Rick wrote "even if the original asker may have been scared off": no, I've just been disconnected for a couple of days. GUEST asked me "WHY do you ask?": I've been unable to find any useful introductory articles about English folk on the Internet, so I thought it might be a good idea to ask you lot (and it was).

Meanwhile I've been listening to "Folk Songs" by Alfred Deller on Harmonia Mundi, which is all I've got to hand at the moment. I guess Deller's style is best defined as an early attempt to recreate the vocal music of the Elizebethan court? It's certainly not a popular folk style. But it's got some very beautiful songs, including Barbara Allen, Lord Randall (Scots origin?) and She Passed Through the Fair (Irish origin?). It also has a song with a tune very like Monty Python's "I'm a Lumberjack", I'm sorry I can't remember what it's called.

I shall print out this thread and study it conscientiously: very many thanks! And I'll certainly try to find Searching for Lambs, which seems to be just about everybody's favourite!

Ben