Handed Down

It's not often that I'm stumped by a folk song, but this is one tricky little character. It is also beautiful, graceful and weirdly catchy... and extremely elusive.  Nonetheless, there's quite a bit to say about land, class and medieval shepherdesses, though surprisingly little about parted lovers. Given the setting and context, romantic heartbreak suddenly doesn't feel like th...

George Collins is a handsome young man with his whole life ahead of him, so why does he die within a few short verses and leave a trail of devastation in his wake?  Today’s episode takes us back to supernatural legends from medieval Northern Europe, in which brave young men are easily seduced. We also travel across the Atlantic to meet a dying hobo who wandered into this song sometime in the late...

What a time we had, talking about the bones and the spirit of the Wassail. The Lunatraktors, Carli and Clair, get right to the heart of things with their "Broken Folk" which provides an anchor, a refuge and solace, a shamanic art and a collective experience. They are experts at asking questions of our tradition, and passionate about telling the stories that have been hidden or lost. The...

After all the festivities of Christmas Day are over, what could be better than to run around the village and hunt a tiny little bird with all your neighbours. This special St Stephen's Day episode explores the strange custom of wren hunting in the British Isles. Hang on to your hats, it's going to be a weird one. Music Hunt the Wren, a Manx song Medieval French tune (known to me as &apos...

This little Irish love song has quite a back story. To trace its origins, we have to travel back in time to a very subversive harp festival, dig into the Irish harper tradition and follow the fortunes of some proper characters. There’s a tiff between an Irish and an English poet, a moody watcher on a hillside, and what does Judy Garland have to do with it all?  Find out in our brand new episode! M...

When a Christmas carol is also a folk ballad you know it's not going to be the usual angels/shepherds/kings extravaganza. This one doesn't disappoint, with a lovely garden, a jealous Joseph and a fruit-related miracle. But, as ever, all is not as it seems. Continuing the theme of weird Christianity from last month's episode, we get to explore medieval mystery plays and alternative g...

This unusual song was a feature of the 60s and 70s folk revival - a real show stopper and something of a curiosity. But underneath it lies a thousand years of European folklore, and a further thousand years of vivid theology. So, my friends, we're going on a metaphysical journey to the underworld. Have you been charitable in your life? Did you give a cow to the poor, or 'hosen and shoon&...

The sheep are all sheared and we’re dancing and drinking in the warm June sun. We’re transported back to simpler and more innocent times with more than a whiff of nostalgia for the loss of our connection to the land.  And yet nothing is ever quite as straightforward as it seems, and this song is no exception. While delving into its theatrical past I once again get into that most thorny of issues –...

It's the first of May and we have a May Mini episode about the song Staines Morris, also known as the Maypole Dance. But did you know it started life in a puritan era farce? It was a joy to find out more about one of my favourite songs, and I hope you'll like it as much as I do. Thanks as always go to Mudcat Cafe and Mainly Norfolk websites without which I hardly know where I would start...

A chance meeting in a meadow, a false young man and a philosophical ending… it’s that folk favourite the Banks of the Sweet Primroses, beloved of collectors and Broadside publishers alike. In fact it’s part of the history of so many folk song collectors that we’ve taken the opportunity to follow one of them on their collecting expedition. But what really happened in that meadow and why did the you...

The Wexford Carol - also known as the Enniscorthy Carol - is said to be one of Europe's most ancient Christmas songs, but the truth is even more interesting. In this festive episode I take a look at the singing traditions that produced this lovely song, and put out a little theory of my own. Thank you for following the podcast during 2022, I'll keep making episodes while people keep list...

You don't find many traditional songs where the woman becomes pregnant out of wedlock and yet it all turns our wonderfully. But then Willy O' Winsbury is not your run-of-the-mill folk song. King’s daughter Janet knew what she wanted… and it seems that her father wanted it too. Once he’d established that Willy wasn’t too foreign that is. He especially noticed his blond hair and milky whit...

Many of us know The Keeper as a slightly odd - but fun - song from our school days. All together now: JACKIE BOY! MASTER! No need to shout! reprimands a weary teacher. But away from the sanitised and bowdlerised versions of our childhoods lurks a dark song of sexual pursuit. You didn’t really think all those does were female deer, did you? We talk about Camus, the band Andrew has been a part of fo...

Our first ever live show was recorded on 4th September 2022 as part of the Folk at the Folk Festival. This is a field recording of an acoustic show in a beautiful but very echoey space with the bells of Gloucester Cathedral occasionally in the background, so the audio is a little different from usual. Features the following: Sainte Nicholas by Godric of Finchale (12th Century) Account of Eleanor a...

Sitting in a quiet(ish!) part of the site, near the river, Jo tells us why The Castle of Dromore is so special to her and her daughter.

I met up with Louisa on the final day of the festival. Her favourite song is the beautiful The Flower of Magherally, and she sang a wonderful verse with the unorthodox accompaniment of a drumming workshop.

We're in the bar at Shrewsbury Folk Festival. Katie Whitehouse talks about running a management agency for folk artists, and why Reg Meuross's song England Green and England Grey will be a folk song for future generations.

Backstage at Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Marion talks about the music of the late Sandy Denny, and why The Lady is her favourite folk song.

Backstage at the Turtle Doves stage of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Phil Beer told me why he loves the song Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy.

Irish singer Molly Donnery shares her favourite folk song, My Belfast Love, shortly before going on stage with The Haar at Shrewsbury Folk Festival.

Singer songwriter Reg Meuross shares his favourite folk song, Bob Dylan's Girl from the North Country

In the first of a mini-series of short interviews at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Iain talks about his favourite folk song Flower of Scotland and sings a very beautiful version.

Put on your Sunday best, we're going to the fair! A handsome young man, a  moonlight tryst and a young woman is left to bear the consequences. It's an age old tale, but why did it become so popular in the early 19th Century? We might have the answer. We're also looking more widely at English fairs through the ages; the fun, strange and sometimes scandalous things that happen there,...

It's another epic ballad this week as I catch up with Franz Andres Morrissey to learn more about this song, that was originally collected in Scotland. We also chat about the ups and downs of the Swiss folk scene, have a good old gossip about Robert Burns, and I learn where Martin Carthy gets his tunes from. Brown Adam, or Broun Edom, is a rare song with some old, even pre-Christian, themes an...

Bessy (or Betsy) Bell and Mary Gray were two bonny lasses, and they may even have been historical figures, but the plague came from yon borough town and slew them both regardless. And thus was created a most romantic and picturesque place of pilgrimage. Bessy Bell is also a tune and we take a look at it's surprising history, from being scrawled in a book of sermons to the part it played in th...