TRADITIONAL SONGS OF LOVE & LUST – A collection of erotic folk song.

These songs were made by men and women in close touch with nature, in tune with the run of the seasons, the growthy of crops, the increase of stock, the fruitfulness of their own kind. They are mainly concerned with the great clean truths of desire and fulfilment, love and fruitfulness.

1   The Two Magicians — AL Lloyd (with Dave Swarbrick)
2   The Old man From Over the Sea — Frankie Armstrong
3   The Wanton Seed — AL Lloyd
4   Gathering Rushes in the Month of May — Anne Briggs
5   The Banks of Sweet Primroses — Louis Killen (acc. concertina)
6   The Maid on the Shore — Frankie Armstrong
7   The Bonny Black Hare — AL Lloyd (with Dave Swarbrick)
8   The Whirly Whorl — Anne Briggs
9   Pretty Polly — AL Lloyd
10  The Night Visiting Song — Norman Kenneddy
11  The Old Bachelor — AL Lloyd (with Dave Swarbrick & Alf Edwards)
12  The Cock — Louis Killen
13  The Stonecutter Boy — Anne Briggs
14  The Mower — AL Lloyd
15  The Bird in the Bush — Frankie Armstrong
16  The Pegging Awl — AL Lloyd (with Alf Edwards)
17  One May Morning — Louis Killen
18  Martinmas Time — Anne Briggs
19  The Widow of Westmorland’s Daughter — AL Lloyd (with Dave Swarbrick & Alf Edwards

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL479.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS The Bird In The Bush pdf booklet”]

The Cheviot Hills’ was the second album by the acclaimed Cheviot Ranters’ Country Dance Band for Topic records, it is a wonderful programme of old time and country dances ideal for the dancer and the listener alike. The Cheviot Ranters were arguably the the most distinguished and ‘authentic’ of the English folk dance bands, and grew out of the monthly meetings of the Northumbrian Pipers’ Society. Formed in 1955 the band played for local social dances in Northumberland and Durham. Within a year they had established themselves as a prominent dance band on radio and television.
1  Cumberland Square Eight: My Love She’s But a Lassie Yet / Caddam Woods / Rose Tree
2  The Sylph: Hermitage / Bryce Anderson
3  Roxburgh Castle: Roxburgh Castle / Sheffield Hornpipe / Storers Hornpipe
4  Northumberland Waltz: Mallorca / The Cheviot Hills / I Have Seen the Roses Blow
5  Winster Gallop: Winster Gallop / Teribus / Jimmy Allen
6  Ideal Schottische: Jack Thompson’s Fancy
7  Newcastle: Newcastle / Nancy / Molly’s Fancy
8  Norfolk Long Dance: The Perfect Cure / Stool of Repentence / Linton Jig
9  Barn Dance: Road to the Isles / Roamin’ in the Gloamin’ / Show Me the Way to go Home
10  Danish Double Quadrille
11  Blaydon Races: Blaydon Races / Keep You Feet Still Geordie Hinny / Wherever Ye Can Yer Sure tae Find a Geordie

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL222.pdf” title=”The CHEVIOT RANTERS The Cheviot Hills pdf booklet”]

The Breeze From Erin
Irish Folk Music on Wind Instruments

A splendid collection of Irish instrumental music recorded by several generations of musicians.
“Vital recordings, real examples of a live, healthy tradition.”

Willie Clancy : bagpipes and whistle
Festy Conlan : whistle
Eddie Corcoran : whistle
Tim Lyons : accordion
Tony McMahon : accordion
Seamus Tansey : flute, whistle and tambourine
with Reg Hall : piano

1   The Choice Wife (slip jig) Clancy, bagpipes
2  Banish Misfortune (jig) Conlan, whistle
3  The Bag of Potatoes : Sligo Maid (reels) Conlan. whistle, Lyons, accordion
4  Róisin Dubh (air) Tansey, flute, Dublin Reel : The Steampacket (reels) Tansey, flute, Hall, piano
5  Boil the Breakfast Early (reel) Tansey and Corcoran, whistle
6  Bean Dubh an Ghleanna (air) : The Ewe (reel) McMahon, accordion
7  The Morning Dew : The Woman of the House (reels) Clancy, whistle
8 The Queen of the Rushes (jig) Conlan, whistle Lyons, accordion
9  Paddy Ryan’s Dream : Mamma’s Pet (reels) Tansey, flute, Hall, piano
10  An Raibh Tú Ar an gCarraig (air) Conlan, whistle
11 The First House in Connacht : Miss McLeod (reels) Conlan, whistle
12 Bonny Kate : Jenny’s Chickens (reels) Corcoran, whistle, Tansey, tambourine
13 Taimse im Chodladh (air) Clancy, bagpipes

Recorded by Bill Leader
First issued by Topic Records 1969

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL184.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS The Breeze From Erin pdf booklet”]

The four piece ensemble Oak were the leading lights of a movement to rediscover English country music in the early 1970s. The group comprised Rod and Danny Stradling, Peta Webb and Tony Engle. Their songs, music and style were derived from traditional country performers. Their sole album – ‘Welcome To Our Fair’ – has been an tremendously influential recording for a whole generation of British folk musicians.

1  Thousands or More
2  New Rigged Ship / Rig-a-jig-jig
3  The Lakes of Cool Flynn
4  The Nutley Waltz / The Faithful Sailor Boy
5  Roving Round the County Tyrone
6  The Scarlet and the Blue
7  Shepherds Arise
8  Scan’s Polka
9  Australia
10  Cupid’s Garden
11  False, False
12  Our Good Ship Lies in Harbour
13  The Bunch of Thyme / The Perfect Cure / The Sweets of May

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL212.pdf” title=”OAK Welcome To Our Fair pdf booklet”]

Umps and Dumps were an exuberant dance band led by John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris. The ensemble’s sole recording is a splendid example of the energy typical of the English country dance scene of the early 1980s.
1  Up Sides
2  After You’ve Got
3  Woodland Voices
4  The Watercress Girl
5  Maybe She’ll Write Me
6  Rogue’s March / Dashing White Sergeant
7  Marmalade Polka
8  Underneath Her Apron
9  Lichfield Tattoo
10  The Willow Tree
11  Donkey, Jack Donkey / Here it Comes Again
12  Dark Town Strutter’s Ball / Cajun Two Step

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL416.pdf” title=”UMPS AND DUMPS The Moon’s In A Fit pdf booklet”]

Born in Middlesborough of Anglo-Irish descent, Vin Garbutt has an enviable reputation as a singer and songwriter of fine socially conscious, and environmentally aware songs. ‘Tossin’ A Wobbler’ from 1978 is regarded as one of his finest recordings.
1  Man of the Earth
2  Legend of Roseberry
3  Long Note / Lads of Laois / Le Reel Jeune Marie
4  Photographic Memory
5  Yorkshire Volunteer’s Farewell to the Good Folks of Stockton / Push About the Jorum
6  St. Helena’s March
7  Carrigdhoun
8  The Freemantle Doctor
9  One-Legged Beggar
10  They Don’t Write ‘Em Like That Any More

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL385.pdf” title=”VIN GARBUTT Tossing A Wobbler pdf booklet”]

The brother and sister team of Ray and Archie Fisher first became known to a wider audience in 1961 when they appeared for a long run in the Scottish Television documentary ‘Here and Now’, and as regular guests on B.B.C. ‘Hootenanny’ and ‘Singalong’. But they were already well established among Scottish folk-enthusiasts.

Dolina Maclennan is a native of the island of Lewis. English is in fact her second language, although she makes light of its difficulties. Her Gaelic songs have been passed down to her through her family.

Robin Gray is of mixed Lewis and Shetland descent, but has lived most of his life in Edinburgh. His maternal grandmother was a well known Gaelic bard.

In Enoch Kent you will find a living synopsis of most of the best characteristics of the folk-song revival. He was ready and eager to learn from the great ethnic singers of Scotland like Jeannie Robertson and Jimmy Macbeath.

1. The Twa Corbies – Ray Fisher acc. Archie Fisher (guitar)
2. Fil U O Ru Hu O  – Dolina Maclennan unacc.
3. Gypsy Laddie – Robin Gray acc. himself (guitar)
4. Beggar Man – Enoch Kent unacc.
5. Hug O Ran O Ru – Dolina Maclennan unacc.
6. Donal Don – Enoch Kent acc. himself (guitar)
7. Kilbogie – Ray & Archie Fisher acc. Archie Fisher (guitar)
8. The Night Visiting Song – Ray & Archie Fisher acc. Archie Fisher (guitar)
9. Bonny Lass Come O’er the Burn – Enoch Kent unacc.
10. Far Over the Forth – Ray Fisher unacc.
11. The Butcher Boy – Enoch Kent acc. himself (guitar)
12. Port a Beul – Dolina Maclennan unacc.
13. Erin Go Brath – Enoch Kent unacc.
14. Bratach Bana – Dolina Maclennan acc. Robin Gray (guitar)

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL128.pdf” title=”RAY & ARCHIE FISHER Bonny Lass Come O’er the Burn pdf booklet”]

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Accordion maestro John Kirkpatrick and the classically-trained oboist Sue Harris created a beautiful blend of English country dance tunes and songs with influences from Music Hall, Flaco Jimenez and Ry Cooder. Throughout the 1970s they were a sought after act on the UK folk scene and recorded a number of fine albums for the Topic label. 1989’s Stolen Ground, the duo’s final album for the Topic label, is undobtedly one of their finest records.
1  Arthur McBride
2  The Juggler
3  Clee Hill Tunes
4  Mother Earth
5  Black Deer
6  Must I Be Bound / Mrs Saggs
7  The Chickens They Are Crowing
8  Shepherd’s Branle
9  The Old Miner

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL453.pdf” title=”JOHN KIRKPATRICK & SUE HARRIS Stolen Ground pdf booklet”]

‘Few singers have such a vigorous, broad-ranging and fresh-sounding song repertoire as Nottingham’s Roy Harris, and none can handle it more convincingly. With Roy Harris at the helm the revival is in safe hands.’ Melody Maker 1973

On The Bitter & The Sweet Roy is accompanied by Notts Alliance – Ian Stewart, Roger Grimes & Laurence Platt, and Muckram Wakes – Roger Watson, Helen Wainwright & John Tams.

1    Turpin Hero (with Notts Alliance)
2    The Bonny Green Woods (with Muckram Wakes)
3    The Death Of Bill Brown
4    The Three Butchers (self-accompanied on guitar)
5    The Ullswater Pack (with chorus)
6    Poor Owd ‘Oss (with Notts Alliance)
7    General Ludd’s Triumph (with Muckram Wakes)
8    Poverty Knock (with combined groups)
9    The Streams Of Lovely Nancy
10   Robin Hood and The Tanner (with Notts Alliance and Roger Watson, dulcimer)
11   The ‘Royal Oak’
12   Strike The Bell (with Notts Alliance)
13   McCafferty
14   All Through The Ale (with Roger Watson, concertina)

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL217.pdf” title=”ROY HARRIS The Bitter & The Sweet pdf booklet”]

“Alison McMorland and Peta Webb are two ladies of immense talent and can be counted among the handful, of either sex, who are supreme in their art. Individually they are well respected; together they make that rare blend that is only to be found in singing of this quality, complementing each other perfectly and, even more rare, each somehow adding to the other to come up with something which is more than the combination of two voices. It is only after listening to the whole record that one becomes aware that there is no instrumental accompaniment.” Dick Gaughan from the original 1980 sleeve notes.
1  Two Pretty Boys
2  What Can A Young Lassie?
3  Jogging Up To Claudy
4  In London So Fair
5  The Convict’s Song
6  Sailing’s A Weary Life
7  The Factory Girl
8  The May Morning Dew
9  The Green Banks Of Yarrow
10  The Dowie Dens Of Yarrow
11  Our Ship Is Ready

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL403.pdf” title=”ALISON McMORLAND & PETA WEBB pdf booklet”]

Harry Boardman sang both unaccompanied and accompanying himself on the anglo-concertina or banjo. He wasactive as a folk singer and collector of Lancashire folklore from the late 1950s with some collaboration from his wife Lesley. Dave Hillery appeared regularly with Harry at the Pack Horse Hotel in Bridge Street, Manchester in the early 1960s, developing his interest in Yorkshire regional material through their association.

Although most of the songs in this album represent well the character of their respective counties, there has been no attempt to create a definitive programme they are simply the personal choice of two men from either side of the backbone of England.

1. Scarborough Sands
2. I’ll have a Collier for my Sweetheart
3. Forty Miles
4. Tommy Stroo’s Ghost
5. Cowd Stringy Pie
6. Tha’s Welcome, Little Bonny Brid
7. Nellie o’ Bob’s o’t’ Crowtrees
8. Weaver’s Song
9. Happy Sam
10. The Manchester Canal
11. Instrumental Dance-Tunes T-auld Wife of Coverdill/Lass O’ Dallogil/My Love, My Love
12. The Cockfight
13. Haley Paley
14. With Henry Hunt We’ll Go
15. The Ensilver Song

Recorded by Dick Swettenham in Manchester
First issued by Topic Records 1971

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL215.pdf” title=”HARRY BOARDMAN, DAVE HILLERY Trans Pennine pdf booklet”]

A smile, a tear, a tapping foot – the New Victory Band can evoke them all with an enviable expertise. Old-time dances, music hall songs, even a ragtime tune on the harmonium was within their scope. Their sole album stands as an important example of the new movement in English country dance music that developed during the 1970s. ‘One More Dance and Then…’ is stuffed full of variety, humour, pathos, fine music and fun.
1  Polkas – Harper’s Frolick / Bonny Kate
2  Schottische – The Mountain Belle
3  You Can’t Take That on the Train
4  Waltzes – Charles Lynch’s / Cajun Waltz / The Banks of the Dee
5  Pretty Little Girl from Nowhere
6  Nellie’s First Rag
7  Polkas – Robbie Hobkirk’s / Father’s
8  Jigs – Mrs Grace Bowie / The Hogmanay
9  Mamie May
10  Polkas – (I’m Going To Get My) Moustache (Blacked As Soon As I Get There) / Corn Riggs
11  One More Dance and Then
12  Long, Long Trail

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL382.pdf” title=”THE NEW VICTORY BAND One More Dance And Then pdf booklet”]

Few could match the assurance and intensity of Frankie Armstrong’s singing. A committed feminist and radical, Frankie brought a refreshing energy to her performance of traditional and contemporary song. Songs and Ballads her debut album dates from 1975.

Frankie Armstrong vocals with Andrew Brown fiddle, Graham Goffee guitar, Susie Rothfield Appalachian dulcimer and voice, Heather Wood voice and Brian Pearson voice.

1    Little Duke Arthur’s Nurse (acc. fiddle, guitar, dulcimer)
2    The Pitmen’s Union (acc. guitar)
3    Lady Diamond (unacc.)
4    Lament for the Hull Trawlers (acc. fiddle and guitar)
5    The Month of January (duet with Heather Wood)
6    Three Drunken Maidens (vocal trio with Heather Wood and Susie Rothfield)
7    Jack the Lad (acc. fiddle and guitar)
8    The Whore’s Lament (acc. fiddle, with chorus)
9    Little Musgrave (acc. dulcimer)
10   The Collier Lass (unacc.)
11   The Female Drummer (acc. fiddle, guitar, dulcimer, with chorus)

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL273.pdf” title=”FRANKIE ARMSTRONG  Songs and Ballads pdf booklet”]

The EXILES – Enoch Kent, Bobby Campbell and Gordon McCulloch – were an innovative group of Scots singers and instrumentalists, away from their native home, whose repertoire extended over both traditional and contemporary fields. Freedom, Come All Ye was their debut Topic recording from 1966 is acknowledged as a classic.

Enoch Kent – vocal & whistle
Bobby Campbell – vocal, fiddle, mandolin, mandola & guitar
Gordon McCulloch – vocal, guitar, banjo & harmonica
Paul Lenihan – vocal *

1     The Ballad of Accounting
2    The Moving-On song
3    We’re Only Over Here For Exploration*
4    Thank Christ for Christmas
5    The Pigeon
6    The Poud-a-Week Rise
7    Freedom, Come All Ye
8    For A’ That and A’ That
9    Arthur MacBride
10  Willie Brennan
11  Wae’s Me for Prince Charlie
12  La Pique
13  Van Dieman’s Land
14  Twa Recruiting Sergeants

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL143.pdf” title=”The EXILES  Freedom, Come All Ye pdf booklet”]

Irish traditional song runs the gamut between heroic and lyric. The great Donegal singer Paddy Tunney was a supremely lyrical singer and a master of intricate vocal ornament. The Flowery Vale was recorded in London in February 1975.

