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Almost ten years ago they played an inspiring set at ROLLING STONE Beach, then still a trio. And every now and then the name St. Beaufort appears in places where you wouldn’t expect the folk act that has now shrunk to a duo: in a monastery, a village tavern, in the Salzburg Whiskey Museum or at the Karl May Festival. And now there is finally a digital sign of life from the transatlantic Americana duo.
“A Generation’s Tree” is the name of the new single from St. Beaufort, who took a four-year break from releasing their three previous albums. Here, folk, Americana and bluegrass are mixed in an exemplary manner, everything purely acoustic and handmade – which has always distinguished the duo of Joe Jakubczyk and Henric Hungerhoff.
Anyone who has ever experienced them live knows how sparkling their sound is. “Just wood and two voices” is how they describe it themselves. You could also say: Simon & Garfunkel with banjo.
Folk with roots in the Arctic
The famous US duo is just one reference that comes to mind when thinking about St. Beaufort. Another is Stan Rogers, the Canadian folk songwriter who died in tragic circumstances in 1983, and from whose song “The Northwest Passage” the name St. Beaufort is derived. The subject of the song is the legendary Arctic expedition of the British explorer Sir John Franklin in search of a direct sea route through the Arctic Ocean over 150 years ago. Franklin wanted to travel to the legendary Arctic Beaufort Sea with two sailing ships. To do this he had to cross the Northwest Passage and got stuck in the eternal ice.
Of course, St. Beaufort covered their namesake’s piece – with their own verve and intensity. It remains to be hoped that their new single “A Generation’s Tree” will soon be followed by a fourth album.