An Essex Terret
Tony Kendall and friends

“A most useful collection for draft horses was a set of bells. Teams, three or four in a line, pulling a heavy draw or timber carriage were the ‘juggernauts’ of the day. They took all the road and they could not ‘back up’, so they each carried 2,3 or 4 bells in an iron framework  above either the saddle or the collar to warn other road users of their approach. The carter in the field , saw these teams on the road and envied the bells. More than likely they were well outside his financial reach, so what could he do? He used the skills he had and the materials that were available and made them himself – a corn dolly terret.”

The terret on the cover of this album is a traditional Essex design, and the original which hangs in our dining room was made by Millie Smith of Barnet Canesmiths.

All songs composed/arranged by Tony Kendall who sings and plays guitar, lute-guitar, dulcimer and acoustic 6-string bass.

Friends featured on this album:
Ray Bradfield	- banjo/bottleneck guitar/ acoustic guitar/ production advice/ vocals
John Bullen 	- accordian/ keyboards/ melodeon
Sarah Byers	- vocals
Val Cutler	- fiddle
Tony Gibbs	- engineering / mixing/ production advice
Cover design/sketch	- Tony Kendall
Layout design 		- Rowan O’Duffy
Production 		- Tony Kendall
Recorded totally live at post-holocaust Trent Park studio. Middlesex Polytechnic (the week after Easter ’91). Digitally recorded and mastered then copied in real time on to chrome cassettes.
Thanks to our sponsors  without whom this album would not have been made:
Canesmiths of Barnet (Brian and Milly Smith)
Michael Ley Studios of Chingford
Rochford Hundred Historical Society
Walthamstow Historical Society
And thanks to Dave Occomore for source material.

This one’s for Carole, my Christmas Day lass.

AN ESSEX TERRET – more songs of my Essex heartland – a selection which combines newly collected and newly arranged traditional songs, plus a clutch of brand new songs, all with that magical Essex connection.

SIDE ONE

1. WALTHAMSTOW  1890

This track includes four songs collected from the archives of Vestry House Museum, Walthamstow, plus a local version of the traditional “Sheep Shearing Song”, the poetry is mine.

Sheep Shearing Song (Trad. arr. Tony Kendall. 1990) Tony – vocal

We’ve got no work to do – from the diary of “one born in 1863”, who recalled this work chant, sung by the unemployed workmen in Prospect Hill, Walthamstow. (Trad. arr. Tony Kendall. 1990) Tony, Ray – vocals

Workhouse song – from the same diary, with a reference to the Workhouse at Church End, Walthamstow, now the home for the museum. (Trad. arr. Tony Kendall. 1990) Tony – vocal/guitar

Ilford Jail – from the notebook of Mr Fred Coakham, who was a keen bellringer and an old Essex Infantryman (Stratford No.4 Battalion) (1870-1888), this song was a favourite at the “Nag’s Head” Walthamstow Village. (Trad. arr. Tony Kendall. 1990) Tony – vocal/guitar, Ray-guitar

I am a Navvy – a song which appeared all over the country as railways and canals blossomed. This is a local version based on that collected by Roy Palmer. (Trad. arr. Tony Kendall. 1990) Tony – vocal/guitar, Ray – banjo

2. I LIVE NOT WHERE I LOVE

Unashamedly a Wessex traditional song. This one’s for Sara and also for Ray, and the Summer of 1990 when this song became our theme tune. (Trad. arr. Tony Kendall. 1988) 
Tony – vocal/guitar, Ray- vocal/guitar, Sara – vocal

3. AS THE TIDE WAS FLOWING
A version of the West Country traditional song which made its way into Essex at the turn of the century.  (Trad. arr. Tony Kendall. 1990)
Tony – vocal/guitar, Ray- guitar, John – accordian, Sara – vocal

4. ROCHFORD HALL/THE LADY ANNE
Two new songs dedicated to the memory of Norman Garon, past president of the Rochford Hundred Historical Society. The songs tell the tale of the association of Rochford Hall with the Boleyn family and of Anne Boleyn’s final hours. (©Tony Kendall, 1989)
Tony – vocal/lute/dulcimer, Sara – vocal

5. A POT OF GOOD ALE
An extract from a longer poem collected by Dave Occomore and attributed to Nat Scruby of Coggeshall, Essex, 1660.
Tony – narration

6. ALONG FULLER STREET
A new song which celebrates the annual festival at the Square and Compasses, Fairstead (©Tony Kendall, 1990)
Sara- vocal, John – melodeon, Tony – guitar

SIDE TWO

1.  DARK EYED SAILOR
A version of the traditional song collected from Mrs Ward of Manningtree by Dave Occomore in 1975. (Trad. arr. Tony Kendall. 1990)
Tony – vocal/guitar, Ray- guitar, John – accordian, Sara – vocal

