ö Balladeers & Performers ö Internet Ballad Resources ö Other Resources ö
As a balladeer, I like to honour my sources and influences as much as possible. If you have heard my music and want to know where I get my material from, or if you, like me, have a weakness for good ballad singers, use this page to broaden your ballad library.
If you know of anyone who you think I might like, and who isn't on my list, please let me know - admin_celtarctic@yk.com - I'm always on the lookout for new or old balladeers.
BALLADEERS AND PERFORMERS: Here's a list of my favourite balladeers and traditional musicians who have recorded albums. Those marked with a star I consider a primary source for my repertoire.
| * | Frankie Armstrong (British) | Frankie is one of main influences, next to my father and Ewan MacColl. She still sings and performs around the world. She is known for finding traditional and contemporary ballad material that focuses on the woman's perspective. |
| * | Pete Bellamy (British - deceased) | Sadly, Pete is no longer with us in body. However his songs remain with us in the several albums he came out with as a solo performer and as a member of the Young Tradition. His singing style is distinctive, and he infuses his ballads with emotion. |
| Anita Best (Canadian) | Anita is renowned not only as a quintessential Canadian balladeer, but as a collector of Newfoundland ballads and folksongs. | |
| Gordon Bok (American) | Gordon specializes in ballads and songs that focus on the fisherman traditions of small town North America. His voice is powerful and fresh. He has countless solo and group albums. | |
| Anne Briggs (British) | Anne unfortunately hasn't recorded many albums, but everything she has recorded has been stellar. She is often featured on compilation CDs with other notable British ballad singers. | |
| Duncan Cameron (Canadian) |
 Duncan is also carrying on my father's tradition. He has
come out with one solo album and two group albums (the Toronto
based 'Fig for a Kiss'), as well as participating in recordings
by other Canadian artists. Listen to his group Fig for a
Kiss here. |
|
| Dick Gaughan (Scottish) | A gifted singer and performer, Dick sings ballads effortlessly. He also sings social activist songs and plays a wicked guitar. | |
| * | Norman Kennedy (Scottish, now USA) | A recent discovery of mine, I've found Norman's ballads a real pleasure to listen to. He is expert at singing stories as though he is telling them. |
| Finest Kind (Canadian) | A Canadian trio from Ottawa, this group sings a variety of ballads and folksongs from Canada, the USA and Britain in brilliant 3-part harmony. | |
| * | Friends of Fiddlers Green (Canadian) | This group has been singing for as long as I've been alive. I grew up listening to and watching their performances. My father was once a member. They're an influence to me, not with regards to my repertoire, but to my decision to be a singer. |
| Nic Jones (British) | Like Anne Briggs, Nic recorded few albums. But what he recorded are gems. He is one of the few gifted guitarists who can also sing ballads and have the story come across first and foremost. | |
| * | Louis Killen (British) - this link works intermittently. If it isn't working try Answers.com | Louis Killen used to perform regularly at the Fiddler's Green folk club in Toronto when I was a child. His distinctive skill at telling a story in song makes him one of my most valued sources. See a listing of his CDs on Waterbug Music |
| * | A. L. Lloyd (British) | A. L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl collaborated on a number of priceless ballad recordings. His songs are often found on compilation CDs. |
| Margaret MacArthur (American - deceased) | Margaret and I had the pleasure of performing together with Paddy Tutty at a Folk Alliance conference in Vancouver. We all played Appalachian dulcimers and sang similar ballads, although we all had distinct styles. Margaret was well known as a collector of traditional songs from Vermont. | |
| * | Ewan MacColl (British - deceased) | Ewan MacColl was my father's main influence and source of traditional ballads. He and Peggy Seeger also wrote dozens of excellent contemporary ballads and political activist songs. I highly recommend anyone interested in ballads to collect MacColl's recordings. |
| * | Ed McCurdy (Canadian/US - deceased) | Most widely known for his anti-war song "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream", Ed also sang traditional ballads ranging from bawdy songs to ballads from Canadian folklorist Helen Creighton's collection. |
| Lisa Null (American) | Her recordings may be hard to find, but they are definitely worth having. I have recently come in contact with her on Facebook. She has just re-released two of her early albums. | |
| * | Ian Robb (Canadian) | Ian, a founding member of the Friends of Fiddler's Green and Finest Kind, is one of the best ballad singers in Canada. His voice and musical skill are first rate. Plus, he has an extensive knowledge of the material he sings. |
| * | John Roberts/Tony Barrand (British, now USA) | Like Louis Killen, I heard John and Tony perform several times at the Fiddler's Green folk club in Toronto. Much of my early repertoire, when I sang in the duo "Swan and the Wild Goose", came from these two. |
| * | Leon Rosselson (British) | Leon does not perform traditional music. He is a poetic songwriter and singer of political activist songs. His musical perspective on the world has deeply influenced my singing. |
| Paddy Tutty (Canadian) | Paddy hales from Saskatchewan. She sings similar material to me - not too surprising, since one of her main influences is Frankie Armstrong. Paddy and I are also akin to family - she is the sister-in-law of one of my current singing companions, Dawn Lacey | |
| Peggy Seeger (American) | Peggy is a folk music and ballad icon. She wrote many powerful contemporary ballads with her partner, Ewan MacColl. She is also a good source for traditional American ballads. | |