1    Tis Pretty to be in Ballinderry
2    Captain Coulson
3    Ta Me Mo Shui
4    What Brought the Blood
5    The Blighted Lover
6    The Twisting of the Rope
7    The Blackbird
8    Old Ardboe
9    The Old Man Rocking the Cradle
10   Siubhan Ni Dhuibhir
11   Dobbin’s Flowery Vale
12   Going to Mass Last Sunday

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL289.pdf” title=”PADDY TUNNEY  The Flowery Vale pdf booklet”]

First released in 1966, this collection by the great lyrical Donegal singer is one of his finest. The songs he sings are as deeply and genuinely romantic as the green countryside and dark mountains of his native country.

1    Craighie Hill
2    The Lark In The Morning
3    Johnny, Lovely Johnny
4    The Cow That Drank The Poteen
5    Blackwater Side
6    Out of The Window
7    The Month of January
8    The Rambling Boys of Pleasure
9    The Lowlands of Holland
10  The Wearing Of The Britches
11  The Old Man Rocking The Cradle
12  She’s A Gay Old Hag
13  St Peter’s Day Was a-Dawning

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL165.pdf” title=”PADDY TUNNEY  The Irish Edge pdf booklet”]

One generation thinks of the Ramblin’ Jack Elliott who brought the image and songs of Woody Guthrie to an eager Europe in the 1950s. Another knows him as a guiding hand behind Bob Dylan and all the singers after him. To others, again, he is a travelling songster in the great American tradition.
1  Talking Columbia Blues
2  Pretty Boy Floyd
3  Ludlow Massacre
4  Talking Miner Blues
5  Hard Travelling
6  So Long its Been Good to Know You
7  Talking Dustbowl Blues
8  1913 Massacre
9 Rambling Boys
10  Talking Sailor Blues

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL093.pdf” title=”RAMBLIN’ JACK ELLIOTT Talking Woody Guthrie pdf booklet”]

Bob Davenport has one of the most distinctive styles and one of the widest repertoires among singers on the folkclub scene. A favourite performer at festivals and a regular guest at folk clubs throughout Britain, he is a staunch supporter of traditional music.
His 1977 record ‘Postcards Home’ examines hard times and war times through a powerful mix of song, music and speech. Songs by Richard Thompson and Bob Marley are interwoven with traditional music, poetry and music hall songs. As a contemporary Daily Telegraph review noted: “An impressive and timely achievment, full of poetry, irony and lively music.”
1  Byker Hill / Blackleg Miner
2  Durham Gaol Selection: Gypsy Poacher / Durham Gaol / First Time I Saw Durham City / Ball of Yarn / Breaking Sticks
3  Wait Till the Work Comes Round
4  The Winter Time is Coming In / Old Changing Way
5  When a Man Looks Pale / There’s Nae Much Luck About the House
6  We Plough and Sow / Get Up, Stand Up
7  Once I Had A True Love / Lowlands / My Bonnie Lad
8  Great Little Army March
9  Unemployed Men Stand on the Corner / McCafferty / I Don’t Want to Join the Army
10  The House is Crammed / Good Morning Good Morning / Our Soldiers Went to War / If I Was Fierce / If You Want to Find the Colonel / They Didn’t Believe Me
11  Have You Forgotten Yet / When this Bloody War is Over

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL318.pdf” title=”BOB DAVENPORT Postcards Home pdf booklet”]

From  the original LP notes:

Like other folksingers, her repertoire encompasses a variety of emotions: anger at needless poverty and exploitation, affirmation of self-help as a way of life, pleasure in love, solace in religion, peace in death. Sarah’s prodigious talent has permitted her to fuse disparate radical elements with traditional forms to create a handful of significant songs beyond the legacy of well-known material left to her by her family.

1 I AM A GIRL OF CONSTANT SORROW
2 LOVING NANCY
3 OLD JACK FROST
4 MAY I GO WITH YOU JOHNNY?
5 THE HAND OF GOD ON THE WALL
6 DOWN ON THE PICKET LINE
7 I HATE THE COMPANY BOSSES
8 I’M GOING TO ORGANIZE
9 CHRIST WAS A WAYWORN TRAVELER
10 WHY DO YOU STAND THERE IN THE RAIN?
11 DREADFUL MEMORIES
12 OLD SOUTHERN TOWN
13 I HAVE LETTERS FROM MY FATHER
14 CAPTAIN DEVIN
15 GEE WHIZ WHAT THEY DONE TO ME
16 DAVY CROCKETT
17 BATTLE OF MILL SPRING
18 JUST THE SAME TODAY
19 SALLY
20 OH DEATH

First issued by Topic Records 1967.

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL171.pdf” title=”SARAH OGAN GUNNING A Girl of Constant Sorrow pdf booklet”]

Shanties and forebitters sung with zest and a feeling for authenticity. Ballads of shipwreck and disaster, songs of humour and love performed by a ‘who’s who’ of the English folk song revival – Louis Killen, Cyril Tawney and Ian Campbell, accompanied by master-fiddler Dave Swarbrick.

1  The Wild Goose – Louis Killen
2  Lovely Nancy – Ian Campbell
3  The Nightingale – Cyril Tawney
4  Heave Away My Johnny – Louis Killen
5  Row Bullies Row – Ian Campbell Group
6  The Fireship – Cyril Tawney
7  Tom’s Gone To Hilo – Bob Davenport
8  Ship in Distress – Louis Killen
9  Lowlands Low – Ian Campbell Group
10  One Morning In Spring – Cyril Tawney
11  Hilo Johnny Brown – Louis Killen
12  Poor Old Horse – Ian Campbell Group
13  Bold Princess Royal – Louis Killen
14  Billy Boy – Bob Davenport
15  Bold Benjamin – Cyril Tawney
16  The Hog Eye Man – Ian Campbell Group
17  Goodbye, Fare Thee Well – Louis Killen

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL110.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS Farewell Nancy pdf booklet”]

Jimmy Power was one of the finest Irish traditional fiddle players. He was also one of the most familiar and best-respected figures on the London-Irish music scene of the 1970s. His exceptional repertoire was developed playing for dancing in English pubs and at the grueling feisanna competitions. Power was a very individual player with a unique style embracing short, sharp bowing and plenty of trebling. He is accompanied by pianist Reg Hall on this fine album.
1  Tommy Potts’ Rambling Pitchfork / The Strayaway Child
2  The Chorus / McKenna’s
3  Jockey to the Fair / Miss Brown’s Fancy
4  Coleman’s Favourite / The Promenade
5  Dwyer’s / The Harvest Home
6  Jackie Coleman’s / The Castle
7  The Nine Points of Roguery / The Crib of Perches
8  Whelan’s / The Old Lark in the Morning
9  The Mountain Road
10  Follow Me Down to Limerick / Hardiman the Fiddler
11  Youghal Harbour
12  The Walls of Liscarrol
13  The Jug of Punch / The Moving Bogs of Powelsborough
14  Statia Donnelly’s

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL306.pdf” title=”JIMMY POWER Irish Fiddle Player pdf booklet”]

The Oldham Tinkers specialise in the local songs and ballads of South Lancashire, and have an immense following their. Their debut album soon caught the attention of John Peel and brought their music to a much wider audience.
1  The Rochdale Mashers
2  Seeing Double
3  The Pennine Rangers
4  The Two Jews
5  A Piecer’s Tale
6  Best o’t’ Bunch
7  The Lancashire Toreador
8  A Cob-Coaling Medley
9  The Four-Loom Weaver
10  John Willie’s Ragtime Band
11  Platt’s
12  Good Time Coming
13  I Mean to Wait for Jack
14  Skiing Owdham Style
15  A Mon Like Thee

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL237.pdf” title=”The OLDHAM TINKERS Best O’T’ Bunch pdf booklet”]

Miko, Pakie and Gussie Russell of Dolin, Co Clare, were an Irish musical family of singular attractiveness and interest, with aremarkably rich store of local Clare music. This record was recorded on location by John Tams and Neil Wayne in 1977, and is an exceptional document of the traditional music making still to be heard in the Irish countryside during the mid-1970s.
1  Campbell’s Reel
2  The Heather Breeze / The Traveller
3  St. Kevin of Glendalough
4  The Potlick / The Peeler’s Jacket
5  The Five Mile Chase
6  Russell’s Hornpipe / Fisher’s Hornpipe
7  The Poor Little Fisher Boy
8  The Walls of Liscarroll / The Battering Ram
9  Garret Barry’s Reel
10  Tommy Glenny’s Reel
11  The Connemara Stockings / The Westmeath Hunt
12  When Musheen Went to Bunnan
13  Tatter Jack Walsh
14  The De’il Among the Tailors
15  The Roscrea Cows
16  Fair Haired Boy / The Black Haired Lass
17  Off to California
18  Give the Girl her Fourpence
19  Nora Daly

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL251.pdf” title=”The RUSSELL FAMILY of Doolin, County Clare pdf booklet”]

The Coen brothers, Galwaymen by birth, were both resident in New York when this fine location recording was taped. Jack played the flute and Charlie the concertina, both were distinguished members of the New York Irish community when the folklorist Mick Moloney encouraged them to make this album.
1  Scatter the Mud / Larry Redican’s Jig
2  The Sailor’s Cravat / Repeal of the Union
3  John Conroy’s Jig / Jim Conroy’s Jig
4  The Peach Blossom / The Fiddler’s Contest
5  Jim Conroy’s Reel / The Pullet
6  Redican’s Mother / The Humours of Kilkenny
7  Mike Coen’s Polka / The Branch Line
8  Have a Drink with Me / The Blarney Pilgrim
9  Two Woodford Flings
10  The Waddling Gander / O’Connell’s Jig on Top of Mount Everest
11  Lads of Laois / Green Groves of Erin
12  The Tongs by the Fire / The Spinning Wheel
13  Whelan’s Reel / Jenny Dang the Weaver
14  Jack Coen’s Jig / Paddy O’Brien’s Jig

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL3371.pdf” title=”JACK and CHARLIE COEN The Branch Line pdf booklet”]

A collection of instrumental country dance music from the North-east of Scotland, played by solos or duets rather than in the ubiquitous country dance-band style.

1    Lady Madeline Sinclair Strathspey / The High Road to Linton reel  Alex Green – whistle
2    The White Cockade / Niel Gow‘s Farewell to Whiskey / Miss Jean Milligan – reels  Willie Fraser – mouth-organ
3    Jig Selection – The Muckin’ o’ Geordie’s Byre / Kinnegad Slashers / The Bugle Horn / The Muckin’ o’ Geordie’s Byre  Charlie Bremner – fiddle
4    The Brig o’ Perth / The Reel o’ Tulloch  John Grant – fiddle
5    Strathspey & Reel: Forbes Morrison / The Ten Pound Fiddle  Alex Green -whistle
6    Pipe-Marches: MacLean of Pennycross / The Midlothian Pipe Band  Alex Green – whistle
7    Strathspey & Reel: The Smith’s a Gallant Fireman / Jenny Dang the Weaver  Willie Fraser – diddling
8    Reels: John McFadden / Timour the Tartar  Charlie Bremner – fiddle
9    March: The 79th‘s Farewell to Gibralter  Willie Fraser – mouth-organ
10   Jig Selection: Bonnie Dundee / Hot Punch / Kenmuir’s on an’ awa’  Willie Fraser – mouth-organ
11   J B Milne/The Lovat Scouts / The Breakdown / Caddam Woods  Charlie Bremner – fiddle
12   Polka  Charlie Bremner – fiddle
13   The Smith’s a Gallant Fireman / Soldier’s Joy  John Grant – fiddle
14   The Kirrie Kebbuck / Sir David Davidson of Cantray – strathspey & reel  Alex Green – whistle
15   Marches: Tam Bain’s Lum / The Blue Bonnets  Alex Green – whistle
16   Strathspey and Reel: Far Frae Scotia‘s Shores / Ally Crocker (The New Brig o’ Ayr)  Willie Fraser – mouth-organ
17   Strathspey and Reel: Orange and Blue / Mrs MacLeod of Rothesay  Willie Fraser – diddling
18   March: Highland Wedding  Willie Fraser – mouth-organ
19   Dr MacDonald – reel  Charlie Bremner – fiddle
20  Lady Charlotte Campbell – slow strathspey & reel  Alex Green – whistle
21   Reels: High Road to Linton / The Mason’s Apron / The De’il Among the Tailors / Timour the Tartar  Charlie Bremner – fiddle

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL266.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS  The Caledonian Companion pdf booklet”]

Paddy Tunney established himself as that rare thing a singer really in a class of his own. One of Paddy`s peculiarities is that he chooses a high proportion of songs that are hexatonic or pentatonic. ‘ln the present instance. these ‘gapped‘ scales. along with the decorated styles of his singing, produce a homogeneity of character which alone would make this a record for the connoisseur of traditional singing.’ Recorded in London in 1975 The Mountain Streams Where The Moorcocks Crow is a splendid collection of songs and ballads from Paddy’s large repertoire.

1     The Mountain Streams where the Moorcocks Crow
2     The Wee Weaver
3     The Boys of Mullaghbawn
4     The Old Petticoat
5     Coinleach Glas An Fhomhair
6     Donall Og
7     The Reaping of the Rushes Green
8     One Morning in June
9     Lady Margaret
10   Inis Dhun Ramha
11   The Old Oak Tree
12   Drinking Good Whiskey
13   Sweet Omagh Town
14   The Green Fields of Canada

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL264.pdf” title=”PADDY TUNNEY The Mountain Streams Where The Moorcocks Crow pdf booklet”]

Ewan MacColl was one of the architects of the mid twentieth century British folk revival. A polemicst, writer and a singer of extraordinary dramatic power. His influence on the whole movement has been of the utmost importance. MacColl’s singing brings both the past alive and expresses the mood of his own times.
1  We Poor Labouring Men
2  Georgie
3  Barbara Allen
4  Sheepcrook and Black Dog
5  Bramble Briar (Strawberry Town)
6  One Night As I Lay On My Bed
7  The Grey Cock
8  To the Begging I Will Go
9  The Sheep-Stealer
10  The Manchester Angel
11  The Bold Richard
12  The Press Gang
13  Round Cape Horn
14  Through Moorfields
15  Homeward Bound

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL147.pdf” title=”EWAN MacCOLL The Manchester Angel pdf booklet”]

Vin Garbutt’s third album for Topic, from 1983. Expecting their third child, Garbutt and his wife, Pat, made a routine visit to their GP. They were stunned when the doctor asked them if they wanted to keep their baby. It was the cold casualness of the question that made Garbutt realise that he had just found an unlikely muse: the unborn child. A rich crop of almost unbearably moving hymns to the unborn baby resulted.

1 The Royal Blackbird
2 The Fear of Imperfection ~ Lynda
3 Calum More
4 The Coalman
5 Leslie
6 Dormanstown Jimmy
7 If
8 Blue Sunset
9 Little Innocents

First issued by Topic Records 1983.

