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1. Darling Corey 3:172. Apprenticed In London 1:563. Freight Train Blues 3:474. Wildwood Flower 3:555. The Sky 4:296. Muleskinner Blues 3:377. Love Song 3:158. Mr Rabbit 1:359. Deep Ellum Blues 2:1610. Blue Ridge Mountains 3:4111. Chattering Jaw 3:4612. The Valley 5:33

Bonus tracks:13. Cluck Old Hen 2:4414. Mountain 4:1515. Dixie Darling 2:5216. Anna Feher 3:2017. Oregon 2:5018. Memories 3:49

GFTB 70519 © 2017 Ghosts From The Basement

ghostsfromthebasement.bandcamp.com

The long lost zen banjo album from 1972, plus…Tracks 1-12 from Feelin’ Fine (The Village Thing).Recorded August 1972 at The Meeting House, Frenchay,Bristol.Produced by Ian A. Anderson.

Derroll Adams: vocal and 5-string banjo.Danny Adams: vocal (2, 8, 12).Wizz Jones: guitar (1, 4, 5), 12-string guitar (12).Roland Van Campenhout: guitar (1, 3, 11), harmonica (4),recorder (12).

Tracks 13-18 from Along The Way (Best Seller).Recorded 1975 in Brussels, Belgium.Produced by Christoph Luhr.

Derroll Adams: vocals and 5-string banjo.Danny Adams: vocal (15).Maggie Holland: bass guitar (13, 15, 16, 17).Youra Marcus: guitar (13, 15).Tucker Zimmerman: piano (14, 16), 12-string guitar (17).

Remastered by Duncan Cowell at Sound Mastering.Original front cover photograph by Richard Walker andfront design by Rodney Matthews. Back and this page photos by Dave Peabody. Thispackage by Jali Roll Martian.Many thanks to Danny Adams and Carsten Linde fortheir help with relocating the long-lost master tapes and making this re-issue possible.For more on Derroll, see derrolladams.org

If we lived in an ideal world, this would bepart of a boxed set with a massive hardbackbook detailing the extraordinary life of Der-

roll Adams, gathering together his music, philos-ophy, stories and art. If you can track down SingOut!Magazine from January 1967 or the Old-Time Heraldfrom Summer 2003 you’ll havesome 12,000 words which begin to scratch thesurface of his life story. In the few hundred thatfit here, I can merely précis.

Derroll, as his famous song says, was born inPortland town, Oregon, in 1925. He spent a lotof his childhood in the back seats of cars travel-ling the north west USA, hearing early countryand old-time music on the radio. He joined theArmy at 16 after Pearl Harbour, later the navalcoastguard. After the war he married and fa-thered his first child, got an ear-ring and abeard, went to art school, heard more folkmusic, learned the banjo, joined the ProgressiveParty, divorced, remarried, had two more chil-dren, met Pete Seeger, Jim Garland and AuntMollie Jackson, divorced again and eventuallysettled in Los Angeles with his third partner andtwo further children. Along the way he workedas a radio announcer, taxi driver, window dresser,truck driver, spray painter, dishwasher, preacherand faith healer, and studied Zen and Yoga.

In Los Angeles, he joined the World Folk Artistswho included Frank Hamilton, Weston Gavin,Odetta, Jo Mapes and Guy Carawan. In 1954 hewas introduced to actor Will Geer who had aherb farm in Topanga Canyon and a communityof left- and beat-leaning actors and artists in-

cluding Lord Buckley, James Dean, Bess & ButchHawes, sometimes Woody Guthrie, Cisco Hous-ton and – eventually – Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.

Derroll and Jack hit it off and became a greatduo. After Jack married and went to Europewith his wife June, they sent for Derroll in 1957and the pair became underground sensations inLondon and Paris, influencing a generation ofmusicians and making albums in London andItaly. Jack eventually returned to America, butDerroll stayed in Europe where he married adecorator for Christian Dior, moved to Brussels,setting up a window dressing business and hav-ing two more offspring.

By the mid-’60s, Derroll was a guru to musiciansin England, a hero to Donovan (who Derroll in-troduced to Bob Dylan, as seen in the Pen-nebaker film Don’t Look Back’s hotel scene) andnot only folk artists like Wizz Jones, Bert Jansch,John Renbourn, Alex Campbell, Ralph McTell,Billy Connolly and many more, but also pop mu-sicians like Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry andRonnie Lane. But alcohol got the better of himand he retreated to Belgium where, divorcedagain, he came close to death.

