The finest songer from east Kent was George Spicer (1905-1982) whose album on Topic 'Blackberry Fold' whould easily be one of my Desert Island disc. He was born near Ashford, moved around Kent as a farmworker, before finally crossing into Surrey and Sussex around WW2. There were also a few recordings of Jack Goodban on Topic. Other than that, the BBC, through Frank Collinson recorded many singers in the Ashford area in the days before tape recording was commonplace. Cecil Sharp House has his notebooks. I wrote a number of articles published in Bygone Kent which should be available at the town's public libraries. Simon Evans (BBC Radio Kent) may have recordings of travellers from East Kent. The Phoebe Smith CD is available from Veteran.
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