When they talk about the purists that sniff at the most recent folk revival, they are also unforgiving. Waterson presses a button on the side of her reclining chair as she talks about it, and her legs lower to a sitting position, as if she is ready to pounce. The band's original members were Norma, Mike, and Elaine known as Lal Waterson, with their cousin John Harrison from Kingston High School. They had a skiffle band in the early 1960s but moved on to playing more traditional material. They were briefly known as "the Folksons". Now, for the novice: This album was a big bang 1965 Melody Maker Album of the Year that spawned Shirley and Dolly Collins’ Anthems Of Eden, No Roses by the Albion Band, Pentangle’s everything, Fairport’s Liege & Leif, Mike and Lol Waterson’s’ Bright Phoebus, Mr. Fox, Robin and Barry Dransfield, Steeleye Span, anything on the Fellside label, the Incredible String Band, Hedgehog Pie, Trees, solo singers like Vin Garbutt, Roy Harper, Pete Morton, and everything else, including my current Midwest Americana occasional craving for Marmite, a Theakston Old Peculiar, and a McVitie’s Digestive. Yeah, the village green grass is always greener.

Mike Waterson on The Watersons: For Pence and Spicy Ale (CD reissue) Shady Lady Lal & Mike Waterson: Bright Phoebus; Blue Murder on The Watersons: The Definitive Collection Al Bowlly’s in Heaven Norma Waterson: The Very Thought of You All For Me Grog The Watersons: The Watersons; In their post-court hearing press release, Celtic Music also promised a “programme of re-releases to cast new light on valuable folk music performances from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s” in 2018. It remains eagerly awaited. Holden, Stephen (7 December 1987). "Music Noted in Brief; British Folk Singing From the Watersons". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 6 January 2022.The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull in Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound comes from their closely-woven harmonies. I mention these songs at length because I want you to seek them out, play them often, listen loud, immerse yourself in their silty, bloody layers, pass them on. I want to make sure they keep living, for new fans as well as old, and that they are never lost. Oliver Knight on The Folk Collection T Stands for Thomas Lal & Norma Waterson on The Watersons: For Pence and Spicy Ale; Norma Waterson on Folk Festival Sidmouth There Are No Lights on Our Christmas Tree The Watersons: Mighty River of Song There Is a Fountain of Christ’s Blood Norma Waterson: Norma Waterson Thirty-Foot Trailer, The The Watersons: Travelling for a Living; Mike Waterson on The Watersons: Mighty River of Song Broom of Cowdenknowes, The The Watersons on New Voices;

Frost And Fire: A Calendar of Ritual and Magical Songs is re-released on 28.10.2022 on Topic Records. We thought – my generation of musicians – that we'd all get old and grey and there'd be nobody left. And then all this new generation of young musicians came up, and we all said, 'Thank God.' So if people say traditional music has got to be like that, or like that, then you're going to freeze it. You may as well put something in a museum or bury it in the ground in a time capsule and dig it up so many years later to see what it was like then. You can't do that with tradition. You have to hope each generation brings their own thing to it, so it keeps going forever." Blue Murder on The English Collection Banks of the Dee Norma Waterson: Bright Shiny Morning Barbary Allen Norma Waterson: Bright Shiny Morning Barley and the Rye, The Lal & Norma Waterson on The Watersons: Mighty River of Song Barney Lal & Norma Waterson on The Watersons: For Pence and Spicy Ale; The Watersons on The Season Round Holly Bears a Crown, The The Watersons: A Yorkshire Christmas Holmfirth Anthem, The The Watersons: The Watersons; The Watersons: Mighty River of Song Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy The Watersons: Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy;L Land Where You Never Grow Old, The Blue Murder: No One Stands Alone Leaves in the Woodland, The Norma Waterson on The Transports at Whitby Let the Bulgine Run The Watersons: Mighty River of Song Light Dragoon, The The Watersons on Folkfestival ’76 Dranouter; The Watersons – from left: John Harrison, Norma, Lal and Mike Waterson, in the studio in 1964. Photograph: Brian Shuel/Redferns Jo Freya’s Lal Waterson Project: Lal Flower of Sweet Strabane Norma Waterson: Bright Shiny Morning; What’s New for the 1st of the October: Horror, time travel, murder and fantasy, and comics journalism; personal Scandinavian jazz, ancient Persian songs, bluegrass, Americana, and a podcast; Johnny Cash on TV; chocolate and empanadas The Watersons: Mighty River of Song Wilson’s Arms Lal Waterson & Oliver Knight: Once in a Blue Moon;

What’s New for the 17th of September: WWII (and other) mysteries; jazz, Americana, Celtic music and more; Doc Martin; summer beer and ale Many of the songs were suggested to the band by A.L. Lloyd, the self-taught folklorist who went on to become co-founder and artistic director of Topic Records and co-compile The Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs with Vaughan Williams. Mike Waterson once called him “a guru to us”; Lloyd also directed the subject matter of their songs. “We sang one and he said, ‘Mm, we shan’t use that one. It’s too subservient.”The Watersons perform in the original classic lineup – Lal, Mike and Norma Waterson and John Harrison.

Norma Waterson on The Watersons: Mighty River of Song Cold Coasts of Iceland Coope Boyes & Simpson: Twenty-Four Seven Columbine Lal Waterson & Oliver Knight: A Bed of Roses; Original members were Norma, Mike, and Lal Waterson, with their cousin John Harrison from Kingston High School. They had a skiffle band in the early 1960s but moved on to playing more traditional material. They were briefly known as "The Folksons".The Watersons: Mighty River of Song Sweet Loving Friendship Mike and Norma Waterson on Peter Bellamy: The Transports Sweet William The Watersons: Mighty River of Song Swinton May Song The Watersons: For Pence and Spicy Ale Blue Murder on The Watersons: Mighty River of Song Idumea The Watersons: Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy; This latest version comes in a sleeve which is a replica of the original, with minor adaptations, complete with the original sleeve notes from A.L.Lloyd. For many, however, the fact that this vinyl edition has been re-cut at 45 rpm will be the most important factor. I am no sound expert, but having consulted producer and mastering maestro Tony Poole he confirms the fact that 45rpm will always be higher fidelity than 33 and a third, and the fact that each side of the album is less than 20 minutes long means optimal quality, notwithstanding the fact that the entire album only has vocal information and no bass or instruments which would need compressing. Norma’s family band, the Watersons, helped to spearhead the folk revival in the 1960s, playing London’s Royal Albert Hall and touring across the UK. She managed them, prioritising the values of real life above any professional commitments: one week of gigs were always followed by a week off so they could practise together, read books, and spend plenty of time with their children. Her younger sister Lal, brother Mike and she were its core, and they sang together as they had ever since they were children (they were brought up by their grandmother, from a Gypsy family, after their parents died young). Their voices had a bone-jolting beauty together: the title of their first album, Frost and Fire, conveyed their elemental power, as did the ballads they chose to sing on it. Lal Waterson: Teach Me to Be a Summer’s Morning Another Time Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight: The Days That Shaped Me Apple Tree Wassail The Watersons: For Pence and Spicy Ale;