The turning point came in 1970 when he mar-ried his final, long-lasting partner Danny, whohelped him back to health. Already re-establish-ing himself in Belgium, Holland and Germany,in 1972 he returned to England for a tri-umphant comeback at Cambridge Folk Festival,and immediately afterwards came down to Bris-tol with Danny and Belgian multi-instrumental-

ist Roland Van Campenhout for a few daysrecording. They were joined by long-time ad-mirer Wizz Jones, and this resulting album,Feelin’ Fine, was hailed by many, then and later,as his finest ever work. There was a serenity toDerroll’s presence and the selection of some ofhis best ever songs coupled with the deceptivesoftness of his ‘zen banjo’ approach, the com-pany of sympathetic musicians and relaxed sur-roundings brought out his very best.

It was onwards and upwards from there. Der-roll and Danny’s daughter Rebecca was born.Derroll was re-welcomed with open arms bythe European folk community to many ofwhom he was already a legendary father fig-ure, and he continued performing until theearly ’90s, only once briefly returning to play inAmerica in 1976 when Donovan took him as atour guest. In his latter years, when failinghealth prevented him from performing, he re-turned to painting, writing and his interests inhistory and eastern philosophy. He passed awayin Antwerp in 2000.

For this first-ever re-issue of Feelin’ Fine– thetapes vanished for many years – I’ve added thesix tracks from Derroll’s subsequent Belgianalbum Along The Waywhich I think fit closestwith its special ambience, including re-unitingThe Mountain(once adapted by Donovan) withThe Valleyand The Skyin his zen trilogy, and in-cluding Tucker Zimmerman’s wonderful biogra-phical song Oregon.

Ian Anderson, November 2016.

“When Ian Anderson told me aboutthe Village Thing and their ideasof record making, it sounded

pretty good, and then when he asked me if I’dlike to do a record with them I agreed rightaway, specially when he said it would be veryfree and I could have who I wanted to playwith, ‘just sit around and play music.’ Hell, that’swhat we did. First I asked for Roland who is afine all-round musician and one of Belgium’sbest, and Wizz Jones who is also a fine musicianand I guess can pick about anything on a guitar.Luck was with me and they had the time, sothat’s what we did, sat together and just playedmusic. We had none of us played together be-fore and we’re all in different boats in thismusic world so we could really do some foolingaround. Then I got the idea, why not ask mywife Danny (Danielle) to sing a bit with us? Igenerally work alone but at home Danny and Ising a bit together and I always thought itsounded kinda nice.

For three days we sat around and played andsang, sometimes taping, sometimes not, and lit-tle by little we came up with what you hear onthis record. Then it came to the choice of thesongs. A few of the songs I have been singingaround, a few of my own and things we liked.Freight Train BluesI heard back when I was a lit-tle one, don’t even remember when but I alwaysliked the words. The ValleyI made up duringsome tough times – it originally was supposedto be a kids’ song but it got kind of serious. TheMule Skinner Bluesis one of my favourites and

has been for years – Iguess I’d sort of feellike a traitor if I did-n’t use it, it’s an oldfriend. WildwoodFlowertoo is an oldfriend from mychildhood. DeepEllum BluesI learnedin the South Pacificduring the war:about half of theguys I was aboardship with wereSoutherners and some of them sure could play.

Well, I don’t know, but I figure if you mixed thisall together you’ve got something you could callFeelin’ Fine. We were all just feelin’ fine: Danny,Wizz, Roland, Ian who was busy running thoseelectric machines, and of course me too. It was agreat time. The sun was shining just like nowand we just played music, enjoyed being alive.Before I sign off, though, I’d like to say thanksto my old buddy Alex Campbell (you old rascal),thank you to Roland, and you too Wizz – thanksa lot man – and Ian, good shot! And Danny,wow! big big thanks to you.”

1972

On Along The Way, Derroll noted “It was BertJansch who got me doing Cluck Old HenandWizz Jones who turned me on to Anna Feher.”

5, 7, 12, 14, 18 by Derroll Adams. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16traditional, arranged by Derroll Adams. 6: Jimmie Rodgers/George Vaughan. 15: A.P. Carter. 17: Tucker Zimmerman.

