Anne Briggs
Offa Rex On World Cafe
Portland, Ore.’s The Decemberists and British singer-songwriter Olivia Chaney have teamed up to cover traditional English (and Irish and Scottish) folk songs under the name Offa Rex.
It’s a match made in harpsichord heaven. Colin Meloy of The Decemberists has always dreamed of recording an album of British folk songs, and found the perfect English collaborator in Chaney. For Chaney, Meloy’s slightly-less-reverent American perspective was the push she needed to cover the traditional songs she loves.
As you’ll hear in my chat with Chaney and Meloy, the collaboration was definitely a balancing act — and it kind of still is. We’ll also talk about how the idea for an old-timey album began with a tweet.
This episode also features a performance by Offa Rex of “The Queen of Hearts,” recorded live on stage at the XPoNential Music Festival in Philadelphia.
Click link to listen:
https://www.npr.org/player/embed/552590978/552606181″>
Anne Briggs
Anne Briggs and Lloyd Watkins (photo courtesy Ian Woods)
She Moved Through the Fair
Fairport Convention recorded “She Moved Through the Fair” in 1968, with the legendary Sandy Denny contributing the vocals. Irish traveller Margaret Barry recorded a great version earlier, though she herself had learned it from a vinyl recording made by John McCormack in 1941. Other singers who sang it in the 1950s and the 1960s included Paddy Tunney, Dominic Behan and Anne Briggs, who performs the song in the clip below.
1991, unattributed venue/pub. A rare recording and a real gem.
Anne sings:
1. Maid on the shore
2. The Recruited Collier
3. Martinmass Time