Inclined to be Red

Greg Russell is an English folk singer on a mission. With the boundless energy of youth, he has been racing around the country for the past year playing with a bewildering array of the scene's best talent in various collaborations, including his protest song project, Shake the Chains. This is Russell's debut solo album and he brings much of the political fight and energy of that tour with him – plus its double bassist, Tim Yates.
The pair are joined by the fine young diatonic accordionist Archie Churchill-Moss on a collection of traditional, contemporary and self-penned songs. Russell's music and delivery exudes confidence and conviction. This is best illustrated on his unaccompanied a capella rendition of Keith Marsden's ‘Willy-ole Lad’. The sum is a satisfying collection with a strong political and social conscience – from traditional stories of broken Irish labourers and men departing on the waves to Russell's own laments for the fate of the environment and petty nationalism. As he sings on the penultimate track, ‘it’s not what you've been given, but what you do with what you've got,' and on this evidence, Russell plans to do quite a lot.