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GFTB 7051 Digisleeve_Layout 1 28/10/2016 13:54 Page 1

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1.Darling Corey3:172.Apprenticed In London1:563.Freight Train Blues3:474.Wildwood Flower3:555.The Sky4:296.Muleskinner Blues3:377.Love Song3:158.Mr Rabbit1:359.Deep Ellum Blues2:1610.Blue Ridge Mountains3:4111.Chattering Jaw3:4612.The Valley5:33

Bonus tracks:13.Cluck Old Hen2:4414.Mountain4:1515.Dixie Darling2:5216.Anna Feher3:2017.Oregon2:5018.Memories3:49

GFTB 70519© 2017 Ghosts From The Basement

ghostsfromthebasement.bandcamp.com

The long lost zen banjo album from 1972, plus…Tracks 1-12 from Feelin’ Fine(The Village Thing).Recorded August 1972 at The Meeting House, Frenchay,Bristol.Produced by Ian A. Anderson.

Derroll Adams: vocal and 5-string banjo.Danny Adams: vocal (2, 8, 12).Wizz Jones: guitar (1, 4, 5), 12-string guitar (12).Roland Van Campenhout: guitar (1, 3, 11), harmonica (4),recorder (12).

Tracks 13-18 from Along The Way(Best Seller).Recorded 1975 in Brussels, Belgium.Produced by Christoph Luhr.

Derroll Adams: vocals and 5-string banjo.Danny Adams: vocal (15).Maggie Holland: bass guitar (13, 15, 16, 17).Youra Marcus: guitar (13, 15).Tucker Zimmerman: piano (14, 16), 12-string guitar (17).

Remastered by Duncan Cowellat Sound Mastering.Original front cover photograph by Richard Walkerandfront design by Rodney Matthews. Back and this page photos by Dave Peabody. Thispackage by Jali Roll Martian.Many thanks to Danny Adamsand Carsten Lindefortheir help with relocating the long-lost master tapes and making this re-issue possible.For more on Derroll, see derrolladams.org

I f we lived in an ideal world, this would bepart of a boxed set with a massive hardbackbook detailing the extraordinary life of Der-

roll Adams, gathering together his music, philos-ophy, stories and art. If you can track down SingOut! Magazine from January 1967 or the Old-Time Herald from Summer 2003 you’ll havesome 12,000 words which begin to scratch thesurface of his life story. In the few hundred thatfit here, I can merely précis.

Derroll, as his famous song says, was born inPortland town, Oregon, in 1925. He spent a lotof his childhood in the back seats of cars travel-ling the north west USA, hearing early countryand old-time music on the radio. He joined theArmy at 16 after Pearl Harbour, later the navalcoastguard. After the war he married and fa-thered his first child, got an ear-ring and abeard, went to art school, heard more folkmusic, learned the banjo, joined the ProgressiveParty, divorced, remarried, had two more chil-dren, met Pete Seeger, Jim Garland and AuntMollie Jackson, divorced again and eventuallysettled in Los Angeles with his third partner andtwo further children. Along the way he workedas a radio announcer, taxi driver, window dresser,truck driver, spray painter, dishwasher, preacherand faith healer, and studied Zen and Yoga.

In Los Angeles, he joined the World Folk Artistswho included Frank Hamilton, Weston Gavin,Odetta, Jo Mapes and Guy Carawan. In 1954 hewas introduced to actor Will Geer who had aherb farm in Topanga Canyon and a communityof left- and beat-leaning actors and artists in-

cluding Lord Buckley, James Dean, Bess & ButchHawes, sometimes Woody Guthrie, Cisco Hous-ton and – eventually – Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.

Derroll and Jack hit it off and became a greatduo. After Jack married and went to Europewith his wife June, they sent for Derroll in 1957and the pair became underground sensations inLondon and Paris, influencing a generation ofmusicians and making albums in London andItaly. Jack eventually returned to America, butDerroll stayed in Europe where he married adecorator for Christian Dior, moved to Brussels,setting up a window dressing business and hav-ing two more offspring.

By the mid-’60s, Derroll was a guru to musiciansin England, a hero to Donovan (who Derroll in-troduced to Bob Dylan, as seen in the Pen-nebaker film Don’t Look Back’s hotel scene) andnot only folk artists like Wizz Jones, Bert Jansch,John Renbourn, Alex Campbell, Ralph McTell,Billy Connolly and many more, but also pop mu-sicians like Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry andRonnie Lane. But alcohol got the better of himand he retreated to Belgium where, divorcedagain, he came close to death.

