PRIOR Maddy
Seven for Old England

PRKCD 100

769934010027
Park Records
UK Regno Unito

 

This album is in many ways a return and revisiting of songs that first engaged me. I have always found the tradition of English lyrical and pastoral ballads an area of sweet melancholy most moving, and although I have known most of these songs over many years, have never recorded, or even sung them before. They are familiar to me from folksong-club floor-singers, residents and from fellow travelling performers. Also, I took myself off to Cecil Sharp House (the home of the English Folk Song and Dance Society) where the Vaughn-Williams Memorial Library is based, and the helpful librarians led me to much source material. I found there, among its massive archive, Chappell’s ‘Popular Music of the Olden Time’ which revealed to me the source of some songs that were current in my childhood. These are written songs of the 17th century that were in the National Song Book, and the like, intended for schools, to be accompanied by piano. Benji, Giles and I then spent time finding suitable settings for the songs, which all came together speedily and naturally. This working on songs is always a good time for me. How songs reveal themselves to different musicians is surprising and delightful. We have tried here to present these jewels in the simplest, acoustic formats, leaving the songs to reveal their power quietly.