Customer Reviews

Despite the Snow

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my first experience with Emily Barker. I learned her name from watching the Wallander TV series with Kenneth Branagh. The first song on this album is used as the title song for that show.

As a huge fan of American bluegrass and old-time, I was interested to learn about her Australian folk music. Emily's voice is beautiful, and her backing group the Red Clay Halo is pure genius: guitar, cello, fiddle and accordion. Who would have thought? It adds up to a 100% enjoyable listen. Highly recommended.

I found this music because of the author Henning Manckel. His books about the detective Kurt Wallendar have been so good. I saw that the BBC has made a film of one of the books starring Kenneth Branagh. It was filmed in Sweden but everyone had a British Accent. Funny. The film was really good and followed the book closely. At the end of the film an interview with Hennink Manckel was included. He talked about the rennaissance of art in Scandanavia and got me started on going deeper into the genre. The music for this wonderful film included this group and I liked the theme so I ordered the CD. I have listened to it over and over and it is now one of the albums I can sing along with in the car. I will buy another.

This album is wonderful! At first I was familiar only with the song from the BBC Wallander series, but some of the other songs are even better. I assume she is not well known in the USA, that's too bad. She is great.

When I first heard this music as the theme song on the Kurt Wallander BBC movies, I knew I wanted to hear more. I was not disappointed. Often only one song is a real winner, not so with Emily's cd. Every song flows effortlessly to the next and none break the mood. Everyone I have played this for has been impressed. I even shared it with some of my friends from the Phila Folk Festival staff, who were equally impressed. Maybe a US concert appearance is in your future??

This is my new favorite CD--my wife and I listen to it almost every evening. Emily Barker's voice is stunning, and the lyrics she writes are haunting.