Listening To Anne Briggs.

This evening I have been listening to Anne Briggs who I rate as one of Britain's greatest ever singers. This is how I discovered her music. In 1968 I started going to Peterborough Folk Club which was held every Sunday evening at the Grand Hotel just off Bridge Street. I was only about 17 but loved the folk music, probably because of being from an Irish background. One night I saw this young singer who had just returned from busking in Paris and was paid £19 for appearing. his name was Ralph McTell and he was later to achieve worldwide acclaim for his song Streets Of London. The following year I discovered the music of Fairport Convention. The first album I bought  was What We Did On Our Holidays which is still one of my favourite albums of all time. Fairport contained two of the greatest talents of English music, Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny. I thought Sandy was great, the most perfect singing voice  had ever heard. Other people said Sandy was nearly as good as Anne Briggs.

Fairport then brought out Unhalfbricking followed by Leige And Lief. The latter was a defining moment in music when Fairport invented the genre of English Folk Rock. Sandy Denny left Fairport Convention after this album and founded the short lived Fotheringay .One of the songs on their eponymous album was called The Pond And The Stream which was about Anne Briggs. 'Annie wanders on the land. She loves the freedom of the air. She finds a friend in ev'ry place she goes. There's always a face she knows. I wish that I was there'.

When I attended my first ever festival in 1972 at Bardney near Lincoln they had a folk tent and Anne was due to play on the Sunday night (See Poster) but I think the Folk tent collapsed on the Friday night, so I don't know if Anne was there or not. Years went by going into decades and I had gradually lost interest  in buying new Fairport Convention albums without Sandy & Richard but  still liked Richard Thompson and followed his career. In 1994 I first heard a song of Richard's called Beeswing. I thought it was fantastic, one of the best songs he had ever written, sad and haunting. She was a rare thing, Fine as a beeswing, So fine a breath of wind might blow her away, She was a lost child She was running wild, she said as long as there's no price on love, I'll stay, And you wouldn't want me any other way, Brown hair zig-zag round her face, And a look of half-surprise,Like a fox caught in the headlights,There was an animal in her eyes.

I don't know if it is true, but I was told the song was inspired by Anne. My curiosity grew. Apparently she had lived in Ireland for a while where Johnny Moynihan had taught her to play the bouzouki.  I decided to find out what I could about Anne Briggs. She had recorded three albums before disappearing from the music scene.
Early in 1973 she recorded an album called Sing A Song For You. The album includes the song Standing on the Shore, previously recorded by Sweeney's Men. It was to be her final studio recording. By the time it was issued, she was living in The Hebrides, The album sank without trace until re-released in 1996, when it was acclaimed by folk music aficionados as a lost gem. She became a market gardener and avoided all contact with the music scene. Despite coaxing from some of the brightest names in British folk music, she refused to return to the studio.
Anne Briggs's musical legacy as well as her recordings is her significant influence on the work of other musicians, rather than recognition by the general public. Her earlier partner, Bert Jansch, who described her as one of the most underrated singers recorded Anne's songs including Go Your Way  and Wishing Well on his albums. She was also his source for several of the traditional songs which he recorded, including Blackwaterside. Jansch's instrumental accompaniment to this song was later copied, virtually note-for-note by Jimmy Page and recorded as Black Mountain Side. Her name continues to be praised by younger singers such as Eliza Carthy and Kate Rusby, to name but two.
A few years ago I bought the Anne Briggs Collection and I love it. It might not be to everyone's taste because a lot of the songs are unaccompanied,  but there is no doubt that Anne has a wonderful voice and her legend continues to grow.