Shirley and Dolly Collins's 1974 album Love, Death and the Lady

Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935, Hastings, Sussex, England) was a significant contributor to the English folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on piano and portative organ created unique settings for her sister's plain, austere singing style. Image File history File links Lovedeath. ... Image File history File links Lovedeath. ... Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire (Military division) The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority... July 5 is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 179 days remaining. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Shown within East Sussex Geography Status: Borough Region: South East England Historic County: Sussex Admin. ... Sussex is a traditional county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Indigenous styles of music production and performance dominated the United Kingdom until the late 1950s, when imported American rock and roll, pop-folk and rockabilly gained fans among British youth, while American roots music, especially the blues, found its own devoted fanbase. ... A portative organ (or portatif organ) was a small medieval organ carried by the performer, who manipulated the bellows with one hand and fingered the keys with the other. ...

Biography

Shirley Collins and her sister, Dolly (born 5 March 1933, Hastings, Sussex died 1995), grew up in the Hastings area of East Sussex in a family which kept alive a great love of traditional song. Songs learnt from their grandfather and from their mother's sister, Grace Winborn, were to be important in the sisters' repertoire throughout their career. Shown within East Sussex Geography Status: Borough Region: South East England Historic County: Sussex Admin. ... Sussex is a traditional county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Shown within East Sussex Geography Status: Borough Region: South East England Historic County: Sussex Admin. ... East Sussex is a county in South East England. ...

On leaving school, at the age of 17, Collins enrolled at a teachers' training college in Tooting, south London. However, in London she also involved herself in the early folk revival and in 1954, at a party hosted by Ewan McColl, she met Alan Lomax, the famous American folk collector, who had moved to Britain to avoid the McCarthy witch-hunt which was then raging in America. Lomax and Collins began a romantic relationship which led to their undertaking a folk song collecting trip in the Southern states which lasted from July to November 1959 and resulted in many hours of recordings, featuring performers such as Almeda Riddle, Hobart Smith, and Bessie Jones and culminated in the discovery of Mississippi Fred McDowell. Recordings from this trip were issued by Atlantic Records under the title "Sounds of the South" and also featured in the Coen brothers’ film Oh Brother, Where Art Thou. The experience of her life with Lomax and the making of the recordings in religious communities, social gatherings, prisons and chain gangs was described in Collins's book America Over the Water (published 2004). Tooting is a suburb in the London Borough of Wandsworth in south London. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Ewan MacColl (1915- October 22, 1989) was a Scottish playwright, poet, actor, folk-singer, and record producer. ... Lomax playing guitar, sometime between 1938 and 1950 Alan Lomax (January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an important American folklorist and musicologist. ... Red Channels; A 1950 publication documenting Communist influence in radio and television McCarthyism is the term describing a period of intense anti-Communist suspicion in the United States that lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. ... Southern United States. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Almeda Riddle (1898-1986) was an American folk singer. ... Fred McDowell (1904-1972), called Mississippi Fred McDowell was a singer and guitar player of delta blues . ... Atlantic Records (Atlantic Recording Corporation) is an American record label that operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Music Group. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a musical comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, set in Mississippi during the Great Depression. ...

Back in Britain, Collins proceeded with her own singing career, and in a series of influential albums, she helped to introduce many innovations into the English folk revival. In 1964, she recorded the landmark jazz-folk fusion of Folk Roots, New Routes, with guitarist Davy Graham. 1967 saw the essentially southern English song collection, The Sweet Primeroses, on which she was accompanied for the first time by Dolly Collins's portative organ. Hat, released in 1969 Davey Graham (originally Davy Graham, b. ...

In 1969 there was another collaboration, this time with The Young Tradition (featuring Peter Bellamy, Heather Wood and Royston Wood) and Dolly Collins, The Holly Bears a Crown. The Young Tradition Sampler, released in 1969. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Collins's seminal recording is considered by many to be Anthems in Eden, released in 1969. It featured a suite of songs centred on the changes in rural England brought about by the First World War. Dolly Collins created arrangements featuring David Munrow and various other players from his Early Music Consort. The highly unusual combination of ancient instruments included rebecs, sackbuts, viols and crumhorns and hinted that the guitar was not the only appropriate accompaniment for the folk song. Several critics have suggested that it is impossible to imagine that electric accompaniment for traditional song, as successfully purveyed by Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, could have developed quite as it did without the pioneering 'Anthems In Eden'. Anthems in Eden by Shirley and Dolly Collins Line-Up Tracks 1 to 8: Settings by Dolly Collins, directed by David Munrow. ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Franz... David Munrow (August 12, 1942 - May 15, 1976) was a musician and early music historian. ... The rebec (sometimes rebeck, and originally various other spellings) is a bowed string musical instrument. ... Four sackbutts: bass, alto, tenor, bass The Sackbut (var. ... Various sizes of viol, from Michael Praetorius Syntagma musicum (1618) The viol (also called viola da gamba) is any one of a family of bowed, fretted stringed musical instruments developed in the 1400s and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. ... Various Crumhorns The crumhorn is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Steeleye Span are a British folk-rock band, formed in 1970 and who remain active in 2006. ...

