‘Singer, Song and Source’ feature highlights the young female singer, Jackie Oates The song is ‘My Ship LostHer Rigging’, sung originally by the Traveller singer, Biggun Smith from Gloucestershire.

Geoff Woolfe, compiler of the recently-published tunebook, William Winter’s Quantocks Tune Book, writesabout the background to the book and the life and music of William Winter.

The Christmas Carolling tradition in England is the subjectof a brief feature by Ian Russell, which puts into context the Carolsfrom Glen Rock (USA) article by Dave Eyre.

JoanCrump writes about the Christmas Champions show.

The Grenoside Sword Dancers have some new costumes, thanksto the Heritage Lottery Fund. Dancer Joe Dunn explainshow and why. And there’s a further feature on longsword dancing, Longswords in Derby, focusing on the recent dance competition.

There is news of the new Heritage Lottery Funded project from the EFDSS: Take Six, and Mike Heaney’s Gold Badge citation.

There is a list of a hundred Folk Festivals in 2008.

Alan James on The Imagined Village featuring Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, The Gloworms, The Young Coppers and Chris Wood, as well as Benjamin Zephaniah, Sheila Chandra and Billy Bragg.

‘Singer, Song and Source’ features Ed Rennie, former member of the Bismarcks, now performing with Housewives’ Choice and forging a career as a solo singer. The song is ‘The Trees they are so High’ from the Devon singer James Parsons, known to Sabine Baring-Gould as ‘The Singing Machine’. Martin Graebe writes about James Parsons.

Marilyn Tucker on the Baring-Gould Folk Song School.

This issue’s tunes feature comes from Shropshire, and is entitled ‘The Shropshire Hero’. by Neil Brooke

Cecil Sharp House’s regular Scottish Ceilidh Club by Robbie Thomas

Christine Rogers examines the Dances in Jane Austen’s novels.

Gavin Atkin on folk song, music and dance activities in Lewes, Sussex.

Sound Files from Ed Rennie and Neil Brookes & Tony Weatherall.

A focus on the music, song and dance of Dorset as well as features on new EFDSS publications.

‘The Gleanings of Mr Sharp’s Harvest’ looks at the song collecting of Henry and Robert Hammond in Dorset in the early 20th century. A selection of the songs was published in 1965 in the EFDSS song book Marrow Bones, now completely revised and published once again.

The regular ‘Singer, Song and Source’ feature focuses on Faustus, with band member Paul Sartin writing about the song ‘I am a Brisk Lad’ collected from a distant relative, Edith Sartin.

The Thomas Hardy family tune books are re-examined by Dave Townsend in an article ‘One Rattling Randy After Another, and there is Dave’s arrangement of the tune ‘The Triumph’.

To round off the Dorset theme, editor Derek Schofield looks again at the county’s best known folk dance, ‘The Dorset Four-Hand Reel’.

Sound files from The Mellstock Band, Faustus and The Gloworms.

Tim van Eyken and his version of ‘John Barleycorn’ learnt from Fred Jordan are this issue’s Singer, Song and Source feature.

The new Radio Ballads.John Tams, Musical Director of the new Radio Ballads, explains how and why …

Rapper from High Spen and Black Swan. Two features on different styles of rapper sword dances: the traditional High Spen as they celebrate their eightieth anniversary, and the innovative Black Swan. Contributed by Chris Metherell, Phil Heaton, Damien Barber and Joan Crump.

The Somerset Folk Map: Yvette Staelens explains why Somerset has its own map.

Regular Features:

Branching Out; Festive Round-Up; Lives Remembered, Songs under the Microscope; News; Dancing with the Spring in your step (list of dance events); EFDSS Matters; and The Source (list of county contacts).