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 the end of the world. Somehow we end up in Scotland, though only tentatively, and discover a mystery. But then we ...

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 Wassail is about apples and cider and community and collectivism and so much more, and Lunatraktors' embod...

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! Music The Airy Bachelor, tune collected in Donegal by Herbert Hughes The Coolin, tradi...

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' to a beggar? Did you judge rightly? Have you been moving your neighbours' boundary stones? Better take st...

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 my research, and to Stones Barn who gave me the confidence to sing again. Other references: Stanes Morr...

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 listening. Have a wonderful Christmas! Music Wexford Carol (instrumental) All You Who Are To Mirth Inclined ...

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 for four decades, and explore its influences from the Northumbrian, Shetland and Irish trad...

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.

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

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

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, and the songs people sing about them. This episode features bit of mild swearing thanks to our cheeky f...

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 the heyday of a theatrical phenomenon. The tune we sing today isn't the traditional one; a quite diff...