22 February, 2021
The Nest Collective partner with English Heritage
We are delighted to announce a new collaboration between The Nest Collective and English Heritage, and the launch of ‘Songs of England’, a digital collection of 12 traditional songs and videos paired to historic sites in the care of the charity from Dover Castle to Hadrian’s Wall.
Curated by Sam Lee, the NC team and English Heritage to offer an armchair escape into England’s story during lockdown, ‘Songs of England’ weaves together original performances from musicians featured by The Nest Collective including Bellowhead’s Jon Boden and folk scholar/singer Fay Hield, with narration and film of England’s most evocative historic sites from Dover Castle to Whitby Abbey, Hadrian’s Wall to Tintagel Castle.
In the pivotal track, performed by Sam, Stonehenge forms the backdrop for a rendition of ‘John Barleycorn’. The landscape’s burial mounds a fitting match for this dark allegorical tale of man, buried in a field, who grows again only to be cut down and ground like barley to make beer.
Matt Thompson, English Heritage’s Head Collections Curator, said: “Sam Lee and the musicians featured by The Nest Collective are tremendously talented. The songs, and their performances, are in perfect harmony with the sites in our care. As a charity we want to inspire people to step into England’s story and while we may not all be able to visit in person at the moment, being transported through these beautiful songs is a wonderful journey in itself.”
Sam Lee said: “It has been a great privilege to create this collection, taking inspiration from the epic historic sites English Heritage looks after. We hope these songs inspire a fresh connection with the history and spirit of these remarkable places, and engage people everywhere with tradition, stories of the land around them and the folk history of our ancestors.”
The songs and films, narrated by Sam Lee and Matt Thompson and sung by musicians featured by The Nest Collective are available through a specially created digital map on the English Heritage website.
The ‘Songs of England’ video series is available on Youtube, and an album of the songs can be found on Spotify (available soon) and Soundcloud.
