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‘This is a very mature and thoughtful collection of songs and tunes from an exceptional songwriter and very talented musician. Toni is an excellent storyteller who blends both traditional and modern themes together. Her observations are thoughtful, often reflective and relevant. I particularly liked Breaking News, Toni’s take on the 9/11 tragedy, and Space to Breathe, a song she wrote during lockdown.’ Stan Graham

RNR review of Tracking the Changes ****

Issue 102, November/December 2023

Before encountering the work of Toni Bunnell, I thought hedgehogs were flat things that lived on roads. Now I know those spiky-top Mrs Tiggy-winkles of the hedgerows have a champion in this wildlife biologist and author of Rescuing the Disappearing Hedgehog. That she accompanies her own trad-flavoured songs on guitar, harmonium, bouzouki, Appalachian dulcimer and hurdy-gurdy, on a series of respected albums, is but further evidence of her remarkable talents.

On Tracking the Changes four dexterously authentic traditional instrumentals meet with ten new, direct, issue-driven compositions with Come All Ye chorus structures, delivered in a resilient voice weathered by experience. These songs are populated by the universal soldiers who ‘march in hope and innocence’ to the clarion call of the pipes; as well as the squire in his hall and the child chimneysweep; as seeds fly over the divisive Berlin Wall in defiance of political boundaries; to the stark pictures of the polluted ‘Waterways of England’, a powerfully moving lament for this disenchanted age.

These are songs that respect ‘the spirit of people throughout the world’, songs that remind us to ‘move to the future but remember the past’. Tracking the Changes is a living heritage.’ Andrew Darlington

1   The Pipes are Playing Now (Bunnell)

 2   The Last Journey of the Poor (Bunnell)

 3   Space to Breathe (Bunnell)

 4   Nous étions Trois Camarades/Le Ruban Bleu* (Trad)

 5   The Cornfields of France (Bunnell)

 6   Boys of Malin/High Road to Linton* (Trad)

 7   A North Wind (Bunnell)

 8   Son Ar Chistr/Dance of the Bear* (Trad)

 9   Hang on the Ledge (Bunnell)

10   Lay the Lines Down (Bunnell)

11   Breaking News (Bunnell)

12   The Coach Days of Old (Bunnell)

13   The Waterways of England (Bunnell)

14   March of the King of Laois* (Trad)

Toni Bunnell: Vocals, guitar, bouzouki, fiddle, Appalachian dulcimer, hurdy gurdy, harmonium. Recorded by Isaac McInnis at Crooked Room Studio, York, except*.    © 2023