Hi folks - yes, I've been promoting this project since we started it in 2009. All the recordings are now made, and vol.1 was released in May (and Doug at Wild Goose Records has already done a re-press). The correct website address for the project and the FULL notes on the shanties is www.umbermusic.co.uk/SSSnotes.htm (which appears in the sleeve notes) rather than the S&A projects link which is on the back of the tray! Sorry about that.

Read the website page - and we'll gladly answer any questions that arise. Volume 2 will be released in September 2011, and vol.3 next spring - that will then complete the entire repertoire of Yankee Jack - the only shantyman ever to get an obituary in The Times(UK). (except that I'm still writing a book on his life and times - researching him means we now know the ships he sailed on and the history he sailed through).

BB and I together with Jim Mageean will be giving our Short Sharp Shanties presentation at the Harwich (UK) Shanty Festival (October), and we're hoping to get over to the Mystic Festival & Symposium next year.

In the meantime, copies of vol.1 can be had from Jeff Warner in the States, from Wild Goose records wherever you are, and from most of the performers at their gigs in the UK. There will be a pre-release special offer order form for vol.2 on the website before too long.

Keep discussing - the website should answer some of the questions already raised. (Just incidentally, the Wild Goose Nation in the shanties seems to derive from the Southern States rather than from Ireland).

TomB