A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in September 2016.
Annie Briggs was a leading figure in the English folk revival of the early 1960s, inspiring Bert Jansch (famously, in Blackwater Side), Sandy Denny, The Watersons and many more. But she was a restless spirit, travelling through the British Isles and Ireland, finding songs and living close to the earth.
As Sandy Denny depicted her in The Pond and the Stream: Annie wanders on the land. She loves the freedom of the air. She finds a friend in ev’ry place she goes. There’s always a face she knows. I wish that I was there.
And so she remains, now a grandmother living by the water in the west of Scotland. She’s always resolutely resisted celebrity and commercial success, withdrawing from the folk scene in the early 1970s, but her legacy – her voice and her attitude – continue to inspire and to carry a link to life as it was once lived in ‘the imagined village’.
Annie talks to Alan Hall about childhood holidays singing along with the waves, writing songs while living on a beach in west Ireland, her garden and the wildlife that she shares it with, and the ballad tradition she discovered as a teenager and that she ‘belongs to’.
Originally broadcast September 9, 2025, on WRIU 90.3 FM.
By Michael Stevenson, host The Kingston Coffeehouse
PLAYLIST “Katie Cruel” (traditional) – Karen Dalton “Bashed Out” (K. Stables) – This Is the Kit , 2015 Bashed Out “God Loves a Drunk” (R Thompson) – Norma Waterson, 1996 “I’m Waiting For You to Smile” – Katell Keineg, 1994 O Seasons O Castles “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (Ian Curtis) June Tabor & Oysterband, 2011 Ragged Kingdom “People’s Faces” – Kae Tempest, 2019 The Book of Traps and Lessons “Train Song” – Vashti Bunyan, r. 1966, Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind “Anachie Gordon” (traditional) The Unthanks, 2010 Here’s the Tender Coming “Henry Lee” (traditional) Nick Cave & PJ Harvey, 2011 Murder Ballads “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (Ewan MacColl) – Offa Rex, 2017 The Queen of Hearts “She Moved through the Fair” (traditional) – Anne Briggs, 1963 Edinburgh Folk Festival Vol. 1 “Banjo Player of Aleph One” – Gwenifer Raymond 2025 Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark “Wheely Down” (R. Thompson) – Ivor Cutler, 1993 The World is a Wonderful Place “Roundabout” – Ryley Walker, 2017 Golden Sings That Have Been Sung “Brighter than the Blues” – Joan Shelly, 2016 Over and Even “Three Ravens” (traditional) – Jake Xerxes Fussell, 2019 Out of Sight “Lullaby” (from the film Wicker Man) – Magnet (Paul Giovanni) 1972 “Rivers Run Red” (Ella Oona Russell) – The New Eves, 2025 The New Eve is Rising “Witches Reel” (traditional) – Starheid Gossip, 2015 Step Sisters “Entertaining of a Shy Girl” – Donovan 1968 Hurdy Gurdy Man “The Hedgehog Song”(Heron/Williamson) – Incredible String Band, 1966 The 5000 Spirits or Layers of an Onion “Lay it Down” (G. Thomas) – Bonny Prince Billy with The Trembling Bells, 2014 New Trip On Old Wine “Conch Shell” Katell Keineg, 1994 O Seasons O Castle “Into My Arms” – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, 1997 Boatman’s Call “Place to Be” – Nick Drake, Pink Moon “How Wild the Wind Blows” – Molly Lee, 2018 The Tides Magnificence “The Sweetest Decline” – Beth Orton Central Reservation “The Wagoner’s Lad” (Traditional) – Bert Jansch, 1966 Jack Orion “Nottamun Town” (traditional)- Fairport Convention, 1969 What We Did on Our Holidays “Masters of War” – Bob Dylan, 1963 The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan “Needle of Death” – Bert Jansch, 1965 Bert Jansch “Golden Brown” – The Stranglers 1982 “Meet On the Ledge” (R.Thompson) – Fairport Convention, 1969 What We Did on Our Holidays “Anji” – Davy Graham “Green Are Your Eyes” (b.Jansch) – Marianne Faithul, 1966 North Country Maid “The Water” – Johnny Flynn & Laura Marling, 2010 Been Listening “The Parting Glass” (traditional) – James Elkington 2017 Wintres Woma “Katie Cruel” (traditional) – Agnes Obel “Blues Run the Game” – Jackson C. Frank, 1965 Jackson C. Frank “Home Sweet Home” (Bishop /Payne)- The King’s Singers 1993 Folk Songs of the British Isles “A Heart Needs a Home” – Linda & Richard Thompson, 1975 Hokey Pokey “Goodnight World” – Lisa O’Neil, 2023 All This Is Chance
