PART 1: The Older Stratum
Compiled and introduced by A. L. LLOYD with JACK. JOHN, PETER, and PAT ELLIOTT
JOHN PANDRICH , JOHN REEVEY
LOU KILLEN , COLIN ROSS and the BIRTLEY FOLK SONG CLUB
Produced by DOUGLAS CLEVERDON
In the last hundred years the creation of folk song in England has passed almost entirely from the rural countryside to the industrial areas. As in other parts of Europe, a rich and flourishing tradition of industrial folk song is found among the miners, particularly in Northumbria. This, the first of two programmes recorded in the mining village of Birtley, Co. Durham, is concerned with the earlier songs, culminating In the fierce strike-ballads of the 1880s.