Folk Legend John Tams records Love Farewell for Help for Heroes

Folk bands Red Shoes and The John Richards Band are helping raise money for Help for Heroes at the Folk for Heroes concert on 24 April 2010 (see earlier posts for more details), which promises to be a great night.

The folk community has long had an affinity with wounded servicemen and hard working soldiers putting their lives at risk on the frontline. The soldier's lot has been the subject of a large slice of the folk repetoire, probably since folk music was first used as an outlet for the concerns of ordinary men and women.

Songs such as the mid 19th century "Johnny I hardly knew you", from the mid seventies Eric Bogle's "No man's land", and later, John Richards' "The Deserter" (adopted as their own by Fairport Convention) are well known examples.

Another fine example is John Tams' excellent version of Love Farewell recorded with the Band and Bugles of The Rifles Regiment to raise funds for Help for Heroes. There's no inconsistency between the historical questioning of war by the folk movement and the folk community now rallying around to support wounded servicemen. John Tams explained his motivation for recording the song:

“I’m a civilian - I hold no truck with war yet the young men and women returning in heartbreaking numbers, dead and wounded in service was an opportunity to put my voice where they had put their lives – a small gesture for me – an all too often life-losing, life changing sacrifice for them," he said.

"It’s a lovesong, a leave-taking song without jingoism or sabre rattling and if it makes a difference to the care of those coming home and their families, my small contribution has been worthwhile.”

To listen to and hopefully buy your own copy of Love Farewell go to http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/love-farewell.html

Details of where you can catch the wonderful Mr Tams live are to be found on his web site

http://www.johntams.co.uk/johntams/index.cfm

Why Help for Heroes?

I work in an office where the greatest risk of injury is a paper cut, or maybe a nasty stapler incident. My grandfather was a war hero http://www.thevictoriacross.net/recipients/spencer_john_bent.html

He left me a lot to live up to. If Folk for Heroes can raise some money for H4H, then that's a small start.

Whether or not one approves of the war in Afghanistan, British servicemen and women are out there on our behalf. Everyday we ask them to put their lives at risk. Everyday they know that the Taliban will do all they can to harm them. Yet they still go to work and do their job.

It seems an almost daily news item that another soldier has been killed. Many more are being injured. Some of them horrifically.

When the war in Afghanistan is over and has become yesterday's news, our wounded service personnel will still be living lives forever altered by their injuries. We need to make sure their sacrifice on our behalf is not forgotten. We need to make sure their needs - financial and emotional - are not ignored.

Help for Heroes has done a fantastic job at raising awareness of the plight of the wounded. http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/