Event

JOHN ROBERTS AND TONY BARRAND

Widely acclaimed for their lively and entertaining presentations of English folk songs, John Roberts and Tony Barrand have performed at major festivals, colleges, clubs and coffeehouses throughout the US, Canada, and their native Britain. They sing the ballads and songs of rural pursuits, of social and sociable situations, of industrial toil and strife, of the sea and much more, typically arranging their material thematically to better illustrate the lives and the social history of the people who made and sang the songs. Their songs are punctuated with tales, monologues and dance tunes, giving a more complete appreciation of the diversity, and vitality of the English folk tradition.

John and Tony met in 1968, as fellow Cornell graduate students in psychology, discovering they shared a common interest in folk song. Unaccompanied two-part singing was always a primary staple of their repertoire. The stark harmonies of their well-balanced voices soon brought them to the attention of the folk music community. They also draw upon a variety of instrumentation: John is a leading exponent of Anglo and English concertinas as well as being a fine banjo and guitar player. Tony is a skilled percussionist, on drums, bones, spoons.