
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...
and folk pop by music writers.
''
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 databa ...
'' write about The Rail's "classic folk-rock pageantry" and feel that their music "blends bits of Celtic, soul, blues, and folk so agelessly that it could belong in 1974 or 2014".
Similarly, ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'' write that "anyone else debuting in 2014 with an album of early '70s-style folk should likely get short thrift from people" but feel the band have the "proper pedigree", going so far as to state that Walbourne's guitar "is as immaculately understated as, well, his father-in-law".
Walbourne has been described by the author Nick Hornby as "an unearthly cross between
James Burton
James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also been recognized ...
,
Peter Green, and Richard Thompson", describing guitar solos that "drop the jaw, stop the heart, and smack the gob, all at the same time".
The band aspire for a simple sound with "no tricks" where "you can hear everything", adding that "it's hard to convince people to make a record like that now but the sound is fantastic, it's so direct."
Walbourne grew up with "a fascination for early
rock 'n' roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
and roots
Americana
Americana may refer to:
*Americana (music), a genre or style of American music
*Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States
Film, radio and television
* ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...
and was exposed to the music of
Frank Sinatra and
Bo Diddley
Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, inc ...
by his father.
Regarding the legacy of her parents' music, Thompson admits that folk music was formative for her and states that "at the time folk was a box I didn't want to be in, and I did my best to avoid it".
The Rails decided that "it made more sense to embrace tradition than fight it" acknowledging that comparisons would be made to Richard and Linda Thompson by making a folk-rock record and releasing it on Island Records.
Members
*
Kami Thompson
Kamila Thompson is a singer-songwriter based in London and New York. She is more commonly known as Kami Thompson. She has been seen touring with Bonny Prince Billy, Teddy Thompson, Sean Lennon and others, as well as appearances with the Wainwr ...
– vocals, acoustic guitar
*James Walbourne – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, organ,
accordion,
dobro,
mandolin, piano,
lap steel
The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional a ...
,
Wurlitzer electric piano
The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is concept ...
Guest musicians
*Cody Dickinson – drums, percussion,
washboard
*Danny Williams – bass, double bass
*
Eliza Carthy
Eliza Amy Forbes Carthy, MBE (born 23 August 1975) is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.
Life and ca ...
–
fiddle
*Jim Boquist
*Eric Haywood
*
Carwyn Ellis
Carwyn Ellis (born Carwyn Meurig Ellis; 9 August 1973) is a Welsh musician, composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known as the frontman of British alternative band Colorama, as a member of The Pretenders and as a ...
*Rob Walbourne
Discography
Albums
*''Fair Warning'' (2014, Island; CD,
vinyl
Vinyl may refer to:
Chemistry
* Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer
* Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation
* Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry
* Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...
, digital download – the album came with the ''West Heath EP'' if obtained from
Rough Trade)
*''Other People'' (2017, Psychonaut Sounds; CD, vinyl, digital download)
*''Cancel the Sun'' (2019, Psychonaut Sounds)
Singles and EPs
*''2 EP'' (2012) – iTunes exclusive
*"Bonnie Portmore" (2014) – Island Records–
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...
limited
7" single
In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separat ...
& digital download
*"Breakneck Speed" (2014) – Island Records – limited 7" single & digital download
*''The Mark Radcliffe Folk Sessions'' (2014) – digital download only
*''Australia'' (2015) – limited edition seven track EP
Awards
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
*2014: Horizon Award for Best Newcomer – winner
Mojo
*2014: Folk Album of the Year – winner
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rails, The
English musical duos
Folk rock duos
English folk rock groups
Island Records artists
Male–female musical duos
Married couples
Musical groups established in 2013
Musical groups from London
2013 establishments in England
Thirty Tigers artists