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Black 180g vinyl in numbered gatefold sleeve with 2pp insert
Get set for a stunning new release of a lost folk favourite this summer from short-lived Wizz Jones’ folk project, Lazy Farmer. Wizz who sadly passed in April 2025 continued to perform weeks prior to his death. An original Beatnik and Bohemian, he influenced Keith Richards “he taught me Cocaine, the song, not the dope,” and Eric Clapton who would go to his gigs and study his finger-picking. A contemporary of Ralph McTell, Wizz Jones stood out for his skills as an acoustic guitarist, as well as the length of his hair. He was a fixture on the European folk circuit, and he had an especially loyal following in Germany, where Lazy Farmer was recorded.
Lazy Farmer only produced one album, the eponymous Lazy Farmer, produced by German producer Conny Plank, who worked with band likes Neu! and Kraftwerk. Recorded at Plank’s rural studio outside Cologne, Germany, the album has a warm, camp fireside appeal so redolent of Jones’ oeuvre.
Lazy Farmer’s formation was inspired by the book, Old-Time Fiddle Tunes For Banjo written by John Burke, and published in 1968. The album is wholly dedicated to Burke, and features Wizz Jones on acoustic guitar and vocals, his wife Sandy Jones on banjo and vocals, ex-C.O.B (British folk hero, Clive Palmer’s Clive’s Original Band) alumni John Bidwell on flageolet, flute, guitar and vocals, Jake Walton on guitar, dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy, and vocals, and Don Coging on banjo.
The album is a true collector’s item, having only been released in Germany, and after touring heavily to promote it, Lazy Farmer split up. A haunting collection of folk standards, covers, and original songs, the album is now re-released for the first time on vinyl on the Sunbeam label, in full collaboration with the band. Traditional songs include, Lazy Farmer, Railroad Boy, Soldier’s Joy/Arkansas Traveller, Turtle Dove, John Lover’s Gone, Johnson Boys, and Sally In The Garden/Liberty. It also features cover versions of Ralph McTell’s Standing Down In New York Town, Derroll Adams’ Love Song, Clarence Ashley and Hobart Smith’s The Cuckoo, and Woody Guthrie’s take on Gypsy Davey. The album closes with Wizz Jones’ own composition, When I Leave Berlin, famously covered by Bruce Springsteen at his 2013 concert ion Berlin.
This ‘lost rarity’ comes to you as part of a limited run consisting of only 500 individually numbered copies. Beautifully presented in a gatefold edition with detailed notes and rare images, this album is a ‘must-have’ for folk fans the world over.
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