Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Bellowhead - Fakenham Fair
2. Julie Fowlis -Lon-Dubh/Blackbird
3. Jim Moray - All You Pretty Girls
4. Chris While & Julie Matthews -Together Alone
5. John McCusker - Jack Seward's /Boys Of The Puddle
6. Chris Wood - Come Down Jehovah
7. Eliza Carthy - Mr Magnifico
8. The Shee - Chilly Winds
9. Tom McConville - Pretty Fair Maid
10. Faustus - The Hostesses Daughter
11. Jackie Oates - The Lark In The Morning

Disc 2:

1. Karine Polwart - Sorrowlessfield
2. The Demon Barbers - The Good Old Days
3. Bob Fox & Stu Luckley - The Bonnie Gateshead Lass
4. Seth Lakeman - Solomon Browne
5. Jeana Leslie & Siobhan Miller - Edward
6. Lau - Banks Of Marble
7. Martin Simpson - Duncan And Brady
8. Mawkin:Causley - Come My Lads
9. Judy Collins - Born To The Breed
10. Phil Beer - Blow The Man Down
11. Megson - O Mary Will You Go
12. Spiers & Boden - Rambling Robin
13. Bella Hardy - Alone, Jane?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1325 in Music
• Released on: 2009-01-26
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .41 pounds

CD Description
With the profile of the genre still rising and an amazingly vibrant live scene this is possibly the strongest selection yet in the 10 year history of the Folk Awards. Many of the artists and their respective albums have featured strongly in the critics recommendations throughout the year. Bellowhead even headlined BBC 4's coverage of this year's Folk Prom, whilst Eliza Carthy featured on Later With Jools. Eliza was also on hand to present this years lifetime achievement winner, Judy Collins, with a similar Mojo Awards in 2008. It's a great selection of talent covering the UK from the English common sense of Chris Wood to the John McCusker's ever inventive Scottish themes; the cleverly chosen covers versions of pop songs put into traditional context by Julie Fowlis and Jim Moray; Seth Lakeman's scene stealing grasp of his local history matched by Karine Polwart's emotive, plangent reference to the horrors of Flodden Field and Megson's recasting of their Teeside roots. Age is no distinction as young and old sit side by side to marry music and history, paradoxically creating something that taps the zeitgeist and offers a future built on substance rather than fickle fame.

Customer Reviews

Folk's not dead!
Great compilation this, proving that folk has much more to offer than beards, pipes and hand knitted cardigans. The range of styles covered demonstrates the massive diversity in modern folk music from Eliza Carthy's south american samba-esq trumpeting to more haunting and traditional vocals from Megson.

Loads of great stuff on here, if you're already a 'folky' i guess theres most of this you'll know or have heard but still worth the price for the compilation as a whole. If you're relatively new to folk as i am, this is a great taster for what's currently out there and i'll certainly be checking out more from Bella Hardy, Chris Wood and Megson.

Finally there's a freebie too, a free third disc with 6 tracks from the finalists of the Radio 2 young folk awards. Don't knock this either, they may be young but if you didn't know that, every one of these 6 tracks stacks up against the more 'senior' nominees - hears howls of abuse from the more 'senior' " How dare he!!"
This is great value with 30 tracks for your cash and as they're all award nominees you can be sure there's no 'filler'.

Great value overview of current British folk music
This is the latest annual compilation album, put together by 'distributor of the year' Proper to celebrate the BBC Radio 2 folk awards. This is a 3-CD 30 track album. The first two albums have a track each from the 24 artists nominated for the main awards, and there's a 'bonus' CD with a track each from the talented young performers nominated for the Young Folk award. At £8.98 for the lot, this represents fantastic value.

The particular strength of this compilation is that every nominee is represented, so you get a real survey of the field. In some years people have complained that the Folk Awards can be a bit 'safe' and not reflect the current acts that are exciting people in folk clubs and at festivals. That's not the case in 2009, with exciting young bands like Megson, the Shee and Demon Barbers here along with several of the old familiar names.

This compilation is a basket of delights. Perhaps this year's most controversial award was "original folk song" to Andy Partridge for XTC's "All You Pretty Girls", as covered by Jim Moray. That track is here, and you don't doubt for a second it's a folk song when you hear Moray's rendition of it. The best traditional song winners, Jackie Oates' version of "Lark in the Morning", is also here; and several of the best song nominees also feature. There are fantastic, full-on tracks from the new stars of the folk world such as Bellowhead and Seth Lakeman.

The short compilation of Young Folk Award nominees is just the icing on the cake; we have seen from previous years the way that these young stars often go on to become contenders for the main awards in just a few years.

Folk music
The product covered a wide range of folk music artists and styles and was excellent value for money. It could perhaps be improved by combining with traditional regional folk music.