Anne Briggs - A Collection

An awesomely talented singer of traditional English folk music, possessing as pure and breathtakingly beautiful a voice as one could hope to have, she was the single most important influence on a group of female British folk singers that includes Sandy Denny, Maddy Prior, June Tabor, and Linda Thompson. Even Norma Waterson, herself a hugely important figure in the British folk revival of the mid-'60s, admits to being influenced by Briggs' singing and notes that Anne Briggs singlehandedly changed the way that English women folk singers sang. This is what the authoritative music encyclopaedia and website All Music Guide has to say about Anne Briggs.After recording an album for Topic, and a second album for CBS she quit performing and recording permanently during the sessions for her third album and left for a quiet life in rural Britain. She has recently been featured on the BBC TV series Folk Britannia. A Collection gathers together all her Topic recordings along with a couple of other odds and ends, in a superb package with a 36 page booklet which includes an extensive biographical essay by Colin Harper, notes on the songs and many contemporary photographs. This is an essential album for anyone with even the slightest interest in folk music. Anne Briggs was a unique and inspirational singer who influenced a generation of singers then retired from the public eye, but has never been forgotten. A new generation of folk singers have now discovered her and her recording are reaching a far greater audience than ever before.