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL428.pdf” title=”VIN GARBUTT Little Innocents pdf booklet”]

The late John Doherty, the travelling virtuoso fiddler from Donegal, was an important link in the Gaelic tradition of rural Ireland. He was one of the greatest Irish master musicians, yet for most of his life he never owned a fiddle. At the time of these historic recordings he was 83 years old.
1  Hudie Gallagher’s March / Untitled Reel
2  The Black Mare of Fanad
3  The March of the Meena Toiten Bull
4  Kiss the Maid Behind the Bier / The Bargain is Over
5  The 21 Highland
6  Untitled March
7  Untitled Reel
8  The Paps of Glencoe
9  The Hare in the Corn
10  Untitled March
11  The Knights of St Patrick
12  The Dispute at the Crossroads
13  Roaring Mary / Stormy Weather
14  Miss Patterson’s Slippers
15  The Cat that Kittled in Jamie’s Wig
16  Welcome Home Royal Charlie
17  Darby Gallagher
18  Untitled Mazurka
19  Untitled Reel
20  The Teelin Highland
21  Untitled March
22  The Heathery Breeze
23  Untitled Highland Reel
24  The Monaghan Switch
25  Untitled Highland Reel
26  The Black Haired Lass
27  Paddy’s Rambles Through the Park

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL398.pdf” title=”JOHN DOHERTY Bundle And Go pdf booklet”]

Des and Vince O’Halloran are from the tiny Inishbofin Island, off the coast of Connemara. Though relatively young when these recordings were made and from a region not noted for a strongly maintained musical tradition, they play wonderfully close-knit and exciting music.
1  Reels: The Music in the Glen / The Green Fields of America
2  Jigs: The Lark in the Morning / The Connaughtman’s Rambles
3  The Lowlands of Holland
4  Barn Dances: Stack of Barley / Johnny, Will You Marry Me?
5  Jigs: Pat Burke’s / Fraher’s
6  Sweet Inniscarra
7  Waltz and Jigs: Martin Byrne’s Waltz / A Hundred Pipers / Dingle Regatta
8  Granuaile
9  Reels: The Sailor on the Rock / The Maid I Ne’er Forgot
10  Reel: The Limerick Lasses
11  Jig: The Lake Shore / The Exile’s Return
12  Reels: The Eel in the Sink / Larry Redigan’s
13  Moorlough Mary
14  The Bucks of Oranmore / The Wind that Shakes the Barley

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL305.pdf” title=”THE O’HALLORAN BROTHERS The Men of the Island pdf booklet”]

PACKIE BYRNE was born in Co. Donegal in 1917 into a community where traditional music and song were deeply imbedded, Packie could not help but continue this tradition. Throughout his life he was a notable singer, also becoming very well-known in the London area as a whistle player of great skill. This album shows a less well-known side of Packie – a carrier of fine traditional ballads, some of which were quite rare.

1   John and the Farmer
2   The Rich Man’s Daughter
3   The Holland Handkerchief
4   Molly Bawn
5   The Jolly Ploughboy
6   Young Alvin
7   Johnny o’ Hazelgreen
8   Lament to the Moon
9   The Creel

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL257.pdf” title=”PACKIE MANUS BYRNE Songs Of A Donegal Man pdf booklet”]

Bernard O’Sullivan was a farmer and concertina player of Country Clare, with an extensive repertoire of traditional tunes, when these recordings were made in 1975 by John Tams and Neil Wayne. His companion Tommy McMahon, a generation younger, learnt both from Bernard an from his wide contest experience, which included All-Ireland senior championship prizes in 1971, ’72 and ’73.

1   Polkas: The Babes in the Wood / Cooraclare Polka / Clare Dragoons Bernard O’Sullivan / Tommy McMahon
2   Jigs: The Shady Groves of Piedmont / The Humours of Ennistymon Bernard O’Sullivan / Tommy McMahon
3   Reels: The Old Torn Petticoat / Tommy People’s Favourite Tommy McMahon
4   Set dance: Mount Fabus Hunt Bernard O’Sullivan / Tommy McMahon
5   Reels: Ollie Conway’s Selection Tommy McMahon
6   Reels: Kilrush Races / The Clogher Reel / Burren Reel Tommy McMahon / Bernard O’Sullivan
7   Set dance: Bonaparte’s Retreat Tommy McMahon / Bernard O’Sullivan
8   March: Bonaparte’s March Bernard O’Sullivan
9   Jigs: Barron’s / Jackson’s / The Milltown Jig Tommy McMahon
10  Set dance: Rodney’s Glory Tommy McMahon / Bernard O’Sullivan
11  Reel: Tommy McMahon’s Reel Tommy McMahon
12  Waltz: Over The Waves Bernard O’Sullivan / Tommy McMahon
13  Polkas: Girl I Left Behind / Maggie in the Wood Bernard O’Sullivan
14  Jigs: Martin Talty’s / Thomas Friel’s / Joe Cunnean’s Tommy McMahon
15  Hornpipes: Sean Ryan’s / Danganella hornpipe Tommy McMahon
16  Set dance: Job O’ Journeywork Tommy McMahon / Bernard O’Sullivan
17  Reels: The Ash Plant / The Maid of Mount Cisco Bernard O’Sullivan / Tommy McMahon
[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL1502.pdf” title=”BERNARD O’SULLIVAN & TOMMY McMOHAON Clare Concertinas pdf booklet”]

“Many recordings of Ulster folk songs have been issued, but little or none from the Co. Tyrone. This record presents a sample from the repertory of a brother and sister, who come of a singing family within a singing region from which they have never moved. They are the carriers of a distinct and beautiful style. They are supported by their enthusiasm for songs which attract other singers who, with them, make a community within which an interchange of ideas is continually taking place. A delightful illustration of this is that Sarah Anne’s changes to John Reilly on track 9 are so pleasing to Brian Mullan, who gave her the song a year or so ago, that he plans to relearn it from her! Both these singers are intensely creative but in different ways. Geordie possesses the family style to a much higher degree than his sister. It entails a breaking up of the tune and words into short phrases delivered with great force. It is also distinct in the placing and shape of the decoration. This results from the shortness of the phrases and allows a highly meaningful performance without any overstatement. Sarah Anne’s ability to tidy up the words of a song or to lilt a tune to unsung verses complements Geordie’s skill and the two interact; they sing a large number of the same songs, share the same style and adopt one another’s changes. In short, these two singers represent the living tradition not its dying kicks.” from the original 1978 sleeve-notes.

GEORGE HANNA
1   Brockagh Brae
2   On Yonder Hill There Sits a Hare
3   The Blackbird of Sweet Avondale
4   Erin’s Lovely Home
5   Young Edmund in the Lowlands Low
6   Kate of Ballinamore

SARAH ANNE O’NElLL
7   The Rambler from Clare
8   A Fair Young Maid in Her Father’s Garden
9   John Reilly
10 Gosford’s Fair Demesne
11 Carrickmannon Lake
12 The Fisher’s Cot

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL372.pdf” title=”GEORGE HANNA & SARAH ANNE O’NEILL On The Shores Of Lough Neagh pdf booklet”]

Muliti-instrumentalist Andrew Cronshaw variously draws upon the traditional music of the Scottish Highlands, Northern Spain, Finnland and his native England to weave a music of great beauty and originality. 1993’s The Language of Snakes was his sixth solo album. Working with a close band of musical collaborators, Cronshaw magically transforms his disparate source material with a series of unexpected textures and arrangements.
1  Through Moorfields
2  Kindness For Ever More
3  MacDonnel’s March / Kilcoy’s March
4  Baile de Procesión
5  Cronnan na Caillach a bhan sa Bhein Bhreic
6  Marcha Procesional do San Benito
7  Apple Praities
8  Ailean Duinn
9  A Maruxa
10  The Waterford Waltz
11  Tupakkarulla / Tuuti Hussaa Ja Lullaa / The Other Boot Dance
12  Hithil Ùil Agus Ò, Hithil O Hòrino
13  Tha Mi Sgith ‘m Ã’naran
14  An Gille Donn / Vaskilinun Vaikerrus

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL10501.pdf” title=”ANDREW CRONSHAW The Language Of Snakes pdf booklet”]

Jesse Fuller, “The Lone Cat” (1896 – 1976) was one of the great blues troubadours. A remarkably expressive singer and fine 12-string guitarist, Fuller developed his unique one-man-band style around his fotdella (foot-operated bass) and harmonica/kazoo rig. This collection includes his earliest recordings, including the original version of his classic San Francisco Bay Blues, together with a session taped in London in 1965 for Topic Records.

This album is available on CD from Fledg’ling Records www.thebeesknees.com

1  Move On Down The Line
2  Stealing
3  Ninety-nine Years and One Dark Day
4  Animal Fair
5  Sleeping in the Midnight Cold
6  Stackolee
7  John Henry
8  Railroad Worksong
9  Lining up the Track
10  Hangin’ Round a Skin Game
11  Railroad Blues
12  San Francisco Bay Blues

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL134.pdf” title=”JESSE FULLER Move On Down The Line pdf booklet”]

Cheviot Barn Dance is the third recording of The Cheviot Ranters Country Dance Band on Topic. As with their previous records The Sound of the Cheviots (12TS214) and The Cheviot Hills (12TS222) it is a programme of old time and country dances. Formed in 1955, the Cheviot Ranters were arguably the most distinguished and authentic of the English folk dance bands and grew out of the monthly meetings of the Northumbrian Pipers’ Society.

1. DASHING WHITE SERGEANT: Original; Rakes of Mallow; Catherine’s Reel
2. CALL OF THE PIPES: Barren Rocks of Aden; Sweet Maid of Glendaruch; The Earl of Mansfield
3. NOTTINGHAM SWING: Marquis o’ Lorne; Showman’s Fancy; Beggar Boy
4. MILITARY TWO STEP: I do like to be beside the seaside; Here we are again; Mademoiselle from Armentieres; Hello, hello, who’s your lady friend
5. SWEDISH MASQUERADE: Original
6. LUCKY SEVEN: Davy Davy Knick Knack; Toland Dance; Aiken Drum
7. LA RUSSE: Original; Good Humour; Come let us dance and sing
8. KEEL ROW: Original; There’s nae luck aboot the hoose; Castles in the Air
9. BRIDGE OF ATHLONE: The frost is all over; Pet of the Pipers; Smash the Windows
10. CIRCLE WALTZ: We parted on the shore; I belong to Glasgow; Oh Oh Antonio; Peggy O’Neill
11. CHEVIOT RANT: Original; Cloudy Crags; Traditional Air
12. POLKA: The Brownieside Polka

First issued by Topic Records 1974

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL245.pdf” title=”The CHEVIOT RANTERS Cheviot Barn Dance pdf booklet”]

The recordings of Hugh Gillespie have a quite different ‘feel’ from other American-Irish fiddle music of the late 1930s period. The somewhat unusual choice of guitar rather than piano for accompaniment certainly contributes to this distinctiveness, but probably the decisive factors are Gillespie’s ‘singing’ style and highly personal technique. He learned from Coleman a device he calls ‘back trebling’, and also uses drones and fractional flattening or sharpening of notes to great effect. Such techniques are by no means peculiar to Coleman or Gillespie – indeed, most Irish musicians use them in some degree – but every musician stamps them with his own particular emphases. In these recordings of Hugh Gillespie at his peak, between 1937 and 1939, the sum of these various elements is a unique and outstanding series of performances.

1. Reel: Dowd’s Favorite
2. Hornpipes: McKenna’s Farewell (The Liverpool/Hennessey’s)
3. Reels: Master Crowley’s Reels
4. The Irish Mazurka
5. Reel: Jenny’s Welcome to Charlie
6. Jigs:   Master Crowley’s Favourites
7. Highland Flings: Finnea Lassies/Gurren’s Castle
8. Reels: The Girl that Broke my Heart/Dick Cosgrove’s Reel
9. Reels: Farewell to Leitrim/Tom Steele
10. Jigs: Jackson’s Favorite/Kips
11. Reels: Paddy Finley’s Fancy/Joe O’Connell’s Dream
12. Waltz: Versevanna
13. Reels: The Donegal Traveler/Miss Montgomery
14. Hornpipes: Mountain Stream/Parker’s Fancy
15. Jigs: Contentment is Wealth/Finley’s Jig
16. Reels: Dowd’s Number Nine/Jackson’s

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL364.pdf” title=”HUGH GILLESPIE  Classic recordings of Irish traditional fiddle music pdf booklet”]

Terry Teahan, of Kerry and Chicago, and Gene Kelly, of Kilkenny and Washington DC, were old-style Irish musicians in their 70s when this album was recorded. Both had been resident in the Us since the 1920s. Gene Kelly plays accordion, Terry Teahan melodeon and concertina. Though each had worked extensively in band settings, this record of solo performances concentrates on old-fashioned dance music.

1 Reels The Corner House / The Broomstlck Gene Kelly
2 Slide Tom Looney’s Terry Teahan
3 Slide Reagan’s Terry Teahan
4 Hornpipes The Sweep’s / Hennessey’s Gene Kelly
5 Barn Dance The Kerry Mills Terry Teahan
6 Polka Mike Howard’s Terry Teahan
7 Hornpipe The Bird’s Terry Teahan
8 Air Blind Mary Gene Kelly
9 Slide The Barrel Organ Terry Teahan
10 Slide The Evening I Spent With Mick Terry Teahan
11 Slide The Paper Plate Terry Teahan
12 Jigs Fahey’s / Gerry’s Beaver Hat Gene Kelly
13 Slide The Lonesome Road to Dingle Terry Teahan
14 Polka Mickey Chewing Bubble Gum Terry Teahan
15 Barn Dances Sean Hayes / If There Were’t Any Women In The World Gene Kelly
16 Hornplpe Tadgh’s Ailment Terry Teahan
17 Slide Going for Water Terry Teahan
18 Story and Air The Old Caubeen Gene Kelly
19 Waltz Tadgh and Buddy Terry Teahan
20 Fling Poll Hapenny Terry Teahan
21 Polka Paddy Kenny’s Terry Teahan
22 Jigs Father O Flynn’s / The Connaught Man’s Rambles Gene Kelly
23 Polka Jack Mitchell’s Terry Teahan
24 Sword Dance No Name Terry Teahan
25 Fling The Road to Glauntane Terry Teahan
26 Reels The Swallow’s Tail / Miss McLeod’s Gene Kelly

First published by Topic 1977

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL352.pdf” title=”TERRY TEAHAN & GENE KELLY Old Time Irish Music In America pdf booklet”]

‘In 1956 skiffle was going strong in London and Jack began to sing in pubs and create something of a name for himself. In 1957 he sent for his buddy Derroll Adams, banjo-picker from Portland, Oregon and together the two sang and made a Topic album billed as the Rambling Boys. This record is a release of material on JACK TAKES THE FLOOR, Topic 10T15, with additional songs.’

From the original sleevenotes

1 San Fancisco Bay Blues
2 Ol’ Riley
3 The Boll Weevil
4 Bed Bug Blues
5 New York Town
6 Old Blue
7 Grey Goose
8 Mule Skinner’s Blues
9 East Texas Talking Blues
10 Cocaine
11 Dink’s Song
12 Black Baby
13 Salty Dog

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL106.pdf” title=”JACK ELLIOTT Muleskinner pdf booklet”]

Bob Davenport has one of the most distinctive styles and one of the widest repertoires of any singer performing in folk clubs. From the North East of England, he relished singing in the pubs of North London frequented by musicians from the Irish community – the Bedford Arms, The Laurel Tree and the Camden Stores. ‘Down The Long Road’ draws upon these two important strands in Bob’s repertoire, as well as the country music of Southern England. Mr. Davenport is variously accompanied by notable Irish musicians – Lucy Farr, Jimmy Power, Johnny Gorman, and by members of Webb’s Wonders, The Rakes and the Leeds Band.
1  Navvy Boots
2  Down the Long Road
3  The Rambling Man
4  Barn Dance Selection: Louis James’ Quadrille / The Dancing Dustman
5  When I Was Single
6  I’m a Poor Unhappy Married Man
7  Jig Selection: When There Isn’t a Girl About / Peggy Wood / Looking for a Partner
8  Wild Wild Whiskey
9  Whiskey in the Jar
10  Reels: The Steam Packet / The Sligo Maid
11  Herbert Smith’s Polka
12  One Day While in the North Country
13  A-Begging I Will Go
14  The Wealthy Squire
15  By Tyne’s Bonny Banks
16  Once I Had an Old Hen
17  Polka Medley: Jenny Lind / J B Milne / The Girl With the Blue Dress On
18  Bogie’s Bonnie Belle
19  Irish Molly Barn Dance
20  Toast / The Blarney Stone

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL274.pdf” title=”BOB DAVENPORT Down The Long Road pdf booklet”]

Harry Boardman was a mainstay of the folkscene in his native Lancashire and a singer of great vitality. His extensive repertoire focused on local songs old and new.
Harry Boardman is par excellence Lancashire’s native son. He was born in the cotton town of Failsworth, near Oldham, in 1930. His mother and grandparents were weavers and spinners. Harry himself has worked on the railways and as a printer. He began singing Lancashire songs in his early twenties, and is an outstanding pioneer of the folk song revival in the North-west. The folk song club he founded in Manchester in 1954 was among the first in the country.
He is a devoted researcher into the local traditions of Lancashire – not only the songs but the tales, sayings, speechways and the like, and few can match him for knowledge of the dialect poetry of the region. Not that his interest is merely antiquarian, for he is much concerned with the current history and social developments of his area, as well as its dramatic past.
Lancashire is indeed fortunate to have such a fond delver into its working class culture, and such a fine exponent of its varied and vital traditions.

