The Warlike Lads & Lasses of Europe Semi-topical folk-rock mixtape. Songs old and new. The set is  named in parody -- European people are not of course innately warlike at all! The title is a pun on the folk song The Warlike Lads of Russia , played here by Show of Hands.  The music flows and varies, alternating between the serious and uplifting with rocking tunes, ballads & laments with a historical tint. While not a purely conceptual mix, the shadow of war is never far away in 2026 as we see the Russia-phobic and anti-Iranian NATO propaganda machinery surge into overdrive again. The best that we can hope for is that they desist with the idiocracy and that the hue & cry chokes off. Many folk songs give us a window into the psyches of different wartime periods and report the various impacts conflict had on the lives of everyday people in society at large, including the adverse psychological affects simply of living in uncertainty - under the dark, suffocating cloud ...

Rugged Roads North All-era traditional & modern folk selection. Alternative versions of many well-known traditional songs line up alongside more contemporary compositions. Spotlights on Judee Sills , Pete Coe , Bob Fox & Mary Black .   ^^free stream & download^^ TAP PLAY ONCE THEN TWICE to play here or tap building icon to enter the internet archives page (and our lives) & stream or d/l^^ Highlighting outstanding tracks from the amazing self-titled Mary Black album from 1983, including her wonderful rendition of My Donald  and the very Emmylou-esque Rose of Allendale . Californian singer-songwriter  Judee Sills had a promising career cut short all too soon by her death in 1979 having released only 2 albums in 1970 & 72. Tracks on here are from that period and centre around some great demo recordings which don't suffer from the over-production that blighted her first LP. The crudely recorded North Country is very rough but is a strong song worthy o...

  Song of the Labouring Classes An ode to working class struggle, labour rights & unionisation  History and solidarity through folk music and song.  "The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor" Thomas Donahue (AFL-CIO USA 1979-95).  The trials & tribulations of the lower classes have long been well documented and the only wonder is how come we've stood for it for so long (for millennia actually). Union solidarity and industrial action has always been the sole route to improvements in living & working standards, we achieve only when we fight to demand - they ain't never gonna just hand it out on a plate. The conditions are again ripe for a renewal of class consciousness with the clear & present threat of fascist takeover and overt narcissist authoritarianism. Right now people around the world are showing a renewed interest in counter-fascist ideology as they reach the logical conclusion that radical socialism is the only alternati...

Seeya on the Allendale Road English, Scottish and Northumbrian folk ballad selection. Forgotten gems alongside some popular folk standards. Oh for the love of wor lush and native Northumbrian fells... Corbridge to Lowgate & Plankey Mill, to Allenbanks & Ninebanks then back over to Catton & bonny Allendale.  We'll meet again hinny up on the Allendale Road... ^^free stream & download^^ TAP PLAY ONCE THEN TWICE to play here or tap building icon to enter the internet archives page (and our lives) & stream or d/l^^ The Devil's Water at Dilston by Annette Bushby Featuring some largely forgotten songs from two of Yorkshire's great balladeers Dave Burland and Tony Capstick . Burland's debut album  A Dalesman's Litany was released in 1970 and is an interesting collection of old & rare ballads. He came together with Richard Thompson  in 1992 to record New Saint George , a warning about the rise of nationalist fascism. Capstick's equally absorbin...

The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry and other legendary folk ballads  Starring three amazing and very distinct versions of The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry  song, beginning with Barbara Dickson 's version from 1996, the classic cut by Judy Collins from 1962 and concluding with a mighty June Tabor interpretation from 2011. Selkies are mythological shape shifting half seal - half human hybrids from Norse and Celtic traditions. These selkie folk (Scots) who wear seal skin could be benevolent or vengeful in equal measure but could be tricked into marrying humans by the hiding of their precious seal skins. Such unions were usually deemed to have ended in tragedy. Selection of artful & fiddle-heavy folk numbers. ^^stream & download^^ TAP PLAY ONCE THEN TWICE to play here or tap building icon to enter the internet archives page (and our lives) & stream or d/l^^   Barbara Dickson  made a return to singing traditional material in the mid-90'. Tracks from her 1...

A Planxty Circle Session     Cool as Lough Erne celtic folk selection and a hats off to the legendary Irish folk group Planxty and related artists. Also features some very nice Scottish, Northumbrian and English folk songs. Like much Gaelic art, the music here has a comforting cyclical feel to it over the length of the session.   ^^stream & download^^ TAP PLAY ONCE THEN TWICE to play here or tap building icon to enter the internet archives page (and our lives) & stream or d/l^^   Big spotlight on legendary Irish folk supergroup and multi-instrumentalists  Planxty along with some of its esteemed & luminous members. Four tracks here from their classic 1970's albums with Andy and Christy alternating on lead vocals. Really chilled version of The Lakes of Pontchartrain , I just love Moore's vocal phrasing here.  Andy Irvine name his name in the 60's with folk group Sweeney's Men  , who enjoyed success on the London scene, before hooking up wi...

Everyday Folk Too International folk sampler volume two. Once again old blended with contemporary, well-known songs aside more obscure recordings.  Irish, Scottish,  English, American, Jamaican, African and Australian artists. File under Folk/World.   ^^stream & download^^ TAP PLAY ONCE THEN TWICE to play here or tap building icon to enter the internet archives page (and our lives) & stream or d/l^^ Show of Hands lead the way with some stompin' early tracks from late 80's-mid 90's. The Well  still resonates,  especially now in an era of frequent water crises. Tracks from the tremendous Linda Thompson album Won't Be Long Now  (2013). Rough music , an essential 2005 album by Eliza Carthy is pretty much a raucous  recorded jam session. Two atmospheric tracks by Richard Shindell from his 1997 Reunion Hill . Frequent Shindell collaborator Lucy Kaplansky also features with three tracks from her 2007 album Over the Hills , including Johnny Cash c...