Name: All in the Downs: Reflections on Life, Landscape, and Song
Brand: Shirley Collins

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

9781907222412

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "9781907222412"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Colour

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format Books GB

Paperback

Format detail

Limited edition

Release date

2023-06-15

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Strange Attractor Press

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

Artist

Shirley Collins

Genre GB

Music

Label GB

Strange Attractor

Shirley Collins is a British folksinger, born on July 5, 1935 in Hastings, East Sussex, United Kingdom. She has made significant contributions to the folk music scene and is known for her captivating vocals and authentic storytelling. In the late 1950s, she collaborated with American musicologist Alan Lomax on his field recordings, further enhancing her knowledge and passion for traditional music. With a career spanning several decades, Shirley Collins continues to be an influential figure in the folk genre.

A record label born in Olympia, WA and relocated to Portland, OR in March 2002. Strange Attractor is inspired by and strives to document challenging, "out" music.

Originally a radio program called "Strange Attractors" on Olympia 89.3 FM Community Radio, the label splintered off to become Strange Attractors Audio House.

With a focus on capturing unique and unconventional sounds, Strange Attractor is dedicated to showcasing music that pushes boundaries and challenges traditional genres.

A legendary singer, folklorist, and music historian, Shirley Collins has been an integral part of the folk-music revival for more than sixty years. 

In her new memoir, All in the Downs, Collins tells the story of that life long relationship with English folksong—a dedication to artistic integrity that has guided her through the triumphs and tragedies of her life.

All in the Downs combines elements of memoir—from her working-class origins in wartime Hastings to the bright lights of the 1950s folk and the English landscape have played in shaping her vision.

From formative field recordings made with Alan Lomax in the United States to the “crowning glories” recorded with her sister Dolly on the Sussex Downs, she writes of the obstacles that led to her withdrawal from the spotlight and the redemption of a new artistic flourishing that continues today with her unexpected return to recording in 2016.

Through it all, Shirley Collins has been guided and supported by three vital and inseparable loves: traditional English song, the people and landscape of her native Sussex, and an unwavering sense of artistic integrity. All in the Downs pays tribute to these passions, and in doing so,illustrates a way of life as old as England, that has all but vanished from this land