Coming only recently to this excellent community I know that my posting here is a bit after the horse has bolted, but still… And what follows just shows the fun you can have with spreadsheets!

The Riverside ballads set by Lloyd and MacColl does occasionally turn up for sale, but in the guise of the Washington re-issues, usually. The individual discs go for around $30. I last saw a complete set about two years ago. It was certainly an interesting and enterprising project. There were 69 Child ballads – Lloyd did 27, and MacColl 42. Of MacColl's 42 only six were unique to this collection. (I base this on having 90% of his vinyl albums, so I suspect it is correct as of the other 10% only two are likely to have any ballads on them. I may be wrong, of course. Perhaps other MacColl enthusiasts – Abby Sale, John Ross – could correct me.) But those six are certainly worth seeking out: Rob Roy McGregor, The Heir of Linne, The Earl of Aboyne, Hind Horn, The Jolly Beggar, My Son David. Bert Lloyd's 27 were a different kettle of fish! I have only found 5 of them on other albums.

So, with my spreadsheet suddenly whirring with COUNTIFs, I thought I would do a little survey of Who's Who in Recorded Balladry, mainly as it is represented in my collection, but with some speculation (Anyone who can reduce the speculation please let me know.) These are my Top Twelve English and Scottish ballad singers, pop pickers:

1. Ewan MacColl: 106 Child ballads recorded, in 136 variants. 2. Martin Carthy: 42, in 48 variants. (I think he did others with the Watersons, such as The Prickly Bush, so we could be generous and say 43!) 3. Bert Lloyd: 32, in 33 variants (Two versions of The Grey Cock). He may have done more, such as on the Collector EP "England and Her Folksongs".Anyone know?) 4. Jean Redpath: 25, and there may be others on her earliest recordings, such as The Scottish Ballad Book, which I don't have. 5. Shirley Collins: 24, I think, but I'm not sure. This is based on a count of the tracks listed on Rufus' website, www.sarcon.demon.co.uk/engfolk/21 6. Nic Jones: 18, again based on a count at Rufus's. People tend to look at me strangely when I say I have no Nic Jones records. Maybe I should correct that. (Can someone tell me what family of ballads Annachie Gordon belongs to?) 7. June Tabor: 12, plus others on her latest recordings? This includes an excellent Gypsum Davey recorded off the BBC, and I don't think available on disc. 8. Dick Gaughan: 12, and probably no higher as Dick has favoured different kinds of stories of late. 9. Tony Rose: 12, and maybe some on Bandoggs, dunno. 10. Roy Williamson: 10, but hacked about a bit more than is seemly. 11. Cyril Tawney: 10, I think, based on Rufus' discography. 12. Archie Fisher: 9

Number one with a bullet, or should that be a broadsword?, stateside is Peggy Seeger, with 62 Child ballads in 108 variants. Jean Ritchie's two albums might well put her into second place, but I had to sell them long ago!

I have a total of 142 ballads, in umptyplonk variants, and 519 separate recordings. Contra Bronson, Barbara Allen falls into the also-rans in the popularity stakes among Revival singers, with a mere seven recordings. Way out in front, and leading by a long neck (sic), is The Gypsy Laddie with twenty recordings, although seven of those are of the familiar Scottish version.