Maddy Prior, revered and decorated lead lady of stalwart folk rock icons Steeleye Span, has compiled an impressive legacy as a solo artist as well.
Having previously explored Arthurian history, myth and legend with her 2001 Arthur the King LP, in 2003 Prior offered up Lionhearts, a song cycle set in the time of Richard I and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
“Salisbury Plain” is just the kind of tale she’s regaled fans of Britfolk with since 1969 or so.
In Prior’s words, it’s “a timeless story of a young man who believes he has to have money to keep his young lady happy”.
Troy Donockley’s low whistle adds an appropriate accent of mournful melancholy.
The Lord have mercy on his poor soul/For I think I hear the death bell toll
Maddy Prior and Tim Hart: “Dancing at Whitsun” (1971)
Maddy Prior is on a very short list of women who could lay claim to the title of Queen of British Folk.
Mostly notable for her tenure with stalwart lynchpins of the genre Steeleye Span, she’d recorded two, uh, prior albums as half of a duo with Tim Hart.
Folk Songs of Olde England Volumes One and Two were released in 1968 and 1969, just before both Hart and Prior joined up with Ashley Hutchings to form the nascent Steeleye Span lineup in late ’69.
After recording the first three Steeleye Span albums, Hart and Prior returned to the studio to record once more as a duo. While retaining the acoustic contours of the Folk Songs of Olde England LP’s, Summer Solstice was a more polished recording, and featured string arrangements by Robert Kirby, known for his hauntingly beautiful work on Nick Drake’s records.
Hart remained in the Steeleye Span lineup throughout their years of peak creative and commercial success, leaving the band in 1982. He passed away of lung cancer in 2009. Prior remains in the still-active Steeleye Span lineup as its only remaining original member. The band celebrated 55 years in 2024.
Summer Solstice is a quiet triumph, and considered a minor classic of traditional English folk. Some songs feature Maddy on vocals, some feature a solo Hart, and some are sung as duets.
“Dancing at Whitsun” is a beautiful ballad, but one with a message–however understated. If it can be called a protest or anti-war song (you be the judge) it’s surely one of the gentlest and most wistful you’ll ever hear.
It’s fifty long spring-times since she was a bride But still you may see her at each Whitsuntide In a dress of white linen and ribbons of green As green as her memories of loving
The feet that were nimble tread carefully now As gentle a measure as age do allow Through groves of white blossom, by fields of young corn Where once she was pledged to her true love
The fields they stand empty, the hedges grow free No young men to tend them or pastures go see They have gone where the forests of oak trees before Had gone to be wasted in battle
Down from their green farmlands and from their loved ones Marched husbands and brothers and fathers and sons There’s a fine roll of honour where the Maypole once stood And the ladies go dancing at Whitsun
There’s a straight row of houses in these latter days All covering the downs where the sheep used to graze There’s a field of red poppies, a wreath from the Queen But the ladies remember at Whitsun And the ladies go dancing at Whitsun
From Maddy Prior’s 1978 Ian Anderson-produced solo album Woman in the Wings comes this cheery Britfolk-flavoured ditty.
And yes, that’s Ian Anderson taking the flute solo here, making the instrumental bit sound very much like a Songs From the Wood-era Jethro Tullouttake–and that’s a good thing indeed.
If Maddy’s distinctive voice and Olde English folk sound appeal to you but you’ve never heard Steeleye Span, the links below will turn the key to a whole new world for you.
I want to talk to you about what it means to experiment. Let’s begin with the following sentence: “We did try a reggae ‘Spotted Cow’ and we weren’t terribly convinced by it, so we stopped doing it.”
You’ll be needing a little context for that. “Spotted Cow” is a song from around 1740. It’s about a woman who’s lost her cow. She complains about it to this guy she runs into. He’s like, “Lady, I am game to help you find your cow. Let us do this.” They go off to a field to find it. Obvious place to start, right? Before long … well, you know how fields are. Sexiest thing in nature. So they decide to do what comes naturally to a man and a woman in a field, which isn’t really looking for cows. From then on, whenever the lady’s looking for a bit of you-know-what, she finds some guy and tells him about her cow.
The speaker of that sentence was Maddy Prior, singer of the great English folk-rock band Steeleye Span. This is a band that she’s led since 1969.
So, to sum up: ‘70s English folk-rock band, cow used as cover story for Georgian booty call. And then: reggae.
“When you’re experimenting with things they can’t all be winners,” she says. “I’m pleased that we tried things.”
I don’t care how “out there” you think your favorite band is. This is what it means to be fearless. This is what experimenting is…
Every Moment Has A Song 