Dare I suggest . . . . . ????

Roud, Steve. Folk Song in England. London: Faber & Faber, 2017 ISBN 9780571309719

Reviews cited by Amazon:

[A] monumental history of the English folk song. (Kathryn Hughes Guardian)

A remarkably interesting study of this lesser known corner of England's past. He is perhaps the best person to do so, as the creator of the Roud Folk Song Index and an expert on folklore and superstition . . . Roud has done an admirable job pulling together an insightful history - especially considering the difficulty of finding sources for long forgotten social history. Society's elites have no place in this book, in this record of ordinary people, through the unusual prism of folk music. That alone is to be lauded. (Big Issue)

A fascinating tour d'horizon of folk song in all its multifarious contexts . . . Celebrates the sustaining power of song for all those who were making gloves, plaiting straw, picking hops, breaking stones or fighting in the muddy, bloody trenches of Flanders. (Economist)

Roud plots a clear narrative from before the Civil War through to the twentieth century . . . His keen eye for accuracy means the book maintains an impressively clear head throughout . . . The book's welcome sense of humour and clarity means it can be read on several different levels - offering profiles and overviews woven in with enough detail to please the most ardent song collector. After a while, although the title Folk Song in England originally sounds quite lofty, it begins to seem rather modest. There's a whole world in here. (Tessa Norton Wire)

Steve Roud's stunning new tome is a serious and in-depth investigation into our sceptred isle's folk music history; a history filled with mystery, gaps and a million lost songs. Painstakingly researched and handsomely presented, Folk Song in England not only tells the story of the folk music tradition but provides context for the wider social history that provided the backdrop to its development . . . Folklorist Roud clearly knows his stuff and loves his subject, and has cast his net wide in order to provide this definitive history. (Loud & Quiet)

The plain truth is that there won't be a better or more important book about English folk song in any of our lifetimes. (Stephen Hunt fRoots)