The turning point came in 1970 when he mar-ried his final, long-lasting partner Danny, whohelped him back to health. Already re-establish-ing himself in Belgium, Holland and Germany,in 1972 he returned to England for a tri-umphant comeback at Cambridge Folk Festival,and immediately afterwards came down to Bris-tol with Danny and Belgian multi-instrumental-

ist Roland Van Campenhout for a few daysrecording. They were joined by long-time ad-mirer Wizz Jones, and this resulting album,Feelin’ Fine, was hailed by many, then and later,as his finest ever work. There was a serenity toDerroll’s presence and the selection of some ofhis best ever songs coupled with the deceptivesoftness of his ‘zen banjo’ approach, the com-pany of sympathetic musicians and relaxed sur-roundings brought out his very best.

It was onwards and upwards from there. Der-roll and Danny’s daughter Rebecca was born.Derroll was re-welcomed with open arms bythe European folk community to many ofwhom he was already a legendary father fig-ure, and he continued performing until theearly ’90s, only once briefly returning to play inAmerica in 1976 when Donovan took him as atour guest. In his latter years, when failinghealth prevented him from performing, he re-turned to painting, writing and his interests inhistory and eastern philosophy. He passed awayin Antwerp in 2000.

For this first-ever re-issue of Feelin’ Fine – thetapes vanished for many years – I’ve added thesix tracks from Derroll’s subsequent Belgianalbum Along The Way which I think fit closestwith its special ambience, including re-unitingThe Mountain (once adapted by Donovan) withThe Valley and The Sky in his zen trilogy, and in-cluding Tucker Zimmerman’s wonderful biogra-phical song Oregon.

Ian Anderson, November 2016.

“W hen Ian Anderson told me aboutthe Village Thing and their ideasof record making, it sounded

pretty good, and then when he asked me if I’dlike to do a record with them I agreed rightaway, specially when he said it would be veryfree and I could have who I wanted to playwith, ‘just sit around and play music.’ Hell, that’swhat we did. First I asked for Roland who is afine all-round musician and one of Belgium’sbest, and Wizz Jones who is also a fine musicianand I guess can pick about anything on a guitar.Luck was with me and they had the time, sothat’s what we did, sat together and just playedmusic. We had none of us played together be-fore and we’re all in different boats in thismusic world so we could really do some foolingaround. Then I got the idea, why not ask mywife Danny (Danielle) to sing a bit with us? Igenerally work alone but at home Danny and Ising a bit together and I always thought itsounded kinda nice.

For three days we sat around and played andsang, sometimes taping, sometimes not, and lit-tle by little we came up with what you hear onthis record. Then it came to the choice of thesongs. A few of the songs I have been singingaround, a few of my own and things we liked.Freight Train Blues I heard back when I was a lit-tle one, don’t even remember when but I alwaysliked the words. The Valley I made up duringsome tough times – it originally was supposedto be a kids’ song but it got kind of serious. TheMule Skinner Blues is one of my favourites and

has been for years – Iguess I’d sort of feellike a traitor if I did-n’t use it, it’s an oldfriend. WildwoodFlower too is an oldfriend from mychildhood. DeepEllum Blues I learnedin the South Pacificduring the war:about half of theguys I was aboardship with wereSoutherners and some of them sure could play.

Well, I don’t know, but I figure if you mixed thisall together you’ve got something you could callFeelin’ Fine. We were all just feelin’ fine: Danny,Wizz, Roland, Ian who was busy running thoseelectric machines, and of course me too. It was agreat time. The sun was shining just like nowand we just played music, enjoyed being alive.Before I sign off, though, I’d like to say thanksto my old buddy Alex Campbell (you old rascal),thank you to Roland, and you too Wizz – thanksa lot man – and Ian, good shot! And Danny,wow! big big thanks to you.”

1972

On Along The Way, Derroll noted “It was BertJansch who got me doing Cluck Old Hen andWizz Jones who turned me on to Anna Feher.”

5, 7, 12, 14, 18 by Derroll Adams. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16traditional, arranged by Derroll Adams. 6: Jimmie Rodgers/George Vaughan. 15: A.P. Carter. 17: Tucker Zimmerman.

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GFTB 7051 Digisleeve_Layout 1 28/10/2016 13:54 Page 1