John Renbourn: The Pelican
[purchase]
Digging up those covers of John Henry last week for Darius reminded me of my long-standing admiration for acoustic guitar wizard John Renbourn, who made his name in the seminal britfolk scene of the sixties as a founding member of Pentangle, and remains one of the most respected fathers of the contemporary british folk movement.
As a seventies child, I grew up with John Renbourn's instrumental folk record The Black Balloon as a household deep cut, something which seemed well-worn but which I never heard my father actually spin; I had to dig it out on my own, and when I did, I was hooked, and permanently haunted. The record was one of the first I purchased for my own collection when I left his albums behind with my childhood. Even today, in my quietest, stillest hours, Renbourn's utterly peaceful The Pelican plays in my mind.
