Okay, that was a bit of a teasing headline… No, there is not newly recorded music by the mesmerising English traditional singer who retired in 1973 (bar a few gigs in 1992 and appearances in a couple of documentaries), but David Suff, maestro at Fledg’ling Records, has valiantly battled the demons of BBC bureaucracy to access, at last, three tracks she performed live on BBC radio’s ‘Folksong Cellar’ in August 1966. And, in the process, has found a fourth unreleased track from the same period, ‘The Verdent Braes of Skreen’, which she never otherwise record.

I’ve had a reference copy of the other three tracks for some years, and they are wonderful performances, especially ‘Polly Vaughan’ – gentler and more beguiling, to my mind, than the Topic studio take. ‘Recruited Collier’, the opening song, is perhaps the most beautiful and poignant in her whole recorded output.

I understand the EP (on vinyl) comes with a well illustrated booklet, including unseen photos.

David’s series of reissued vinyl EPs and new vinyl singles, on Topic and Fledg’ling, have been a joy thus far – Anne’s ‘The Hazards of Love’, Davy Graham’s ‘3/4 AD’, reproductions of several Shirley Collins rarities, new singles » Continue Reading.