JANUARY 2019 UPDATE: welcome to the many people straying here from the United States to read this item. Hope you find it interesting and feel encouraged to explore the site's archive. I cannot be sure what is driving this sudden... Read more →
It is hard to believe (as I update this introduction in 2021) that more than 70 years have passed since Ewan MacColl wrote his second best known song, Dirty Old Town. MacColl composed compellingly on many subjects, from the challenges... Read more →
First, a spot of housekeeping for the Cover Story series. As sharp observers will already have noticed, "or" replaces "vs" in the headline. I shall get round to changing the previous 10 posts in the series since the purpose of... Read more →
Does the fact that Sunderland supporters adapted the first big Herman's Hermit hit, I'm Into Something Good, make it - and the band - part of the folk tradition? You're right, it does not. Bill Taylor - I must be... Read more →
Not the Joan Baez we usually see - but this was from the 1965 Newport FF From my old friend Claire Horton, a steadfast folk and roots publicist, comes news of an exercise in town twinning that may well outstrip... Read more →
Who said folk music has to be cheerful? Some of the best songs from the tradition, and also from the pens of contemporary writers, tackle bleak subjects. Has a better song been written on premature death from drug addiction than... Read more →
