Countrystride #31: Cumbrian folk music and the Back o'Skiddaw

05/29/20 • 57 min

...in which we celebrate the folk music tradition of Cumbria on a virtual wander around the Back o’Skiddaw with local musician and academic Dr Sue Allan. As we amble from Ireby to Caldbeck, over airy Aughtertree Fell and alongside the tumbling Howk, we discuss hunting songs, learn about notorious horseman (and drinker) John Peel, delve into the history of fairs, dances and merrymeets, and sample the dialect verse of Robert Anderson, the Bard of Cumberland.

The podcast features recordings of the 'Keswick Bonnie Lasses' from Striding Edge and 'My Love she’s but a Lassie’ from the Boat Band’s ‘Trip to the Lakes’ - more details below.

The Boat Band and Greg Stephens

Greg Stephens has been researching old Cumbrian tunes since the 60's. He plays with the Boat Band, who in 2001 recorded 'A Trip to the Lakes', an album of old tunes. They recorded it to celebrate the first Duddon Valley Folk Folk festival, held when the foot and mouth lockdown was eased at the end of that disastrous summer for the valley. The record was subsequently issued by Harbourtown Records in 2009 to enormous acclaim.

The Boat Band has been playing since 1989, seventeen times at Glastonbury Festival, once at the St Kilda International Cajun Festival, and most points in between. Currently (May 2020) in lockdown like everyone else, but hoping to be playing again soon. In the Newfield Inn in the Duddon valley, or wherever.

contact: [email protected]

The podcast features recordings of the 'Keswick Bonnie Lasses' from Striding Edge and 'My Love she’s but a Lassie’ from the Boat Band’s ‘Trip to the Lakes’ - more details below.

The Boat Band and Greg Stephens

contact: [email protected]

Previous Episode

Countrystride #30: Buttermere - Tales from the secret valley

...in which we take a stroll down memory lane along that finest of lakes – Buttermere – journeying from the bluebells of Rannerdale to Gatesgarth, a farm with a remarkable history. As we wander, with Angus Winchester, Professor Emeritus in the Department of History, Lancaster University, who was bought up in Lorton Vale, we talk about fact and bloody fiction in 'the secret valley'; the tragic charms of Buttermere's famous Maid; the crucial role Gatesgarth played in establishing the Herdwick breed; and the unlikely reason behind the name Innominate Tarn.

Angus' book The Language of the Landscape is available from Handstand Press at handstandpress.net/product/the-language-of-the-landscape/

Next Episode

Countrystride #32: Lady Anne Clifford - First lady of Westmorland

...in which we explore Lady Anne's Way, the long distance trail celebrating its 25th birthday this year, with its founder, Sheila Gordon. As we stride along the airy High Way – an ancient route linking Wensleydale and Mallerstang – Sheila recounts the remarkable tale of the indomitable first lady of Westmorland, Lady Anne Clifford, and her 38-year battle to recover her lands and castles – before encountering crumbling packhorse inns, dashing highwaymen and a church that time forgot, all in the melodic company of lapwing, curlew and oyster catchers.