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Rory McLeod: Lullabies for Big Babies

Roy McLeod was voted Best Live Act, BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2002. As he puts it, it takes ten to fifteen years to become an overnight success.”

Rory is from the working class and was born and raised in London. His dad was a shipyard worker, and union leader. After his dad gave him a harmonica he found his way to Sonny Terry music. Sonny Terry was one of the greatest blues harmonica players of his generation. He was exposed to the music of legendary, Leadbelly (Huddie William Ledbetter) and other gems hidden in the treasures on second-hand records from South Harrow Market. A world traveler as most world class musicians are; you can hear and feel the depth of his soul in his music and the threads that connect to all that have came before him.

"I've traveled to look for work, to mend a broken heart, to be with someone I longed for. I'd travel to visit friends and on the way I'd make new ones, I'd roam because I was curious to see what was around the next corner, sometimes I traveled to follow the warmer weather and migrate... like the birds and the big whales and fishes do".

"I want my songs to keep memory alive; I suppose I'm trying to tell history from working peoples point of view. Politics to me is people; it covers everything from the way you touch your partner/lover in bed and look after your old folks or your family, to the workshop floor, housing, health care, trespass laws, our rights to organize as a community, etc"

Lullabies for Big Babies is and excellent introduction to music of Rory McLeod.

Bostonboy, review