Hi guys! 🙂
Today, I’d like to share with you a tune from a group about whom I was sure that I must have shared something from them in the past already, because I like them and have been familiar with their music since very early on in my English folk music exploration journey, but it looks like I’ve never talked about them on here so I figured I’d do so today. Lady Maisery are a vocal harmony trio from the north of England, consisting of Hannah James (who is also a clog dancer and plays piano accordion, and used to be part of another group called Kerfuffle), Hazel Askew (who plays melodeon, concertina, harp and bells, she also performs with various early music groups playing on medieval harp) and Rowan Rheingans (who plays fiddle, banjo and bansitar, she is also a part of The Rheingans Sisters). They sing both traditional as well as contemporary folk music, including their original songs. The name of the group comes from a ballad titled Lady Maisry.
This particular song comes from an album that they have recorded in collaboration with the English folk duo Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith, titled Awake Arise: A Winter Album. It is originally an American Christian hymn which has over time also been embraced as a folk song. It is a comforting tune about death, reminding Christians that it is not something to only weep about, but that we should rejoice together with those we knew who have passed, because they are now in heaven. The song was collected from Almeda Riddle from Arkansas.
My Inner MishMash 