Lodestar
On her first release for 38 years, Shirley Collins covers a collection of English, American and Cajun songs dating from the 16th Century to the 1950s. Although absent from music for some time, her influence on new artists never diminished and now it is time for another generation to hear her delightful tones.
For her first record in 38 years, the wonderful British folk singer Shirley Collins dazzles with a collection of macabre and mischievous songs from centuries past.
Also Moby & The Void Pacific Choir, Shirley Collins, American Wrestlers and Will Varley
As both a singer and an archivist, Shirley Collins is a massively important figure in British traditional folk music, but she's also been something of an enigma since she gave up performing and recording in the '80s. To take her at her word, Collins lost confidence in her ability to sing when she froze on-stage during a production at London's National Theatre. While she's made occasional appearances speaking about folk history and was persuaded to appear on some sessions by David Tibet of Current 93, it was generally believed Collins' musical career was over.
Being a song catcher is it's own art, different from being a songwriter, but quite as necessary. Shirley Collins' fifties and sixties record...
There are few, if any, who remain from the old guard of the 1960s British folk revival whose name carries the same weight as Shirley Collins. Whether
She hasn’t released an album of new material since 1978 and hardly sang for 30 years – but now Shirley Collins is back with songs full of the stark strangeness that made her early work so powerful<br>