1 A Lancashire Mon acc. Harry Boardman (banjo) Lesley Boardman (tenor banjo) Gerry Murphy (concertina) Bob Diehl (fiddle)
2 T’Spinner’s Tale recitation
3 The Radcliffe Otter Hunt acc. Gerry Murphy (concertina) Leslie Boardman (mandolin) Bob Diehl (fiddle)
4 Victoria Bridge on a Saturday Night unacc.
5 Kitty and Robin acc. Gerry Murphy (concertina)
6a Saddleworth Buck Rabbit recitation
6b Whoam Brewed acc. himself (melodeon)
7 Warrikin Fain acc. Bob Diehl (fiddle) Gerry Murphy (concertina) Lesley Boardman (mandolin) Tim Boardman (whistle)
8 Spinning Shoddy acc. Harry Boardman (banjo) Lesley Boardman (tenor banjo)
9 To the Begging acc. Lesley Boardman (mandolin) Bob Diehl (fiddle) Gerry Murphy (concertina)
10 The Beltane Song acc. Gerry Murphy (smallpipes) Bob Diehl (fiddle) Lesley Boardman (mandolin) Harry Boardman (drum)
11 The Garland unacc.
12 Owdham on a Saturday Night acc. Bob Diehl (fiddle) Gerry Murphy (concertina) Lesley Boardman (mandolin)
13 Nine Times a Night acc. himself (concertina)

First published by Topic 1973

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL236.pdf” title=”HARRY BOARDMAN A Lancashire Mon pdf booklet”]

One of the greatest English traditional singers – George ‘Pop’ Maynard from Sussex recorded rarely. This splendid album showcases his majestic and powerful style.
1  Polly on the Shore
2  The Sweet Nightingale (The Birds In The Spring)
3  Locks and Bolts
4  Down by the Seaside
5  Jack the Jolly Tar-O
6  The Seeds of Love
7  Shooting Goshen’s Cocks Up
8  William Taylor
9  Rolling in the Dew
10  A Sailor in the North Country
11  The Banks of Claudy
12  Three Sons of Rogues
13  The Weaver’s Daughter
14  A Wager, A Wager
15  The Sun Being Set

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL286.pdf” title=”GEORGE MAYNARD Ye Subjects Of England pdf booklet”]

Ewan MacColl was one of the architects of the folksong revival. Whether as an interpreter of ancient ballads or as a writer of new songs, he influenced almost everyone involved in folk music in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. He brought the same skill and understanding to songs of Britain’s industrial cities, ballads of Scots history and lyrics from the English countryside. His own compositions, many of which have passed into the common currency of folk music, are featured both on his own albums and on The Radio-Ballads.
Chorus From The Gallows, first released in 1960, opens with the tale of Craig and Derek Bentley and closes with “Go Down Ye Murderers,” which relates the story of Timothy John Evans, convicted and executed for murders he did not commit, both true and awful stories from the annals of 20th century British justice. The repertoire ranges from the cattle-rusting border raiders of the Middle Ages and the 18th-century highwayman Dick Turpin to MacColl’s own compositions about controversial murder trials of the 1950s.
1  Derek Bentley
2  The Black Velvet Band
3  Jamie Raeburn’s Farewell
4  Johnny O
5  Hughie The Graeme
6  Minorie
7  The Treadmill Song
8  Turpin Hero
9  The Crafty Farmer
10  McKaffery
11  Jimmy Wilson
12  The Lag’s Song
13  Van Dieman’s Land
14  Go Down Ye Murderers

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL502.pdf” title=”EWAN MacCOLL Chorus From The Gallows pdf booklet”]

An important collection of field recordings made between 1940 and the late 1960s, which focus upon the traditional instrumental music of rural England. Most of the musicians featured were born towards the end of the 19th century and developed their musical skills in the years before the Great War. The carnage of World War 1, the movement towards towns in search of employment and the influence of mass media, all served to bring about a decline in country music. This recording captures some of the finest surviving performers and the repertoire they played for social dancing in country pubs and village halls.
1  Jenny Lind / Untitled Polka – Scan Tester and Rabbidy Baxter
2  The Irish Washerwoman / Garryowen / Rory O’More / St Patrick’s Day – Billy Cooper
3  The Boscastle Breakdown – The Tintagel and Boscatle Players
4  The Boscastle Breakdown (six hornpipes) – William Hocken
5  The Helston Furry Dance – Mr Dangar’s Trio
6  Lady Evesham’s Jig – Mr Dangar’s Trio
7  Untitled Polka – Walter and Daisy Bulwer and Reg Hall
8  The Yarmouth Hornpipe introducing The Four Hand Reel / The Sailor’s Hornpipe – Billy Cooper
9  Dulcie Bell – Billy Cooper
10  The Breakdown / The Flowers of Edinburgh – Harry Lee
11  The Italian Schottische – The Dorset Trio
12  The Lass of Dalogil – The Dorset Trio
13  Bonfire Tune / Untitled Polka – Albert Farmer
14  Untitled Waltz / The Cuckoo Waltz – Albert Farmer
15  Unidentified Tune – Harry Lee
16  The Sailor’s Hornpipe / The Shipdham Hornpipe / Untitled Polka / The White Cockade / Untitled Polka – Walter and Daisy Bulwer

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL240.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS Boscastle Breakdown pdf booklet”]

Genuine folk music as part of an old and lively national culture is still flourishing in Norway, a country with a wild nature, numerous valleys, snow-covered mountains, lakes, deep forests, glorious fjords, remote communities, dark and long winters and shining summer nights. Norway has a long and rich tradition of musical expression. Norwegian folk music has survived through many generations and historical changes. Old folk tunes have kept surprisingly well, better than in the neighbouring lands and in some of the other industrial countries. The selection on this record represents some of the main types and styles of living folk-playing and singing, with their special sound and moods, from south west and central parts of Norway. The players and singers are some of the most outstanding folk musicians of the younger generation who carry on the folk traditions of their districts.

1 Fanitullen (The Devil’s Tune) Knut Buen Hardanger fiddle
2 Kjerringa med staven (The Old Wife with the Staff) Hanne Kiersti Buen singing with Knut Buen Hardanger fiddle
3 Rotnheimsknut (hailing)
4 Gangar etter Myllarguten (walking dance) Knut Buen Hardanger fiddle
5 Moykjaeringsvise (spinster’s song)
6 Three stev about the hulder (cattle songs)
7 So er drengjen i uppvokstre (Boys in Their Youth)
8 BÃ¥nsu|ler (three lullabies) Hanne Kjersti Buen singing
9 Katt-Ola-Visa Edvard Ruud singing
10 Nordfjordingen (springar)
11 Ramsen (springar) Hauk Buen Hardanger fiddle
12 Bruremarsj (wedding march) Knut and Hauk Buen Hardanger fiddles
13 Hamburger-polka fra Hardanger
14 Springleik fra Jostedalen Vestlandsgruppa band
15 Springar fra Hardanger fiddlers of Vestlandsgruppa
16 Slåttestev (dance songs)
17 Haugebonden (ballad) Agnes Buen Garnås singing
18 Fanteladda (dance tune)
19 I Oletiadden (pastoral melody) Elizabeth Kvaerne langeleik
20 NÃ¥r mitt pie, trett av moie (When My Eye, Tired of Troubles) (hymn)
21 Store Store Gud (Great Great God) (hymn) Sondre Bratland singing
22 Myllarguten bruremarsj (bridal march by Myllarguten)
23 Fanitullen (The Devil’s Tune) (second version) Knut Buen Hardanger fiddle

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL351.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS Folk Music of Norway pdf booklet”]

By the time of the release of this 1978 Topic album, the musical evenings in pubs in the district around Woodbridge in East Suffolk had long been diminished due to the popularity of television and the ability for easy travel to new entertainments, but the tradition had gained recognition through the recordings of singers like Jumbo Brightwell, Jimmy Knights and Dick Woolnough, as well as musicians like Fred Pearce, Eely Whent and Albert Smith, and Keith Summers presented some of the best of those performers and songs on this album.

1. The Blacksmith’s Daughter Jumbo Brightwell
2. Ratcliff Highway Jimmy Knights
3. The Barn Dance (Woodland Flowers) Fred Pearce
4. Cock of the North Fred Pearce
5. The London Prentice Boy Dick Woolnough
6. The Next Tune Tonight – Turkey in the Straw Albert Smith/Eely Whent
7. The Banks of the Nile Jumbo Brightwell
8. Out With My Gun in the Morning Jimmy Knights
9. Old Country Waltz Eely Whent
10. Pigeon on the Gate Fred Pearce
11. Strolling Down to Hastings Alien Stollery
12. The Fellow Who Played The Trombone Jimmy Knights
13. Sailor’s Hornpipe Medley Eely Whent
14. The Oak and the Ash Jumbo Brightwell
15. The Jolly Tinker Billy Bolton
16. Two Step Eely Whent
17. Yarmouth Hornpipe Fred Pearce
18. The Parson’s Creed Jumbo Brightwell
19. Marrowbones Jimmy Knights
20. Golden Slippers Fred Pearce
21. The Chinaman’s Song Alien Stollery
22. Old Brown in the Rose and Crown/Red River Valley/Pigeon on the Gate Albert Smith
23. Polka Medley: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 The Bells of Love Jingle Bells  Eely Whent

Recorded by Keith Summers

Production by Keith Summers and Tony Engle

First issued by Topic Records 1978

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL375.pdf” title=”SING, SAY and PLAY Traditional Songs & Music from Suffolk pdf booklet”]

Kevin Mitchell one of the finest singers of song from North Ulster was born in the city of Derry 36 years ago. In 1969 he settled in Glasgow where he worked as an industrial painter, and is married, with two children. When asked to describe his singing voice, words like distinctive, personal style, lyrical and even beautiful come to mind, but none of them are enough. One thing is certain, if you ever hear him singing you will remember it.

1    Free and Easy
2    The Lurgy Streams
3    The Mickey Dam
4    Nancy Bell
5    The Boys of MuIlaghbawn
6    Going to Mass Last Sunday
7    The Magherafelt May Fair
8    The Light Horse
9    The Moorlough Shore
10   Two Strings on a Bow
11   Seán Ó Duibhir (Sean O’ Dwyer)
12   The Oul’ Grey Man

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL314.pdf” title=”KEVIN MITCHELL  Free and Easy pdf booklet”]

A collection of instrumental country music from the North-east of England. Of all the regions in England where traditional music exists, the North East is probably where it flourishes most strongly. Morpeth Rant is the second record of Northumbrian music to be published from a series of recording field trips made over the past three years. The first was Bonny North Tyne on Topic. The two records demonstrate some of the wide-ranging aspects of the music to be found in a variety of landscapes from the bleak, sheep-inhabited moorlands to the industrial and mining areas. The proximity of Scotland with its many well known country dance bands has had a great effect on local repertoires – as has the migration of Irish musicians to Tyneside. Northumbria has its own very strong tradition of indigenous music – often from the small-pipe repertoire – and concern and love for the local music has led to the composition of many tunes in the traditional form. The tunes on this record reflect the varied influences which have come to bear on the music of the North East.

1     Morpeth Rant / Miss Gayton’s Hompipe / Kathleen’s Fancy / Morpeth Rant Tommy Edmondson
2     Jig selection: AM Shinnie / The Hogmanay Jig / Elizabeth Adair Billy Atkinson
3     Strathspey Medley: Laird o’ Thrums / Iron Man / Laird o’ Drumblair Jimmy Pallister
4     Medley of Scott Skinner Waltzes including Our Highland Queen and Piper’s Wait Alan Coulson & Geoff Purvis
5     Kinclaven Brig / Bill Sutherland Martin Dunn
6     Hornpipes: The Glen Aln / The Redeside Billy Atkinson
7     The Crusaders March Billy Atkinson
8     Jig & hornpipe: Bill Charlton’s Fancy & Madam Bonaparte Geoff Purvis & Alan Coulson
9     Military Two Step: Doctor Angus Tommy Edmondson
10   The Beeswing with variations Martin Dunn
11   Jimmy Allen / The Girl with the Blue Dress On Jimmy Pallister
12   The Cheviot Hills Jimmy Pallister
13   Crossing The Minch / Banjo Breakdown Alan Coulson
14   Latham Ladies Alan Coulson & Geoff Purvis
15   Farewell to the Creeks Billy Atkinson
16   Longueval – waltz Billy Atkinson
17   The Farewell with variations Martin Dunn

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL267.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS  The Morpeth Rant pdf booklet”]

A man who did not read or write but who was one of the most learned men to grace the roads of Ireland. John Reilly now lies with his mother in an un-marked grave in the cemetery of Ballaghadereen. But he has here a memorial more fitting than stone. The songs he loved and which were part of the very fabric of his existence still live on.

1. Adieu Unto All True Lovers
2. The Raggle Taggle Gypsy
3. The Well Below the Valley
4. Tippin’ lt Up to Nancy
5. Lord Baker
6. Old Caravee
7. The Bonny Green Tree
8. Once There Lived a Captain
9. Peter Heany
10. What Put the Blood?
11. Rozzin Box
12. The Braes of Strawblane
13. One Morning I Rambled from Glasgow
14. The Pride of Cloonkeen

Produced by Tom Munnelly, Roly Brown and Tony Engle.

First issued by Topic Records 1978.

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL359.pdf” title=”JOHN REILLY The Bonny Green Tree pdf booklet”]

Peggy Seeger and Tom Paley, both New York, are brilliant exponents of American instrumental traditions. Guitar, banjo, autoharp and dulcimer weave a delicate majesty on a great selection of traditional material. This stunning collection, recorded in London in 1964 by Bill Leader, is a powerful example of their musical accuity and has been an influence on many younger performers.
1  Who’s That Knocking at My Window
2  Love Henry
3  The Lass of Roch Royal
4  Who’s Going to Shoe your Pretty Little Foot?
5  Pretty Polly
6  Englewood Mine
7  Buck Dancer’s Choice
8  Just as the Tide Was Flowing
9  The Kicking Mule
10  The Heartless Lady
11  The Fiddling Soldier
12  Tittery Nan
13  Loving Reilly
14  The Cuckoo
15  If He’d Be a Buckaroo
16  The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL113.pdf” title=”PEGGY SEEGER & TOM PALEY Who’s Going To Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot? pdf booklet”]

The Oldham Tinkers from South Lancashire made their recording debut on the best selling ‘Deep Lancashire’ collection in 1968. Throughout the next decade they took their music to a wide international audience. Their fifth ‘solo’ album for the Topic label is another powerful mixture of Lancashire humour and pathos. Their beguiling songs are derived from the poems of local dialect writers, from Music Hall entertainers and from the traditional music of the North West of England.
1  Old May Song
2  John Willie’s Performing Newt
3  Nowt About Owt
4  Children’s Chants & Songs – Captain’s Medley
5  Eawr House – As Was
6  Oh! That Lancashire Jazz Band
7  The Lark
8  John Willie’s Grand-Dad
9  Tribute to Owd Paddy
10  Old King Coal
11  Steeple Jack
12  The Crime Lake Boggart
13  An Oldham Rugby Medley
14  McCarthy’s Party

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL399.pdf” title=”THE OLDHAM TINKERS That Lancashire Band pdf booklet”]

‘Cilla & Artie’ is a splendid album from Cilla Fisher (a member of the influential Fisher Family) and her husband Artie Trezise. The record was ‘The Melody Maker Folk Album of the Year – 1979′. Joining Cilla and Artie is an international collection of “session” musicians including Alistair Anderson, Johnny & Phil Cunningham, Rick Lee, Brian McNeill and Bob Zentz. The songs are mostly from the tradition with, “Blue Bleezin’ Blind Drunk” and “The Gypsy Laddies” but also include a grand version of Stan Rodgers’ “The Jeanie C” and the wildest ever arrangement of Ewan MacColl’s “Fisher Lassies”.
1  Norland Wind
2  The Beggar Man
3  What Can A Young Lassie
4  Fisher Lassies
5  Generations of Change
6  Fair Maid of London Town
7  The Wicked Wife
8  The Gypsie Laddies
9  Blue Bleezin’ Blind Drunk
10  John Grumlie
11  The Jeannie C

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL405.pdf” title=”CILLA FISHER & ARTIE TREZISE Cilla & Artie pdf booklet”]

I’m a stranger in this country,
From America I came.

