Meic Stevens (born March 13, 1942) is a Welsh singer-songwriter often referred to as “the Welsh Dylan”, who has been compared with Syd Barrett. Stevens’s songs have a mystical, faintly psychedelic flavour, and are mostly sung in his native Welsh language. Still largely unknown outside Wales, he was discovered by DJ Jimmy Savile, who saw him performing in a Manchester folk club in 1965. (More from Wikipedia)
Meic Stevens is a national hero in Wales whom I just recently discovered through the above CD and one other. Following a nervous breakdown while he was just 25, Stevens retreated to his home village of Solva and began writing and recording songs in 1967 in the Welsh language in an attempt to create a body of pop music for the nation. He is often referred to as “the Welsh Dylan” and is also compared with Syd Barrett, the original frontman for Pink Floyd and the mastermind behind their debut album and one of the great albums of British rock, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. While he records an occasional song in English, mostly Meic Stevens sings in Welsh; though for me, this detracts hardly at all from the enjoyment of his music.
(April 2013)
