- For the former MPP, see Shirley Collins
(politician)
Shirley and Dolly Collins's 1974 album Love, Death and the
Lady
Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935, Hastings, Sussex, England) was a
significant contributor to the English
folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. She often performed and recorded
with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on piano and portative
organ created unique settings for her sister's plain, austere singing
style.
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Contents
- 1 Biography
- 2 Influence
- 3 Discography
- 3.1 Shirley
and Dolly Collins
- 3.2 Shirley
Collins and the Albion Country Band
- 3.3 The
Young Tradition and Shirley and Dolly Collins
- 3.4 Shirley
Collins and Davy Graham
- 3.5 Etchingham
Steam Band (includes Shirley Collins)
- 4 References
- 5 External
links
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Biography
Shirley Collins and her sister, Dolly (born March 5 1933, Hastings, Sussex died 1995), grew up in the Hastings area
of East Sussex in a family which
kept alive a great love of traditional song. Songs learnt from their
grandfather and from their mother's sister, Grace Winborn, were to be
important in the sisters' repertoire throughout their career.
On leaving school, at the age of 17, Collins enrolled at a
teachers' training college in Tooting, south London. However, in London she also involved
herself in the early folk revival and in 1954, at a party hosted by Ewan
MacColl, she met Alan Lomax, the famous American folk
collector, who had moved to Britain to avoid the McCarthy
witch-hunt which was then raging in America. Lomax and Collins began a
romantic relationship which led to their undertaking a folk song
collecting trip in the Southern states which lasted
from July to November 1959
and resulted in many hours of recordings, featuring performers such as Almeda
Riddle, Hobart
Smith, and Bessie Jones and culminated in the discovery of Mississippi Fred McDowell.
Recordings from this trip were issued by Atlantic
Records under the title "Sounds of the South" and also featured in the Coen
brothers’ film Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.
The experience of her life with Lomax and the making of the recordings
in religious communities, social gatherings, prisons and chain gangs
was described in Collins's book America Over the Water
(published 2004).
Back in Britain, Collins proceeded with her own singing
career, and in a series of influential albums, she helped to introduce
many innovations into the English folk revival. In 1964, she recorded
the landmark jazz-folk fusion of Folk Roots, New Routes,
with guitarist Davy Graham. 1967 saw the essentially
southern English song collection, The Sweet Primeroses,
on which she was accompanied for the first time by Dolly Collins's
portative organ.
In 1969 there was another collaboration, this time with The
Young Tradition (featuring Peter Bellamy, Heather Wood
and Royston Wood) and Dolly Collins, The Holly Bears the Crown.
Collins's seminal recording is considered by many to be Anthems
in Eden, released in 1969. It featured a suite
of songs centred on the changes in rural England brought about by the First
World War. Dolly Collins created arrangements featuring David
Munrow and various other players from his Early
Music Consort. The highly unusual combination of ancient instruments
included rebecs,
sackbuts,
viols and crumhorns and
hinted that the guitar was not the only appropriate accompaniment for
the folk song. Several critics have suggested that it is impossible to
imagine that electric accompaniment for traditional song, as
successfully purveyed by Fairport Convention and Steeleye
Span, could have developed quite as it did without the pioneering
'Anthems In Eden'.
All these recordings strove to marry a deep love and
understanding of the English folk music heritage with a more
contemporary attitude to musical settings. Anthems In Eden
was followed by Love, Death & The Lady, and
No
Roses, recorded in 1971 with the Albion
Country Band, and a total of 27 musicians.
Collins married Ashley Hutchings in 1971.
He left Steeleye Span and the couple created
the all acoustic Etchingham Steam Band with Terry Potter, Ian Holder and Vic Gammon. The Etchingham's repertoire
was drawn from the traditional music of Sussex. With The
Albion Dance Band, performing traditional material on a mixture of
modern (electric) and mediaeval instruments, Collins recorded The
Prospect Before Us.
1978's For As Many As Will was the last
studio album recorded by Shirley and Dolly Collins. Collins retired
from public performance, although she continues to lecture and to
appear on radio as an authority on traditional music. In 2004, she was
awarded a Gold Badge by the English Folk
Dance and Song Society and became patron of the South East Folk Arts
Network in 2006[1]. She was awarded the MBE for services to
music in the Queen's New Year's Honours List, announced 30th December
2006. On 14th April, 2007, she was awarded an Honorary Degree by the
Open University, for a "Notable contribution to education and culture".
With actor Pip Barnes, she tours with her three illustrated
talks "America over the Water" (about her field trip in the Southern
States of America with Alan Lomax), "A Most Sunshiny Day" (about the
traditional music of England and Sussex in particular) and "I'm a
Romany Rai" (about the Gypsy singers and songs of Southern England).
Influence
Both the collaboration with Davy Graham (Folk Roots,
New Routes) and the Anthems in Eden album
are seen as milestones in the English folk revival.
Shirley Collins's voice has a breathy, unearthly quality which
alienates some people but draws in fans from unexpected quarters. The
American folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs did a cover of "Just
as the Tide was Turning", closely modelled on the version on the No
Roses album. David Tibet of the apocalyptic
folk band Current
93 released a collection of her recordings, entitled Fountain
of Snow, and she sings on the track "Idumea" on the Current
93 album Black Ships Ate The Sky.
Billy Bragg said of her:
"Shirley Collins is without doubt one of England's greatest cultural
treasures."
Few singers of the English folk revival have attempted as much
on record as Collins — an extraordinary combination of fragility and
power. "I like music to be fairly straightforward, simply embellished,
— the performance without histrionics allowing you to think about the
song rather than telling you what to think."
Colin
Meloy of The Decemberists recorded a whole EP of
Shirley Collins tunes. It was sold on Meloy's 2006 spring United States
tour in limited quantities.
Discography
- Sweet England Argo
(1959)
- False True Lovers Folkways
(1960)
- Heroes in Love Topic EP
(1963)
- The Sweet Primeroses Topic
(1970)
- A Favourite Garland Gama
(1973)
- Adieu to Olde England Topic
(1974)
- Fountain of Snow Durtro
- The Classic Collection
Highpoint
- Within Sound Fledg'ling
(2003) (Box Set)
Shirley and Dolly Collins
- Power of the True Love
Knot Polydor (1968)
- Anthems in Eden EMI Harvest
(1969)
- Love Death and The Lady EMI
Harvest (1970)
- For as Many as Will Topic
(1978)
- Harking Back Durtro
(1979)
- Snapshots (2006)
Shirley Collins and the Albion
Country Band
The Young Tradition and Shirley
and Dolly Collins
- The Holly Bears The Crown
Fledg'ling (1969/1995)
Shirley Collins and Davy Graham
- Folk Roots, New Routes Decca
(1964)
Etchingham Steam Band (includes
Shirley Collins)
- Etchingham Steam Band
Fledg'ling (1975)
References
- Shirley Collins, America Over the Water,
SAF Publishing, 2004. ISBN
0-946719-66-7
External links
