British Folk

Three-disc, 64-track collection. The folk revival that took place at club level during the Sixties introduced a whole new audience to traditional folksong, while also bringing to the fore the concept of the earnest young singer/songwriter. When, by the end of the decade, centuries-old songs were being given a sonic makeover by the new breed of electric folkies (headed by the likes of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, both of whom are represented on this collection), folk music had long since escaped out of the clubs and into the charts. This companion piece to similar 3CD sets concentrating on the Irish and Scottish folk scenes focuses on the astonishing depth of talent emanating from the English folk scene during this most tumultuous of decades. Every facet of the English folk genre is encompassed, ranging from club singers and trad folksong revivalists like Isla Cameron and Shirley Collins, the post-Dylan singer/songwriter (Donovan, Ralph McTell), folk-based fusion act Pentangle, and even such turn-of-the-decade acid folk iconoclasts as Synathesia and the mighty Comus.

The Acoustic Folk Box presents a masterful overview of folk music from the British Isles, encompassing some 40 years of history and dozens of artists. Each of the four discs covers an era, the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, and carries over an hour of music. Basically, The Acoustic Folk Box begins with the British folk revival of the 1960s and follows echoes that reverberate into the present. Many of the artists are well-known to general audiences (Martin Simpson, Richard Thompson, and June Tabor), while others (Shirley Collins, Anne Briggs, and John Renbourn) are perhaps less known than one might hope, especially in the United States. Where to begin? First of all, there's Alexis Korner and Davy Graham's lovely duet "3/4 AD," perhaps the mother of all fine British fingerpicking, and fellow picker Bert Jansch's definitive version of "Angi." Briggs offers a chilling version of "She Moves Through the Fair," leaving little doubt where Sandy Denny drew her inspiration several years later.

First-ever CD anthology of the fiercely-collected Folk Heritage label and related satellites/ spin-offs. Four-hour compilation featuring tracks from some of the most valuable British folk albums of the early 70s. Third instalment of Grapefruit’s underground British folk triptych that started with much- acclaimed releases ‘Dust On The Nettles’ and ‘Sumer Is Icumen In’.Founded in the Greater Manchester area in 1968 by the late Alan Green, the Folk Heritage label and its subsequent associated imprints – Midas, Sweet Folk & Country, Westwood, Real – was an obscure but dedicated home for the grass-roots element of the British folk boom.

With 63 tracks and a total running time of just under four hours, Dust On The Nettles examines the metamorphosis that British folk underwent during the late 1960s, when the influence of psychedelia and the counterculture saw the idiom being twisted into all kinds of new and exotic shapes, as the finger-in-the-ear folk clubs of yore were inexorably drawn into a brave new world of Arts Labs, free festivals and the nascent college/university circuit.

After the UK folk explosion of the early sixties, artists like The Incredible String Band, Pentagle, Cob, Fairport Convention and Strangely Strange led the genre into an experimental phase embracing psychedelia.
The Erewhon CD series has fortunately released the majority of the rarest releases of that era, albums that were often privately issued and now command hundreds of pounds amongst collectors.
These collections include some of the best tracks by those artists together with previously unavailable songs by the Trees, Tir Na Nog, Mellow Candle and Horison amongst others.
Opening with a sublime hippie masterpiece by Shide and Acorn, this volume journeys through the classic electric folk of Loudest Whisper, Midwinter and Gallery. Not to forget Baroque moments form Tir Na Nog and Mellow Candle, the potent musicianship of Caedmon and the lost psychedelic genius of parameter. More can be found on volume two and forthcoming releases.

After the UK folk explosion of the early sixties, artists like The Incredible String Band, Pentagle, Cob, Fairport Convention and Strangely Strange led the genre into an experimental phase embracing psychedelia.
The Erewhon CD series has fortunately released the majority of the rarest releases of that era, albums that were often privately issued and now command hundreds of pounds amongst collectors.
These collections include some of the best tracks by those artists together with previously unavailable songs by the Trees, Tir Na Nog, Mellow Candle and Horison amongst others.
Opening with a sublime hippie masterpiece by Shide and Acorn, this volume journeys through the classic electric folk of Loudest Whisper, Midwinter and Gallery. Not to forget Baroque moments form Tir Na Nog and Mellow Candle, the potent musicianship of Caedmon and the lost psychedelic genius of parameter. More can be found on volume two and forthcoming releases.

A Constant Companion
I have been a working musician for over 20 years now. Music from the British folk tradition has been a constant companion. I grew up in a small market town in East Dorset called Wimborne Minster which has a well established folk festival, a calendar event which started when I was a child. Folk music was part of the everyday experience.
As a young adult I would listen to Fairport Convention, Trees, Mellow Candle & The Pogues alongside Bowie, Nirvana, Neu & Aphex Twin. Catholic tastes.

61-track, 4-CD set explores the experimental side of the British folk scene, from the folk-rock era to the present.
Includes new and unreleased recordings from Imagined Village (the first new music from the band in 9 years, with vocals from Eliza Carthy), Justin Adams, and Stick In The Wheel, unreleased songs from Maddy Prior and Lavinia Black-wall, and rare demos from Sandy Denny and Richard and Linda Thompson. The remarkable cast also includes everyone from Shirley Collins and Fairport Convention to Billy Bragg, June Tabor and Oysterband, Eliza Carthy, Jim Moray, Olivia Chaney, Spiro, Lau, Jon Boden, Martyn Bennet, Capercaillie, Stick In The Wheel, Sam Lee, Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita, Yorkston Thorne Khan and many more. Compiled by writer and broadcaster Robin Denselow, who also wrote the 24-page sleeve notes, the boxset is released to coincide with publication of the book of the same title (on Omnibus) - which is an updated version of the celebrated story of the folk-rock era The Electric Muse, first published in 1975. This boxset brings together an extraordinary cast of great musicians for the first time, and tells the story of how British traditional music has been re-worked with influences not just from rock but from punk, rap, electronica, big band brass, and sounds and styles from around the world.