2. THE LEE IS MY LOVE
A new song for the river of my childhood where “Swallows and Amazons” was acted out on the Walthamstow Marshes. (©Tony Kendall. 1990)
Tony – vocal/guitar,  John – “pub” piano, Sara – vocal

3. LOUGHTON LOPPING
A new song to celebrate the ancient right of Loughton villagers to take winter kindling from Epping Forest and to toast local folk heroes, the Willingales. John Bullen, who really rocks this one nicely is a present day descendant of the Willingales and an occasional weekend lopper!  (©Tony Kendall. 1990) 
Tony – vocal/guitar, Ray – bottleneck guitar,  John – keyboards

4. EPPING FOREST
A traditional Playford dance tune, played mainly I the arrangement transcribed by Cecil Sharp. (Trad. arr. Tony Kendall. 1990)
Tony – bass, John – keyboards, Val – fiddle

5. TWO TREE ISLAND
A new ballad on the age old subject of long distance romance from Two Tree Island, off Hadleigh, Essex to Ireland.  (©Tony Kendall. 1990) 
Tony – vocal/guitar, John – accordian

6. HARVEST
A letter collected by Dave Occomore which originally appeared on Hone’s Everyday Book c. 1827. The tunes are mine. (Trad. arr. Tony Kendall. 1990)
Tony – narration/vocal

7. LINES ALL OF A ROW
A new song which links the lines and symmetry of ploughing, mowing, sowing and dancing.  (©Tony Kendall. 1990) 
Tony – vocal/guitar, Val – fiddle

8. GONE TO GROUND
A new ballad on the safety of homecoming and old love renewed.  (©Tony Kendall. 1989) 
Tony – vocal/lute, Val – fiddle

©Tony Kendall, 1990
All songs published by Stormforce Arts 1991

14-The Lee is My Love

15-Loughton Lopping

16-Epping Forest

17-Two Tree Island

18-Harvest

19-Lines All Of A Row

20-Gone To Ground

The evening of October 22nd 2014 saw a really extraordinary concert of music at Cecil Sharp House in Camden, London.

"Classic" Fingerstyle banjo was the sound of the Edwardian Britain. Played with an intricate and demanding technique similar to that of classical guitar this style is very seldom heard these days.

From the 1890's to the First World War this tuneful, honest music was massively popular in the concert stages, the music halls and the parlous of Britain and the US.

Chris Sands is the undisputed world virtuoso of the style today, and for this concert he teamed up with sensational young banjo player and Royal College of Music graduate Elias Sibley.

The evening was a musical triumph. Here's a breakdown of the programme:

Set 1:
The Wimbledon Winner (Sands)
Georgia Medley (Morley)
Two Heads Are Better Than One (Sands / T. Bailey Jnr)
Return of the Regiment (Grimshaw)
Chim Chim Cheree / Over the Waves Medley(Sands)
South Pacific Medley (Sands)
The Snap (Sands)
Going for Gold (Sands)
A Gay Gosoon (Ossman)
Summertime Rag (T. Bailey Jnr)
Sarabande (J S Bach arr Bernard Sheaff)
Anti Political Correctness Rag (Sands)
Set 2:
Peach Blossom (Morley)
Jazbos Holiday (T. Bailey Jnr)
Syncopatin' Shuffle (Lawes)
Cute & Catchy (Lawes)
Magnolia Waltz (Morley)
Bill Symonds - I've got to dance till the bad gets through! (G. A Spink)
Freckles (Morley)
Whistling Rufus (Mills)
Bollington Banjo Rag (T. Bailey Jnr)
Nola (Arndt)
A Brass Band Contest (Prior)
Yankee Doodle Medley

Classic Ragtime Banjo with Chris Sands and Elias Sibley

Russ Chandler is well known around the folk scenes of East London and Essex.

His repertoire ranges far and wide from traditional ballads through Cockney music hall songs and monologues, Edwardian parlour music and old-timey banjo tunes to the most up to date of contemporary song writing.

All performed with his warm, open voice and skillful playing on guitar and banjo.

In addition he is a promoter and one of the driving forces behind the Walthamstow Folk Club.

"With the kind of honesty in his voice that would make Billy Bragg blush, Russ Chandler digs up folk roots everywhere from Andy Warhol's New York factory to Bob Marley's Jamaica. via war-torn 19th century Crimea obviously" - Simon Berridge, Scratchy records

"...not only a talented musician and singer, but he also seems to know every obscure folk song ever written. It's a Joy to behold when he switches from a sea shanty one minute to a random 18th century folk tune. Plus: extra points for banjo playing" - Waltham Forest Guardian

RussChandler

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