Seafaring tales... and two contrasting albums.

Wildwood Jack - Liberty Ship (self-released, 1 March 2018)

The first, and the most recently released, deserves my attention. It is a work of entirely original songwriting and the theme is nautical to a fault. It is in great part the work of a duo based in Kent, UK; Jayne Freeman (vocals, ukulele) and Adam Piggott (acoustic guitar) but of course there is judicious use of additional artists when greater depth or diversity is required. Liam Genocky plays percussion throughout.
The songs on it are as follows:

Widwood Jack - Liberty Ship:

• An Ordinary Day
• The Captain and Me
• The Lost Gypsy
• Morning Star
• Just a Dreamer
• Man Overboard
• By the Light of This Lantern
• Unsinkable Sam
• Liberty Ship
• Bluegrass Boy
• Montgomery Canal

It is nevertheless a fairly stripped back affair and that works very well here in my opinion. It is solid throughout but one of the highlights is the story of a ship's cat 'Unsinkable Sam'; in fact one cat, capital ships sunk by both sides, in a war and the survivor of three sinkings.
The last track is a trip far from the storm-tossed briny waters. It has reminded me that, now that I think about it, I can't recall many songs about canals and other inland waterways. This is one that comes to mind because I mentioned it last year.

The second LP in this post is quite a different affair. For a start all the songs are traditional or, if not exactly however that may be defined, are certainly not original to the band. Many of them may be familiar to you from bands such as The Dubliners as well as many more.  Some of it is bawdy. A particular mention here must go to the song 'Blow The Man Down' which is explicitly about the dangers to a feckless man of attempting to take advantage of a Plymouth girl!

Admirals Hard - Upon A Painted Ocean (Genepool Records/Believers Roast BR018, 22 July 2016).

Admirals Hard - Upon A Painted Ocean

• Boney Was a Warrior
• Spanish Ladies
• Hullabaloo Belay
• South Australia
• Blow the Man Down
• The Broadside Man
• The Eddystone Light
• The Random Jig / I'll Get Wedded in My Auld Claes
• Whip Jamboree / Let the Bulgine Run
• Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her
• Rounding the Horn
• All for Me Grog
• Martin Said to His Man

This is an almost acoustic seven-piece band but is actually a side project of musicians,  from Devon and Cornwall, that mostly ply their daily trade in the left-field electronic music scene of London. It is what happened when they decided to get together and do something completely different with their many and varied talents. There are certainly some progressive flourishes herein but then folk music was never intended to be set in stone.
I wouldn't wish to venture my favourites here, because they keep changing, except to say that Whip Jamboree/Let the Bulgine Run will always be on it. This may be because, unlike most of the other songs and tunes here, they were totally new to me when I first heard them on this recording. I must seek other versions of them but I have not got around to so doing yet.