Southend-on-Sea artiste Roy Mette is well-known to many from the Thames Delta blues scene of the 1970s. He cites his influences as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Rory Gallagher, though on this album it is hard to detect them as the songs are all acoustic and gently rhythmic rather than rock. Although Roy still goes out with his band, his solo work is primarily in clubs and festivals where he describes his music genre as "don't think traditional folk - think more acoustic music" and that is what you are getting here. 
This concept album is aimed at the US tourist market and is designed to appeal to adults of all walks of life who are even vaguely interested in pirates as a subject.  He has certainly done his homework on the life and times of some of the most colourful denizens of the Spanish Main and waters of the East Coast of America. Black Bart, Anne Bonny, Black Beard, Israel hands and even the parrot get songs about them and very catchy and singable they are too.  All the vocals are taken by Roy, sometimes double- or multi-tracking. He has a little help from Charlie Skelton on fiddle and Simon Wallington on percussion. Other than that, the vocals and accompaniment are all his own work. It is a tour-de-force of research and inventiveness in lyrics.They are all printed out for you
on the attractively-produced sleeve so there is no excuse for not learning the songs you like.  
There is a skein of wry humour about these songs as well as a sneaking admiration for the exploits of these often barabaric heroes and, yes, heroines.  If there is a module about pirates in the National Curriculum this could be a very valuable resource for teachers as it is likely to appeal to children's imaginations.  Parents might even enjoy helping them with their homework!
Mary Humphreys, 28th April 2008

PRESS RELEASE..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Contact Name: Roy Metté

PIRATES ATTACK AIRWAVES!!!!!!!!

25^TH March 2008, London, England

Pirates ahoy!  This press release is to celebrate the release of a folk based album of original pirate related material from Roy Metté, an English songsmith.  The full title (deep breath) is ’Pirates of the East Coast of the Americas and the Caribbean Sea’ and contained within its musical hold are 14 tracks of acoustic / folky piratyness that range from the serious and sad ’Captain Kidd’ to the not strictly true ’Polly, the Parrot of the Caribbean’.  They are interesting stories well told and will appeal to all age groups.  Using language and terminology of the day to impart character and presenting stories in the first, second or third person you can almost taste the sea – would you want to meet down and out Israel Hands in the docks of old London town having heard his tale?

Released independently on 12^th March 2008 ’Pirates of the East Coast of the Americas and the Caribbean Sea’ is available from Roy direct via his website www.roymette.co.uk.  From April the album will be available through www.cdbaby.com who will also offer the album or individual tracks as mp3 downloads. 

Editor of the Mammoth Book of Pirates, John E. Lewis says "Pirates! In this CD Roy Metté has perfectly, eerily caught the folk-heroic aspect of the pirate - as well as all his (and sometimes her) dash and depravity, and all his menace and mocking black humour.  It’s an almost impossible trick: Roy Metté’s songs could have been sung rollickingly in the taverns of old Port Royal or wistfully by the crew of Black Beard’s Revenge as they languished in the doldrums.  Yet they are newly minted. As I say, some trick".

Oh, the name Metté is believed to have Huguenot origins.  In Europe it can be a family surname or a female first name but does not employ the acute accent used here – the pronunciation of Roy’s spelling is ’Metay’.  So there, class over children….

Enjoy.

1.  Black Beard - Who Is the One

2.  Mary Read

3.  Captains Cooper & Scarfield

4.  Port Royal

5.  The Black Flag

6.  Williams of John Gow's Revenge

7.  So Many Secrets - Along Bristol Docks

8.  The Whydah - A Sea of Tears

9.  John Gow - The Execution Tree

10. New England

11. Marshalsea Prison

12. Henry Avery - Avery's Hoard

13. Henry Morgan - Morgan's Way

14. The Marshal's Dance

15. Yo Ho Me Lads

16. The Instrumental Articles

17. Strumpets Are Us

18. Alexander Selkirk - A Diamond In the Blue

19. Calico Jack & Anne Bonny - Just the Two Of Us

20. A. O. Exquemelin - With Morgan At Panama

21. Caribbean Rose

22. Time - The End of the Buccaneers

1.  Bartholomew Roberts - Black Bart

2.  Anne Bonny

3.  Captain William Kidd

4.  Calico Jack Rackham

5.  Black Beard - Whispers in the Darkness

6.  Israel Hands

7.  Paradise Island

8.  Jean Lafitte

9.  Sailing Free

10. Charles Vane

11. Tortuga

12. The Articles of Black Bart (1721)

13. Captain Benito de Soto

14. Polly, The Parrot of the Caribbean

Well, shiver me woodwork! 

As you will all know Black Beard's ship was called the Queen Anne's Revenge and was wrecked in 1718 at Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina.  What you may not know is that the wreck of the QAR was discovered in 1996 and is the subject of an ongoing conservation project - take a look at its website: http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/qar/

What you won't know, because it's only just happened, is that the Project and I have agreed for my music to accompany its regular podcasts.  I am thrilled by this development and thank the project for its interest.