1. Bridges
2. Childhood Days
3. I Want To Be With You
4. I Am An Immigrant(I'm From Here)
5. Broken Bones
6. Wildflowers
7. My Father's House
8. The Father Says
9. Without A Daddy
10. By The Wayside
11. Till Death Do Us Part
12. The War Carries On ( Turn,Turn,Turn)
In the week of the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, Scottish-American singer- songwriter and folk musician, David Ferrard, releases an album of finely-crafted original songs marked by a strong social conscience. In his most autobiographical album to date, Edinburgh- based Ferrard takes the listener on a musical journey, from the elliptical opening song of reconciliation and hope (Bridges) to the haunting closing number (The War Carries On - Turn, Turn Turn), in which he interweaves the legendary Pete Seeger’s 1960s anthem with his own contemporary lyric. With a fine sense of melody and feel for a chorus ‘hook’, Ferrard explores personal issues of identity, childhood, relationship & family break-ups, with those which transport him and the listener far from his native shore: genocide in Bosnia (Wildflowers), AIDS-ravaged Africa (The Father Says), and the legacy of war both at home and abroad (The War Carries On – Turn, Turn, Turn).
Raised in Scotland to an English-Italian father and an American mother, Ferrard gives an insight into the album’s most autobiographical song, I Am An Immigrant (I’m From Here): ‘I’ve spent my whole life explaining to people that despite my accent and my last name I am in fact Scottish. This song deals with three stories: my Italian grandfather who was interned in Scotland during World War Two and afterwards changed his name from Ferrari to Ferrard to be more accepted; my American mother who did her ‘junior year abroad’ in Glasgow and then settled in Scotland a few years later to be with my father; and myself – a Scot of mixed origins who embraces open borders and who feels more at home in a diverse, multicultural Britain.’
Ferrard recorded Journeyman in a small studio in the Scottish Borders with producer Mattie Foulds (LAU, Karine Polwart, Kris Drever). A handful of Scotland’s finest folk musicians (Kevin McGuire, Steven Polwart, Kim Edgar, Adam Sutherland, and Su-a Lee from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra) have contributed to the album’s warm, acoustic sound.