Originally released in 1974, this album continues Shirley Collins' exploration of traditional English folk songs. While her focus is on the music and songs of southern England, she does venture further north for a stirring "Horkstow Grange," a song reported to have been written by the name who gave Steeleye Span their name. Some of the arrangements, by sister Dolly Collins, evoke the medieval origins of these songs, while others bring to life the rural past of tales like "Chiner's Song." But Collins is far more than a dry scholar. She loves this music. It's in her blood, and she understands it innately. From Morris Men and Mummer's plays, this is a celebration of the real old England, the laborers who preserved the songs of the past, handed down in their families, and who commemorated festivals like Harvest Home, long since lost to urban societies. So, in part, this is a history lesson, but it's also pure pleasure of the past, brought fully alive in the modern days. And to round it all off, a 1972 track -- with electric guitar -- brings old folk into modern folk-rock quite perfectly.