The Folk Brothers for Aug. 24, 2022: Politics of coal
Wed, 08/24/2022 - 11:10am | Peter Schiffman
No, we didn't play any songs about Joe Manchin. But we were inspired by the new BBC miniseries "Sherwood," which deals with the murderous aftermath of a miners' strike in the coalfields near Nottingham -- yes, that Sherwood Forest -- when the Thatcher government decided to kill the unions, in part by embedding undercover police among the striking workers.
Ballads about coal mining have long been associated with the folk tradition of northern England and the Appalachians, and we played tracks from the Ian Campbell Folk Group (pictured here) whose music was featured in "Sherwood," as well as music by Offa Rex, John McCutcheon, The Pitman Poets, and others.
