World Music Network's Rough Guide to English Folk delivers 15 cuts from up-and-coming contemporary folk artists along with a pair of songs from two of the genre’s legends. Concerning the latter, the Shirley Collins and Bob & Ron Copper offerings, as good as they are, seem a tad out of place here, especially considering the genre’s heavily populated 21st century rebirth (a track from someone like Laura Marling, Johnny Flynn, the Smoke Fairies, or the Unthanks would have fit nicely). That said, the collection is pretty solid, casting a wide net over the scene and reeling in some gems from the likes of vaudevillian folk collective Bellowhead (“Yarmouth Town”), spooky Glastonbury-based singer/songwriter/concertina player Emily Portman (“Tongue-Tied”), and multi-talented fiddler and Northumbrian small pipes player Kathryn Tickell (“Wedding/Because He Was a Bonny Lad”). A bonus disc, The Rough Guide to Coope, Boyes & Simpson, is also included, and features 14 classic English folk songs from the award-winning a cappella trio. by James Christopher Monger
Tracklist:
1 Bellowhead – Yarmouth Town 3:49
2 Emily Portman – Tongue-Tied 4:222
3 Ian King – Adieu To Old England 4:40
4 Kathryn Tickell – The Wedding/Because He Was A Bonny Lad 3:41
5 Pete Coe – Byker Hill 3:21
6 The Imagined Village – My Son John 6:10
7 Bob & Ron Copper – The Sweet Primroses 2:07
8 Nancy Wallace – The Welcome Sailor 3:46
9 Andy Cutting – Charlie/Come Back 3:25
10 Chris Wood – Lord Bateman 7:57
11 Eliza Carthy & Norma Waterson – Bonaparte's Lament 3:17
12 Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight – Revoiced 3:16
13 Jason Steel – The False Bride 2:55
14 The Old Swan Band – Walter Bulwer's No. 2 & 1 3:56
15 Bella Hardy – The Herring Girl 4:16
16 Shirley Collins – Just As The Tide Was Flowing 1:37
17 Dalla – Bishop's Jig/No Song No Supper 4:15
Tracklist 2 :
Bonus CD: The Rough Guide to Coope, Boyes & Simpson
1 – The Forward March 2:26
2 – Horkstow Grange 3:49
3 – Fairground Attraction 4:09
4 – Uttoxeter Souling Song 1:17
5 – Heaven's Waiting Room 4:04
6 – John Barleycorn 4:13
7 – Living It Up 4:34
8 – The Sea Must Have An Ending 4:02
9 – The River Flows 5:17
10 – Twenty-Four Seven 3:39
11 – Cold Coast Of Iceland/Three Ships 6:49
12 – Shuffling Jack 2:28
13 – Since The Exodus Began 3:26
14 – Shallow Brown 3:17
