Mick Softley - Can You Hear Me Now [Sunrise] 1970 video free download

Mick Softley - Can You Hear Me Now [Sunrise] 1970

There are a number of influential folk music artists active first in the 1960s who played a key role in the development of the genre but whose recorded output does not now receive the acclaim given to many others. Along with Mac McLeod, Mick Softley played such a role through his late 1950s period in Paris, his travels on the road and setting up the St Albans folk club which would attract artists like his friend Donovan, Bert Jansch and Maddy Prior. He released a sole acoustic album in 1965 as the folk boom was taking off but felt burned by the experience and went back on the road for a number of years. By the time Mick has been persuaded to record again (in part by Donovan) the sixties were drawing towards their close and Mick would record his first album to receive proper arrangements and production.

Working with the rhythm section of Fotheringay and their guitarist Jerry Donohue with Barry Clarke of UK folk-rock band Trees as the instrumentalists the resulting album "Sunrise" did well enough to support two further albums but did not achieve significant commercial success. However this was no reflection upon the album itself, which brings together the experience of the artist over the years and is his defining release.

It starts with the jaunty folk-pop of "Can You Hear Me Now" with strummed guitar, rolling piano and almost a country-gospel feeling.