(This site is not run or managed by Shirley Collins directly, but run by a fan. All songs (c) their respective owners. I encourage anyone who enjoys the music on this page to go out and buy the records. In fact, you can now buy them right here.)
Shirley Collins News:
March 2008:
There was an article about Shirley in The Guardian... read it here. She was also interviewed in this months Mojo.
Feb 2008:
Shirley received a Good Tradition Award at this year’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards on Monday February 4th at The Brewery in London. It was presented to her by Graham Coxon of Blur. Along with John McCusker on fiddle, Graham sang Shirley’s version of
Just As The Tide Was A-Flowin’ in tribute. Congratulations Shirley! (More info here)
Shirley is to curate, present and perform in a series of events on London’s South Bank between March 25th and March 30th. All the events look good, so if you live in London, check them out here!
Sussex Tales (This brilliant biography is by/copyright of David Suff of the Bees Knees website.)
Shirley and Dolly Collins have long been regarded as pivotal figures in the English folk song revival of the 1960’s and ’70’s. Shirley’s beautiful singing style, apparently lacking any affectation, has earned her accolades such as "the first lady of folk". Dolly’s contributions to their recordings were by comparison often overlooked. Her sensitive accompaniment on piano and portative organ and marvellous arrangements have rarely been equalled in the past three decades. Alongside her work with Shirley, Dolly was the arranger on the late Peter Bellamy’s masterful ’The Transports’, as well as his unrecorded ’We Have Fed Our Seas’. She also worked on albums by the Incredible String Band, Ian Matthews, Mark Ellington, Chris Darrow and Tony Rose.
Shirley and Dolly grew up in the Hastings area of East Sussex. Their Mother’s family kept alive a great love of traditional song. Songs learnt from Grandfather and Aunt Grace were to be important in the Sister’s repertoire through-out their career. Their uncle, F C Ball - the author of ’A Breath Of Fresh Air’ - encouraged the sisters to listen to a wide variety of music, especially the work of Monteverdi and Purcell.
Through a remarkable series of influential recordings, Shirley and Dolly helped to introduce many innovations into the English folk revival. In 1964, Shirley recorded the landmark jazz-folk fusion of ’Folk Roots, New Routes’, with Davy Graham. 1967 saw the essentially southern English song collection, ’Sweet Primeroses’, on which she was accompanied by Dolly’s vocals and portative organ; and an exuberant collaboration with Mike Heron and Robin Williamson - of the Incredible String Band - resulted in ’The Power Of The True Love Knot’ in 1968.
’Anthems In Eden’, 1969, featured a suite of songs centred around the changes in rural England brought about by the First World War, had a terrific impact upon recorded folk music. The glorious and unusual ensemble of early music instruments - rebecs, sackbuts, crumhorns and all - proved once and for all that the guitar was not the only appropriate accompaniment for folk song. Several critics have suggested that it is impossible to imagine that electric accompaniment for traditional song, as successfully purveyed by Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, could have developed quite as it did without the pioneering ’Anthems In Eden’. All these recordings strove to marry a deep love and understanding of the English folk music heritage with a more contemporary attitude to musical settings. ’Anthems In Eden’ was followed by the starkly beautiful ’Love, Death & The Lady’, and ’No Roses’ recorded in 1971 with the 25 musicians of the Albion Country Band was a further experiment that grew into a triumph. A bench mark of British folk-rock.
During the mid-1970’s, Shirley and Ashley Hutchings led the all acoustic Etchingham Steam Band with Terry Potter, Ian Holder and Vic Gammon, around the folk club and festival circuit. The Etchingham’s repertoire was drawn from the traditional music of Shirley’s beloved Sussex. With The Albion Dance Band - a crusading, brave dance band performing traditional material on a curious mixture of modern (electric) and mediaeval instruments, Shirley recorded ’The Prospect Before Us’.
1978’s ’For As Many As Will’ was the last album recorded by Shirley and Dolly Collins. Shirley soon retired from public performance. Dolly continued with her composition including a full-scale secular mass.
Few singers of the English folk revival have attempted as much on record as Shirley Collins - an extraordinary combination of fragility and power. "I like music to be fairly straightforward, simply embellished, - the performance without histrionics allowing you to think about the song rather than telling you what to think."
Shirley was awarded an MBE in the 2007 New Year’s Honours List for Services to Music. The award was presented by HRH The Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace on May 8th 2007.She was also awarded the Honorary Degree Master of the University by the Open University for Notable Contribution to Education and Culture
Shirley is patron of South East Folk Arts Network and Folk South West.
