"Can anyone confirm that?"
'The Moving on Song')that's the title, was inspired by interviews with several Travellers during the making of 'The Travelling People' - I was able to listen to some of the unused material which could easily have doubled the length of the programme.
I think the most powerful influence on the song was the interview with English Traveller Minty Smith who described how the police were forcing the family to move on while she was giving birth inside the caravan - a magnificent combination of the song, Peggy's musical direction, the speaking voice and Charles' overlapping of the music/singing/talking.
As you say - the English Traveller recordings are beautiful in their own right, but it would be good to get some full songs occasionally.
Vic - yes they are well represented, but I would much rather have had a full album of either (or both even) rather than another English one - for me it a serious imbalance in the presentation of the song tradition of these islands.
Not only do they both merit one as part of 'Voice', but there is a wealth of unheard material out there to be sourced - some of the untouched ballad material is stunning.
Jim Carroll