Chris Willett

Well, not quite from America! But gypsies, or travellers to use a preferred term, were strangers when they first set foot in the British Isles over 400 years ago.   To this day many have remained apart from the rest of society. And yet, as this album attests, they have integrated sufficiently to pick up and retain much of the musical heritage that was once common to all. Paradoxically, much of the music performed here was originally the creation of the non-gypsy community. Today this music is often best remembered by the gypsies.

1 The American Stranger – CHRIS WILLETT
2 Bold Keeper – HARRY BRAZIL
3 Go From My Window – WISDOM SMITH
4 Little Footman Boy – ALICE PENFOLD
5 God Killed the Devil-O/Meeting the Devil/Yonder Comes the Devil – LEMMIE BRAZIL/JASPER SMITH/JOE JONES
6 Sally Monroe – HARRY BRAZIL
7 Pepper and Salt – JASPER SMITH
8 Lovely Johnny – MARY ANN HAYNES
9 The Loyal Lover – HARRY BRAZIL
10 Climbing Up the Apple Tree/Tuning/Bird Scaring Cry/Hacking Clover – JASPER SMITH
11 Step Dance Tune – BILL ELSON
12 Barbara Allen – DEBBIE & PENNY HARRIS
13 Hares in the Old Plantation – WIGGY SMITH
14 Rambling Irishman – HARRY BRAZIL
15 Down in the Meadow/Love is Pleasing – JASPER SMITH/BILL ELSON
16 A Blacksmith Courted Me – HARRY BRAZIL
17 Once I Was a Servant – CHRIS WILLETT
18 The Gown So Green – HARRY BRAZIL
19 The Flower Show – HARRY BRAZIL
20 Waxey Candles – JASPER SMITH
21 The Coachman/Bonny Black Hare/The Cuckoo’s Nest – JASPER SMITH/LEMMIE BRAZIL/JOE JONES
22 Hopping Down in Kent/My Lovely Hops – MARY ANN HAYNES
23 Swinging Down the Lane – CHRIS WILLETT
24 Will There Be Any Travellers In Heaven – DERBY SMITH

Production by Mike Yates and Tony Engle.
First issued by Topic 1985.

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL395.pdf” title=”TRAVELLERS Songs, Stories and Tunes from English Gypsies pdf booklet”]

Len Graham of Antrim has been studying and performing the song tradition of Ireland, especially that of his native Ulster, for many years, and is well known and respected for both his scholarship and his singing. Wind and Water was his first solo recording.

“This is not a record of sea songs and shanties, so you may wonder why ‘Wind and Water’ for its title? It was wind and water that brought our ancestors to these shores, be they Celts, Norsemen, Normans or planters. It was also wind and water that propelled the missionaries, the ‘Wild Geese’ and the emigrants to foreign parts… These various comings and goings have left their mark
on the traditional songs of Ireland and, in particular, Ulster where forever history seems to stare one in the face. I hope the choice of songs on this record will in some way illustrate and reflect some of these influences.” Len Graham

1 My Parents Reared me Tenderly
2 Maggie Picken
3 Séan Ó Duibhir a’ Ghleanna
4 The County Mayo
5 The Star of Moville
6 The Green Fields of Amerikay
7 Western Winds
8 Paídín Ó Raibheartaigh
9 My Willie-O
10 Daniel O’Connell and his Steam Engine
11 The Rights of Man
12 One Morning in May
13 The Knight Templar’s Dream

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL334.pdf” title=”LEN GRAHAM Wind and Water pdf booklet”]

Flute player Packie Duignan was a fine musician who had many of the tunes of the Leitrim player John McKenna, a distinguished and prolific figure in Irish-American recording circles of the 1920s and ’30s. He is joined on this splendid record by another Leitrim musician, fiddler Seamus Horan.

1 Jigs: The Shores of Lough Gowna / The Rose and the Heather (flute/fiddle)
2 Slip Jigs: Devero the Dancer / Connie the Soldier (flute)
3 Reels: The Tailor’s Thimble / The Red-haired Lass (flute/fiddle)
4 Hornpipe/Reel: Sean Ryan’s Hornpipe / The New Found Out Reel (fiddle)
5 Reels: Sporting Paddy / Packie Duignan’s Reel (flute/fiddle/whistle)
6 Jigs: The Trip To Athlone / The Hag with the Money / The Castlebar Jig (flute/fiddle)
7 Reels: Crowley’s (fiddle)
8 Reels: Jackie Coleman’s / The Sailor on the Rock (flute/fiddle)
9 Reels: Bridie Morley / Duignan’s Favourite (fiddle/flute)
10 Slip Jig: The Kid on the Mountain (flute/fiddle)
11 Highland Fling/Reel: Monymusk / Mrs. Smollen’s Reel (fiddle/flute)
12 Reel: The House On The Hill (flute)
13 Reel: The Duke of Leinster (flute/whistle)
14 Reels: Dinny Ryan’s Reels (fiddle)
15 Reels: Tom Ward’s Downfall / The Mullaghnavat Reel (flute/fiddle)
16 Jigs: The Geese in the Bog / Your Jig (fiddle)

Sean Wynne plays whistle on tracks 5 and 10.
Robin Morton plays bodhran on tracks 2, 9, 11, 12 & 13

First published by Topic 1978

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL339.pdf” title=”PACKIE DUIGNAN & SEAMUS HORAN Music from County Leitrim pdf booklet”]

Martin Simpson has spoken of his early studio recordings as “scrapbooks of the millions of things that I was into at that time.” For most fans this 1986 album displays a young master developing a remarkable relationship with his guitar.
1  Jazzman
2  Shawnee Town
3  Moth
4  Living Without You
5  For Jessica, Sad or High Kicking / My Dearest Dear
6  Icarus
7  No Depression in Heaven
8  Let It Be Me
9  Stillness in Company
10  The Lakes of Ponchartrain

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL438.pdf” title=”MARTIN SIMPSON Sad or High Kicking pdf booklet”]

Willie Scott, recorded in his 70s, came from a long line of singing Scots, bred to the trade of shepherd in the rolling Border country where the North of England and the South of Scotland march together.

1  The Shepherd’s Song
2  Piper MacNeil
3  The Kielder Hunt
4  Jamie Reaburn
5  Bonnie Wee Trampin’ Lass
6  Bloody Waterloo
7  Jock Geddes
8  The Dowie Dens of Yarrow
9  Herd Laddie o’ the Glen
10  The Lads That Were Reared Among Heather

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL183.pdf” title=”WILLIE SCOTT The Shepherd’s Song pdf booklet”]

A founder member of the High Level Ranters, Tom Gilfellon emerged occasionally with an inimitable collection of songs and tunes evoking the North-Eastern and the Irish strains of his background. Tom Gilfellon vocals, guitar, cittern  with Martin Carthy guitar, Johnny Handle vocal, accordian, piano and Liz Sobell dulcimer, harmonium and Stefan Sobell cittern, concertina

1     The Banks of Red Roses / The Boys of Ballysadare  Tom vocal/cittern; Stefan cittern; Liz dulcimer
2     The Workers’ Song  Tom vocal; Liz harmonium
3a   The Celebrated Working Man  Tom vocal; Johnny accordeon/chorus
3b   Uncle Albert’s last heroic farewell to the world  Tom recitation
4     Reels; Lady Ann Montgomery / The Wind that Shakes the Barley / The Foxhunter’s Reel  Tom cittern; Martin guitar
5     The Snow it Melts the Soonest  Tom vocal
6     The Bonny Gateshead Lass  Tom vocal; Stefan English concertina
7     Jigs: Thomas Friel’s/ The Battering Ram  Tom cittern; Martin guitar
8     The Two Sisters  Tom vocal
9     The Row in the Gutter  Tom vocal; Johnny piano
10   The Fiery Clockface  Tom vocal/guitar
11   Johnny Miner  Tom vocal

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL282.pdf” title=”TOM GILFELLON  In The Middle Of The Tune pdf booklet”]

The Stewarts are a proud family of Scots travellers who claim descent from the Royal House of Stewart and who have music in their bones. Belle Stewart was one of the great traditional ballad singers and her daughters, Sheila and Cathie, inherited the family talent in full measure. Belle’s husband Alex Stewart was a fine exponent of the Highland warpipes. For The Travelling Stewarts album the family were joined by many of their relatives, including Jeannie Robertson, Lizzie Higgins and Davy Stewart.

‘You’ll never see me laughing or shouting at a Pakistani or anybody like that; no, never… Long, long years ago when I was a wee boy. My auld mother told me that all travellers came from the same place as these people. and so I never do anything that might offend them. Anyway, they`re having a hard time of it. just like the travellers…’
Davy Stewart, itinerant singer.

1    Johnnie, My Man  Lizzie Higgins
2    Willie’s Fatal Visit  Jeannie Robertson
3    The Battle’s O’er; Scotland the Brave; The 51st Division in Egypt  Played by Donald and Isaac Higgins, pipes
4    Bogie’s Bonnie Belle  Jane Stewart
5    McGinty’s Meal and Ale  Davy Stewart
6    My Bonnie Tammy  Christina Stewart
7    MacPherson’s Lament  Maggie McPhee
8    The Drunken Piper; Brig o’ Perth; Reel o’ Tulloch  Played by Alex Stewart, pipes
9    Loch Dhui  Belle Stewart acc. Alex Stewart, goose
10   The Dawning of the Day  Cathie Stewart, acc. Alex Stewart, goose
11   Donald’s Return to Glencoe  Sheila Stewart

Recorded in Scotland by Bill Leader, 1967
First Issued by Topic 1968

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL179.pdf” title=”The STEWART FAMILY The Travelling Stewarts pdf booklet”]

JEANNIE ROBERTSON comes of roving stock – on both her father’s and mother’s side, her ancestors belonged to the travelling clans (Stewarts and Robertsons) who roamed the North-East of Scotland. Jeannie herself, although born in the city, spent much of her youth travelling “up the Dee and down the Don” with her people, and learned many of her songs at their campfires.

1 The Bonny Wee Lassie Who Never Said No
2 What a Voice
3 My PIaidie’s Awa’
4 The Gipsy Laddies
5 When I Was No but Sweet Sixteen
6 MacCrimmon’s Lament
7 Roy’s Wife of Aldivalloch
8 Lord Lovat

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL052.pdf” title=”JEANNIE ROBERTSON The Great Scots Traditional Ballad Singer pdf booklet”]

The traditional folk music of East Suffolk has probably been the best documented regional style in England over the past thirty years. Whereas much of the music and singing recorded in this period would appear to be indigenous to a general ‘East Anglian style’. It is possible. even within such a relatively small area. to detect various distinctive traditions often revolving around either a particular pub, village or influential musician. Basically during this period, there were four such quite separate local groupings in this area, with of course some interaction between them (primarily in the case of the travelling pub musician).
The best known of these was undoubtedly that centred around the singing pubs along the Aldeburgh coastal district, such as Blaxhall ‘Ship’ and the ‘Eel Foot Inn’ at Eastbridge. Here the music and singing was highly organised. generally as a Saturday night’s entertainment with chairmen introducing the singers and maintaining order. Secondly the nearby towns of Woodbridge and Wickham Market boasted a fair number of dance and string bands led by men such as Walter CIow, Fred Whent, Billy Hall and Lennie Pearce. A third tradition was active around the pubs in Halesworth and Yoxford area, revolving around the charismatic Seaman Family from Darsham. Finally_ the small villages between Framlingham and Debenham sported a great musical tradition dominated by melodeon players Walter Read and Alf Peachey and fiddlers Walter Gyford and Harkie Nesling. It is from the last two traditions and through four generations that this recording is drawn.

Harkie Nesling Fiddle
Reg Reeder Dulcimer
Font Whatling Melodeon
Fred Whiting Fiddle

1    Polkas (Harkie’s Polkas) Fred Whiting
2    Cat Among the Tails / Rakes of Mallow Reg Reeder
3    The Earl Soham Slog / Flowers of Edinburgh Fred Whiting
4    Mick’s Tune / Pigeon on the Gate Font Whatling
5    The Sultan’s Polka / Untitled Polka Harkie Nesling
6    Waltz Medley: Oscar Woods’ / Charlie Philpotts Reg Reeder
7    Jigs: The Maid at the Well / The Old Kerry Fiddler / The Priest and His Boots Fred Whiting
8    Come and Be My Little Teddy Bear Harkie Nesling
9    Polkas Font Whatling
10  Hornpipes: The Weaver’s / The Bristol Sailorman / Ballinalig in the Morning  Fred Whiting
11  Imprudence Schottische / Rakes of Mallow Harkie Nesling
12  Polka Medley : 1,2,3,4 5 / Jenny Lind / Joe, the  Boat is Going Over Reg Reeder
13  The Hurling Boys (‘Old Country Dance’)/ Jack Tar Hornpipe  Fred Whiting
14  Untitled Tunes Font Whatling
15  The Barn Dance Harkie Nesling
16  Off to California / Will the Waggoner (Gypsy Hornpipe ) Fred Whiting
17   Pigeon on the Gate Font Whatling

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL374.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS The Earl Soham Slog pdf booklet”]

From the original LP notes:

The British Labour Movement has a rich heritage of songs – songs that convey a sense of history, as well as imagery and emotion for present day industrial workers and their friends.

The force and tang of these songs proves irresistible to modern tastes, and many talented song-makers outside of industry as well as within it have been fired to imitate this kind of do-it-yourself workers’ song. Among the best of these is Ewan MacColl, who presents here a number of songs created by industrial workers, interspersed with songs on industrial themes made by himself.

1 The Wark of the Weavers
2 Droylsden Wakes
3 The Four Loom Weaver
4 The Calton Weaver
5 Oh, Dear Me
6 The Coal-Owner and the Pitman’s Wife
7 Fourpence a Day
8 The Gresford Disaster
9 Will Caird
10 The Iron Horse
11 Poor Paddy works on the Railway
12 Cannily Cannily
13 The Song of the Iron Road
14 The Blantyre Explosion
15 The Collier Laddie
16 Moses of the Mail

Recording by Bill Leader.
First issued by Topic Records 1964.

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL104.pdf” title=”EWAN MacCOLL and PEGGY SEEGER Steam Whistle Ballads pdf booklet”]

A wonderfully gifted and delicate singer, Frank Hinchliffe of Sheffield was also the possessor of numerous fine traditional songs, many in uncommon versions. He was undoubtedly one of the major traditional singers to come to public notice in the 1970s.

Traditional Songs from South Yorkshire

1 The Pear Tree
2 The Golden Glove
3 The Spotted Cow
4 Mary Across the Wild Moor
5 The Nobleman and Thrasherman
6 Wilkins and Dinah
7 The Green Mossy Banks of the Lea
8 Wild and Wicked Youths
9 Sheffield Park
10 Hear the Nightingales Sing
11 The Poor Old Weaver’s Daughter
12 It Hails, It Rains
13 Nothing Else to Do
14 Edward
15 We’ve Been a While a-Wassailing

First published by Topic 1977

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL308.pdf” title=”FRANK HINCHLIFFE In Sheffield Park pdf booklet”]

Most of the people in Blaxhall will tell you that there are two big families in the village, the Smiths and the Lings. The Smiths are known as good stepdancers and the Lings as good singers. lntermarriage and the relatively stable population of the village, now altered by an influx of newcomers, has made a complex web of relationships which are very difficult to disentangle. It seems, however, that most of the population are related in some degree, and that people define their own relationships with each other broadly on the basis of a “close” relationship or a “back” relationship. Close relatives are mothers, fathers, siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and cousins; all others are “back” relatives. Confusions arise through marriage when names are changed, but awareness of family is strong and identity is kept. Lings can be traced in the genealogies of every other local family. The Lings split into factions whereby some Lings say that they are not related to other Lings because they have different historical or geographic origins. Ruby Ling in Snape, Percy Ling’s wife’s family, who were also Lings, and George and Basil Bennett whose mother was a Ling, all say that they are not related to the Blaxhall Lings. The Lings identify themselves into family groups, and it is in one of these particular groups that several singers are found.

