Early in the Morning: Bert Jansch and "Crimson Moon"

Today's random tune, Crimson Moon, is by the late folk and acoustic guitar icon Bert Jansch. A leading figure in the British folk music revival scene in the 1960s, he was the co-founder of the band Pentangle but he also had a large library of solo work as well. His music was inspired by musicians such as Big Bill Broonzy, Brownie McGhee and British folk musician Anne Briggs, but he also was influenced by jazz. Bert Jansch got his start in the Glasgow music scene in the early 1960s, and moved to London in 1963 where his recording career began. He also began to be noticed by other musicians, with Donovan covering one of Jansch's songs (Do You Hear Me Now) on his Universal Soldier EP, and Led Zeppelin covering Jansch's song Blackwaterside as Black Mountain Side on their debut album - Jansch considered suing Led Zeppelin over copyright infringement but his label didn't want to go up against Led Zeppelin and Jansch didn't have the personal funds to pursue his own legal action. While in London, Jansch intermingled with many other guitar players with whom he'd meet and play guitar, all of them influencing one another. In 1968, he and John Renbourn formed the nucleus of Pentangle, which recorded and performed for five years. From the late 1970s until his death in 2011, Jansch's work consisted mostly of solo material, punctuated by bouts with illness such as alcoholism, heart surgery and other issues. However, also received recognition for his work in the form of two BBC 2 Radio Folk Awards; in 2001 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his solo work, and in 2007 Pentangle received a Lifetime Achievement Award and played together for the first time in two decades at the award event. Rolling Stone, in 2003, ranked Jansch as number 94 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists (though he has since fallen off the list), and he influenced many musicians such as Jimmy Page, Mike Oldfield, Paul Simon, Nick Drake and Donovan. Jansch died of lung cancer in 2011. You can find Crimson Moon on his 2000 album of the same name.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Jansch