Songs from Lucy's Cottage

I'm quite a fan of Phil Rickman's novels, especially his series about Merrily Watkins, who is a lady vicar and diocesan exorcist for Herefordshire. Each book is set in real Herefordshire places (though Merrily's own parish is a composite of several villages) and involves real Herefordshire folklore.
And there's a character in the books, Merrily's boyfriend, called Lol Robinson. He's a musician who's spent some time in psychiatric care - but during the course of the books he re-starts his musical career.
And now there are CDs of 'his' music. In the books, Lol's major influence is Nick Drake, and these songs have a very 'Nick Drake' feel to them, with beautiful guitar playing and soulful voices. There are tracks which are mentioned in the books, which is quite fun, and which refer to various characters. The Lucy of Lucy's Cottage is a character from the first book, who was extremely knowledgeable about local folklore. Phil Rickman himself appears on the CD, reading extracts from the local mystic Thomas Traherne, and other extracts from Ella Leather's work on local folklore are read by Margaret Price.
They're lovely listening even if you don't know the books - and it's music that seems to capture the soul of Herefordshire.
The first CD obviously did well enough for a second CD to be made - A Message from the Morning. This one even has a track in honour of Gomer Parry, who is a regular character in the books, and owns the local plant hire firm. Other tracks are for Alfred Watkins, of The Old Straight Track fame, and Thomas Traherne, and a final one for Nick Drake.
I'm so glad I treated myself to these - and my thanks to Shelley and Richard, who played the first one when I went round one evening.
They can be ordered from Phil Rickman's website, www.philrickman.co.uk