Recent Letters

The penny has finally dropped!

Dear Rod

Just had some birthday money so best commit it before it gets used for mending the hole in the roof or buying more plastic tat for the kids!

Been listening to revival singers for years - but now singing / playing more than previously and the penny has finally dropped!  There's enough treasure on these CDs to keep me going for several lifetimes - thank you for putting them out.

Best Regards

Virgil Philpott - 11.6.09

Songs of Protest

A strange coincidence, but on the day that British fascists have entered mainstream politics, following the EU elections, I just happened to receive the new Little Red Box of Protest Songs (Properbox 147), a collection of songs from the 1940s - '60s sung by the likes of Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Josh White, Tom Glazer etc.  And, boy, don't they still sound relevent today (especially the song The Banks are Made of Marble).

I'm sure that, years ago, I once heard somebody say "We don't need any new songs, only the guts to sing the old ones".  Well, now is certainly the time to start singing.  Have a listen to If I Had a Hammer, We Shall be Free, Mr Hitler and all the other songs in the Proper set.  Now is the time to start singing them again and to remember that songs like this really can make a difference.

Mike Yates - 8.6.09

The Tooting Murder - 2

You may already know this but in the Roud index Peter Kennedy collected it from Pop under the title FRANK TAYLOR .

Malcolm Austen - 1.4.09

The Tooting Murder

Pop Maynard's The Tooting Murder is surely a reference to the Tooting Tragedy of Fountain Road, Tooting in 1895 when Frank Taylor became unhinged and killed his wife and family - all except Frank Jr.

Best Wishes

Rex Osborn - 17.3.09
Tooting Local History Group

Secret Museum of the Air

While surfing recently I came upon the 'Secret Museum of the Air' site, at: http://wfmu.org/playlists/SM

Featured here are scores of hour long radio broadcasts drawing upon Pat Conte's vast collection of 78s, many themed geographically.  Among these is the broadcast from October 3, 2000, which features vintage material by (ostensibly - there are a few anomalies) English performers.  A good deal of it is not to my taste - revivalists such as Joan Sharp, Elsie Avril, Peter Kennedy, and the trained singers like John Goss, for example - but included are a galaxy of singers and musicians more deeply rooted in the older, community-based, traditional culture.  These include singers Phil Tanner, Joseph Taylor and Albert Richardson; and musicians such as Northumbrian piper Jack Armstrong (one side of that rare 1954 Manor 78, with Alice Little on harp), and Peter and Daniel Wyper (for some reason the compilers think they were English).  Some of the statements are rather naive and might legitimately be challenged on historical grounds, but I think it is worth a look for anyone with even a broad interest.

Good listening.

Keith Chandler - 2.2.09

E J Moeran - 3

At risk of sycophancy; can't think how I neglected Chris Heppa's article on Moeran.  Pleased that Chris wrote to you ...  A detailed study of the songs collected by Moeran, or at least some of them, wouldn't go amiss.

It should be said, though this may be anathema to some, that his settings for choir are particularly sensitive and engaging; and some of the best from all those composer/collectors of the time - VW, Holst and so on.

Regards,

Roly Brown - 29.1.09

E J Moeran - 2

Like Roly Brown, I was delighted to read Chris Holderness's article on the piece by E J Moeran from the Norfolk Annual.  It is a fuller version of what Moeran published on the local east Norfolk singing tradition some years later, but with added benefit of some excellent photos and extra information.  It is marvellous to see a photgraph of Bob 'Jolt' Miller, a very important local singer, and uncle of William 'Bullets' Miller of Catfield, who sang with Harry Cox.  (I wrote an article on the Miller family and their songs in English Dance & Song, Vol 64, No.2, Summer 2002).

I also liked the photograph of a smiling Harry Cox holding his horse's reins.  Also of note to anyone interested in this singing tradition, which centred around Harry Cox and his friends, are the photos of Ingham Fair, a notable local event at which singing was prevalent.  Regarding the singing session in the Sutton Windmill, which Moeran recorded in October 1947, and subsequently broadcast on the Third programme, it is a pity that Moeran did not record more songs from Harry Cox's friends.  Moeran did record a further two songs from Elijah Bell, and a few from Charlie Chettleburgh and Walter Gales, but only one from William Miller, yet they all knew many more songs, and were all fine singers.

One noted local singer who was definitely present, but not apparently recorded, was Jack Riseborough of Catfield.  Why he was not recorded or broadcast I have been unable to discover, but Moeran certainly visited him at his home on several occasions.

For more information on this great tradition, may I recommend, like Roly, Roy Palmer's excellent article in Folk Music Journal on E J Moeran, Paul Marsh's accompanying notes to his CD, Harry Cox: The Bonny Labouring Boy, and, if modesty allows, my own article Harry Cox and his friends in Folk Music Journal Volume 8, No.5, 2005.

Best wishes

Chris Heppa - 28.1.09

E J Moeran

Delighted to see the article by Chris Holderness on E J Moeran; but let's not forget Roy Palmer's piece on the composer published in Folk Music Journal Vol.8, No.3, 2003, pp.345-361.

Regards,

Roly Brown - 19.1.09

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