What is a Child Ballad?
One of the major folk song publishers of the 19th century was Dr. Francis James Child of Harvard University. He compiled 305 traditional ballads, with all known variations, in his seminal work, The English and Scottish Traditional Ballads. This ten volume work was so influential that to this day traditional ballads of Great Britain are often referred to by their Child number.
Contrary to the scholar's name, these ballads are not specifically associated with children. In fact, most deal with distinctly adult themes.....
Child's work was monumental, but he was far from the only "songhunter" dedicated to preserving the British folk song tradition in the face of the advance of commercial music. Or were they just preserving the commercial music of another age?
Read more about the first English folk song revival in these books by Rosaleen's husband, David Gregory of Athabasca University:
Contrary to the scholar's name, these ballads are not specifically associated with children. In fact, most deal with distinctly adult themes.....
Child's work was monumental, but he was far from the only "songhunter" dedicated to preserving the British folk song tradition in the face of the advance of commercial music. Or were they just preserving the commercial music of another age?
Read more about the first English folk song revival in these books by Rosaleen's husband, David Gregory of Athabasca University:
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"It is noticeable that when singers who are new to folk discover the “Child Ballads”, they are knocked sideways by the grand themes, the mysterious characters, and the romantic panoply of lords, ladies, outlaws and fairies, and for a while they can become obsessed with them." - Steve Roud