Jon Rennard (1946 — 29 July 1971) was an English

folksinger Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

who recorded two

record album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

s of traditional material as well as his own songs.

Biography

Born in 1946, Jon Rennard was a

based in

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

, West

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. Rennard was appreciated as a singer in folk clubs. He died at the age of 24 on 29 July 1971 in a car accident in Leeds. He left a wife Pat and a son John.

''Brimbledon Fair''

''Brimbledon Fair'', recorded in 1970, is Jon Rennard's debut album. Track listing: # "Brimbledon Fair # "The Eigerwand" (Rennard) # "I Live Not Where I Love" (traditional) # "Regency" (Rennard) # "Ballad of Joseph Myers" (Rennard) # "Go From My Window" (traditional) # "Broom Besoms" # "The Sheffield Apprentice" # "Chicken Fat" # "

The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington" is a traditional English folk song. It is numbered as Child ballad 105, and as Roud number 483. Synopsis The ballad concerns a young squire's son who falls in love with a bailiff's daughter from Islington ...

" (traditional) # "The Old Man's Lament" (traditional) # "Lullaby" (Rennard) One of the tracks on that album is "

Child ballad The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...

number 105. Rennard offers traditional rendering of traditional material, deftly sung and played on an acoustic guitar. Beside the title song, other traditional songs include "Broom Besoms", "Go From My Window", "I Live Not Where I Love", and "The Sheffield Apprentice", the latter two sung unaccompanied. There is also "The Old Man's Lament", adapted by Ian Campbell from the traditional Scottish ditty, "Nicky Tams", and his own compositions: "The Ballad of Joseph Myers" about a public hanging in 1864, "The Eigerwand" about a failed attempt to climb the

Eiger The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that exte ...

mountain, "Lullaby", and "Regency", the latter an instrumental piece on guitar.

''The Parting Glass''

Rennard's second album was entitled ''The Parting Glass'', produced by Traditional Sound Recordings in

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its e ...

, England, based on live recordings at the Bate Hall Folk Club in Macclesfield, on November 1970. The album appeared in 1971 after his death. Traditional songs in that album include "

The Parting Glass "The Parting Glass" is a Scottish traditional song, often sung at the end of a gathering of friends. It has also long been sung in Ireland, enjoying considerable popularity to this day and strongly influencing the style in which it is often ...

", " Holmfirth Anthem", "Banks of Sweet Primroses", "Garners Gay", "The Captain's Apprentice", "The Female Drummer Boy", and "Follow the Plough". In addition, there is "In Your Smile", a love song of his, "Gay Sailor Jack McKoy", a satire of his, and "Jumbo the Elephant", composed by

Leon Rosselson Leon Rosselson (born 22 June 1934, Harrow, London, Harrow, Middlesex, England) is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own sat ...

, about an animal breaking loose from bondage.

Reissue

Fellside Records Fellside Recordings is a British independent record label, formed by Paul Adams and Linda Adams in 1976 in Workington, Cumbria, and still run by them. Paul Adams toured semi-professionally with the Barry Skinner Folk Group in his teens. He an ...

reissued both of Rennard's albums in April 2015 as digital downloads, making them available to the public for the first time since 1971.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rennard, Jon 1946 births 1971 deaths Musicians from Leeds English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English folk musicians English folk singers 20th-century English singers 20th-century British male singers 20th-century English male writers