Radie Peat’s inaugural solo LP, No Human Tongue Can Tell, is slated to land at the end of this week. To date, the frontperson of Lankum has unveiled tracks such as “Still I Love Him,” “The Moon And Stars,” and “Hares On The Mountain,” and she now returns with “Willow Garden.”
“This is a traditional murder ballad, mostly sung in America,” Peat explains. “There is evidence of its existence in Ireland in 1810 when the tune was noted in the bunting collection, without lyrics, but with the title ‘Rose Connolly.’ We appear to have lost it since then in Ireland, but it survived very successfully in the Appalachian’s. The last verse was transcribed by Matt Kinman from ‘an old fella’ he was living up the mountains with for a while, and I’ve never found it anywhere else. Thanks to Matt for writing it down for me in a dive bar in Sylva, North Carolina.”
The track is accompanied by a live performance clip filmed by Western AF at the Hut in Phibsboro, Dublin. Watch both versions below.
No Human Tongue Can Tell is out 11/13 on Rough Trade.
