Songs sung to Sharp - from Martin Simpson and Thomm Jutz

Thanks to John Lawless on Bluegrass Today for news of a project that should be a classic for anyone interested in the links between the folk music of these islands and Appalachia. Topic Records, the venerable UK folk music record company, will release four weeks from today (29 Sept.) the album Nothing but Green Willow: the songs of Mary Sands and Jane Gentry.

English folk singer Martin Simpson and German-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Thomm Jutz combine in their settings of some of the songs that Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles collected in the Appalachians in 1916-18, the first instalment being published as English folk songs from the Southern Appalachians (1917). A video of a song from the album, 'Edwin in the lowlands low', sung by Tim O'Brien, is on Bluegrass Today and on YouTube. The first single released by Topic, however, is of Cara Dillon singing 'Come all you fair and tender ladies', which can be heard on the Topic website and on YouTube. In another Topic video from YouTube, Simpson and Jutz talk about the origins of the project.

It should be recognised that Sharp and Karpeles went to Appalachia because Olive Dame Campbell, who had already been collecting songs there, was able to show Sharp evidence that the mountain people had the old songs that he was looking for. Her name is on the title page of the 1917 collection, as it includes songs she had collected. The BIB has published several posts concerning Cecil Sharp, which can be found by clicking on the label 'Cecil Sharp' at the foot of this post.

© Richard Hawkins