Welcome to the Spring section of the Seasons project! For this collection of songs I have chosen pieces which follow a theme of those separated by sea, a theme which is all too common in folk songs. As we follow the songs, there is a rough storyline, or set of storylines, as we follow different characters who have been affected in some way by their separation from a loved one at sea.

In the 1950s there were a number of BBC Radio Ballads produced by Ewan MacColl and Charles Parker which explored the history of different working communities through interviews and song. I first came into contact with ‘Singing the Fishing‘ when my Granny gave me a pile of her old folk records. If you don’t know what to expect, this format of record comes as a bit of a shock, but when you know what they’re about, you can appreciate them as valuable archives of a set of peoples who otherwise would never have had a voice. This collection of Spring songs, which I’m subtitling ‘Across the Waves’ is a nod of appreciation towards the radio ballads, but to tell the stories I have selected only traditional material. This means you can listen to the songs as parts of a narrative, or as entirely separate works (as indeed they were written), as this is not a ‘concept album’ in the typical sense. Enjoy!