The Sunday Herald
CD of the week
By Alan Morrison

BILLY BRAGG recently said that he didn't mind being labelled a political songwriter, "what I object to is being dismissed as a political songwriter". Politics are also a major element of David Ferrard's debut album, but again it would be wrong to pigeonhole this committed anti-war campaigner entirely by his protest output. The 29-year-old half-Scottish, half-American musician (a one-man transatlantic session) has an uncanny ability to fuse meaningful words with gorgeous melodies, winning the Burnsong 2007 competition for the timelessly catchy One Hell Of A Ride.

Given the content of certain songs here, it's no accident that the album first appeared (for download or CD order from www.davidferrard.com) the same week as the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Ferrard, however, wasn't in his home town when his album was released; he was researching in the Woody Guthrie archives in New York City. How appropriate, given the kindred spirit that has passed from Guthrie, through decades of the protest movement, down into almost every track on Broken Sky.

Set in the midst of the album's crystal-clear production, Ferrard's voice is closer to Joan Baez than Bob Dylan, and certainly not in the bar-room troubadour style of, say, Dick Gaughan. His vocal delivery is sincere but never over-earnest, while his music draws from both sides of his mixed roots, placing American country fiddles alongside gentle acoustic guitar.

The album's standout track, Hills Of Virginia, gets into the head of a soldier in Iraq. "A buddy of mine/Stepped on a mine/His body just disappeared/He never returned/ To the hills of Virginia/All they buried were tears," Ferrard sings as the song's melodic shifts between major and minor become a thing of beauty. The protest tradition has many iconic songs, and who's to say that one day Ferrard's Hills Of Virginia won't be mentioned in the same breath as Eric Bogle's And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.

 

Rogue Folk Review (Canada)
By Steve Edge.

David Ferrard - songwriter from Edinburgh who has just released his debut CD, Broken Sky, which includes collaborations with Karine Polwart.  His delivery is tasteful and understated, accompanying himself on guitar.  His tenor vibrato is easy on the ear, and leads us into the heart of his songwriting: incisive, topical, and appealing.  David Ferrard is definitely one to watch.


BBC Radio Scotland: Iain Anderson Show
Album Of The Week

'David provides a very healthy synthesis - a vocal purity of the quality of a Scottish burn combined with the style and delivery of the tried and tested American product.'


Leith FM
by Graeme Scott
David Ferrard may well be a new name to you but that will not last long. He is a very accomplished writer with a clutch of songs ranging from lovely traditional ballads, biting anti-war and globalisation anthems on through to heartbreaking paeans and musings of loves and friendships lost. It is often hard to think back the next day to which songs impressed you the most but not today. Dimitri's Pocket Radio is as fine a song about asylum seekers being overlooked as just simply human beings as you will ever hear. There can be few that were not reflecting on the futility of war to the strains of Hills Of Virginia. Often couples fail to allow themselves time to concentrate on themselves and Take Me Out Waltzing Tonight speaks volumes on those forgotten needs. The highlight of David's own songs was the powerful, sad and haunting Never Let Go. Written with sensitive understanding it tells the story of a man who has lost so much to AIDS. I could go on but will simply end by saying seek out this artist and album.


The Scotsman
by Norman Chalmers

Back in the 1960s this tousled-haired lad with the acoustic guitar would have been labelled a 'protest' singer, and though much of this first album by the Edinburgh-based Scots/American songwriter does rail at the current war(s) and the iniquities of power, he also gives us songs about affairs of the heart, personal and universal. So it's peace and love with a contemporary feel – and a strong band line-up that includes the likes of Karine Polwart. And there are lighthearted songs such as 'Take Me Out Waltzing Tonight', and a happy ending to the picaresque 'Dmitri's Pocket Radio'.


The Friend
by Jez Smith

Each time I listen to Broken Sky, David Ferrard’s debut album, I come away oved by emotions, sometimes inspired to fight for justice, at other times I feel deeply tranquil.
David is subtle, with his anti-war song Hills of Virginia hitting home more accurately than any Brittush-issue weapon ever could: ‘My weapons were no longer toys’.  In Dmitri’s Pocket Radio, a true story of a refugee brought a tear to my eye the first few times that I heard it.  Later, in The Hour Of Plenty, David and his backing singer’s voices haunt me as he subtly exposes global inequalities.
David’s voice, combined with well-chosen lyrics, means that he will find his own niche in the world of folk music.  His well crafted sogs and beautiful melodies are entwined to produce a timeless compilation that will be remembered for years to come.’
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