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Today, we see the release of The Ballad of Mic and Susie, the new single by Serious Sam Barrett. Sam’s self-penned songs are often a heartfelt reflection on his own experiences, and the life of Mic and Susie has clearly touched him.
When Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, and Charles Parker began working on The Travelling People, the final Radio Ballad to be broadcast in 1964, it would be, in the words of Ben Harker, MacColl’s biographer, the most assured and politically pointed programme to date. Parker noted that the travellers proved ‘the richest source of songs and stories ever tapped for any of the radio ballads’. Anne Briggs, one of our most well-known English folk singers, has also spoken about the time she spent living with travellers in Ireland (see below) and the vast repertoire of songs they had. Through the summer of 1963, field recordings were made for the Radio Ballads at horse fairs and in the homes of settled travellers in dwellings in the New Forest. MacColl also recorded the outrage of local residents toward the travellers and children chanting about gypsies that highlighted the prejudice they had to contend with.
Fifty years on, that prejudice hasn’t abated, with the media frequently stoking the fires. So to hear a song like this now, about a couple whose love for life on the road has persevered, raised a family and now share their songs at a folk club, is quite a cathartic act in the face of how they are frequently portrayed, and Sam’s sincerity makes it all the more beautiful.
Mic painted the artwork used for the single, depicting their life on the road in a horse and wagon (see the full-size painting below).
Sam told us:
I was lucky enough to have met Mic and Susie through the Otley Folk Club a number of years ago. They are well respected members of the traveller community. I was instantly blown away by their music, stories, kindness and how real and genuine they are. They sing songs about their life on the road, raising children in a horse drawn wagon and the work the struggles that travellers face every day. I tried to show how inspiring Mic and Susie are to me in this song I wrote for them! These are the kind of people that folk songs are about but they are real and living and go to my local folk club. I feel honoured that this song got their blessing and I’m forever grateful to York Traveller’s Trust (https://www.ytt.org.uk/) for introducing the song to some of York’s travellers and for the guidance they have given me.
Download the single here: https://serioussambarrett.bandcamp.com/track/the-ballad-of-mic-and-susie
People can also get a limited lathe cut 7″ of the song via paypal. Contact Sam for details: serioussam13@hotmail.co.uk
Lear more about York Travellers Trust and the work they do here: https://www.ytt.org.uk/
As mentioned above, when we interviewed Anne Briggs in 2016, she shared how she learned so much from the travelling community while in Ireland. “I travelled and busked with Irish Travelling people on several occasions over the years. With Mick and Christy Dunne (brothers) in Cork City (we had a pitch outside the Bank of Ireland), Pecker Dunne in Co. Kerry and various towns and villages in the middle of Ireland. Others I sang with and listened to in Dublin, there was a big Travellers camp on the outskirts of the city where there were weekly sessions, and they were really good. There was a stunning singer called John Riley who had a wonderful repertoire of Big ballads, complete versions, and he had an ancient style of singing that had been untouched by the popular and Americanised styles that affected many a good singer.”
“I knew and was often in the company of Ted Furey, another traveller with a good repertoire, and his two sons, Finbar (Irish pipes), and Eddie, who sang, and who had learned to play the guitar, which was really unusual for travellers of that era. There was also another piper called Felix Doran who was occasionally around in Dublin, but I believe he was largely based in England at this time.” Read the full interview here.
We also featured a film by Tommy Fegan called “Coppers and Brass” which looked at the piping tradition of Irish Travellers. Many of the names mentioned by Anne including Felix Doran, brother of Johnny Doran were featured and if those names are unfamiliar to you then I strongly recommend you watch the film here to grasp the importance of these players on the Irish traditional music scene.
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