Anne Neilson -
I love listening to singers like Jeannie Robertson and Lizzie Higgins who had a far more instinctive understanding of what was appropriate, and whose range of possible ornaments was wide and varied : some effects were big and significant and used for dramatic effect (the leap up from a very short note to the main melody); some were so subtle as to be almost not there (the use of tiny little pauses or stoppages of the melody to point to what followed); the careful rationing of a slurred ascent or descent within the tune; the twiddles etc.

Yes, their singing was instinctive but that does not mean that they were not fully conscious of what they were doing. In conversations they would tell you exactly what was the best and the worst aspects of the other prominent singers in their traveller community. Their analysis was always spot on. Jeannie did have one blind spot; she thought that Belle Stewart was an awful singer (and Belle returned the compliment by telling me how terrible Jeannie was.*) The thing about the way all three of these great singers mentioned sang was that you only became aware of all the devices that Anne describes so accurately when you consciously listened out for them; most of the time you were gripped by the story.

* In writing this I am reminded of a review that I wrote back in 1999 in reviewing the album Jeannie Robertson "The Queen Among The Heather" for Rod Stradling's 'Musical Traditions' website:-


I'll finish with a little story. Earlier this year, we had Sheila Stewart staying with us. She was telling us about the album that she had just recorded for release by Topic and she showed me the order of the track listing that had been settled on. In my turn, I showed her the CD re-release of her mother, Belle's album, Queen Among the Heather on the Greentrax label. (I was surprised to hear her say that she knew nothing of the arrangement for the Topic album to be licensed and re-released). I then showed her this album, The Queen Among the Heather, released around the same time and asked her to consider what two of Scotland's great traveller singers would have said if they had been alive when these albums had come out. This greatly amused Sheila as she laughingly speculated on the comments that might have been made on both sides. I then asked her what the title of her forthcoming album was to be and she told me that this was yet to be decided. I said that it was quite common to call the album by the opening track. She looked again at the track listing and saw that the first song was called ... Queen Among the Heather. She fixed me with a stare with her penetrating black eyes and called me something that I don't care to repeat here.

I have jusr re-read the whole of that review and these sections - very relevant to this thread - jumped out at me:-

These are amongst the earliest recordings of Jeannie's and she is in great form throughout. The power and purity of her singing here is unmatched in her later recordings. The pace? Well, that has been a problem with Jeannie's singing for some people. It is the only criticism of Jeannie's singing that I am prepared to allow. Sometimes she is simply demonstrating the sheer beauty of that wonderful instrument that is her voice and the story of the song gets neglected.

.....and later....

Just why did she slow down her singing, the more she sang in public? That is the interesting question. I was taken to task earlier this year in the letter pages of fRoots magazine for suggesting that "There is no doubt that in later years, Jeannie's head was turned by the vast number of compliments that came her way from the academic community." In many ways, Jeannie was "the modest lady living a modest life" that my critic suggested, but I stand by my comments and would go further to suggest that the mountains of praise were the direct reasons for her changing and slowing her singing style. I find much to dislike in Matthew Barton's booklet notes, but I must concur when he states that "... her singing in later years became more dramatic, even operatic in scale and pathos, as she sang for a more urban, non-traveler [sic] audience. The early recordings ... heard here preserve a less assimilated but more precise and powerful style."