Power of the True Love Knot

Personnel includes: Shirley Collins (vocals); Robin Williamson, Mike Heron.
Personnel: Shirley Collins (vocals, guitar, banjo).
Liner Note Author: Shirley Collins.
Recording information: 1967.
One of the highlights of Shirley Collins's catalog, THE POWER OF THE TRUE LOVE KNOT is also one of the loveliest collections in the entire British Folk Revival. Always much more purist than her psychedelia-embracing contemporary, Sandy Denny, Collins could nonetheless distill a medieval or traditional ballad to its most hypnotic, thrumming core. Backed on the bulk of these tracks solely by her sister Dolly's stunning pipe organ countermelodies--and at times by her own plucked dulcimer--Collins's voice meditatively winds through a canon of songs as old as the Thames, such as "Black-Eyed Susan," "Seven Yellow Gipsies," and "Barbara Allen." Other accompanists include cellist Bram Taylor and the Incredible String Band's Mike Heron and Robin Williamson. Producer to the British folks stars Joe Boyd keeps the proceedings unadorned, warm, and impactful.