IT'S been 40 years since Maddy Prior released, with Tim Hart, the album Folk Songs Of Old England' and since then she has become one of the most important voices in English Folk music. In fact, as a member of Steeleye Span she has done more to bring the genre to the masses than anybody else.
This album however sees her returning to her roots. After months poring over old music manuscripts, she has come up with this collection of 17 numbers. I say 17 even though there's only 16 tracks (when the last track has finished, just fast forward to 19mins and 20 seconds for a surprise)
Trooper's Nag' is delightfully bawdy and the stories told in The Collier Lad' and North Country Lass' hold your interest.
But it is Maddy's voice that is the highlight of the album; that, and the excellent musicianship showed by the use of traditional instruments like harp, guitar, bouzouki and Ud (?).
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One of the tracks - Magpie' was written by Maddy when she was recording Folk Songs Of Old England', but the track was shelved because of the TV programme of the same name.
A superb album and well done Maddy for keeping these old songs alive.
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Kat Dibbits
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