A CURIOUS MIX OF BRITISH FOLK MUSIC AND AMERICAN POLITICS
FOLK RADIO UK
The Ballad of Shirley Collins soundtrack is a great springboard to find out more. It is also an anthology, or a miscellany, that whilst having a foot back in time – sixty years ago and even before that – it also has a foot in the present [ . . . ]
Read Full Review: The Ballad Of Shirley Collins (Soundtrack) | Folk Radio UK
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
Taking place October 4-15, the LFF will be plugging into punk, Elvis, folk and the swinging 1960sEnough already about Cannes and the Venice Film Festival – turns out we’ve got our own homegrown film fest that’s just as good. What’s more, the BFI London Film Festival always has a highly decent selection of music movies and this year is no exception. Here’s the festival’s programmer Kate Taylor to take us through the best on offer this October [ . . . ]
More: From girl-powered punk to G funk: the best music films at the BFI London Film Festival – NME
Brought up near Hastings in a musical family, Shirley Collins moved to London aged 17, where she became involved in the early folk revival. After her debut album, Sweet England, in 1959, she released a number of seminal folk records, including collaborations with artists such as Ewan MacColl, Alan Lomax, and her sister, Dolly. However, in 1978 Collins withdrew from music following a traumatic divorce. She was awarded an MBE in 2007, and last year released her first album in 38 years, Lodestar, to wide acclaim. Collins is nominated for album of the year and singer of the year at this year’s Radio 2 folk awards, which will be broadcast on BBC4 at 10pm tonight. Her tour begins on 29 April in Warwick. [ . . . ]
Full Story: On my radar: Shirley Collins’s cultural highlights | Culture | The Guardian