1    Green Bushes  Geoff Ling
2    On Board the Leicester Castle  George Ling
3    The Lobster  Percy Ling
4    Died for Love  Geoff Ling
5    Little Ball of Yarn  Geoff Ling
6    The Lakes of Coolfin  George Ling
7    The Deserter  George Ling
8    Little Sweetheart  Percy Ling
9    Jolly Jack the Sailor  George Ling
10   A Group of Young Squaddies  Geoff Ling
11   On the Banks of the Clyde  Geoff Ling
12   Underneath Your Apron  Percy Ling
13   The Bonny Bunch of Roses  George Ling
14   Nancy of Yarmouth  George Ling
15   The Man all Tattered and Torn  Percy Ling
16   Fagin the Cobbler  Percy Ling

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL292.pdf” title=”The LING FAMILY  Singing Traditions of a Suffolk Family pdf booklet”]

Blowzabella is a genuinely unique band that makes an inimitable, driving, drone-based sound played with a fabulous sense of melody, rhythmic expertise and sheer feeling. They compose their own music which is influenced by English and European traditional dance music. Vanilla, first released on the Topic Special Delivery label in 1990, is one of their finest recordings.

Andy Cutting : melodeons, percussion
Nigel Eaton : hurdy gurdies, ‘cello, percussion
Jo Freya : Voclas, tenor saxophone, clarinet
Paul James : soprano saxophone, bagpipes, rauschfeife, percussion
Ian Luff : bass guitars, cittern, guitar, percussion
Jon Swayne : alto & soprano saxophones, bagpipes

1   Spaghetti Panic (A Cutting)
2   La Belle C’est Endormir / Famous Wolf (trad. N Eaton)
3   Jan Mijne Man / Go Mauve (trad. I Luff)
4   Fulmine (R Tesi arr A Cutting)
5   Beanfield / Monster Café (J Swayne/N Eaton)
6   I Wish, I Wish (trad. arr Freya)
7   Down Side / Solveig’s Song / Doctor Feg (P James/Greig:Ibsen/N Eaton)
8   Horizonto (P James)
9   In Continental Mood / The Old Queen / Flatworld (A Cutting/I Luff/A Cutting)
10  The Lover’s Ghost (trad. arr Freya)
11  The R.S.B. & the Hobb (A Cutting/I Luff)
12  Spaghetti Panic (Live) (A Cutting)

First issued as Special Delivery SPDCD1028 / 1990

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL1028.pdf” title=”BLOWZABELLA Vanilla pdf booklet”]

A very important recording of three members of a Southern English family of travellers – Tom, Chris and Ben Willett, showing their distinctive style of singing and a repertoire of fine country songs. Recorded on location in Middlesex and Kent, the record was the first album of English gypsy music to be released commercially.
1  Lord Bateman – Tom Willett
2  The Blacksmith Courted Me – Tom Willett
3  The Little Ball of Yarn – Ben Willett
4  Died For Love – Tom Willett
5  The Rambling Sailor – Chris Willett
6  Riding Down to Portsmouth – Tom Willett
7  As I Was Going to Salisbury – Chris Willett
8  The Roving Journeyman – Tom Willett
9  The Roving Journeyman – Chris Willett
10  While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping – Tom Willett
11  The Old Miser – Chris Willett
12  The Game of Cards – Tom Willett

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL084.pdf” title=”The WILLETT FAMILY The Roving Journeyman pdf booklet”]

Paddy Tunney of Donegal is a supremely gifted lyrical singer and a master of intricate vocal ornament. The songs he sings are as deeply and genuinely romantic as the green countryside and dark mountains of his native country. A Wild Bees’ Nest is one of his finest records.

1  The Rollicking Boys Around Tandaragee
2  The Colleen Rue
3  The Flower of Sweet Strabane
4  The Waterford Boys
5  Easter Snow
6  I Once Had a True Love
7 Sheela Nee Eyre
8  When a Man’s In Love
9  The Banks of Dunmore
10  Bonny Tavern Green
11  Castlehyde

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL139.pdf” title=”PADDY TUNNEY A Wild Bees’ Nest pdf booklet”]

The mighty Oldham Tinkers specialise in the local songs and ballads of their native South Lancashire. True inheritors of the spirit of great Lancashire mucial comics like George Formby. “All the salt and savour of Lancashire song and humour is to be enjoyed in their records.” ‘Oldham’s Burning Sands’ was the group’s first recording for Topic Records and a perennial favourite with the late John Peel.
1  Success to the Weavers
2  The Lancashire Miller
3  Charlie Chaplin
4  Eawr Market Neet
5  The Owdam Chap’s Visit to Th’ Queen
6  In Our Town
7  Oldham’s Burning Sands
8  A Fine Old English Gentleman
9  Peterloo
10  We’re Off In A Motor Car
11  The Oldham Pensioner
12  The Stockport Strike
13  Th’ Childer’s Holiday

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL206.pdf” title=”The OLDHAM TINKERS Oldham’s Burning Sands pdf booklet”]

After a long European and New Zealand tour in 1985/6, the original line-up of The House Band disbanded, and Chris Parkinson and Ged Foley formed a new group with Brian Brooks and John Skelton. This line-up recorded ‘Pacific’ for Topic in 1987, with the band touring America extensively in the late 1980s and 1990s.

1. PACIFIC
2. DIAMANTINA DROVER
3. JOY AFTER SORROW
4. IN AT THE DEEP END
5. OLD MAN RIVER
6. THE PIT STANDS IDLE
7. GOING PLACES
8. FOR THE SAKE OF EXAMPLE
9. BLAZING RUSE

Produced by The House Band and David Kenny

First issued by Topic Records 1987

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL445.pdf” title=”THE HOUSE BAND Pacific pdf booklet”]

The several strands that make up Pat Mitchell’s piping are none of them especially unusual, but cumulatively interesting in the way they reveal how Pat’s music has evolved without what has always been held to be the massive benefit of an immediate environment in which traditional music is alive and esteemed. Pat, like many other people who might be classed as urban, twentieth century – some would say, disinherited – has gone looking for his music, and it’s important to document his case for an understanding of how such a person fares, and for some insight into the state of traditional music in Ireland today.

1      Reels: Garrett Barry’s / The Virginia  
2      March: Sullivan’s March 
3      Reel: Concertina Reel  
4      Air: Lord Mayo 
5      Reel: College Groves
6      Double Jigs: Port Liadroma / Sean Tiobraid Arann  
7      Reel: Star of Munster
8      Single Jig and Double Jig: Frieze Breeches
9      Descriptive Piece: Máirseáil Alasdruim
10    Single Jig: Willie’s Single
11    Hompipe and Reels: Kildare Hornpipe / Castle Kelly / Sailor’s Bonnet
12    Marching tune: Eagle’s Whistle
13    Double Jig: The Maiden That Jigged it in Style
14    Air: An Draighnean Donn
15    Double Jig: The Old Hag in the Kiln
16    Reel: Galtee Reel
17    Double Jigs: The Lark in the Morning
18    Reels: Patsy Tuohey’s Reel/The Green Fields of Rossbeigh
19    Piece: Nora Criona
20    Reel: Flogging Reel

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL294.pdf” title=”PAT MITCHELL  Uilleann Pipes pdf booklet”]

John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris were a duo which achieved an enviable reputation in the British folk scene of the 1970s. Their repertoire focussed on English country music and songs. John recorded ‘Morris On’ with Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson and Barry Dransfield ushering a new appreciation of Morris music. The purely instrumental ‘Facing The Music’ was the duo’s fourth record for the Topic label and represents a high point of their recording career. The splendid tunes are drawn from a bewildering variety of sources; from rural musicians and from published tune books, from the Bahamas, from the Appalachians and from Orkney.
1  John Locke’s Polka / Three Jolly Sheepskins
2  Kettle Drum
3  Trip to the Cottage / Hunting the Squirrel / Jack of the Green
4  A Shelter in the Time of Storm / We Shall be Happy
5  Millfield / Saturday Night and Sunday Morn
6  Garrick’s Delight / The Flaxley Green Dance
7  Crocker’s Reel
8  Roast Beef / All Flowers in Broome
9  The Rope Waltz
10  A Cheshire’s Hornpipe / Black Mary’s Hornpipe

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL408.pdf” title=”JOHN KIRKPATRICK & SUE HARRIS Facing The Music pdf booklet”]

One of Scotland’s best known traditional singers, Jimmy McBeath, was a former farm servant and traveller from Banffshire. He sang in a direct any authoritative style bothy ballads and songs learnt on the road. His 1967 album has long been regarded as a very important collection of traditional song.

1  The Bold English Navvy
2  Come A’ Ye Tramps an’ Hawkers
3  Johnny McIndoe
4  The Wind Blew The Bonnie Lassie’s Plaidie Awa’
5  The Merchant and the Beggar Maid
6  Nicky Tams
7  The Barnyards o’ Delgaty
8  I’m A Stranger in this Country
9  The Moss O’ Burreldale
10  The Highlandman’s Ball
11  McPherson’s Rant
12  Grat For Gruel
13  Drumdelgie
14  Wild Rover No More

First published by Topic 1967

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL173.pdf” title=”JIMMY McBEATH Wild Rover No More pdf booklet”]

Bob Davenport has one of the most distinctive styles and one of the widest repertoires among singers on the folkclub scene. A favourite at festivals and a regular guest at folk clubs throughout Britain, he is a staunch supporter of the traditional music of the working people. He is at his finest when accompanied by the Rakes, surely the best English country ensemble of them all.
1  Waltzes: With my Love on the Road / Wild Colonial Boy
2  The Ploughboy Lad
3  Single Jigs: Patsy Geary’s / The Peeler and the Goat
4  Princess Royal
5  Lake of Coolfin
6  The Man in the Moon / The Jealous Sailor / Jealous Heart
7  Keep Your Feet Still Geordie Hinnie
8  Three Men Went A-Hunting
9  Country Dance: Three Around Three
10  The Dowie Dens ofYarrow
11  Polkas: McCusker’s No. 1 / McCusker’s No. 2 / Jenny Lind
12  Slieve Gallion Braes
13  The Star of the County Down
14 Old Green River

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL350.pdf” title=”BOB DAVENPORT & The RAKES 1977 pdf booklet”]

The first album recorded for Topic by the reknowned Dick Gaughan, ‘Coppers & Brass’ is an impressive instrumental set from one of Scotland’s finest folk musicians. Dick Gaughan performs a collection of jigs, hornpipes, reels and marches, learned from pipers and fiddlers and skilfully transferred to the guitar.
1  Coppers and Brass / Gander in the Pratie Hole
2  O’Keefe’s / The Foxhunter’s
3  The Flowing Tide / The Fairies’ Hornpipe
4  The Oak Tree / The Music in the Glen
5  Planxty Johnson
6  Gurty’s Frolics
7  The Spey in Spate / The Hurricane
8  Alan McPherson of Mosspark / The Jig of Slurs
9  The Thrush in the Storm / The Flogging Reel
10  Ask My Father / Lads of Laoise / The Connaught Heifers
11  The Bird in the Bush / The Boy in the Gap / MacMahon’s Reel
12  Strike the Gay Harp / Shores of Lough Gowna
13  Jack Broke the Prison Door / Donald Blue / Wha’ll Dance wi’ Wattie

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL315.pdf” title=”DICK GAUGHAN Coppers & Brass pdf booklet”]

Irish music in the old ‘Sligo Style’ was carried far and wide by such migrant sons as Michael Coleman, Paddy Killoran and Michael Gorman. It was the tradition that two London based musicians – Tommy Healy (flute) and Johnny Duffy (fiddle) – grew up in. They continued adhering to the style playing at home in Ireland and later in London. Accompanied by pianist Reg Hall the two are beautifully captured on this intimate recording from the mid-1970s.
1  Reels: Tarbolton / The Longford Collector / The Sailor’s Bonnet
2  Jigs: The Wandering Minstrel / Fasten the Legging / The Smash
3  Hornpipes: The Rights of Man / The Honeysuckle
4  Reels: The Boys at the Lough / The Merry Blacksmith
5  Jigs: The Scotsman Over the Border / Tell Her I Am
6  Reels: The Montua / The Happy Days of Youth
7  Reel: Fred Finn’s Reel
8  Reel; The First Part of the Lancers
9  Jigs: The Gold Ring / Richard Brennan’s Favourite
10  Reels: Miss McLeod / The Wild Irishman
11  Jig: The Grey Goose
12  Reels: The Humours of Lissadel / Sweeney’s Dream
13  Jigs: Cavan Lasses / Rose of the Heather
14  Reels: The Enchanted Lady / The Holy Land
15  Waltz: Mrs Kenney
16  Reels: Martin Wynne’s No.1 & No.2

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL335.pdf” title=”TOMMY HEALY & JOHN DUFFY Memories Of Sligo pdf booklet”]

Peta Webb’s 1973 LP for Topic came after great interest in her work with Oak; this album showcases her individual vocal style, with songs learned from some of the great Irish traditional singers, Brigid Tunney, Winnie Ryan and John Docherty among them.

1. I have wandered in exile  with Lucy Farr, fiddle
2. Oxford City
3. The Moorlough Shore
4. The Blackbird of Avondale with Lucy Farr, fiddle; Reg Hall, melodeon
5. Blackwater Side
6. The Pride of Glencoe with Michael Plunkett, fiddle
7. I am a poor girl
8. Moorlough Mary
9. The Lovely Banks of Lea with Lucy Farr, fiddle

Recorded by Tony Engle

First issued by Topic Records 1973

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL223.pdf” title=”PETA WEBB I Have Wandered In Exile pdf booklet”]

The House Band’s first album, and the first of three for Topic, this was recorded in January 1985, just before a long European tour for the band that year, and a tour of New Zealand at the end of the year and into 1986.   They played original and traditional compositions in a Celtic/British folk style, with influences from reggae, country, pop, jazz and world music.

1 The Tornado Two-Step – The Cooper – The Woodpecker
2 Here’s The Tender Coming
3 Major Harrison’s Fedora
4 War Party – Lost Night
5 An Erminig Hag An Greskenn – The Anti-Social Worker
6 The Pitman’s Grievance
7 E I Ah Could Hew
8 Green Fields of Canada –The Amalgamation
9 Cawsand Bay
10 The Swallowstail – Lady Charlotte Campbell’s – Gordon Campbell’s “Mess”

First issued by Topic Records 1985

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL439.pdf” title=”THE HOUSE BAND The House Band pdf booklet”]

An important and influential record of song airs and dance tunes played on modest instruments such as would fit in your pocket, played by some of the finest London-based Irish musicians.
“The expertise of the performers is to be admired for its own sake… a delightful disc.” New Statesman.
1  Gillian Apples / The Prize Jig – John Doonan & John Wright
2  The Shaskeen Reel – John Wright
3  The Coolin – Noel Pepper
4  Boys of the Laugh / The Trip to Durrow – Noel Pepper & Paddy Moran
5  Give Me Your Hand – John Doonan
6  Banish Misfortune – The Wrights
7  The Maid Behind the Bar – The Wrights with Paddy Neylan
8  Dunphy’s Hornpipe / The Derry Hornplpe – John Doonan
9  St Anne’s Reel – Noel Pepper & Paddy Moran
10  The Blackbird – John Doonan
11  The Spalpeen’s Lament – John Doonan
12  Miss McLeod / The Flowers of Edinburgh – John Doonan & John Wright
13  The Foxhunters’ Jig – The Wrights
14  The Skylark / Tie the Bonnet – John Wright
15  Clancy’s Fancy – John Wright
16  The Lark in the Clear Air – Noel Pepper
17  Unnamed Jig – Noel Pepper & Paddy Moran
18  Cherish the Ladles / Father O’Flynn – John Doonan, John Wright, Noel Pepper & Paddy Moran

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL230.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS The Lark In The Clear Air pdf booklet”]

Bill Caddick has an enviable reputation – sometime member of the Albion Band, Home Service and songwriter of choice for June Tabor. He has recorded few albums during his long performing career; many fans regard The Wild West Show as one of this finest recordings. The album was recorded by Andrew Cronshaw and sees a crack team of close friends and former Home Service colleagues accompany Caddick, including June Tabor who adds sublime duet vocals to ‘Eights And Aces’.
1  Superman
2  Spanish Nights
3  Fork-lift Truck
4  Moses (Smooth Talking)
5  Two-Fisted Heroes
6  Forgotten The Blues
7  Dance To The Music Of Time
8  Stay On The Line
9  Eights And Aces
10  The Wild West Show

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL441.pdf” title=”BILL CADDICK The Wild West Show pdf booklet”]

This is the second Topic LP of the music of Tommy McMahon and Bernard O’Sullivan. Like the first record it illustrates the richness, depth and variety of Clare concertina music. The selection here is very varied and includes reels, jigs, hornpipes, set dances, polkas and waltzes. Anyone in search of good concertina music may find it in West Clare. This is really concertina country. Every village has a traditional musician and in many cases it is a concertina player. The concertina as a traditional instrument has been in Clare for well over a hundred years. With the decline of the pipes and fiddle the concertina was a practical replacement. It was ideal for playing the newly composed sets of the last century. Though it was not capable of the embellishments or expressiveness of the pipes it was nevertheless an excellent little reed instrument for playing for country dances.

