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.
Handed Down
Doffin' Mistress with Jennie Higgins
The Doffin' Mistress was the overseer in a linen mill who took care of the young mill girls. Jennie Higgins shares her early memories of singing this Northern Irish industrial song with her sister, and the importance it has as an early song of female empowerment.
In the same vein, we talk about Jennie's important work in supporting female artists through the Folky Union of Women, and her new mythbusting segment on the fantastic Thank Folk For Feminism podcast.
IMPORTANT: Jennie is making an album called Where Are The Women and needs your support! If you'd like to hear more of her music, and see women's perspectives better represented in folk music then please back her Kickstarter.