Thankful Villages Volume 3

by Darren Hayman

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Gavin Hellyer These songs represent an excellent continuation of a very fine series indeed. There's a lot of villages in England Darren so keep them coming. Favorite track: Hunstanworth.

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1.	Bigby 02:36	buy track
2.	Ousby 02:45	buy track
3.	Meldon 02:09	buy track
4.	Wysall 03:46	buy track
5.	Minting 04:01	buy track
6.	High Toynton 01:33	buy track
7.	East Carlton 03:15	buy track
8.	Hunstanworth 03:22	buy track
9.	Herbrandston 02:45	buy track
10.	Llanfihangel-Y-Creuddyn 02:44	buy track
11.	Toft 02:35	buy track
12.	East Wittering 02:29	buy track
13.	Middleton On the Hill 01:23	buy track
14.	Knill 02:33	buy track
15.	Teigh 04:57	buy track
16.	Saxby 03:56	buy track
17.	Harley 02:49	buy track
18.	Helperthorpe 01:25	buy track
19.	Catwick 03:22	buy track

about

Released on 9 November, to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the end of the First World War, Thankful Villages Volume 3 is the final instalment of Darren Hayman’s epic study of rural British life.

A ‘Thankful Village’ is one where every soldier returned alive from the Great War. Darren has visited all 54 of these villages and made a sound recording, painting and film in each one.

Thankful Villages doesn’t concern itself exclusively with the War, however. It is an exploration of rural communities, including collected stories, interviews, folk songs, soundscapes, field recordings and new original songs.

The record takes the form of a fantastical radio show as Darren unearths lost human stories from hidden rural idylls.

The first volume of Thankful Villages revolved around a theme of churches, while the second volume focused on rivers. This third chapter concerns itself with the younger generation. In Hunstanworth, County Durham, Darren records a young girl called Ruby reading a poem written by her grandmother in 1974, on the day of that village’s school closing. The school itself is still signposted by the Giant’s Stride, a Victorian playground apparatus that towers above the village and features on the cover of Thankful Villages Volume 3.

In Wysall in Nottinghamshire, Darren finds lost cine film of the village shot by two sisters, locally known as ‘the Miss Evans’ and unseen for decades. Julia relates a poignant memory of the closing the village school she went to as a pupil, and how in winter the children warmed themselves around the single stove in the middle of the sole classroom.

In the village of Teigh in the county of Rutland, we hear Sally Beers tell us about her grandfather, the Rev Henry Tibbs, who was arrested and jailed for being a Nazi sympathiser during the Second World war; we learn about mysterious lights in the church and swastikas painted on the door of the vicarage. The soundtrack to this story is in collaboration with the esteemed film composer Simon Fisher Turner.

Since the dissolution of his first band, Hefner, Darren Hayman’s work has increasingly explored location and history. Thankful Villages Volume 3 is the beautiful and poignant culmination of this process; tiny, human vignettes plucked from Britain’s blanket of green.

Thankful Villages Volume 3 was completed with generous funding from the Arts Council of Great Britain. Darren was awarded with the ‘Hardest Working Artist’ gong by the Association of Independent Music for his work on Thankful Villages Volume 1.

Previous volumes of Thankful Villages have been extensively covered in features in the Financial Times, The Guardian, The i and the New York Times. Darren has appeared as a guest discussing the Thankful Villages project on BBC Radio 4’s PM and Loose Ends, and The Verb on Radio 3.

He has filmed a segment about Thankful Villages for a documentary to be shown on ITV on 11 November. He is available to write and talk as a musical guest and also as a historical expert on the subject of Thankful Villages and British rural life.

Praise for Thankful Villages:

“Enchanting and oh so English in execution and eccentricity.” fRoots

"An intoxicating collection of folk songs, dreamy instrumentals and poignant interviews set to music, layered with sounds harvested from his visits." The Financial Times

"Listening to Thankful Villages is to hear a range of stories stretching across history." The Independent i

"The project resembles a fascinating, occult history of the British countryside, filled with largely forgotten rural stories." The Guardian

credits

released November 9, 2018

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about

Darren Hayman England, UK

This is the official Bandcamp page for songwriter Darren Hayman, the Indie band Hefner, The French and other side projects.

This bandcamp page was compiled by Audio Antihero - audioantihero.bandcamp.com

Recommendations

discography

You Will Not Die

Nov 2022
PRE 014: Hefner – Steve Lamacq session 24.03.99

Jul 2022
PRE 012: Hefner – Steve Lamacq session 15.07.98

Mar 2022
PRE 013: Hefner – John Peel session 13.10.98

Mar 2022
Music to Watch News By

Feb 2021
Actually I Still Really, Really Miss You

Dec 2020
The Doll's House Room

Jun 2020
Home Time

May 2020
I Can Travel Through Time

Apr 2020
Songs of High Altitude

Sep 2019
12 Astronauts

Jul 2019
Thankful Villages Volume 3

Nov 2018
The Hayman Kupa Band

Jul 2017
Thankful Villages Volume 2

May 2017
Trains

Aug 2016
Thankful Villages Volume 1

Jun 2016
Someone to Care For - The Hayman Kupa Band

May 2016
Bad, Bad Boy

Apr 2016
Florence

Nov 2015
Folk Lullabies for Children and the Childless

Jul 2015
brute love 03

May 2015
brute love 02

Mar 2015
brute love 01

Feb 2015
Dubs for Socialists

Feb 2015
Chants For Socialists

Jan 2015
DOG E.P.

Jul 2014
Boy, Look at What You Can't Have Now

Feb 2014
Blue House

Dec 2013
Bugbears

Jul 2013
Old Man Don't Waste Your Time / I Don't

May 2013
The Four Queens EP

Apr 2013
The Violence

Nov 2012
Field Recordings for Lido

Oct 2012
Lido

Aug 2012
The Best Of Hefner

Mar 2006
Essex Arms

Oct 2010
The Fidelity Wars (expanded edition)

Jun 2008
Great British Holiday EPs

Aug 2008
January Songs

Jan 2011
The Ship's Piano

Apr 2012
Local Information

Aug 2003
Hayman, Watkins, Trout and Lee

May 2008
Catfight

Jul 2006
Breaking God's Heart (expanded edition)

Jan 2007
Madrid

Jul 2009
Christmas In Haworth

Nov 2011
Kick, Snare, Hats, Ride

Jul 2002
The Stereo Morphonium

Aug 2005
Vostok 5

May 2012
We Love The City (expanded edition)

Sep 2008
The Shit Piano

Feb 2012
Dead Media (expanded edition)

Oct 2011
The Green and the Grey

Jun 2011
Antony Harding and Darren Hayman Split Single

Feb 2011
Porn Shoes

Aug 2012
Boxing Hefner

Apr 2000
Table For One: The Dessert Menu

Mar 2007
Losing My Glue EP

Feb 2011
Maida Vale

Dec 2006
I Taught You How To Dance

Nov 2011
Dagenham

Jul 2003
Pram Town (A Folk Opera)

Jan 2009
Songs for Harmonium and Drum Machine

Nov 2008
Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern

Nov 2007
Bad Policewoman

Jul 2007
Table For One

Sep 2006
Cortinaland

Jul 2005

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