Graham Irwin: my music; folk songs - traditional and contemporary

I guess all songs is folk songs. Leastwise, I ain’t never heard no horse sing ’em. Big Bill Broonzy

I am producing booklets with the words, melody lines and chords for some of the songs I have recorded, and some I have not (?yet) recorded. Here is the first: Songbook 1.

I have also developed a simple script to aid transposing chord sequences for songs and tunes. You can try it here.

See what ChatGPT has to say about British folk music.

Graham Irwin: My music

Here is a selection of videos of some of my music (latest additions first). My musical taste is mostly, but not exclusively, British and Irish folk, both traditional and contemporary. I have taken inspiration from Steeleye Span, John Kirkpatrick, Ian Campbell, John Conolly, Shirley Collins, The Albion Band, Fairport Convention, Strawhead, Martin Carthy and many others. I shall be adding a new video each week.

More recently I have been creating music tracks for meditation, relaxation, massage, yoga and therapy, as well as creating electronic pieces. These are included here, too.

The Spotted Cow - A broadside ballad written for the London pleasure gardens in the 1740s. (2:17) : Watch on YouTube

Bold Riley - A shanty collected, or quite possibly written, by AL (Bert) Lloyd in about 1970, with the hexatonic tune based on a Tobago reel. (3:57) : Watch on YouTube

Panis Angelicus - César Franck's Panis Angelicus played on a synth. (2:52) : Watch on YouTube

Ca' The Yowes - A Scottish love song collected by Robert Burns and sometimes wrongly attributed to him. (3:43) : Watch on YouTube

Spencer The Rover - A traditional English folk song, collected in Hampshire in about 1954 by Bob Copper. (3:47) : Watch on YouTube

Bonny Light Horseman - A song from the Napoleonic wars, accompanied by the BBC Symphony Orchestra (synth). (3:47) : Watch on YouTube

Veni Emmanuel - Veni Emmanuel played by the brass and woodwind sections of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (synth). (2:26) : Watch on YouTube

I Live Not Where I Love - An English Elizabethan madrigal accompanied on electro-acoustic 6-string and 12-string guitars. (3:47) : Watch on YouTube

Ay Waukin O - A Scottish song of unrequited love. (3:43) : Watch on YouTube

Poor Old Man - A shanty, accompanied on electro-acoustic 6-string and 12-string guitars and a Merlin dulcimer guitar. (3:19) : Watch on YouTube

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You can also view these videos on my Youtube channel.

And I'm on Bandcamp

Coming soon...

The Dalesman's Litany - Words by Frederic William Moorman (1872-1919), tune by Dave Keddie in the 1960s.

The Foggy Foggy Dew - A ballad of English origin.

The Happy Man - A Morris song-dance from the Adderbury tradition.