The Parson & the Songmen

Send us Fan Mail  In this episode we join Sabine, and his ever growing family, in his cramped vicarage in Yorkshire. Worrying about this overcrowded situation, he receives an offer from the Prime Minister (no less!) to take up a more substantial parish in East Mersea, Essex. Then, after some ten years, Sabine receives news that will set about the wheels of a return to his native West Country... Su...

Send us Fan Mail Join Sabine on a journey into deep uncharted waters as he discovers the opposite sex! Where will this take him, and just who is the girl that has turned his head? Find out now in the 17th episode of The Parson and the Songmen. Support the show https://gofund.me/48985b32 PLEASE VISIT TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE RUNNING COST OF THE PODCASTS Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk FOR ALL...

Send us Fan Mail In this sixteenth episode of the Parson and the Songmen we hear how Sabine is finally ordained and find out whether he makes a success of his early days as a curate in Yorkshire. Support the show https://gofund.me/48985b32 PLEASE VISIT TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE RUNNING COST OF THE PODCASTS Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk FOR ALL LINKS TO INTERVIEWEES AND ORGANISATIONS https:/...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we hear how Sabine took his first reluctant steps into university study and how he took great steps to change the direction this would take, leading, amongst other things, to a connection with Count Dracula, werewolves and Vikings! Support the show https://gofund.me/48985b32 PLEASE VISIT TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE RUNNING COST OF THE PODCASTS Mike's website: mi...

Send us Fan Mail This New Year episode marks the passing of Sabine Baring-Gould on the 2nd January 1924. But, although one hundred years on, his hymns are still sung, his books are still read, and, of course, the folk songs he collected are still sung. To celebrate this, Mike re-joins Kate and Jon Tidball, this time in Ashwater Church, for some more live music, including a special version of The B...

Send us Fan Mail An extra length podcast as a special Christmas gift for you and see you into 2024, the centenary year of Sabine Baring-Gould's passing. In this bumper festive edition of The Parson And The Songmen we explore the Parson's childhood and then give you a generous helping of live music in the shape of podcast author, Mike Bosworth, along with Kate and Jon Tidball, collectivel...

Send us Fan Mail Here, we continue to look at the theme explored in the last episode, where we asked the question whether many of the songs collected by the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould were particular to Devon and Cornwall, the old Celtic region of Dumnonia, and whose independent airs had survived in the 'Celtic West'. Support the show https://gofund.me/48985b32 PLEASE VISIT TO MAKE A D...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we explore Sabine's idea where he wrote 'I find that songs and ballads sung to their traditional melodies in Somersetshire, in Sussex, in Yorkshire, and Northumberland, are sung to quite independent airs on Dartmoor and in Cornwall'...  So, how could this be?  Support the show https://gofund.me/48985b32 PLEASE VISIT TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE RUNNING...

Send us Fan Mail To celebrate reaching double figures, a podcast with a difference... As well as exploring how Sabine decided to preserve the songs he had collected for future generations, we meet the inspiration behind this podcast series and finally reveal some exciting news for 2024! Support the show https://gofund.me/48985b32 PLEASE VISIT TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE RUNNING COST OF THE PODCASTS...

Send us Fan Mail The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould, and his two fellow parsons, did indeed strike gold  during the autumn of 1888, collecting some 90 songs. In this ninth episode of The Parson and the Songmen we join Sabine as he takes a jaunt around the southern edge of Dartmoor in order to meet two new singers. Support the show https://gofund.me/48985b32 PLEASE VISIT TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE RUN...

Send us Fan Mail In this, the eighth edition of the podcast The Parson and the Songmen, we learn if the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould was any good at remembering dates, how he managed to consign the 'Singing Machine' to his grave a year before his death, and just how three folksong-collecting Reverends were better than one!   Support the show https://gofund.me/48985b32 PLEASE VISIT TO MAK...

Send us Fan Mail As we explored in Podcast Six, The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould was not slow to edit, or completely rewrite, songs that he felt would not be fit for his intended audience. In this episode we discover just what happened to those airs, and focus on the creation of a brand new composition that was born out of this process. Support the show https://gofund.me/48985b32 PLEASE VISIT TO M...

Send us Fan Mail As the number of songs that the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould assembled grew it became apparent to other song collectors of the time, and those who followed, just how many of them he had altered or completely re-written. In this sixth podcast in the series The Parson and the Songmen we explore the Parson’s reasoning behind this and the later consequences for the songs collected. Su...

Send us Fan Mail In this latest podcast in the series The Parson and the Songmen I attempt to answer the questions - just how old are the folk songs that the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould collected and why was there such a variety to be found right on the Parson’s very doorstep? Join me know as I investigate, in this fifth episode, ‘From Minstrels To Broadsides’. Support the show https://gofund.me/...

Send us Fan Mail There must have been many times when out song collecting that The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould had to write down lyrics that in his own words were 'Not fit for Christian ears to hear or Christian lips to utter’. What then was he to do when songs of this nature came his way? Find out now in the fourth podcast in the series The Parson and the Songmen. Support the show https://g...

Send us Fan Mail In 1888 the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould had discovered a rich lode of old Devon songs. But, although he had been told that he was the right man for the job to collect these songs, there was a serious drawback in the process due to him having had no musical training. Would Sabine be able to overcome this major challenge in order to accurately record the songs offered to him? Find...

Send us Fan Mail In this, the second episode of the Parson and the Songmen, we join the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould as he starts the task of collecting the old folk songs of his native Devon. After early difficulties in tracking down any songs his luck changes when he encounters a local thatcher and hedger, James Parsons, who due to the sheer number of songs that he knew was called ‘The Singing M...

Send us Fan Mail In 1888 The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould set himself the daunting task of collecting the folk songs of his native Devonshire, and later Cornwall, before they died out with their ageing singers. If he had not done so then this important part of our traditional musical heritage would have been lost forever. This first episode tells the story of how he began this project that would c...