Book review: Naked music – The Songbook – Eleanor McEvoy
NAKED MUSIC – THE SONGBOOK
Eleanor McEvoy
Hot Press Books
With her latest album NAKED MUSIC firmly established in the folk catalogue, Eleanor McEvoy has embarked on a worldwide tour and has now published her first ever songbook to support the album. Inspiration for the album came after Eleanor purchased a painting by famed English painter Chris Gollon. She was clearly captivated by his work and a subsequent meeting led to collaboration, with Chris producing four canvasses for the album artwork and Eleanor opening her tour surrounded by 24 Gollon paintings inspired by the songs and titles on NAKED MUSIC. The positive response to the paintings on the album inspired Eleanor to develop the collaboration further and the result is this work of infinite beauty. As well as including lyrics, guitar chords and melodies, 22 of Chris Gollon’s paintings are featured; provocative modern art with a touch of tasteful eroticism. Seven starkly intimate photographs of Eleanor taken by Shane McCarthy are also included; all are head and bare shoulders poses with just one showing Eleanor adorned with jewellery. Producer Mick O’Gorman describes ‘The Journey to Naked Music’ and best-selling author Jackie Hayden explores cross-genre artist collaborations in her introductory essay ‘The Risk and Challenge of Incompatibility’. Comprehensive biographies of both McEvoy and Gollon complete the written work within the songbook. The first single taken from the album, Whisper a Prayer to the Moon is released to coincide with the issue of the songbook. Both discerning folk musicians and art aficionados ought to be magnetically attracted to this special piece of work; and the album’s a great listen as well. John Roffey
www.eleanormcevoy.com
