Or something like that. Normally, I have a healthy skepticism about folk music. I regard it with the same sort of suspicion I regard beardy men who wear hand-tooled leather belts with faux-celtic knotwork and go on about “real ale”. A little warped, perhaps, but, you know, not really hurting anyone.

I do, however, make an exception for Fairport Convention, who have done my favourite versions of two traditional ballads (and yes, I have a soft spot for some traditional folk tunes, which I will explain another time – remind me about it at some point, if you really want to know), “Matty Groves” and “Tam Lin”. So, from time to time, I dig out the couple of albums I own by them.

So, the other day, I was in Virgin, looking for “Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward” by The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-la-la Band (you need to check this out, by the way). I didn’t find it there, but I wandered into the Classical/Jazz/World/Folk Music section looking for it (not totally implausible – I’ve seen weird Post-Rock filed under “Classical” before) and found that they have a new Fairport Convention album playing. I liked what I heard, so I bought it.

God help me, I can’t stop listening to it.