| Pete Seeger (American) | Like his sister, Peggy, Pete is an icon and valuable resource. He is also an inspiring activist and supporter of folk music. | |
| * | Steeleye Span (British) | One of the first bands to coin the phrase 'folk rock', I list them as a major influence because their music got me hooked on the 'spirit' of traditional ballad singing, even though they used an electric style. |
| * | Hedy West (American) | Hedy sings traditional American ballads, often accompanying herself on the banjo. When I first discovered her recordings, I learned about five of her ballads almost at once. |
| * | Dan Yashinsky (Canadian) | One of the best storytellers I know, Dan was one of the founders of the Toronto School of Storytelling and the 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling. |
INTERNET RESOURCES: There are a number of other resources available through the Internet. Here are a few of them:
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"Ballad Listserve": an American email discussion forum for people interested in ballads. The discussions tend to be very academic. To subscribe, send a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU . Leave the subject line blank. In the message body, type SUBSCRIBE BALLAD-L FIRSTNAME LASTNAME. You will then get an email confirmation request, followed by instructions on using a listserve newsgroup.
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"Mudcat Discussion Forum": an on-line forum for people interested in folk music. If you are looking for information on a song, this is the place to go. Their website also runs the ‘Digitrad Database’, a very useful free resource if you are looking for song or ballad lyrics.
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"Yet Another Digital Tradition Page": basically a copy of the Digitrad Database found on the Mudcat page, but this one doesn't include the discussion topics. Still a very quick and easy online lyric search.
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"Canadian Society for Traditional Music": the website for the organization that publishes the Canadian Folk Music Bulletin (below)
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"The Ballad Index": a very informative website dedicated to ballads.
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"The Francis J. Child website": a website containing several Child Ballads with midi files so you can hear the tunes.
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"Child Ballad Website": An extensive indexed listing of the ballads printed in the Dover edition of English and Scottish Popular Ballads Edited by Francis J. Child, Dover Edition, five volumes. This site is it is too big, and takes a long time to load properly.
OTHER RESOURCES: Books, Magazines, Recordings and Radio stations
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The Singing Tradition of Child’s Popular Ballads, Edited by Bronson; Princetown University Press (1976)
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Folk Ballads of the English Speaking World, edited by Friedman; Penguin or Viking editions (available in both)
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Folk Songs of North America, American Ballads and Folksongs, and Folk Song USA, all collected and edited by Alan Lomax
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Maritime Folk Songs, collected by Helen Creighton
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Folk Songs of Canada, edited by Edith Fowke
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Folksongs of Britain and Ireland, edited by Peter Kennedy
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Ancient Ballads Traditionally sung in New England (4 volumes), collected and edited by Helen Hartness Flanders
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Canadian Folk Music Bulletin, quarterly magazine put out by the Canadian Society for Musical Traditions. Follow the link and click on “publications”
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The Living Tradition Magazine homepage: a music magazine specializing in the traditional music scene in Scotland.
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Sing Out! Magazine: a publication that has been around for years. It has information on contemporary and traditional music from around the world, but mostly focuses on North America.
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The Alan Lomax Collection: Alan Lomax was a folklorist who published field recordings of people singing traditional music and ballads in Britain and the USA. This website has listings of his recordings, which are now available on CD.
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Springthyme Music: A Scottish website with loads of ballad recordings listed, as well as links to Loomis Press, the publisher that is republishing the Child Ballad Collections. There is also a link to a page on Francis J. Child.
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SC/CC - Storytellers of Canada: an organization that promotes and supports storytelling in Canada. One of their projects is the "Storysave" Program, which works to record the stories of elder storytellers so that the stories are not lost. When you become a member, you receive a copy of the Appleseed Quarterly, a storyteller magazine that often has info on ballads as well.
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Toronto School of Storytelling: a registered, non-profit charitable organization that supports creative work in the art of storytelling. The School publishes Appleseed Quarterly; offers courses; promotes and subsidizes the work of storytellers in education; and produces the Toronto Festival of Storytelling.
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This page has been updated April 22, 2010