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Unto Brigg Fair

Unto Brigg Fair

Unto Brigg Fair
Joseph Taylor and Other Traditional Lincolnshire Singers
Recorded in 1908 by Percy Grainger

Leader LEA 4050 (LP, mono UK, 1972)

Produced by Bob Thomson, Bill Leader and Dave Bland.
Notes by Bob Thomson.
Disc transfers by Bill Leader and A. F. R. Lawrence.
Cylinder transfers by The Library of Congress.
Special filtering and equalisation by Nic Kinsey, Livingston Studios and D. A. Pickett, E. M. I. Studios.
LP master cut by John Wadley, E. M. I. Studios.
Sleeve and booklet designed by Janet Kerr.
Made and printed in England by Brier Press, High Wycombe, Bucks.

Compare to this John Roberts & Tony Barrand's CD Heartoutbursts: English Folksongs collected by Percy Grainger.

Tracks

All tracks sung by Joseph Taylor (i.e. all of side 1 and tracks 1, 6 and 7 on side 2) unless another singer is noted.

Four digit numbers plus letter denote Gramophone Company matrix numbers; two and three digit numbers are Grainger cylinder numbers.

Side 1Side 2
  1. Sprig o' Thyme* (8747e)
  2. Died for Love* (8748e)
  3. Brigg Fair* (8748e)
  4. The White Hare* (8750e)
  5. Lord Bateman* (8751e)
  6. Rufford Park Poachers (8752e)
  7. The Gipsy's Wedding Day (8752e)
  8. Worcester City* (8753e)
  9. Creeping Jane* (8754e)
  10. Murder of Maria Martin* (8756e)
  11. Sprig o' Thyme* (8756e)
  1. Bold William Taylor* (2518f)
  2. Mr Thomson: Lord Bateman (95, 96)
  3. Joseph Leaning: Green Bushes (100)
  4. Joseph Leaning: The Sheffield Apprentice (100-102)
  5. George Gouldthorpe: Horkstow Grange (84)
  6. Landlord and Tenant (106)
  7. Bold Nevison (110)
  8. George Wray: Lord Melbourne (111)
  9. Dean Robinson: Bold Robin Hood (130)
  10. Dean Robinson: T'owd Yowe Wi' One Horn (131)

*First released 1908
All other titles first released 1972.

Sleeve notes by Bob Thomson

In the early years of the century a few enlightened folk song collectors took the revolutionary step of recording the actual performances of country singers and musicians, thus capturing all the idiosyncrasies of style, where before the words and music had been laboriously and relatively inaccurately transcribed on paper. The cylinder phonograph had made this huge step forward possible.

Bartok's collecting in eastern Europe is well known. Less well is the pioneer work in England by the Australian composer and pianist, Percy Grainger.

Grainger started recording on location in 1906. He visited various places in England including north Lincolnshire where he recorded several outstanding singers including Joseph Taylor whose singing of Brigg Fair was the inspiration of Delius' English Rhapsody.

Grainger revisited Lincolnshire in 1908 and in the same year brought Joseph Taylor to the studios of the Gramophone Company to make commercial disc recordings of some of his songs.

It is from these two 1908 ventures that the recordings on this LP are taken. Carefully remastered to eliminate as far as possible the technical short-comings of the period, they are not just old and rare recordings of historic interest, they are amongst the very finest performances of English traditional singing ever to be permanently collected.

The Gramophone Company recordings were made in London on July 9 and 11, 1908.

The cylinders were recorded in Brigg, Lincolnshire.
Numbers 84, 95, 96, 100, 101, 102 on May 25, 1908.
Number 111 on May 27, 1908.
Numbers 130, 131 on May 27, 1908.

Acknowledgements

Garry Gillard thanks Tony Rees and Abby Sale.