All these recordings strove to marry a deep love and understanding of the English folk music heritage with a more contemporary attitude to musical settings. Anthems In Eden was followed by Love, Death & The Lady, and No Roses, recorded in 1971 with the Albion Country Band, and a total of 27 musicians. No Roses is an album by Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band. ... The Albion Country Band were an English folk band. ...

Collins married Ashley Hutchings in 1971. He left Steeleye Span and the couple created the all acoustic Etchingham Steam Band with Terry Potter, Ian Holder and Vic Gammon. The Etchingham's repertoire was drawn from the traditional music of Sussex. With The Albion Dance Band, performing traditional material on a mixture of modern (electric) and mediaeval instruments, Collins recorded The Prospect Before Us. Ashley Hutchings (born January 26, 1945) is a folk musician. ... Steeleye Span are a British folk-rock band, formed in 1970 and who remain active in 2006. ... The Albion Country Band were an English folk band. ...

1978's For As Many As Will was the last studio album recorded by Shirley and Dolly Collins. Collins retired from public performance, although she continues to lecture and to appear on radio as an authority on traditional music. She was awarded the MBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List, announced 30th December 2006. Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire (Military division) The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority...

Influence

Both the collaboration with Davy Graham (Folk Roots, New Routes) and the Anthems in Eden album are seen as milestones in the English folk revival.

Shirley Collins's voice has a breathy, unearthly quality which alienates some people but draws in fans from unexpected quarters. The American folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs did a cover of "Just as the Tide was Turning", closely modelled on the version on the No Roses album. David Tibet of the apocalyptic folk band Current 93 released a collection of her recordings, entitled Fountain of Snow, and she sings on the track "Idumea" on the Current 93 album Black Ships Ate The Sky. 10,000 Maniacs is a US alternative band, formed in 1981 and active with various line-ups since that time. ... David Tibet (born David Michael Bunting, 5 March 1960) is a British apocalyptic folk musician and artist who founded the music group Current 93, of which he is the only constant member. ... Neofolk is a music genre comprising a wide range of late-20th-century and early-21st-century music with a vague similarity to folk music of various sorts. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Billy Bragg said of her: "Shirley Collins is without doubt one of England's greatest cultural treasures." Stephen William Bragg (born December 20, 1957), known as Billy Bragg, is an English musician renowned for his blend of folk, punk-rock, and protest music, and his poetic lyrics dealing with political as well as romantic themes. ...

Few singers of the English folk revival have attempted as much on record as Collins — an extraordinary combination of fragility and power. "I like music to be fairly straightforward, simply embellished, — the performance without histrionics allowing you to think about the song rather than telling you what to think."

Colin Meloy of The Decemberists recorded a whole EP of Shirley Collins tunes. It was sold on Meloy's 2006 spring United States tour in limited quantities. Colin Meloy, center, in a promotional photo of his band The Decemberists. ... The Decemberists are a five-piece indie pop band from Portland, Oregon, fronted by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. ... Colin Meloy Sings Shirley Collins is the tour-only EP by Colin Meloy, lead singer of The Decemberists. ...

Discography

• Sweet England (1959)
• True False Lovers (1960)
• Heroes in Love (1963)
• The Sweet Primeroses (1970)
• A Favourite Garland (1973)
• Adieu to Olde England (1974)
• A Favourite Garland
• Fountain of Snow
• The Classic Collection
• Within Sound (2003) (Box Set)

Shirley and Dolly Collins

• Power of the True Love Knot (1968)
• Anthems in Eden (1969)
• Love Death and The Lady (1970)
• For as Many as Will (1978)
• Harking Back (1979)
• Snapshots (2006)

Anthems in Eden by Shirley and Dolly Collins Line-Up Tracks 1 to 8: Settings by Dolly Collins, directed by David Munrow. ...

Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band

• No Roses (1971)

No Roses is an album by Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band. ...

The Young Tradition and Shirley and Dolly Collins

• The Holly Bears the Crown (1995)

Shirley Collins and Davy Graham

• Folk Roots, New Routes (1964)

Etchingham Steam Band (includes Shirley Collins)

• Etchingham Steam Band (1975)

References

• Shirley Collins, America Over the Water, SAF Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-946719-66-7

External links

• Shirley Collins web site