English Folk

An impressive 5 CD box set featuring one of the most complete anthologies on English folk and folk-rock around. The first two CDs mostly cover solo artists with a praiseworthy attention to the 80s and 90s, while the last three are dedicated to the most important bands of the Seventies.

Once again, Ian Carter and Nicola Kearey of Stick In The Wheel took up their recording equipment and ventured to new places within England, both physically and metaphorically. Asking folk and traditional musicians what 'From Here' meant to them: this impulse to make music – From Here – where does it come from? What does it mean to be making this music in 2019, using the framework of English traditional music and culture? England is divided, and we may well look to the past to make sense of the future - in such times of chaos and political uncertainty, these are timely questions.

While the last decades of the twentieth century saw a revival of the genre, the twenty-first century has brought not only continued relevance, but a new appreciation for English folk music. An ever-growing audience embraces the brilliant, fresh crop of musicians, who enrich the tradition with novel takes on old songs and new tunes. This album features the super talented singer-songwriter Eliza Carthy, who duets with her mom, the legendary Norma Waterson, both Mercury Award nominees. Multi-instrumentalist Pete Coe has been one of the most consistently excellent traditional musicians and songwriters to remain inspired since the 1970s. Ian King came from outside the folk scene with radical reworkings of traditional English songs made with the help of reggae producer Adrian Sherwood and Little Axe guitarist Skip McDonald. Glastonbury-born Emily Portman quickly distinguished herself in the trio Devil’s Interval before flattening everybody with her extraordinary songs dealing with the weird and dark side of folklore.