Tanner was an invaluable source of several once popular English language folk songs, such as the Child Ballads "Barbara Allen"[1] and "Henry Martin",[2] as well as the songs "Sweet Primroses"[3] and "The Bonny Bunch of Roses",[4] all of which were recorded in the 1930s and 40s.
[5] Shortly before he died, he was featured in an article by John Ormond Thomas for Picture Post,[6] and recorded once again by the BBC.
In 1976, he was remembered in a BBC Radio 4 tribute by the Welsh radio broadcaster Wynford Vaughan-Thomas recalling "the voice of the sanest, happiest, kindest eccentric I ever knew, the voice of Phil Tanner, the Gower Nightingale".
[7] His recordings have been reissued several times, most notably on the CD The Gower Nightingale,[8] which also includes the Wynford Vaughan-Thomas radio programme.
The editor of one reissue, the eminent folklorist Alan Lomax wrote: "When Phil died, England lost her best traditional singer".