Shirley Collins: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

Shirley Collins: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert with tags npr, npr music, national public radio, live, performance, tiny desk, tiny desk concert, tony desk, tiny concert

The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space.

Bob Boilen | November 10, 2020

Shirley Collins is a legend — a humble one, but undoubtedly a transformative voice in traditional folk music. It's truly a miracle to hear her voice at this Tiny Desk (home) concert. At 85, Shirley Collins is seated in the living room of her cottage in Lewes, East Sussex, accompanied by guitarist Ian Kearey. Her life story took the sort of twists you hear in the songs she sings, in her case, a broken heart, a painful divorce, and the loss of her voice. For 30 years, she couldn't sing.

Now, here she is playing songs from Heart's Ease, only the second album she's made in the past 40 years. You hear her sing of a young sailor boy who saves his ship from robbers and is promised by his captain both gold and his daughter's hand in marriage. The lad sinks the robber's boat, only to be left to drown by that very same captain.

These unimaginable tales and that unadorned voice have influenced both British and American folk music since the 1960s, from Fairport Convention's Sandy Denny to The Decemberists' Colin Meloy. These tales of woe and whimsy are as timeless as Shirley Collins.

SET LIST

"The Merry Golden Tree"

"Sweet Greens and Blues"

"Wondrous Love"

"Tell Me True"

"Old Johnny Buckle"

MUSICIANS

Shirley Collins: vocals

Ian Keary: guitar

CREDITS

Video By: Grant Gee, Karen Johnston

Audio By: Alfie Gee

TINY DESK TEAM

Producer: Bob Boilen

Video Producer: Morgan Noelle Smith

Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin

Associate Producer: Bobby Carter

Tiny Production Team: Kara Frame, Maia Stern

Executive Producer: Lauren Onkey

Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann