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about

When I was a boy, a family lived on the opposite side of the road to me. Phil and I were to become lifelong friends and musicians. Phil’s grand father Jim Franklin lived with the family. He was an old-style flat picking banjo player and would often play to Phil and I when we were boys. His enthusiasm and inspiration were a major influence on me picking up the guitar.
After passing we learned his early life story. Like many men of his age, he was a manual worker, laid off in the depression in Sunderland. With a young family to feed and no job, he turned to playing his banjo in and around Sunderland. In the 30’s Jim and many other men were ‘persuaded’ to travel 200 miles to work as a Forester in East Anglia. In Jim’s case this was the Thetford Forest near the village of West Toft.
This is Jim’s tale, ‘The West Toft Woodsman’.

lyrics

Stand all day in wind and rain
Just to earn an hours pay
Wield an axe or swing a saw
Foreman say Boy don’t need you no more”

It’s bin ten years since these hands saw toil
Hueing coal or tilling soil
Welding plate or lifting stone
Now I’m 200 miles from home

Chorus
West Toft Woodsman miles from home
West Toft Woodsman livin all alone
West Toft Woodsman plantin pines
Working on the Thetford timber line


This body’s failed to earn its way
Just my banjo to bring me some pay
To earn a wage, to be a man
Feed my family, doin what I can
Chorus

Live in my hut Sleep on the ground
Work all day, my axe in my hand
feed my girl, boy my wife
Keep them warm, keep the safe
Chorus

credits

released June 17, 2021
Lyrics
Andy Fraser

All instruments
Andy Fraser

Recording
Andy Fraser

Mixing
Russ Holland: 11th Hour Studios

license

all rights reserved

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Andy Fraser and the Tunstallachia Upland Boys image

Andy Fraser and the Tunstallachia Upland Boys Sunderland, UK

Andy is a former member of the Sunderland Bluegrass band The Heavenly Thrillbillies. Andy is song writer, Guitar, Dobro and Harmonica player in the band. The Tunstallacia Upland Boys is a series of solo compositions by Andy. All compositions instrument and vocal tracks and production were made by Andy.

I hope you enjoy the music here.
Andy Fraser ... more

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