''The Ballad of Shirley Collins'' is a 2017 British feature documentary directed by Rob Curry and

Tim Plester Timothy Marc Plester (born 10 September 1970) is a British actor, playwright, and filmmaker, best known for the documentaries ''Way of the Morris'' and ''The Ballad of Shirley Collins'' - plus a multifarious number of cameo roles for film and TV ...

. The film follows the return of 80 year old folk singer

Shirley Collins Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on ...

to the limelight as she records '' Lodestar'', her first album for 37 years, juxtaposing this with the noted ' Southern Journey' song-collecting trip Collins undertook in 1959 with noted ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. The music recorded on the trip received renewed attention in 2000 with the release of the

Coen Brothers Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

O Brother Where Art Thou ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' is a 2000 comedy drama film written, produced, co-edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson, with Chris Thomas King, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and ...

, the soundtrack of which was built around the music archive from the trip. The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2017, before a UK theatrical release the same month. Its international premiere was at the

Rotterdam International Film Festival The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

in March 2018, followed by screenings including CPH:DOX and Revelation Perth. The film was launched in the US with screenings at the

Virginia Film Festival The Virginia Film Festival is a film festival hosted by the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The festival is held annually, usually in late October or early November. History Cr ...

and

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

, and received a small 20 screen US release on 2 November 2018. An event tour following the route of Alan Lomax and

' Southern Journey song-collecting trip accompanied the release. The tour featured bands including Anna and Elizabeth, The Local Honeys, Petunia, Sam Gleaves and Ned Oldham. Gleaves and Oldham had previously contributed songs to a Shirley Collins tribute compilation that was put together by producer Paul Williams in 2014 to support a crowdfunding campaign for the film. This was later released as the triple LP and CD Shirley Inspired by

Fire Records Fire Records was an American independent record label, set up in 1959 by Bobby Robinson. Amongst others, it released records by Lightnin' Hopkins, Elmore James, Buster Brown and Arthur Crudup. At one point it was thought Fire had issued the la ...

in 2015. The compilation featured more than 30 artists, including Ned Oldham's brother

Bonnie Prince Billy Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

, singer-songwriter Angel Olsen, Norwegian black metal band Ulver and members of

The Mekons The Mekons are a British band formed in the late 1970s as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of ...

and

Adam and the Ants Adam and the Ants were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. The group existed in two incarnations, both fronted by Adam Ant, over the period 1977 to 1982. The first, founded in May 1977 and known simply as The Ants until November of t ...

, reflecting the diversity of artists outside the folk world who Collins music appeals to.

References

External links

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Buy ''The Ballad of Shirley Collins'' on double-disc DVD

Watch ''The Ballad of Shirley Collins'' on Vimeo
2017 films 2017 documentary films British independent films British documentary films Documentary films about singers Documentary films about women in music Documentary films about women in the United Kingdom 2010s English-language films 2010s British films {{UK-documentary-film-stub