Mojo - The Music Magazine

SHE RECORDED PREACHERS, convicts and balladeers, braved hornet-infested privys in Virginia and the evil of The Klan. Taken on a whirlwind tour of the American South in summer 1959 by then-boyfriend Alan Lomax - scion of the song-collecting Lomax clan - this innocent, 22-year-old English folk singer was afforded a crash course in America's roots traditions, and though the music itself proved transcendental (Lonnie Young in Como, Mississippi wrung such beauty from a humble cane flute she had "tears in my eyes just watching it") there were spirit-crushing moments, too, such as a visit to Mississippi State Pen's notorious Parchman Farm.

"There were only a handful of women convicts there, one of whom cleaned my room," Shirley Collins tells MOJO's Colin Irwin. "But she wouldn't talk or even look at me. The only time she talked was on the final day when she told me why she'd been arrested. She'd walked along a railroad track that had a sign 'No Trespassing' but she was illiterate and couldn't read the sign. Prisoners' stories were always like that - people picked off the street to keep the workforce going."

Yet the recordings Collins and Lomax made, commissioned by the Ertegun brothers and released on Atlantic in 1960 as the Southern Folk Heritage Series, became a crucial source work for the blues and folk boom. Just as Lomax père et fils' earlier peregrinations south of the Mason-Dixon had saved Leadbelly for world culture, without Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins' '59 adventure, we may never have heard a note from "Mississippi" Fred McDowell.

As a singer, Collins went on to record ground-breaking British folk sides with Davy Graham and her sister Dolly. And though she no longer sings, she was awarded an MBE in 2004 and was feted for her Exceptional Contribution to Folk Music at last month's BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Read the full story of her southern odyssey in the newest MOJO magazine, on the street next Wednesday (March 5). And/or snaffle tickets for her one-woman shows (details below), part of the five-day Folk Roots, New Routes Festival she curates at London's South Bank Centre between March 25 and 30. Or chance your arm for some MOJO freebies.

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Full Festival Listings

Martin Simpson with special guest Chris Wood
Tuesday 25 March 2008, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 7.45pm
Tickets: £15

Lisa Knapp, Lauren McCormick and Emily Portman
Friday 28 March, The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, 5.30pm
FREE

Alasdair Roberts
Friday 28 March 2008, Purcell Room, 7.45pm
Tickets: £15

Shirley Collins & Pip Barnes
Romany Rai
[An afternoon gypsy song from the English South. Talk + readings + field recordings]
Saturday 29 March 2008, Purcell Room, 2pm
Tickets: £8

Shirley Collins & Pip Barnes
A Most Sunshiny Day
[The traditional music of Sussex, as collected by Bob Copper, Ralph Vaughan-Williams etc. Talk + field recordings]
Saturday 29 March, Purcell Room, 4.30pm
Tickets: £8

Shirley Collins & Pip Barnes
America Over The Water
[The story of Collins and Alan Lomax's 1959 field trip. Talk + field recordings]
Saturday 29 March 2008, Purcell Room, 8pm
Tickets: £8

Catherine Bott [Shirley Collins presents]
Sweet is the Song
[French love songs + traditional English songs as arranged by Dolly Collins]
Sunday 30 March, Purcell Room, 5.30pm
Tickets: £15

Close Of Play
All-star folk line-up
Sunday 30 March 2008, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets: £20

TICKET OFFICE: 0871 663 2500 www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Or go here for more info.

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WIN TICKETS!

There’s a pair on offer for each of the Martin Simpson, Alasdair Roberts, Catherine Bott and Close Of Play shows, plus a pair that covers all three of Shirley's talks on the 29th. Mail Editor@mojo4music.com with the correct answer to the following question to go in the hat. What was the name of Shirley And Dolly Collins’s 1970 album?

a) Love, Death And The American Guitar
b) Love, Death And Taxes
c) Love, Death And The Lady

Don’t forget to include contact details, including postal address. State your preferred show. And make sure your entry is with us by March 10.

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Competition Terms & Conditions

• No prizes can be traded or exchanged for a cash alternative
• Closing date for this competition is March 10, 2008
• All entrants are responsible for including correct contact details
• The judges’ decision is final and no negotiation or debate will be entered into.
• All winners will be notified by email.
• This competition is open to all UK readers, except employees and associates of Emap and their families.