Handed Down
Handed Down celebrates traditional songs and the people who sing them. The show is presented by Jenny Shaw, an amateur musician and professional writer. Each episode is full of music, tales and curiosities as we delve into the history a single song, often with the help of a fellow folk musician, to uncover the strange stories and colourful characters that lie beneath.
These are the songs that have been handed down from our ancestors. This podcast and the people involved in it help keep them alive so that we can hand them down in turn to future generations.
Episodes
42 episodes
Apple Tree Wassail with Lunatraktors
What a time we had, talking about the bones and the spirit of the Wassail. The Lunatraktors, Carli and Clair, get right to the heart of things with their "Broken Folk" which provides an anchor, a refuge and solace, a shamanic art and a collecti...
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Season 5
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Episode 3
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1:10:21
Wren Day
After all the festivities of Christmas Day are over, what could be better than to run around the village and hunt a tiny little bird with all your neighbours. This special St Stephen's Day episode explores the strange custom of wren hunting in ...
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Season 5
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Episode 2
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21:15
The Pretty Girl - A Moo-ving Love Song
This little Irish love song has quite a back story. To trace its origins, we have to travel back in time to a very subversive harp festival, dig into the Irish harper tradition and follow the fortunes of some proper characters. There’s a tiff b...
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Season 5
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Episode 1
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33:43
The Cherry Tree Carol - Biblical Fanfic
When a Christmas carol is also a folk ballad you know it's not going to be the usual angels/shepherds/kings extravaganza. This one doesn't disappoint, with a lovely garden, a jealous Joseph and a fruit-related miracle.But, as ever, all ...
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Season 4
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Episode 5
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18:45
Lyke Wake Dirge - Dream Visions and Necrodestinations
This unusual song was a feature of the 60s and 70s folk revival - a real show stopper and something of a curiosity. But underneath it lies a thousand years of European folklore, and a further thousand years of vivid theology.So, my frie...
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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30:11
The Rosebud in June – Seduced By A Rural Idyll
The sheep are all sheared and we’re dancing and drinking in the warm June sun. We’re transported back to simpler and more innocent times with more than a whiff of nostalgia for the loss of our connection to the land. And yet...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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20:56
Staines Morris - Then to the Maypole Haste Away!
It's the first of May and we have a May Mini episode about the song Staines Morris, also known as the Maypole Dance. But did you know it started life in a puritan era farce? It was a joy to find out more about one of my favourite songs, and I h...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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6:22
Banks of the Sweet Primroses - A False Young Man
A chance meeting in a meadow, a false young man and a philosophical ending… it’s that folk favourite the Banks of the Sweet Primroses, beloved of collectors and Broadside publishers alike. In fact it’s part of the history of so many folk song c...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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22:54
The Wexford Carol - Old Singing Traditions
The Wexford Carol - also known as the Enniscorthy Carol - is said to be one of Europe's most ancient Christmas songs, but the truth is even more interesting. In this festive episode I take a look at the singing traditions that produced this lov...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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13:05
Willy O' Winsbury - The Princess and Johnny Foreigner
You don't find many traditional songs where the woman becomes pregnant out of wedlock and yet it all turns our wonderfully. But then Willy O' Winsbury is not your run of the mill folk song. King’s daughter Janet knew what she wanted… and it see...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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19:52
The Keeper with Andrew Burn
Many of us know The Keeper as a slightly odd - but fun - song from our school days. All together now:JACKIE BOY!MASTER!No need to shout! reprimands a weary teacher.But away from the s...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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39:37
Handed Down Live at St Nicholas Church, Gloucester
Our first ever live show was recorded on 4th September 2022 as part of the Folk at the Folk Festival. This is a field recording of an acoustic show in a beautiful but very echoey space with the bells of Gloucester Cathedral occasionally in the ...
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Season 3
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38:22
Shrewsbury Shorts #8 Jo Garvin
Sitting in a quiet(ish!) part of the site, near the river, Jo tells us why The Castle of Dromore is so special to her and her daughter.
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Season 3
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4:34
Shrewsbury Shorts #7 Louisa Davies-Foley
I met up with Louisa on the final day of the festival. Her favourite song is the beautiful The Flower of Magherally, and she sang a wonderful verse with the unorthodox accompaniment of a drumming workshop.
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Season 3
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1:13
Shrewsbury Shorts #6 Katie Whitehouse
We're in the bar at Shrewsbury Folk Festival. Katie Whitehouse talks about running a management agency for folk artists, and why Reg Meuross's song England Green and England Grey will be a folk song for future generations.
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Season 3
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1:46
Shrewsbury Shorts #5 Marion Fleetwood
Backstage at Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Marion talks about the music of the late Sandy Denny, and why The Lady is her favourite folk song.
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Season 3
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1:22
Shrewsbury Shorts #4 Phil Beer
Backstage at the Turtle Doves stage of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Phil Beer told me why he loves the song Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy.
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Season 3
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3:16
Shrewsbury Shorts #3 Molly Donnery
Irish singer Molly Donnery shares her favourite folk song, My Belfast Love, shortly before going on stage with The Haar at Shrewsbury Folk Festival.
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Season 3
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4:27
Shrewsbury Shorts #2 Reg Meuross
Singer songwriter Reg Meuross shares his favourite folk song, Bob Dylan's Girl from the North Country
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Season 3
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5:44
Shrewsbury Shorts #1 Iain MacDonald
In the first of a mini-series of short interviews at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Iain talks about his favourite folk song Flower of Scotland and sings a very beautiful version.
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Season 3
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4:35
Ramble Away - All the Fun of the Fair
Put on your Sunday best, we're going to the fair!A handsome young man, a moonlight tryst and a young woman is left to bear the consequences. It's an age old tale, but why did it become so popular in the early 19th Century? We migh...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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17:43
Brown Adam with Franz Andres Morrissey
It's another epic ballad this week as I catch up with Franz Andres Morrissey to learn more about this song, that was originally collected in Scotland. We also chat about the ups and downs of the Swiss folk scene, have a good old gossip about Ro...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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50:14
Bessy Bell - Old Ghosts and Theatrical Frolics
Bessy (or Betsy) Bell and Mary Gray were two bonny lasses, and they may even have been historical figures, but the plague came from yon borough town and slew them both regardless. And thus was created a most romantic and picturesque place of pi...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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28:16
Larks! A May Special, with friends from The Barnstoners
It's May. The meadows and hedgerows are in bloom, the sun is ablaze and the lark is on the wing.Song: The Lark in the Morning - CSPoem: The Lark Ascending (extract) by George MeredithTune: The Lark Ascending by R Vaughan William...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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30:54
Bonus Episode: The Haar talk about music
When I interviewed The Haar about the song Wild Rover, we had such a great chat about music that there was just too much to fit into a single episode! So, for all you music lovers out there, here are Molly, Cormac, Adam and Murray talk about th...
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Season 2
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38:45