My Podcasts
I have often been asked if I ever plan to write a book about the Rev Sabine -Gould (BG) and his song collecting? My stock answer is No. As in the last 80 years the Rev Gentleman has been the subject of a collection of articles and books written about him. At least eight biographies that I know of four of which have been by parsons. But, how was I to tell my story of BG and his song collecting if not in a book? I questioned what else was there for me to use to tell my story to a new audience?
The answer to my question came from my friend David Burleigh a Cornish gentleman now living and teaching music in Boston Massachusetts. We stay in touch via the internet. It was David who suggested just after Christmas in 2022 that the way to tell my story of BG and his song collecting was on the internet through a pod cast series Just what I was looking for! A talking book about BG with his songs being sung and heard.
As 2024 was the centenary year of BG's death I recognised that the creation of a pod cast series as David Burleigh had suggested would give me the opportunity to spotlight what BG considered to be the most important achievement of his life. His collecting of the old folk songs of Devonshire,as he termed it,
'from the mouths of the people'.
The series I called 'The Parson and the Songmen' went live and was available to download on June 21st 2023.
Join me in the first episode titled 'Starting Out' and follow the episodes in the first series as I tell stories about, and sing songs collected by this far from ordinary Victorian country parson as he travelled by pony and trap across his native Devonshire.
Then in the early 1890's in the second series we follow BG and Freddie Bussell as they ventured into Eastern Cornwall seeking songs that together with those of Devon are recognised as a major part of the English folk song tradition..
In 1888 The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould set himself the daunting task of collecting the folk songs of his native Devonshire, and later Cornwall, before they died out with their ageing singers. If he had not done so then this important part of...
June 21, 2023•Season 1•Episode 1•14:47
In this, the second episode of the Parson and the Songmen, we join the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould as he starts the task of collecting the old folk songs of his native Devon. After early difficulties in tracking down any songs his luck changes...
July 05, 2023•Season 1•Episode 2•15:24
In 1888 the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould had discovered a rich lode of old Devon songs. But, although he had been told that he was the right man for the job to collect these songs, there was a serious drawback in the process due to him having h...
July 19, 2023•Season 1•Episode 3•17:09
There must have been many times when out song collecting that The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould had to write down lyrics that in his own words were 'Not fit for Christian ears to hear or Christian lips to utter’. What then was he to do when song...
August 02, 2023•Season 1•Episode 4•14:28
In this latest podcast in the series The Parson and the Songmen I attempt to answer the questions - just how old are the folk songs that the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould collected and why was there such a variety to be found right on the Parson...
August 16, 2023•Season 1•Episode 5•18:35
As the number of songs that the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould assembled grew it became apparent to other song collectors of the time, and those who followed, just how many of them he had altered or completely re-written. In this sixth podcast in...
August 30, 2023•Season 1•Episode 6•16:10
As we explored in Podcast Six, The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould was not slow to edit, or completely rewrite, songs that he felt would not be fit for his intended audience. In this episode we discover just what happened to those airs, and focus...
September 13, 2023•Season 1•Episode 7•17:06
In this, the eighth edition of the podcast The Parson and the Songmen, we learn if the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould was any good at remembering dates, how he managed to consign the 'Singing Machine' to his grave years before his death, and jus...
September 27, 2023•Season 1•Episode 8•14:41
The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould, and his two fellow parsons, did indeed strike gold during the autumn of 1888, collecting some 90 songs. In this ninth episode of The Parson and the Songmen we join Sabine as he takes a jaunt around the...
October 11, 2023•Season 1•Episode 9•15:36
To celebrate reaching double figures, a podcast with a difference... As well as exploring how Sabine decided to preserve the songs he had collected for future generations, we meet the inspiration behind this podcast series and finally reveal so...
October 25, 2023•Season 1•Episode 10•12:15
In this episode we explore Sabine's idea where he wrote 'I find that songs and ballads sung to their traditional melodies in Somersetshire, in Sussex, in Yorkshire, and Northumberland, are sung to quite independent airs on Dartmoor and in Cornw...
November 08, 2023•Season 1•Episode 11•13:35
Here, we continue to look at the theme explored in the last episode, where we asked the question whether many of the songs collected by the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould were particular to Devon and Cornwall, the old Celtic region of Dumnonia, a...
November 21, 2023•Season 1•Episode 12•18:29
An extra length podcast as a special Christmas gift for you and see you into 2024, the centenary year of Sabine Baring-Gould's passing. In this bumper festive edition of The Parson And The Songmen we explore the Parson's childhood and then give...
December 20, 2023•Season 1•Episode 13•27:30
This New Year episode marks the passing of Sabine Baring-Gould on the 2nd January 1924. But, although one hundred years on, his hymns are still sung, his books are still read, and, of course, the folk songs he collected are still sung. To celeb...
January 10, 2024•Season 1•Episode 14•21:26
In this episode we hear how Sabine took his first steps into university study and how the change the direction this would take in his life, leading, amongst other things, to a connection with Count Dracula, werewolves and Vikin...
January 24, 2024•Season 1•Episode 15•14:15
In this sixteenth episode of the Parson and the Songmen we hear how Sabine is finally ordained and find out whether he makes a success of his early days as a curate in Yorkshire...
February 07, 2024•Season 1•Episode 16•14:19
Join Sabine on a journey into deep uncharted waters as he discovers the opposite sex! Where will this take him, and just who is the girl that has turned his head? Find out now in the 17th episode of The Parson and the Songmen...
February 28, 2024•Season 1•Episode 17•15:18
In this episode we join Sabine, and his ever growing family, in his cramped vicarage in Yorkshire. Worrying about this overcrowded situation, he receives an offer from the Prime Minister (no less!) to take up a more substantial parish in...
March 13, 2024•Season 1•Episode 18•15:43
In this nineteenth episode of The Parson and the Songmen we find out whether the gamble that Sabine took with his inheritance did indeed pay off and whether he would ever reside in his native Devon again...But, as the title of this podcast...
March 27, 2024•Season 1•Episode 19•17:09
This podcast is aimed at those of you who may wish to do some of your own research into the life and folk song collecting of the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould.
You will have heard the titles of some books in the past episodes of this series, so to find out more about them then listen away!
You will find a full list of them on the Buzzsprout web page.
April 10, 2024•Season 1•Episode 20•6:02
'Zackly what it says on the tin, a selection of songs featured in series one!
Track Listing and Start Times OR CLICK ON CHAPTERS to go straight to each song.
The Egloshayle Ringers 0.54
Spencer The Rover 3.02
The Gypsy 5.53
The Blue Flame 8.41
The Bell Ringing 11.13
The Last Of The Singers 14.50
Tithe Pig 17.31
The Blue Kerchief 21.22
The Slapton Smuggleress/The Sailor Woman 23.21
April 24, 2024•Season 1•Episode 21•28:34
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A very entertaining session, with lively music, singing and in depth story telling.
A very enjoyable night and good fun!