Search - Bill Jones :: Turn to Me

Staffordshire-born Bill (short for Belinda) Jones is a beguilingly fresh sprig of the venerable British folk tradition. She is an ardent individualist whose interpretations of story ballads, sea chanteys, protest songs, and romances come across as naive yet seductive. She also exudes an elegance that is quite surprising in one so young and inexperienced. She accompanies her frail, throaty soprano with sparse, unpretentious acoustic backup, playing the piano, flute, and accordion herself. Among the highlights are "Taimse in Chodladh," a rural meditation on the age-old Sleeping Beauty tale with a coda redolent of erotic coming-of-age stories, and "The Handsome Cabin Boy," describing the trials and tribulations of a plucky, cross-dressing lassie. This was Jones's first album, and it received enthusiastic acclaim from the notoriously prickly press back home. Fans of Sandy Denny, Maddy Prior, Jacqui McShee, and Jean Redpath will be charmed, soothed, and transported. --Christina Roden