Joseph Taylor (10 September 18334 May 1910), was a

folk singer 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 b ...

from Saxby-All-Saints,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England, who became the first English

to be commercially recorded after coming to the attention of the composer and

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who moved to the United States in 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long and ...

. He popularised obscure and unique songs including " Brigg Fair", "Rufford Park Poachers" and "The White Hare", and sang influential versions of well-known songs and ballads such as " Lord Bateman" and " The Sprig of Thyme". His songs were arranged by classical composers including Grainger and

Frederick Delius file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius (born Fritz Theodor Albert Delius; ; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prospero ...

, and recorded by folk revival musicians beginning in the

British folk revival The British folk revival incorporates a number of movements for the collection, preservation and performance of folk music in the United Kingdom and related territories and countries, which had origins as early as the 18th century. It is particu ...

of the 1960s. His singing was recorded by Grainger onto wax cylinders, which have been digitised and made available online by the

British Library Sound Archive The British Library Sound Archive, formerly the British Institute of Recorded Sound; also known as the National Sound Archive (NSA), in London, England is among the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word ...

as part of the Percy Grainger Collection.

Life and family

Early life

Taylor was born in the village of

Binbrook Binbrook is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the B1203 road, and north-east from Market Rasen. Previously a larger market town,Cox, J. Charles (1916) ''Lincolnshire'' pp. 64� ...

, Lincolnshire, to James Taylor (1806-1857) from

Fotherby Fotherby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated just east from the A16 road, east from Market Rasen, and south from Cleethorpes. In the ''Domesday'' account Fotherby is written as ...

, Lincolnshire and Mary Ann Smith (1811-1898) from Barnoldby le Beck, Lincolnshire. He studied

arboriculture Arboriculture (, from ) is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. The science of arboriculture studies how these plants grow and respond to cultural practices and to their env ...

, and eventually was in charge of a large estate comprising two villages, several farms and some woods. Sometime around 1850, Taylor visited a gypsy camp two nights in a row to hear their songs. The gypsies taught him many songs, including " Brigg Fair". When Taylor was in his 20s, he was imprisoned for six months at Binbrook for feeding a farmer's wheat to the farmer's own horses.

Marriage and family

Taylor married Eliza Hill (1827-1909), who came from the village of Huttoft, and had seven children: James (1858-1915); Betsy (1860-1929); John (1864-1947); Joseph (1864-1880), who drowned in the

River Ancholme The River Ancholme is a river in Lincolnshire, England, and a tributary of the River Humber, Humber. It rises at Ancholme Head, a spring just north of the village of Ingham, Lincolnshire, Ingham and immediately west of the Roman Road, Ermine S ...

at the age of 15; Anne (1867-1937); Frederick (1869-?); and Mary (1871-1967). Mary was interviewed about her father's singing by Peter Kennedy in 1953. The recording is kept by the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

and is available online. Later in life, Taylor worked as a farm bailiff, singing for pleasure as well as in his local church choir, and in competitions.

Appearance and personality

described Taylor as follows:

Though his age is seventy-five his looks are those of middle age, while his flowing, ringing
tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...
voice is well nigh as fresh as that of his son, who has repeatedly won the first prize for tenor solo at the North Lincolnshire musical competitions. He has sung in the choir of Saxby-all-Saints Church for forty-five years. He is a courteous, genial, typical English countryman, and a perfect artist in the purest possible style of folk-song singing...He most intelligently realizes just what sort of songs collectors are after, distinguishes surprisingly between genuine traditional tunes and other ditties, and is, in every way, a marvel of helpfulness and kindliness. Nothing could be more refreshing than his hale countrified looks and the happy lilt of his cheery voice.''

Percy Grainger

Percy Grainger first came into contact with Joseph Taylor when he saw him perform in the North Lincolnshire Musical Competition in 1905, which he had entered reluctantly and won with his version of ‘Creeping Jane’. Grainger first noted down ‘Brigg Fair’ from Taylor when he and

Frank Kidson Frank Kidson (15 November 1855 – 7 November 1926) was an English folksong collector and music scholar. Career He was born in Leeds, where he lived for most of his life.Palmer (2004). He worked briefly with his brother in an antique busi ...

were collecting songs from the competitors after the competition. Grainger visited Taylor the following year when he won the competition again, singing ‘Brigg Fair’ and ‘ William Taylor’. In July 1906, Grainger invited Taylor to Brigg so he could record him with the

phonograph A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

. Grainger returned again in 1908 and Taylor was again recorded. In 1908, Grainger was instrumental in the

