Victoria Parks is a singer and songwriter from Ohio who writes from the English-Celtic traditions, transported to America. On Wild English Rose, her second album, many of the tracks are based on stories from her family history, but there are other topics that may push the genre into traditional or contemporary folk.
The historical songs are the most interesting. What an inspiration for genealogists! My favorite is "Dear Sister," based on letters sent to Scotland in the late 18th century by her emigrant 5th great grandmother. The verses describe the life Sarah Parks was now leading in America and her reluctance to return, and they do sound like messages from old letters. "Banks Of The Kennebec" is a less personal male view of the history of the Parks family in Maine. "Brandy From The Cherry" is the story about a childhood friendship, bootlegging, and good fortune around West Lafayette, Indiana during the early 20th century. (Good to see she's an ethnic Hoosier, too!) "Uncle Dave" is about Uncle Dave the Collier from Scotland. He was laying with one foot in the grave without a pension, so his pals hauled him down in the pit for the last 90 days. Then they dragged his scarred and broken body out to show a high class opponent of pensions for miners. I bet that was a shock for her! These songs...but especially this last one...are really well devised lyrically and tunefully.
Also included are a quatro of seasonal "Songs For" (for "Ostara," "Beltaine," "Yule," and "Samhain.") These pieces are written and accompanied in adequately traditional Anglo-Celtic form, but with that characteristically anachronistic RenFest ambience. "Daphne, Daisies & Daffodils" is an alliterative contemporary song about Diane's Divorce. The flowers are cute; the backing strings are maudlin. "Caroline of Edinboro Town" is a nice traditional song paired with nicely simple guitar. "We are not Alone" is an anomaly...a good contemporary song "borrowed" from Lucy Pringle; it is particularly meaningful because the album was released near the time of the Iraqi invasion.
Parks has an interesting voice, from the same tonal category as Jean Ritchie. I like it because it's melodic, strong and authentic...and certainly not wispy, cute, or vampish! It is a good voice for history. Her catchy melodies are genuinely "folky" and blend well with the lyrics. The arrangements are mostly acoustic and fairly standard, with guitar and mandolin and sometimes flute or even bagpipes...arrangements to support the Parks voice rather than to breathe on their own. Some have piano or electronic keyboards; I know I sound like a broken CD, but what's the point of mushing up a historic song with swishy keyboards or "Bridge Over Troubled Water" piano? Imagine a rustic log cabin with a 90 inch TV screen!
Recommended especially for Renaissance-Pagan-Celtic Festival enthusiasts and genealogists, but "folk music" listeners will like the historical songs, and perhaps the Ditty Describing Diane's Day.
