The suggestions from Peter from Essex are excellent (and the Fred Jordan Veteran double CD is out, see here.. But they would represent a massive outlay for Banjoman who just might not (I'm only going by his handle) be totally into English traditional song.

If, however, he is then I would also recommend the Child Ballads on CD-rom and Song Links, A Celebration of English Traditional Songs and their Australian Variants for starters.

After that, it really depends on how much dosh he has available. A shortlist of just a few released in the past year or so would include Wood & Cutting, Spiers & Boden, Dr Faustus, Kerr & Fagan, Demon Barbers, Witches of Elswick, Jim Moray, Mary Humphreys & Anahata, & Magpie Lane.

This, of course, leaves aside obvious must-haves like the entire Martin Carthy, John Kirkpatrick, Peter Bellamy, Pete Coe, Tony Rose etc etc back catalogue... I'm going to stop here becuse the more I mention, the more I'm going to offend by omission. And I've not even started on dance music yet...

And maybe not even on the genre Banjoman prefers. I think he needs to decide on that first unless funds are unlimited and tastes eclectic...