1 Polkas: I Have a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue, The Rakes of Mallow  Tommy McMahon & Bernard O’Sullivan
2 Reels: Farmer Moroney’s and Mulvihill’s reel  Tommy McMahon & Bernard O’Sullivan
3 Reels: Maud Millar’s and Morrison’s  Tommy McMahon
4 Reel: The Bucks of Oranmore  Bernard O’Sullivan
5 Waltzes: My Heart’s in the Highlands and The Dewdrop  Bernard O’Sullivan
6 Jigs: The Blooming Meadows, Mullagh Jig, Ballinakill Jig  Tommy McMahon & Bernard O’Sullivan
7 Reels: The Merry Sisters, Quilty Reel  Tommy McMahon
8 Hornpipes: The Cliff, The Derry Hornpipe  Tommy McMahon & Bernard O’Sullivan
9 Jigs: The Rose in the Heather selection  Tommy McMahon
10 Reels: Flowery Mountains, Kiss the Maid Behind the Barrel, The Milliner’s Daughter  Tommy McMahon & Bernard O’Sullivan
11 Reel: A Trip to Durrow  Tommy McMahon
12 Polka: Stack Ryan’s Polka  Bernard O’Sullivan
13 Set Dance: The Garden of Daisies  Tommy McMahon & Bernard O’Sullivan
14 Jigs: Andy Keone’s, Saddle the Pony, Tulla Jig  Tommy McMahon
15 Set Dance: The Three Sea Captains  Tommy McMahon
16 Reels: The Boys of Ballysadare, The Five Mile Chase  Tommy McMahon & Bernard O’Sullivan

Produced by Tony Engle, John Tams and Neil Wayne
First issued by Topic Records 1976.

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL1505.pdf” title=”BERNARD O’SULLIVAN, TOMMY McMAHON Play Irish Traditional Music of County Clare pdf booklet”]

A revival musician with an unusual understanding of traditional music. John Wright is a fine singer and a performer on the fiddle and mouth-organ, an unquestionably one of the finest exponents of jew’s-harp playing.

1      Awake, Awake, You Drowsy Sleeper
2     Four-Hand Reel (mouth-organ)
3     Murphy’s Hornpipe (jew’s harp)
4     Gypsy Hornpipe (fiddle)
5     Henry Martin
6     Bridget Cruise Nos 2 & 3 (jew’s harp)
7     Tailor By My Trade
8     Dornoch Links / The Shepherd’s Crook / Lochiel’s Awa’ to France Scottish Pipe Tunes (jew’s harp)
9     Young Charlotte
10    The Varsoviana – Eng|and (mouth-organ)
11    La Valse Vienne – France (fiddle)
12    La Scottisch Anglaise – France (fiddle)
13    L’Angoise – France (fiddle)
14    Our Captain Cried All Hands / Country Dances (fiddle):
15   Ninepins
16   Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
17   The Punk’s Delight

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL348.pdf” title=”JOHN WRIGHT Unaccompanied pdf booklet”]

From the original LP notes:

As at many local pubs, Saturday nights were for singing and the Eel’s Foot was no exception, having a Chairman – Philip Lumpton – who would keep the tiny bar in order with a gavel or the cribbage board and the ruling was that everyone had ‘to sing, say or pay’. Jumbo however remembers one chap, a steamroller driver, who ‘whenever it was his turn to sing someone would generally pay him a tanner not to – he wasn’t all that good.’ The money went into a kitty to supply the singers with beer which had to be brought by hand from the cellar to the bar, one pint at a time.

1 The Flower of London
2 The Derby Miller
3 The Loss of the Ramillies
4 The Green Mossy Banks of the Lea
5 Blow the Candle Out
6 The Bold Princess Royal
7 Newry Town
8 The Indian Lass
9 Muddley Barracks
10 The False Hearted Knight
11 The Lost Heiress
12 Down in the Fields Where the Buttercups Grow
13 Rambleaway
14 The Life of a Man

Produced by Tony Engle and Keith Summers
First issued by Topic Records 1975

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL261.pdf” title=”JUMBO BRIGHTWELL Songs from the Eel’s Foot pdf booklet”]

Green Grow the Laurels is a representative anthology of songs from southern England. Some of these songs stem from long blackletter broadsides of the 16th and 17th centuries, whilst others are of very recent origin, reflecting the cosmopolitan taste of folksingers throughout the ages. Personal preference obviously plays its part in
the transmission of folksongs, but other factors are also involved. Recorded by Mike Yates between 1972-75.

1     Green Grow the Laurels Louise Fuller, Lingfield, Surrey
2    The Rich Lady Gay Harry Upton, Balcombe, Sussex
3    Wexford Town Mary Ann Haynes, Brighton, Sussex
4    The Aylesbury Girl Jack Goodban, St Margarets-at-Cliffe, Kent
5    The Tree in the Wood George ‘Tom’ Newman, Clanfield, Oxford Oxfordshire
6    I Am a Donkey Driver Harry Upton
7    The Molecatcher Louise Fuller
8    Hopping Down in Kent Louise Fuller
9    ‘The Shannon’ Frigate Jack Goodban
10   Young Maria Louise Fuller
11   The Colour of Amber Mary Ann Haynes
12   The Banks of the Sweet Dundee Harry Upton
13   A Single Life Harry Upton
14   A Woman’s Work is Never Done Harry Upton

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL285.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS  Green Grow The Laurels pdf booklet”]

Frank Harte (1933-2005) was a traditional Irish singer, song collector, architect and lecturer; a great exponent of the Dublin street ballad and widely known for his distinctive singing, his Dublin accent having a rich nasal quality complementing his often high register.

From the original LP notes:

The material is all his own, gathered from the abundant cornucopia of traditional Anglo-Irish folksong. He has been collecting since he was twelve years of age and his infallible ear and prodigious memory have recorded nearly a thousand songs, most of them unpublished, though many of the songs on this disc are in Colm O’Lochlainn’s Irish Street Ballads 1939 (C.O’L.,1) and More Irish Street Ballads 1965 (C.O’L.,2).

To explain in detail the history, the language, the music of these songs would require not a note which would fit on a record sleeve but a small book; but these are ballads of the Dublin streets, commonplace once, now remembered by a few. They were not all made in Dublin, but Dublin preserved their life.

1 The Traveller all over the World
2 The Shamrock Shore   acc
3 The Rag Man’s Ball   acc
4 Henry My Son   acc
5 The Bold Belfast Shoemaker
6 The Night That Larry was Stretched
7 The Twang Man   acc
8 The Finding of Moses
9 Father Murphy

Recorded by Bill Leader
First issued by Topic Records 1967

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL172.pdf” title=”FRANK HARTE Dublin Street Songs pdf booklet”]

From the original LP notes:

Sussex has long been a county associated with folksong. In 1843 the Reverend John Broadwood published his Old English Songs with tunes, ‘set to Music exactly as they are now sung, to rescue them from oblivion’, and words, ‘in their original Rough State, with an occasional slight alteration to render the sense intelligible’. Broadwood, a Sussex country vicar, had played the tunes on the recorder to his organist, so that the latter might write them down, but was surprised to be told that he had ‘got them all wrong’. It was only when the organist heard the singers for himself that he realised, to his amazement, that supposedly illiterate peasants were singing perfect melodies outside the common major and minor scales.

To Broadwood, as to almost every subsequent collector, the folksongs were to be collected because it was believed they would be gone from us within a generation. This record attests that this was not to be so, that songs and singers were to remain active, if not exactly common.

1 Canadee-I-O     Harry Upton
2 The Female Drummer     Mrs Haynes
3 Poor Leonard     Mrs Haynes
4 The Freckless Young Girl     Harry Upton
5 The Basket of Eggs     Bob Blake
6 The Old Miser     Mrs Haynes
7 Riding Down to Portsmouth     Mrs Haynes
8 Will the Weaver     Rabbidy Baxter
9 The Wreck of ‘The Northfleet’     Harry Upton
10 Long a-growing     Mrs Haynes
11 The Bonny Labouring Boy     Bob Blake
12 Poison in a Glass of Wine     Harry Upton
13 The Ball of Yarn     Mrs Haynes

Produced by Mike Yates and Tony Engle
First issued by Topic Records 1975

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL258.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS Sussex Harvest pdf booklet”]

Scottish fiddle music arrived in Cape Breton Island with the Highland settlers over a century and a half ago, and the strongly Highland character of this region of Nova Scotia, in the Canadian Maritimes, remains to this day. Cape Breton with its harbours, heavily forested mountains and fertile valleys provided the Highlander with ample opportunity to exercise his old country skills in fishing, hunting and farming: the rural way of life of the Western Highland Gaels, together with their highly evolved oral and musical traditions, adapted easily to the new setting.

1    Strathspey, Hornpipe & Reel: The Sow’s Tail / Londonderry Hornpipe / Duncan on the Plainstones THERESA MacLELLAN (acc Marie MacLeIIan)
2    Strathspeys & Reels: The WarIock’s Strathspey/ Bog an Lochain (Athole Cummers) / The Nine Pint Coggie / Calum Fhionnlaidh / Prince Charlie / Tarbolton Lodge MIKE MacDOUGALL (acc Mary Jessie MacDonald)
3    March, Strathspeys & Reel: Donald MacLean’s Farewell to Oban / Cairistiona Chaimbeul (Christy Campbell) / Port ‘ic Artair (MacArthur’s Tune / Untitled JOHN WILLIE CAMPBELL (acc Kevin McCormick)
4    Strathspeys & Reels: Lucy Campbell / Calum Crùbach (Miss Drummond of Perth) / Untitled / Cota Mór Ealasaid (Elizabeth’s Big Coat) / Untitled MARY MacDONALD (acc Mary Jessie McDonald)
5    Slow Air, Strathspeys & Reels: Niel Gow’s Lamentation for Abercairney / Johnnie Pringle / Munlochie Bridge / The Duke of Gordon’s Birthday / Perrie Werrie / Peggie     Menzies / West Mabou Reel ALEX FRANCIS MacKAY (acc Fr John Angus Rankin)
6    Jigs: The Black Sporran / WaIking the Floor JOHN NEIL MacLEAN (acc Phyllis MacLeod)
7    March & Strathspey: A Sheana-bhean Bhochd (Glengarry’s March) / Donald MacMaster’s Strathspe DAN JOE and GEORGE MaclNNIS (acc Marie MacLe|Ian)
8    Strathspey & Reel: J Scott Skinner Strathspey / GiIlian’s Reel (Muir o’ Gellan) JOHN NEIL MacLEAN (acc Phyllis MacLeod)
9    Strathspeys & Reels: Unidentified / Calum Breugach /  The Duke of Athole / George the IV / The King’s / Miss Lyle’s Reel ALEX FRANCIS MacKAY (acc Fr John Angus Rankin)
10    Strathspey & Reels: Alex MacEachern’s Strathspey / Fear nan Casan Caola (The Rejected Suitor) / Untitled JOHN WILLIE CAMPBELL (acc Kevin McCormick)
11    Strathspeys & Reels: Miss Lyle’s Strathspey / The Highlanders’ Farewell to Ireland / King George / Tulloch Gorm (old setting with variations) / Lord MacDonald / Miss Johnstone MARY MacDONALD (acc Mary Jessie MacDonald)
12    Jigs: Untitled / Untitled / Dan the Cobbler JOE MacLEAN (acc Mary Jessie MacDonald)

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL354.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS  The Music of Cape Breton vol:2 pdf booklet”]

The Cameron Men is a superb collection of classic Scots Fiddle Recordings from the Thirties. The Cameron men were a group of brothers from Kirriemuir, with a strong family tradition of fiddling. This album, derived from 1930s Beltona and Edison Bell Winner 78s, includes solo fiddle pieces by William and James Cameron, and eight supremely graceful tracks by a fiddle trio (William, James and George) with a fourth brother Stewart, at the piano.

1  Cameron Men (M162, BL2087) March, Strathspey & Reel: The Abercairney Highlanders / Ballochmyle / Speed the Plough
2  Cameron Men (M160, BL2240) Polka
3  James Cameron (M585, BL2301) The Auld Lichties [John MacFadyen of Melfort / Brig of Perth / The Earl of Crawford’s Reel]
4  William Cameron (13956, Edison Bell Winner 5428) Farewell to Gartly / Stirling Castle / Soldier’s Joy
5  Cameron Men (M166, BL2241) Miss Drummond of Perth / Maggie Cameron / The Favourite
6  James Cameron (M14673, BL1988) Jigs: The Flock and Wee Pickle Tow / The Blackthorn Stick / Teviot Brig / Humors of Donnybrook
7  William Cameron (13960, EBW 5430) Air, Strathspey & Reel: Our Highland Queen / Forth Brig / Forth Brig
8  Cameron Men (M163, BL2120) March, Strathspey & Reel: Loch Katrine / Miss Lyall / Loch Leven
9 James Cameron (M587, BL2302) Rossity Ends (A Good Going Violin Medley) [unidentified 6/8 march / Smith’s a Gallant Fireman / Pretty Peggy]
10 James Cameron (M14678, 1989) Jigs: Cumberland Reel / Father O’Flynn / Auld Brig o’ Ayr / The Wind That Shakes the Barley
11 Cameron Men (M161, BL2241) March, Strathspey & Reel: Earl Dalhousie / Lady Mary Ramsey / Soldier’s Joy
12 William Cameron (13961, EBW 5431) Jig, Strathspey & Reel: Banks O’ Allan / Craigellachie Brig / Lasses o’Stewarton
13 Cameron Men (M165, BL2217) Dashing White Sergeant / My Love She’s But a Lassie Yet / The Rose Tree
14 James Cameron (M14674, BL1974) Jigs, Strathspey & Reel: The Rakes of Kildare / Swallow Tail / The Queen’s Welcome to Deeside / The Drummer
15  Cameron Men (M159, BL2217) Circassian Circle: Original / Brechin Brig / Victoria Hornpipe
16  Cameron Men (M164, BL2120) March, Strathspey & Reel: Bonnie Ann / Bob Johnston / Bob Johnston 

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL321.pdf” title=”The CAMERON MEN pdf booklet”]

This is the second solo record featuring the singing of Lizzie Higgins, one of our finest traditional singers, recorded in 1975 at the height of her powers.

The north-east of Scotland has been known for 200 years as a region rich in tradition, and recent collecting has shown this still to be the case. Lizzie features on this record some of the big ballads for which the area is famed, such as The Twa Brothers, The Cruel Mother and The Forester. Like her famous mother, the late Jeannie Robertson, she has the grandeur to give these pieces their full majestic impact. Her father, Donald Higgins, was equally important in her musical development, for his piping had a distinct effect upon her singing style, with its fluid decoration and its expressive and commanding tone.

