Sweet Primeroses

the cd edition of 'sweet primeroses' is a collection of 20 folk gems mainly originating from the south coast of england. sad songs of longing, love and loss. here we hear the beginning of her and sister dolly's exploration of the dark underbelly of medieval rural music, what shirley later described as 'the black horror of medieval song behind all the trappings'. shirley's pure, innocent, unaffected singing casts sunlight shafts across the dark tales of child murder and fairy magic while dolly's purpose built portative pipe-organ stirs in the shadows. this true folk music, like true poetry, raises the hackles on the back of your neck in acknowledgement of some ancient, almost forgotten truth.