by Thom JurekAt the age of 63, poet, songwriter, composer and visionary Robin Williamson shows no signs of slowing down on The Iron Stone, his third set of recordings for Manfred Eicher's ECM label. The title, of course, comes from the song of the same name that Williamson and the Incredible String Band first recorded on the Big Huge album in 1969. "The Iron Stone" appears here with another of the ISB's classic tracks, "The Yellow Snake" from Big Huge's 1968 predecessor, Wee Tam. But this is no reinterpretation of ISB tunes, nor is it a simple examination of Williamson's career past. If anything, The Iron Stone is a brave yet logical next step in the direction he has relentlessly pursued with ECM. Whereas his first disc for the label, 2001's The Seed-At-Zero, explored the work of Dylan Thomas and other Welsh writers in songs and improvisational poem songs that he performed solo, the second set, 2002's Skirting the River Road used William Blake and Walt Whitman as its muses, and employed the talents of Ale Möller, Mat Maneri, and Barre Phillips, as well as Paul Dunmall. Möller, Maneri and Phillips return here; and Williamson and Möller play all manner of flutes, concertinas, Mohan Vina, harps, whistles, jaw harps, and drums between them. The feeling of continuity is here, as Williamson and his musical collaborators set music to the works of Sir Walter Raleigh, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas, Wyatt and John Clare to music that is as much of an improvisational nature as it is composed. In addition, there are songs and poems by Williamson, which are realized by his association with this fine trio. Is this folk music? Yes and no. It is organic music, played upon folk instruments, and much of the source material comes from the lineage of tradition carried on from one generation to another.... Read More...