Jim wrote:
>> Was delighted to read of the ballad workshop in Lewes - hope it prospers and thrives. It was exactly what I was suggesting <<

We had sixteen participants sing ballads from blood-soaked epics to lyrical light relief (not to mention a beautiful song from Bosnia which provided a very interesting example of ornamentation). What was encouraging was that every participant had clearly thought a lot about the story their song was telling, the history behind it, and the style in which they should sing it - whether they'd found it in a book or learned it from a source recording.

Along the way we also found time to listen to recordings of Walter Pardon, Lizzie Higgins, Geordie Hanna, Bill Cassidy (whose incredible 'Pretty Polly' Jim was involved with collecting) and Phil Tanner, whose performance of 'Henry Martin' was a big ear-opener for those who hadn't heard it before. Too old at seventy-something? Pah!!

As to the merits of learning a song from Martin Carthy as opposed to Harry Cox, it's not about trying to find some 'pure form' of the song, but it is about trying to get some sense of the style in which these songs have been performed in tradition through generations before the folk revival came along. It's true that the recorded examples we have form only a snapshot, and we can't tell with certainty what singing style might have been like in 1850, but my guess is it would have sounded much more like Cox than Carthy. Does it matter? Yes, in the sense that it makes the music sound more distinct from the modern pop and rock music that most of my generation grew up with and hence, I would suggest, more interesting. There is a difference in kind between Carthy (a professional entertainer growing up in the age of mass media) and Cox, who walked miles to learn songs from singers in surrounding villages. Martin has always encouraged other singers to seek out his sources rather than copy him.

Tim Eriksen, a younger-generation master of North American traditional style who had a lot to do with the 'Cold Mountain' soundtrack, reportedly became attracted to traditional song because the singing style of the likes of Roscoe Holcombe and Lee Monroe Presnell was actually wilder than the extreme rock bands like Nirvana he was into before.