On Thursday the 12th of March, local folk songs forgotten for more than a century will be given a new lease of life through acclaimed folk musicians Cathy Tattersfield and Jess Arrowsmith. The duo are bringing their new album of traditional Gloucestershire songs, “New Laid Eggs”, home to be performed at The Folk of Gloucester on Westgate Street.
Jess Arrowsmith is best known as a member of the folk supergroup The Melrose Quartet alongside Nancy Kerr, James Fagan and Rich Arrowsmith. Cathy Tattersfield is renowned for her sensitive adaptations of traditional music.
Many of the songs on the album are from Cathy Tattersfield’s home county of Gloucestershire and have been sourced from the GlosTrad web archive – a not-for-profit initiative to make Gloucestershire’s traditional music publicly available. Through rich harmonies, subtle arrangements and occasional fiddle, whistle and concertina, the pair aim to breathe new life into songs that have been performed seldom or not at all since their collection.
“In bringing these songs out for an airing I have, I hope, given them the chance to become more widely known. They are all, or almost all, ‘from the page’, with little or no previous recordings, so they are our ‘new laid eggs’!” says Cathy Tattersfield in the sleeve notes of the album.
The New Laid Eggs album cover with art by Cathy Tattersfield
Many of the songs provide an insight into the historical and social events of the past. In “A Sweet Country Life”, collected by Cecil Sharpe in Tewkesbury in 1908, the singer appeals to those who have chosen to migrate from the rural to urban living. “The Bonny, Bonny Boy,” the final song on the album, originated from a Mrs. Elizabeth Smithers: a resident of Tewkesbury Workhouse.
Tattersfield has also added a modern stamp to a few of the songs. Her extra verse in “Shot Like a Bird on the Tree” reflects a spate of shocking recent stories in the news. Meanwhile, “Jockey (Bring Your Fiddle)” was so riddled with innuendo that she chose to rewrite two verses with more female-empowering lyrics. (The curious will be pleased to know the original is still available on the GlosTrad archive).
People can hear these songs and the stories behind them on the 12th of March at The Folk of Gloucester, 99-103 Westgate Street. This 500-year-old historic building is set to provide the perfect backdrop for the homecoming of these songs.
Tickets for the concert are available on the Folk of Gloucester Ticketsource page.