If there are any songs in particular that you would like me to put on this page, please leave a comment.
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this poem sung on myspace...
Poem 2 of 230, WalkaboutsVerse (please see my blog): WALKABOUT WITH MY PEN
Once drove an old sedan, up north, From a place in Sydney to Cairns; Then to Kuranda I went forth, By train, to look without set plans.
I browsed through the trendy market, With fresh fruits of tropical kind; Walked to the creek through lush thicket - Nature’s hand giving peace of mind.
I dined in a scenic cafe; Then, outside, as I wrote for yen, Some passing Kooris called-out: “Hey, You go walkabout with your pen.”
Request or question, I don’t know - Assured voices, elderly men. That’s now several years ago, And I’ve seen the world - with my pen.
*********************************** COMUS ( Acid folk legends ) ( Roger Wooton, Glenn Goring, Bobbie Watson, Andy Hellaby, Colin Pearson, Jon Seagroatt ) plus support from CIRCULUS SATURDAY 27th JUNE 2009 St CLEMENTS CHURCH CHORLTON MANCHESTER TICKETS £15 AVAILABLE FROM TICKETLINE 0161 832 1111 WWW.TICKETLINE.CO.UK DULCIMER CHORLTON KING BEE RECORDS CHORLTON PICCADILLY RECORDS OLDHAM STREET ***********************************
"Insistent refrains, an unforgettable bridge and a rollercoaster chorus combine to make a powerful statement of intent from Your Arch Enemies." - Hot Press
Text Music 1862 to 57501 go to www. downloadmusic. ie and Download the track. Make sure to Download the track after you buy it or it wont count in the charts.
Step Up is also available for download from iTunes
THE TWISTING FOLK PRESENT… THE OWL SERVICE LIVE AT ORANGE STREET MUSIC CLUB CANTERBURY NOVEMBER 8TH 8PM £5 admission
Special double ticket available for £7.50, gains you entry to THE OWL SERVICE, and the ROBB JOHNSON gig on Friday 30th January 2009
Tel: 01227 760801
"...a tentative sitar drone and plucked minimalism pick their respective paths across a yawning chasm of O'Malleyesque fug" PlanB magazine "...combines the best parts of the British folk-rock boom with a sense of occult psychedelia that's never overbearing" Uncut magazine "Icy female vocals and crystalline electric guitars thread through sinister traditional tunes, recalling Trees' 1970 classic 'On the Shore' and Fairport Convention's 'Liege & Lief'" Stewart Lee, Sunday Times "British spooky/avant folksters whose muse is slightly more medieval than post-modern, but recalls Black Mountain and Lightning Dust as well as Vashti Bunyan and Steeleye Span" Time Out "...we highly recommend checking out the finest “traditional folk” album we’ve heard all year" Foxy Digitalis "...the result sounds like a lost album of '70s UK folk ...female singers who have that quality to provoke a world of a cultivated sensitivity ...all tracks flow beautifully from one perfect mood to the next" Psyche Homestead "...pure genius" DJ Magazine "A deeply intoxicating and alluring listening spectacle." Losing Today "A quiet, contemplative work of art that'll warm the cockles of any cold, cold heart" Foxy Digitalis "...wonderful and inventive but by no means contrived, ...
CIAN NUGENT 'Childhood, Christian Lies & Slaughter' CD Cian Nugent is a 19 year old guitar player from Dublin who combines squicky pre-war blues, Appalachian string band music, and the Takoma school into a deeply personal style. This cd documents a great live set, produced by Jozef Van Wissem.
TOM PALEY’S OLD TIME MOONSHINE MEDICINE SHOW Featuring-TOM PALEY & his friends-ROBIN GILLAN,DAVE STACEY & THE LOST MARBLE STRING BAND,with support from top London country singer songwriter-ALAN TYLER & BRIGID POWER –RYCE.
thank you for the add/request ... .. “Lust and Carnal desire “ ..more truthful terms to describe “Love” .. .. Défilé des âmes ... www. defiledesames. com
Hope you can make it along to our 1st Birthday party... Free champagne...FOR THE EARLY BIRDS! Bonanza Presents: 'TRIPPING IN THE COUNTRY' Thursday 15th May 2008 @ Bardens Boudoir,
'Cosmic Ladies Night' Featuring:Mary Epworth & The Jubilee Band Gemma Ray Brigid Power-Ryce +Guest DJ: 'Spooky Lady's Sideshow'
Online Now!
