b. Wesley Harding Stace, 22 October 1965, Hastings, East Sussex, England. A self-styled renegade folk musician, Harding is a sharply observant and witty English songwriter who has had to battle critical carping over his vocal similarities to Costello, Elvis. He decided to pursue a musical career after studying for a PhD in political and social theory at Cambridge University. Harding's debut album was a recording of a solo acoustic live set, and contained the barbed critique of Live Aid, "July 13th 1985". He then re-read Madonna's "Like A Prayer" as a folk song on The Christmas EP, which also contained a surreal collaboration with Viv Stanshall.
Harding's first studio effort, 1990's Here Comes The Groom, was a superior collection showcasing Harding's confrontational style and acerbic wit, and featured the Attractions' Pete Thomas (drums) and Bruce Thomas (bass), giving the album musical depth but also presenting an easy target for the Costello copyist critics. Ironically, the follow-up The Name Above The Title then displayed the same over-contrived faults that have crept into Costello's recent work. Why We Fight and the delayed minor label follow-up John Wesley Harding's New Deal marked a return to form.
Harding's "folk noir" songwriting reached new heights on "Where The Bodies Are" (from Why We Fight ) and "The Triumph Of Trash" (from New Deal ), while the latter's "In Paradise" was a perceptive update of the Kinks (The)' "Waterloo Sunset". Trad Arr Jones was a collection of traditional folk songs as originally arranged by Jones, Nic. Harding subsequently signed to US independent Matador Records, debuting for the label in September 2000 with the lavishly produced power pop collection The Confessions Of St. Ace.
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