Thanks again for tuning in to the Old Songs Podcast, not just to this episode but to the 20-odd that have gone before it. It has been a pleasure recording them, and my huge thanks go out to the English Folk Dance and Song Society for their help and support in creating the latest series.
Today, I’m talking to broadside ballads singer, Jennifer Reid. Although Jenn has been involved in researching and singing these songs for a decade, I’m ashamed to say that she only turned up on my radar when she appeared as the ballad-singing bar owner, Barb, in the recent BBC adaptation of The Gallows Pole. I’ve since discovered that she’s a force to be reckoned with – one of the most passionate proponents of old songs that I’ve so far had the good fortune to meet.
In this conversation, we discuss her background with broadsides, their history, what a ballad hawker might have been, who might have been singing these songs and why, and how Jenn ended up singing unaccompanied traditional songs to a Pulp audience at the behest of Jarvis cocker. Along the way, we chat a little about one of her favourite ballads, ‘The Bury New Loom’ [Roud V9197]. Pull your ear goggles on and let’s get underway.
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The Old Songs Podcast is supported by the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
‘Bury New Loom’ podcast notes
Links
Track listing
- ‘New Bury Loom’, performed by Horden Raikes (1972)
- ‘Old Simon the King’, performed by Jennifer Reid as part of The Gallows Pole (BBC, 2023)
- ‘The New Bury Loom’, performed by Jennifer Reid (2023)
