Old Wine New Skins / Various

A diverse roster of recording artists - spanning half a century between the oldest and youngest - have contributed contemporary interpretations of traditional English songs to a new album released as a companion piece to The Folk Handbook: Working With Songs From The English Tradition, published in the UK and US this summer by Backbeat Books. This album compiles 17 songs from the book in performances all but one of which have been recorded in recent years; many have been recorded specially for this album and thus are unavailable elsewhere. Tracks: Barbara Allen - Lucy Wainwright Roche / Long Lankin - The Devil's Interval / Geordie - Madeleine Worrall & The Greenhouse Band / The Outlandish Knight - James Raynard / O Pleasant And Delightful - Noel Harrison / Oxford City - Julie Murphy / A Blacksmith Courted Me - Lisa Knapp / John Barleycorn - Barry Dransfield / Edward - James Yorkston & The Athletes / What Is The Life Of A Man? - Michael Weston King / Little Gypsy Girl - Robin & Bina Williamson / The Bonney Labouring Boy - Sabbath Folk / Come Write Me Down - Serafina Steer / The Unquiet Grave - Circulus / The Banks Of Sweet Primroses - Tom Paxton / The Broomfield Wager - Jacqui McShee's Pentangle / Adieu To Old England - Shirley Collins.