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The Roving Journeymen

The Roving Journeymen (Topic 12T84)

The Roving Journeymen
English Traditional Songs sung by Traditional Singers
The Willett Family

Topic Records 12T84 (LP, UK, 1962)
Topic Records TSDL084 (digital download, UK, January 2010)

Recorded by Bill Leader and Paul Carter in the singer's home on a caravan site near Ashford, Middlesex in 1962;
Edited by Paul Carter;
Photograph and sleeve design by Brian Shuel

Musicians

Tom Willett (1878-19xx) with his sons Chris and Ben Willett, unaccompanied vocals

Tracks

Side 1Side 2
  1. [Tom] Lord Bateman (6.50)
  2. [Tom] The Blacksmith Courted Me (3.15)
  3. [Ben] The Little Ball of Yarn (2.56)
  4. [Tom] Died for Love (3.42)
  5. [Chris] The Rambling Sailor (5.24)
  1. [Tom] Riding Down to Portsmouth (3.44)
  2. [Chris] As I Was Going to Salisbury (0.56)
  3. [Tom] The Roving Journeyman (1.58)
  4. [Chris] The Roving Journeyman
  5. [Tom] While the Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping (2.51)
  6. [Chris] The Old Miser (6.49)
  7. [Tom] The Game of Cards (5.36)

All songs trad.

Review

This review is from Gramophone, September 1963:

… If The Iron Muse deals with the world of industry, The Roving Journeymen (12T84), the work of the Willett Family–Tom, Chris and Ben–moves out into the countryside, presenting unaccompanied singing by three members of a gypsy family. Once again, A. L. Lloyd has provided detailed and exceptionally valuable notes. The fact that the songs are all unaccompanied and that they were recorded at Tom Willett's home (at one point a female voice can be heard saying: “You make him drunk, he'll sing better”) may suggest that this is an LP for the specialist. I think this is probably true. The collector who just wants to hear good folk-songs well sung is likely to find this record a trifle austere. For the enthusiast, however, it is of enormous interest. Tom Willett (84 years old) performs a variety of songs, many of them previously undocumented, including a lengthy version of Lord Bateman and a very moving lovesong, The Blacksmith Courted Me.

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Other records with the Willett Family

Various Artists, You Never Heard So Sweet (The Voice of the People Vol. 21), CD, Topic TSCD671, 2012