THE RISE OF THE SHANTIES – NEW BOOK 'SAILOR SONG' Review by Alex Gallacher 21 January, 2021 folkradio

The British Library has announced the publication of Sailor Song – The Shanties and Ballads of the High Seas by Gerry Smyth, a Professor of Irish Cultural History of Liverpool John Moores University. Originally planned for publication in April, the publication date has been brought forward to today.

Prof Gerry Smyth; I was born and grew up in Dublin. After working in Spain for five years as a professional musician, I moved to Liverpool in 1986 where I took a degree in 'Literature, Life and Thought' at the Polytechnic, before going on to do an MA in Cultural Studies at the University of Lancaster, and a PhD at the University of Stafford.

I combine my academic and pedagogic interests with various musical and theatrical activities. I have research interests in Irish literary history, James Joyce, modernism, music and literature, posthumanism and ecocriticism, and would welcome inquiries for doctoral research in any of these areas.

Wikipedia; Under the name Gerry McGowan, Smyth has released a number of albums of progressive folk music: The Colour Tree (2003), riverrun (2005), and The Usual Story (2008). He has also recorded and released three albums of Liverpool-related shanties: Roll & Go: Songs of Liverpool and the Sea (2009); Across the Western Ocean (2011) - this being a compilation of songs by various musicians from Merseyside performing shanties and ballads associated with Liverpool in aid of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute station in Hoylake, Merseyside; and Sailor Song (2017), with Wallasey-based folk group Reckless Elbow.

He now runs the LJMU shanty choir, Anti-Shanty, who have performed at the Liverpool River Festival and at the Launch of the LJMU Institute for Literacy and Cultural History at Tate Liverpool on the city's Albert Dock.
Smyth has since been commissioned by the British Library to write a book on the shanty entitled Sailor Song, due for publication under the library's commercial imprint in 2020.