Blind Will, are you in North America? (It might help those answering your questions to know what your background of understanding might be.)

Here are a few comments:

1. What are some examples of traditional English music?
Hitting the big names-- As recorded in the past: Sam Larner, Walter Pardon, Bob Hart, Harry Cox are all classic names. Currently performing doing primarily traditional English music are Waterson:Carthy, (and its components, Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy, and Norma Waterson, individually and with others) Spiers & Boden, Alistair Anderson, John Kirkpatrick among others.

2. The classic example of folk rock based in English trad (at its peak in the 70s) is Steeleye Span. I don't know if there's a modern equivalent involving songs. There are some bands that specialize in dance tunes that push the envelope, such as Whapweasel, but I don't follow that as closely. (And some debate how English their music is: see this thread. ;-)

#3 & 4 -- I'm afraid that my difficulty with responding to this (other than knowing that there are others here who can speak more knowledgeably on the topic!) is that the term "celtic" is such a lumping term, meaning, it lumps together Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and often more, including Breton and other music. My personal opinion is that there's as much difference among those musical cultures as there is between any of them and English music.

And on #4, it's clear that lots of songs and tunes have wandered north and south and back and forth around the isles. I don't have a prime example on the tip of my tongue (tips of my fingers, in this case??) this very moment, but I have no doubt of it.

As a US fan of English trad, the underdog trad -- woo-hoo! -- I'm happy to have you make the inquiries, since it sounds like you're a newbie to the topic. Do some listening and have a good time at it!



~ Becky in Tucson