From Richard Dawson’s bellowed workers’ songs to Shirley Collins’ delicate folk, there’s a story told beyond ruddy-faced farmer stereotypes.

“…If things looking bleak now, they’ve always sounded psychedelic. As the acid-laced optimism of the late 60s slumped into the nuclear comedown of the early 70s, a string of artists sprung from the dark heart of rural Britain. Albums likeBasket of Light by Pentangle, The Incredible String Band’s Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, or First Utterance by Comus, hum with cosmic vibrations, and those vibrations reverberate to this very day. Listen carefully and you’ll hear them today in the newer music of acts like Bendith – a Welsh folk collab act – Richard Dawson, who roars over a detuned guitar like someone who’s just stood on an upwards-facing plug and octogenarian legend Shirley Collins…” | Read full story