Tuesday’s Tune: Earl of Darwin / Save a Place
In celebration of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday this year, the Shrewsbury Folk Festival organised the Darwin Song Project. It’s fitting that Shrewsbury’s most famous son is honoured by its most famous event.
Back in March this year, eight singer-songwriters from the UK and US were invited to a songwriting retreat in rural Shropshire. Their task: to come up with new songs that had a “resonance and relevance” to Charles Darwin. And they only had a week to compose, rehearse, perform and record the songs at the Festival on March 19th.
These brave artists came up with 17 new songs covering Darwin’s life and the confusion and anger that was caused by his radical theory since its publication 150 years ago this year. I listened to these songs with low expectations but became pleasantly surprised. From tender and thoughtful to jazzy and witty, the material treats Darwin as a friend, as the real man he was. The songs are performed by various combinations of the eight artists: Chris Wood, Karine Polwart, Mark Erelli, Rachael McShane, Jez Lowe, Stu Hanna, Krista Detor and Emily Smith.
The songs are well written and beautifully performed. My early favourite was the witty creationist outlaw ballad We’ll Hunt Him Down. But for sheer beauty and listenability, I have chosen Earl of Darwin / Save a Place, performed by Emily Smith, Stu Hanna, Jez Lowe and Rachel McShane. In this work, the young Emma Wedgewood bids farewell to her beloved Charles as he set out on his epic voyage on the Beagle.
These songs are available are available on an extremely well produced CD, Darwin Song Project.
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