The Magic Spring

'A wonderful book'
Billy Bragg, fRoots magazine

'A gentle, courageous book'
Jah Wobble, Independent on Sunday

City-dweller Richard Lewis has been having a problem with roots. His, he means. It would have been so much more romantic if he had been born in Dublin or Marseille. But what if you're simply from Croydon? What hope for romance then?

Starting with the conviction that England must have a folklore as compelling, as exotic and as beautiful as that of other places, Lewis embarks on a search for traditional roots that takes him well off the beaten track .. from the humble folk clubs of the fenlands , across the Yorkshire moors via the morris-dancing Cotswolds to the company of witches deep beneath the Forest of Dean.

The Magic Spring seeks not only to dispel some myths about English traditions but also to tell the story of their creation, to examine why they persist and how they connect to the modern land. Lewis also digs into his own past and discovers a deep affinity with his country and, in a climax on the Isle of Avalon, that roots are less about where you're from than he thought.

Buy The Magic Spring in beautiful hardback
Buy The Magic Spring in handy paperback

Listen to Richard murder his melodeon on BBC Radio Four's Excess Baggage

About the songs above

During my research for The Magic Spring I set myself the challenge of learning folk instruments and joining in with sessions. I bought a banjo from Hobgoblin in London, a melodeon from The Music Room in Oxford and (because two challenges are not enough) a beautiful Hurdy Gurdy, made by Chris Allen in Merthyr Vale.

Drowned Lover was recorded perfectly nicely by Nancy Wallace with Jennymay Logan on fiddle. Oddly, Nancy invited me to ruin it with hurdy gurdy, accordion and banjo. This is the ruined version. Sylvie was one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar and I learned it from the Bert Jansch record Rosemary Lane. I've never heard anyone sing John Barleycorn like this. I found the melody as a midi file on the web somewhere and the lyrics came off the internet too. This is how I imagined it might be arranged. Stripped was written by Martin Gore, released on Depeche Mode's 1986 album Black Celebration. What better song for a folk revivalist than this dark, industrial paen to the rural idyll?

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