The Path (Show of Hands album)

The Path
Studio album by Show of Hands
Released	14 April 2003
Recorded	2003
Genre	Folk instrumental ambient[1]
Length	45:47
Label	Hands on Music HMCD18
Producer	Show Of Hands Matt Clifford Mick Dolan
Show of Hands chronology
Cold Cuts (2002) The Path (2003) Country Life (2003)

The Path is the tenth studio album by English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands, released in April 2003. The album was conceived as an "instrumental journey" around the South West Coast Path, a 630-mile coastline path opened in 1978 in the duo's native West Country, and a celebration of the coastline's "sights and sounds".^[2] It is the band's only completely instrumental album, with each of its songs named after and inspired by different locations on the path. It was a project between Show Of Hands and The South West Coast Path Team, as part of the latter's celebrations for the silver jubilee (25th anniversary) of the path. As such the album is endorsed by various organisations who own different parts of the path, namely The Countryside Agency, The National Trust and English Heritage Commission,.and the music is ambient instrumentals inspired by different locations around the coastline.^[3]

The duo hoped that, with the album, listeners would be inspired to discover or rediscover the "endless fascination" of the coast path.^[4] The album was released on 14 April 2003 by the duo's own label Hands on Music, a month before they released their following album Country Life. In July 2012, music from The Path featured in several themed videos on a new interactive official website for the South West Coast Path, which attracts some 400,000 hits a year.^[5] One track from the album, "Port Isaac", featured on their compilation album Roots: The Best of Show of Hands (2007).