Shirley Collins
She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on piano and portative organ created unique settings for Shirley's plain, austere singing style.
[6] In 1954, at a party hosted by Ewan MacColl, she met Alan Lomax, the American folk song collector, who had moved to Britain to avoid the McCarthy witch-hunt, which was then raging in America.
It resulted in many hours of recordings, featuring performers such as Almeda Riddle, Hobart Smith, and Bessie Jones, and is noted for the discovery of Mississippi Fred McDowell.
The experience of her life with Lomax, and the making of the recordings in religious communities, social gatherings, prisons and chain gangs was described in Collins' book America Over the Water (published 2005).
[12] She also proceeded with her singing career, appearing on three compilations albums (A Jug of Punch, A Pinch of Salt and Rocket Along) in 1960[13] and an EP, Heroes in Love, in 1963 (now included with False True Lovers on the CD release).
[11] 1967 saw the essentially southern English song collection, The Sweet Primeroses, with Collins accompanied for the first time by her sister Dolly's portative organ.
[5]: 186 He left Steeleye Span that year and he and Collins assembled the first incarnation of the Albion Country Band to accompany her on the 1971 album No Roses, with a total of 27 musicians participating over numerous sessions.
The bulk of the musicians became The Albion Dance Band, performing traditional material on a mixture of modern (electric) and early music instruments, with Collins on vocals.
In 1993 David Tibet of the apocalyptic folk band Current 93 released a collection of her recordings, entitled Fountain of Snow, on his Durtro label.
[17] In 2009 Topic Records included in their 70-year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten two tracks from The Sweet Primeroses: "All Things Are Quite Silent" and "The Rigs of the Time".
In 2013, Collins appeared on Justin Hopper's text composition, "Fourth River: Ley Line", to be released on the Contraphonic Sound Series.
[18] On 8 February 2014, at Union Chapel, Islington in London, Collins sang for the first time for many years, performing two songs; "All the Pretty Little Horses" and "Death and the Lady".
[19] Earning two BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominations for the work, considered her best by some, she found this late success highly improbable, saying: "I never believed it could happen.
In a five-star review, The Guardian described it as "...a more confident follow-up [to Lodestar]", saying: "The veteran singer's comeback really takes wing with this impeccably judged set".
[22] In August 2023 Collins was the guest for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, where her choices included "61 Highway Blues" by Mississippi Fred McDowell, "A Heart Needs A Home" by Richard and Linda Thompson and "The Birds in the Spring" by the Copper Family.
I thought, 'is this a wind-up?’”[9] The American folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs did a cover of "Just as the Tide was Flowing", closely modelled on the version on the No Roses album.
