Hither & Yon – Nor’n Iron

CD Review by John Williams

Hither and Yon is a three piece group from the Canberra area comprising Heather Jordan (vocals and acoustic guitar) Tom Jordan (vocals, acoustic and slide guitar) and Lyndal Thorburn (vocal backing, percussion, banjolele and flute). The music was arranged by Lyndal and Tom.

Heather composed six of the tracks and Tom composed four.

Sue Kaufmann also participates in three tracks on the cello.

The opening track is the lovely song ‘Braes of Balquidder’ (Will you go Lassie go). It is a sensitive version.

To continue in this sensitive mood the following track, written by Heather, ‘Polaris’ is about a friend helping another through hard times.

Tom follows with his composition ‘The Rock of the South’ which I enjoyed.

Heather’s ‘This Gold Band’ is a poignant track about a marriage breakup.

Heather also composed the title track Nor’n Iron.

‘The Moth and the Flame, also composed by Heather is easy to listen to.

‘Old Murramar’ composed by Tom features his slide guitar to great effect.

Tom’s ‘Coffee Corner’ has a more upbeat feel to it.

I liked the feeling of a time gone past added to the present reality.

A Banjo Paterson poem with music composed by Tom ‘At the Melting of the Snow’ was enjoyable.

I found his musical treatment of another work by Banjo ‘Sunrise on the Coast’ quite mournful which doesn’t fit with my view of Sunrise as the best time of the day.

The traditional song ‘The Streets of Forbes’ was a sensitive version that created the sadness of a song attributed to Ben Hall’s Father in Law.

It can’t have been a happy time for those who knew Ben Hall and this feeling is conveyed through the sensitive rendition. It was arranged by Lyndal and Tom.

Their version of ‘Lachlan Tigers’ is a quieter version than many others I have heard over the years which I thought was an interesting idea.

I liked it but listeners used to the more raunchy versions may disagree.

This is the first CD by this trio and they should be encouraged to continue writing their own compositions.

I enjoyed their efforts and especially congratulate them on trying some new ideas for old poems songs.