1    Up and Awa Wi’ the Laverock
2    Lord Lovat
3    Soo Sewin’ Silk
4    Lady Mary Ann
5    MacDonald of Glencoe
6    The Forester
7    Tammy Toddles
8    Aul’ Roguie Gray
9    The Twa Brothers
10  The Cruel Mother
11   The Lassie Gathering Nuts

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL260.pdf” title=”LIZZIE HIGGINS Up And Awa’ Wi’ The Laverock pdf booklet”]

The Cock and Bull Band were formed in 1979 from the ashes of Hemlock. Members were Brad Bradstock, John Maxwell, Jean-Pierre Rasle and Dave Whetstone. Paul Martin replaced Brad in 1980 and the band recorded this, their debut album, on Topic Records in 1981 and began their ascent in the folk festival and ceilidh world. Maxwell, Martin and Rasle then put Cock and Bull on hold for a spell in The Albion Band before returning to record and release their second Topic album, Eyes Closed and Rocking in 1985, also available as a digital download on Topic TSDL440.

1 POLKAS: Donkey Riding, Buffalo Girls
2 HORNPIPES: Portabello, Briggham
3 SONG/WALTZ: Berger, Bergère, Bourrée Berrichonne
4 JIGS: Tit for Tat, Princess Amelia’s Birthday
5 SCHOTTISCHES: Mon Rêve, William Irwin’s Quickstep
6 POLKAS: The Cockade, Corn Riggs, The Twin Sisters
7 SCHOTTISCHES: Latrigg Side, The Dorsetshire Hornpipe
8 SONG: Needle-Cases
9 JIGS: A Trip to Shorts, Lewis Castle
10 THE END: Huzza, Cock and Bull

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL421.pdf” title=”THE HEMLOCK COCK & BULL BAND  All Buttoned Up  pdf booklet”]

From the original LP notes by Neil Wayne:

In this, the sixth Topic/Free Reed release, we present a sample of the playing of eight musicians from various parts of Ireland who play the Anglo concertina.

Today, the richest store of traditional concertina playing is to be found in County Clare, and indeed five of these musicians live and work in that county. However, the instrument’s popularity has been more widespread and Mrs. O’Dwyer, who learnt to play in County Limerick as a young girl, tells of many players in that county.

Also, the instrument is regaining popularity amongst the newer generation of musicians, and we feature on the recording items from two younger Dublin concertina players.

This record, then, surveys the Irish traditional concertina styles that can be heard in and around County Clare today, and includes selections from younger musicians, as well as some of the finest traditional players of the concertina in Ireland.

1 reel King of the Clans Sonny Murray
2 set tunes No Title/Behind the Bush in Parkhanna Mrs Ellen O’Dwyer
3 jig Kit O’Mahoney’s Paddy Murphy
4 reel The Mountain Road Gerald Haugh
5 Reels Solus Lillis/Tom Carey
6 slow air The Fairy Child Michael MacAogain
7 set dance The Argrume Set Mrs Ellen O’Dwyer
8 barn dance The Barn Dance Mrs Ellen O’Dwyer
9 reels Chancy Cheory/West along the Road Sonny Murray
10 reel The Morning Dew Sonny Murray
11 reel Spike Island Lasses Sean O’Dwyer
12 jigs Jigs incl. Jenny’s Beaver Hat Mrs Ellen O’Dwyer
13 reels Toss the Feathers/Drowsy Maggie Mrs Ellen O’Dwyer
14 reel The Mason’s Apron Paddy Murphy
15 flings Sean O’Dwyer’s Fling/The Kerry Hornpipe Sean O’Dwyer
16 jig Kesh Jig Gerald Haugh
17 jig The Clare Jig (Stack’s Favourite) Solus Lillis/Tom Carey
18 air Air from Thomas Moor Solus Lillis
19 hornpipe The Fairy Hornpipe Michael MacAogain
20 March  Mrs Ellen O’Dwyer
21 set dance Mrs O’Dwyer’s Fancy Mrs Ellen O’Dwyer
22 jigs Apples in Winter Solus Lillis/Tom Carey

Produced by John Tams, Neil Wayne and Tony Engle.
First issued by Topic Records 1977.

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL1506.pdf” title=”IRISH TRADITIONAL CONCERTINA STYLES pdf booklet”]

Bonny North Tyne is a splendid collection of Northumbrian Country Music played by John Armstrong fiddle, Billy Atkinson mouth organ, Billy Conran whistle, George Hepple fiddle, Joe Hutton small-pipes and Donald Ridley accordeon. These recordings were made in Northumberland by Tony Engle and Tony Wilson in the early 1970s.

1       Tell her I am / Teviot Brig  Billy Atkinson
2       Barrington Hornpipe / Rowley Bum  Joe Hutton
3       The Rowan Tree / Jock of Hazeldean  John Armstrong & Joe Hutton
4a     Green Castle / Spot On  Billy Conroy
4b     Corn Rigs  Billy Conroy
5       Sheffield Hornpipe / Untitled Hornpipe / Miss Thompson’s Hornpipe / Liddle’s Hompipe  George Hepple & Donald Ridley
6       Hexham Races / Stool of Repentance  Billy Atkinson
7       The Wonder Hornpipe / Navvie on the line  Joe Hutton
8       The Bum Divot  George Hepple & Donald Ridley
9       Horsley Lassies / Bellingham Boat / The Howlet and the Weasel  George Hepple & Donald Ridley
10      Sir Sidney Smith’s March  John Armstrong & Joe Hutton
11      Liverpool Hornpipe / Steamboat Hornpipe  Billy Conroy
12      J B Milne/The New High Level  Billy Atkinson
13      Bonny North Tyne/The Redesdale Hompipe  Joe Hutton
14      Drink to Me Only /Will Ye No Come Back Again  John Armstrong & Joe Hutton
15      Nancy / Whinshield’s Hompipe / Whinham’s Reel  George Hepple & Donald Ridley
16      Geordie’s Jig  George Hepple
17      Jenny Bell Polka  Billy Conroy
18      Napoleon’s Grand March / Untitled March  Billy Conroy
19      The Friendly Visit / Green Castle / Lass on the Strand  Billy Atkinson
20     The Girl with the Blue Dress On / The Big Ship  George Hepple & Donald Ridley

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL239.pdf” title=”VARIOUS ARTISTS Bonny North Tyne pdf booklet”]

A former fisherman from Brighton, Johnny Doughty was discovered in his early seventies and recorded for Topic records. His songs, delivered with a vigorous sincerity that belied his age, ranged from classic Elizabethan ballads to locally composed ditties, as well as reflecting his extrovert personality.

1    Herring Heads
2    The Wreck of the Northfleet
3    When I was Single
4    The Golden Vanity
5    The Saucy Sailor
6    Baltimore
7    While Going Round the Cape/Round Rye bay for More
8    Spanish Ladies
9    The Sailor’s Alphabet
10   The Mermaid
11   Marry Me
12   I’m Going to be Mother Today
13   Barbar Allen
14   My Boy Billy
15   Dick Turpin/Let Her Go Back
16   Rye Harbour Girl
17   The Streets of Port Arthur

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL324.pdf” title=”JOHNNY DOUGHTY Round Rye Bay For More pdf booklet”]

Vera Aspey’s 1977 solo LP garnered lavish praise on release, Maurice Rosenbaum of the Daily Telegraph declaring it one of his albums of the year. A selection of mostly traditional material, with one Gary and Vera Aspey original and an Alfred Noyes poem set to the music of Phil Ochs, this album showcased Vera’s range and talent to stunning effect.

1. The Blackbird
2. Owd Betty Barlow
3. Ladybird
4. The Maypole Inn
5. The Pit Brow Lassies
6. My Johnny Was a Shoemaker
7. Coal Black Faces
8. The Highwayman
9. Shule Agra
10. Aggie Bell
11. The Sprig of Thyme

Produced by Tony Engle.

First issued by Topic Records 1977.

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL356.pdf” title=”VERA ASPEY The Blackbird pdf booklet”]

This record celebrates one of the finest folk singers of our time, Sam Larner, born in Winterton, Norfolk, in 1878. Winterton is just north of Yarmouth, on the coastal edge of a stretch of flat watery country that, half a century ago, within a few square miles, sheltered a remarkable nest of singing birds, including Harry Cox of Barton (later Catfield), Ted Goffin of Catfield, Bob Miller of Sutton, and Jimmy Sutton (called ‘Old Larpin’) of Winterton. The composer E J Moeran noted fine songs from all these men during and shortly after the first world war, but he missed Sam Larner, who was perhaps away at sea.

1. Alphabet Song
2. Merry Month of May
3. Napoleon’s Dream
4. London Steamer
5. Bonny Bunch of Roses
6. Barbara Allen
7. The Smacksman
8. The Lofty Tall Ship
9. Raking the Hay
10. Will Watch
11. The Outlandish Knight
12. Haisboro Light Song
13. Old Bob Ridley-o
14. The Bold Princess Royal
15. In Scarboro’ Town

Produced by Tony Engle.

First issued by Topic Records 1974.

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL244.pdf” title=”SAM LARNER A Garland For Sam pdf booklet”]

Barry Dransfield recorded this unusual and exciting album of fiddle music for Topic in 1978.

A professional folk singer since 1965, Barry’s first recording success came with brother, Robin, in 1970 with their Melody maker Folk Album of the year, The Rout of the Blues. He made two more albums with his brother and collaborated with Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, John Kirkpatrick and Shirley Collins on the seminal Morris On featuring his singing and fiddle playing.

1  Rattling Roaring Willie / Metal Man
2  Fiddler’s Progress
3  Who Knows Where the Time Goes? / My Lagan Love
4  Sheffield Hornpipe / Pet of the Pipers
5  Up the Aisle: Swedish Wedding March
Wedding Song / Bridie’s Wedding / Norwegian Wedding March / Wedding Morris
6  Sandy Bell’s
7  Obliged to Fiddle / Planxty Davy / Spanish Cloak
8  Bushes and Briars / Swedish Air
9  O’Carolan’s Concerto
10  Recitation upon a Gentleman Sitting on a Cremona Violin
11  Sally Gardens / Clonmel Races

Barry Dransfield : vocals, violin, cello, gimbri, bowed Appalachian dulcimer;
Robin Dransfield : vocals [2]

Recorded and produced by Nic Kinsey at Livingston Studios
First published by Topic 1978

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL386.pdf” title=”BARRY DRANSFIELD Bowin’ and Scrapin’ pdf booklet”]

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Debut recording from the LIVERPOOL SPINNERS (soon to be well-known internationally as the Spinners). This spirited collection was recorded by Bill Leader live at the folk club run by the group at Samson and Barlow’s on London Road Liverpool in 1961. Tony Davis, Mick Groves, Cliff Hall, Hughie Jones and Jacqueline Macdonald.
Songs Spun in Liverpool was first released by Topic Records in 1962.

1. Whip Jamboree
2. The Liverpool Barrow Boy
3. Hayarden
4. The Champion of the Seas
5. Judy Drownded
6. John Peel

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL069.pdf” title=”The LIVERPOOL SPINNERS Songs Spun In Liverpool pdf booklet”]

The Oldham Tinkers specialise in the local songs and ballads of their native South Lancashire, and have an immense following. All the salt and savour of Lancashire song and humour is to be enjoyed in their records. ‘For Old Time’s Sake’ their third album for the Topic record label was popular with the late John Peel. He played their material often on his BBC radio programme, especially the tall tale of ‘John Willie’s Horse’.
1  Signora
2  Eaur Joe’s Lad
3  John Willie’s Horse
4  Barefoot Days Medley
5  Lancashire Witches
6  Come Whoam to Thi Childer an’ Me
7  Johnny Bugger
8  Billy Winker
9  Bits O’ Bromley Street
10  The Condemned Cell
11  The Maypole
12  For Old Time’s Sake

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL276.pdf” title=”The OLDHAM TINKERS For Old Time’s Sake pdf booklet”]

SEAN McALOON from Co. Fermanagh and JOHN REA from Co. Antrim, were traditional musicians of choice quality. McAloon was a master of the fiddle and uilleann pipes, Rea the hammer dulcimer, and their duets on the latter two instruments are rare delights. These magnificent performances were recorded by Robin Morton (of the Boys of the Lough).

Sean McAloon Uillean Pipes & Fiddle
John Rea Dulcimer

1  Jigs: The Maid in the Meadow (dulcimer) / The Castlebar Races / Trip to the Cottage (dulcimer and concert pipes)
2  Reels: The Mountain Lark / Crooked Road to Dublin (concert pipes)
3  Jigs: Jackson’s Drum / Jackson’s Mistake / Jackson’s Coagy (dulcimer)
4  Air: Blind Mary (flat pipes)
5  Hornpipes: Madame Bonaparte / O’Dwyer’s Hornpipe (dulcimer)
6  Reels: Crowley’s No. 1 / Crowley’s No. 2 (fiddle)
7  Jigs: Moloney’s / Paddy O’Brien’s (concert pipes)
8  Reels: First House in Connaught (concert pipes ) / The Copperplate (dulcimer and concert pipes)
9  Air: An Buachaill Caol Dubh (The Dark Slender Boy) /  Slip Jig: Drops of Brandy (flat pipes)
10  Reels: Coil the Hawser / Lord McDonald’s (dulcimer)
11  Hornpipes: Alexandria’s / Higgin’s (flat pipes)
12  Reels: The Sligo Maid (fiddle) / Sheehan’s (fiddle and dulcimer)
13  Jigs: Wandering Minstrel / Katy is Waiting / The Basket of Shamrocks (dulcimer)
14  Hornpipes: Tim the Turncoat / The Quarrelsome Piper (concert pipes and dulcimer)
15  Jigs: The Old Siege of Valencia (dulcimer) / The Lark in the Morning (dulcimer, fiddle and bodhran)

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL287.pdf” title=”SEAN McALOON & JOHN REA  Drops Of Brandy pdf booklet”]

Solo recording from one of the leading figures in music from the North East of England and inded in the English folksong revival of the late twentieth century. English concertina and smallpipe maestro Alistair Anderson has been at the forefront of the performance of traditional music for over four decades. An internationally recognised ambassador for the music of Northumberland, between 1968 and 1979 he toured the world as a member of the High Level Ranters. He has an enviable reputation as a solo performer and an enthusiastic educator and folk activist. In 2006 he was awarded the prestigious Gold Medal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
1  The Hawk Polka / Thrunton Woods
2  The Keelman’s Petition / The Tipp Staff
3  La Fille de Lyon / Cotillion des Marionettes
4  Blake’s Hornpipe / President Garfield’s Hornpipe / Bonny Broom Hill
5  Felton Ionnin
6  Kriden Fair / Tich Richardson’s Favourite / Hey to the Camp / Brosehill
7  Alistair Anderson’s Favourite / Old French
8  The Belfast Hornpipe / The Prize Potato
9  The Trip to Carlisle / Corby Crag
10  Ali Anderson / Henry Atkinson
11  Blaydon Flats / Whittingham Games / James Brown
12  Derwent Water’s Bonnie Lord / The Bride’s Favourite
13  Remember Me / The Left Handed Fiddler
14  Geld Him Lasses, Geld Him / Uncle John
15  The Darkening

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL371.pdf” title=”ALISTAIR ANDERSON Corby Crag pdf booklet”]

Sarah Makem was one of the finest singers of Ulster singers. This recording made in 1967 is a fine portrait of the traditional Ulster repertoire – an area where Irish, English and Scots traditions to some extent converge. Sarah learnt her songs in the traditional way – “When I was young we used to have dances in the street to the music of a mouth organ, or if the mouth organ wasn’t available then someone had to lilt. Well, at these street dances anyone was likely to be asked for a song, so I always tried to have one or two ready and I kept learning as many as I could from my mother singing around the house.”
1  Farewell My Love, Remember Me
2  The Banks of Red Roses
3  It was in the Month of January
4  Robert Burns and His Highland Mary
5  The Factory Girl
6  The Jolly Thresher
7  Caroline and her Young Sailor Bold
8  The Wind that Shakes the Barley
9  I Courted A Wee Girl
10  A Servant Maid in Her Father’s Garden
11  Barbara Allen

[download file=”http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/TSDL182.pdf” title=”Mrs SARAH MAKEM Ulster Ballad Singer pdf booklet”]