FTX-130 - TO BE A FARMER'S BOY

FRED JORDAN

Born in Ludlow, Shropshire, Fred has inherited a folk song tradition from his mother, as well as from the local gypsies, farm labourers and pub-singers he met during the Second World War. He sings both the Classic Ballads and Music Hall type songs and his somewhat "quavering" singing style is characteristic of the Welsh-English border. Fred was one of the youngest traditional folksingers recorded by Peter Kennedy in the early fifties, so in the sixties, at the start of the post-war revival, Peter recommended him as a suitable performer for the first Regional Festivals and folk clubs as well as the first "National". We hear him, as recorded on the farm where he was working at Diddlebury in 1952 and ten years later, at a Festival Concert in London.

1. THE JOLLY WAGONER - 1'46"

2. WHERE ARE YOU GOING, MY PRETTY FAIR MAID? (AS I ROVED OUT) - 1'11"

3. DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE (THE CRUEL MILLER) - 1'03"

4. JOHN BARLEYCORN - 2'31"

5. DOWN THE ROAD AND AWAY WENT POLLY - 3'27"

6. O, NOW, POLLY, NOW, SHE'S THE GIRL FOR ME - 1'42"

7. BARBARA HELEN - 1'30"

8. THE DARK-EYED SAILOR - 2'48"

9. THE SHIP THAT NEVER RETURNED - 2'55"

10. THE TURMUT HOER - 1'16"

11. ALL JOLLY FELLOWS AS FOLLOWS THE PLOUGH - 2'39"

12. THREE OLD CROWS - 2'03"

13. THE FARMER'S BOY - 3'35"

14. WHEN THE STORMY WYNDS DO BLOW - 3'03"

15. JEALOUSY (POISON IN A GLASS OF WINE) - 1'40"

16. THE BONNY BOY IS YOUNG BUT STILL GROWING - 2'27"

17. THE ORDINARY SOLDIER (CUT DOWN IN HIS PRIME) - 2'41"

18. ON THE BANKS OF THE SWEET PRIMEROSES - 2'42"

19. SIX PRETTY MAIDS (THE OUTLANDISH KNIGHT) - 4'34"

20. GRANNY'S OLD ARMCHAIR - 3'11"

Recorded by Peter Kennedy in the larder of a farmhouse near Craven Arms, on the 30th October 1952. The other items were recorded by Peter at the first Folk Federation Festival concert held in London 10th. October 1962.Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax Cassettes 1975.

#4. learned from Bert Edwards at Little Stretton after Peter Kennedy had recorded Bert in 1952.

#8 was from an old man with whom he worked, with further words from "The Farmer and Stockbreeder" magazine.

#10 he got from a gamekeeper from Buckinghamshire.

#11 he usually called it EARLY ONE MORNING and said it was only sung in the pubs in Shropshire at holiday times.

#16 from his mother.

#19 Fred called it SIX PRETTY MAIDS, he first heard from an old gypsy called Locke who camped nearby in the summer and he learned it after only hearing it sung twice through.

#20 came from an old singer at his local "Sun Inn", now dead, so he never got the rest of the words.

FRED JORDAN was born 16th October 1922 at Ludlow in Shropshire. When recorded by Peter Kennedy he was working on a farm at Diddlebury (pron."Delbury") and described how he come to learn his songs - "By being fond of country life - the old way - and by always listening and talking to the old labourers - in learning different jobs that are essential to a farm labourer - although always pally with the young lads, it is natural to ask the old ones for advice - and by hearing my mother always singing the old songs".

When first recorded in 1952, Fred was only 30 years old and was therefore one of the youngest singers recorded in the nineteen-fifties. However his style of singing so closely follows that of older singers, that listeners were always surprised to learn, after hearing him, that he was only 30. Recommended by Peter Kennedy to Kenneth Clark, Midlands Area Folk Organiser, in the sixties, he soon became a familiar and very popular figure at local clubs and festivals. At first he appeared in best bib and tucker, dark suit and stiff collar and tie, but later he adopted a more successful straw-in-the-hair, mud-on-the-boots countryman stage presence.