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All in the Downs, reflections on life, landscape and song, Shirley Collins

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non fiction

All in the Downs

Shirley Collins

reflections on life, landscape and song

In her new memoir, All in the Downs, Collins tells the story of that lifelong 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 revival in London-alongside reflections on the role traditional music 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

The beginning -- Leaving home, London 1953 -- The voyage out -- Hastings 1935, the family -- The train to California -- Hastings, the war years -- California to New York -- Hastings, doodlebug days -- Virginia -- Hastings, substandard -- Kentucky -- Hastings 1947, home life -- In search of the Memphis Jug Band, 1959 -- Post-war Hastings, 1948 -- Alabama -- Hastings 1950, Bobby sox -- Mississippi -- Hastings 1950, the flicks -- Arkansas -- Hastings 1951, "Words, words, words" -- Georgia Sea Island of St. Simons -- Hastings 1952, getting closer -- The ending