Week 17, and here are the last two Christmas songs from 52fs (although there may be an Epiphany song or two coming up). There's also a personal connection between these two songs, as they both fired up (or rekindled) an interest in folk music.

In Dessexshire as it befell is one of the strangest and most chilling traditional songs you'll hear, at Christmas or any other time. James Yorkston's version, which I heard nearly eight years ago, was one link in a chain that led me to seek out the work of Anne Briggs, Nic Jones, Shirley Collins... My version features five melodica tracks and (counts on fingers) nine vocal tracks. It gets a bit creepy towards the end.

Some years earlier, Gaudete was one of the songs that got me into the whole thing in the first place (and I still count Below the Salt as a fine album). Unlike the self-written harmonies on
Dessexshire, all the parts here are as written: seven vocal tracks (singing four different lines), plus some whistle.

52 Folk Songs is at http://www.52folksongs.com.