#Silly Sisters #Maddy Prior #June Tabor #Steeleye Span #folk #British folk #traditional #a capella #1970s
Silly Sisters is a collaboration between Maddy Prior, vocalist of Steeleye Span, and June Tabor, the queen of British folk. Originally formed in 1976, during a hiatus in Steeleye Span's recording activity, the "group" was more or less a glorified excuse for a hootenanny, with two of Britain's finest female folk vocalists (Prior from the more "progressive" camp and Tabor from the more "trad") teaming up for rousing versions of traditional ballads and rave-ups. On the 1977 album, Silly Sisters, they were joined by Steeleye Span's Martin Carthy (later associated with the Pogues) among a host of other capable musicians. Most often, either Prior or Tabor takes a "lead" role in a song, with the other providing backup, but on a few tracks, like "My Husband's Got No Courage In Him", a harrowing (from the male perspective) a capella lament, they both shine equally alongside each other.
"Four Loom Weaver" (Traditional) A song about unemployment in the nineteenth century, possibly dating from 1819-20. First recorded by Ewan MacColl in 1951.
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_Sisters_(album)
Ewan MacColl was one of the key architects of the post-war British folk-song revival, and a dominant but controversial figure in its development for decades. A lifelong communist, his initial passion was workers' theatre, and in a series of influential groups throughout the 1930s and 1940s, culminating with the Theatre Workshop, he became well known in left-wing drama circles as actor, producer, writer, and propagandist. MacColl moved away from the theatre after the Second World War, although his expertise in dramatic production never left him and imbued much of his subsequent work. In the early 1950s, at the suggestion of American folklorist and collector Alan Lomax, MacColl teamed up with A. L. Lloyd and others to found the new British folk-song revival movement. The timing was perfect. By means of the Ballads and Blues club (which later became the Singers' Club), radio programmes for the BBC (including drama-documentaries in which MacColl's theatrical experience was evident), articles, innumerable concerts, talks, LP records, appearances at Trade Union meetings, clubs, and other venues, they laid the foundations for a highly successful national movement. From: https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100121901;jsessionid=7B9810173FE95C1CC067432EEE42B223
