A little about me, and the project

This is a holding 'about' page, pending a bit more time to flesh out the architecture of this blog a little; 

I've been involved at the weirder fringes of UK folk music for a decade or so - as a promoter of experimental gigs (currently in the guise of Black Acorn, in Hebden Bridge and Todmorden); and as a Co-Producer on 2017 documentary The Ballad of Shirley Collins.

Also, my partner is the former archivist for the English Folk Dance and Song Society (2010-12); and as event producers, my dear friend Terence and I were responsible for the ‘relaunch’ of Cecil Sharp House as a serious London gig venue. This included shows for Vetiver, A Hawk And A Hacksaw, Peter Walker, Jack Rose, Six Organs of Admittance and Shirley Collins (with Alasdair Roberts, Trembling Bells & Mike Heron) between 2008-2010.

However, I’m very new indeed to folk singing (June 2019), and - missing the regular local singarounds that I'd been enjoying over the past year - I felt I needed a lockdown project to expand my repertoire, and to more deeply immerse myself in the tradition.

As a further spur, my day job is about encouraging all to engage in culture and creativity for their own wellbeing - so I had to find a quarantine outlet for myself!

My aim is to learn/record and research/write about a different folk song from the British Isles every fortnight.

Key, clear inspirations/points of reference for this endeavour are Jon Boden's 'A Folk Song a Day' and Andy Turner's 'A Folk Song a Week' (there's a 'links' page on the way!) 

In contrast, one update every two weeks for a year is obviously a somewhat modest goal - but I'm a novice rather than a seasoned performer, and couldn't hope to keep up with Boden's intensity, nor Turner's longevity (let alone the musicality of either).

Writing is a much more familiar undertaking to me than singing, and I'll likely delve into the stories of the songs in a touch more detail than either of the aforementioned guiding inspirations. It's possible that future posts may include interviews as well as relatively deep research.

However you've navigated to this blog, I hope you find it at least mildly interesting/entertaining; I very much welcome feedback/comments; corrections to my research; requests or suggestions for future songs to tackle; and shares of your own renditions of the same songs, or your favourite versions by others.

Thank you for visiting/reading; I hope that you and yours are keeping safe in these strange and uncertain times,

John
May 2020

@JohnMcArts
@BlackAcornUK