Gramophone Company The Gramophone Company Limited was a British phonograph manufacturer and record label, founded in April 1898 by Emil Berliner. It was one of the earliest record labels. The company purchased the His Master's Voice painting and trademark righ ...

inviting Taylor to London, where a dozen of his songs were recorded, with nine subsequently being released on a series of seven gramophone discs, on the

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

label, as part of a series billed as "Percy Grainger's Collection of English Folk-Songs sung by Genuine Peasant Performers". In the accompanying booklet, Grainger wrote:

Mr. Joseph Taylor is in most respects the most exceptional folksinger I have yet heard. Although he is 75 years of age, his lovely tenor voice is as fresh as a young man's, while the ease and ring of the high notes, the freshness of his rhythmic attack, his clear intonation of modal intervals, and his finished execution of ornamental turns and twiddles (in which so many folk-singers abound) are typical of all that is best in the vocal art of the peasant traditional-singers of these islands.Though his memory for the texts of songs was not uncommonly good, his mind was a seemingly unlimited store-house of melodies, which he swiftly recalled at the merest mention of their titles. His versions were generally distinguished by the beauty of their melodic curves and by the symmetry of their construction. He relied more upon purely vocal effects than almost any folk-singer I ever heard. His dialect and his treatment of narrative points were not so exceptional, but his effortless high notes, sturdy rhythms, clean unmistakable intervals and his twiddles and ‘bleating’ ornaments (invariably executed with unfailing grace and neatness) were irresistible.

The British Library Sound Archive describes these releases as "a first in our field, and decades before any other attempt to issue real traditional singing on record for public consumption".

Classical arrangements of his songs

Grainger's recordings and transcriptions of Taylors's singing came to the attention of the composer

, who requested and secured permission to use Grainger's harmonies in his own arrangement of one of Taylor's songs, '' Brigg Fair''. Taylor was Guest of Honour at the first performance, at the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

in London, and reputedly stood to sing along, although his daughter Mary stated that he simply hummed along rather than sang out loud. He sat with Percy Granger, Grainger’s mother and Delius himself. Grainger's own folksong-inspired ''

Lincolnshire Posy ''Lincolnshire Posy'' is a musical composition by Percy Grainger for concert band commissioned in 1937 by the American Bandmasters Association. Considered by John Bird, the author of Grainger's biography, to be his masterpiece, the work has six ...

'' (1940) was dedicated by the composer, to "the singers who sang so sweetly to me".

Later releases and archives

Ten of Taylor's Gramophone Company recordings were released, as ''Brigg Fair: Joseph Taylor and Other Traditional Lincolnshire Singers'' (Leader LEA4050) by Leader Records in 1972, alongside recordings, of Taylor and others, transferred from Grainger's wax cylinders. Grainger's wax cylinders were copied onto lacquer discs by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in around 1940. The

digitised their set of these discs in 2018 and has made them available online.

Death and legacy

Joseph Taylor died following an accident on the 4th of May, 1910. The following report was printed in The Lindsey and Lincolnshire Star three days later:

...whilst driving out on Tuesday was thrown out of the trap on to the horse, through the animal shying at something on the road. The man, though bruised on the shoulder, continued his further five-mile drive, and drove back another ten miles. After fetching some cows from a field, he complained of severe pains in the pit of the stomach, and went to bed. Dr Morley, of Barton, was sent for, but before his arrival death had taken place.

As well as being known for providing songs arranged by classical composers, many of the songs performed by Taylor and recorded by Grainger became part of the canon of the

Martin Carthy Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in English folk music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, as well as later ar ...

, for example, recorded several, including "The White Hare" and "Creeping Jane". Percy Grainger's first meeting with Joseph Taylor has been called "a major turning point in the history of traditional folk music".

List of songs

Songs performed by Taylor, and recorded by Grainger, included: * Barbara Ellen * Bold Nevison * Bold William Taylor * Brigg Fair * Creeping Jane * Died For Love *

Geordie Geordie ( ), sometimes known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English, is an English dialect and accent spoken in the Tyneside area of North East England. It developed as a variety of the old Northumbrian dialect and became espe ...

* Green Bushes *

Landlord And Tenant A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a lea ...

* Lord Bateman * Murder Maria Martin * Once I Courted A Damsel * Rufford Park Poachers * The Bachelor Bright And Brave * The Gipsy's Wedding Day * The Gown Of Green * The Ship's Carpenter * The Spotted Cow * The Sprig Of Thyme * The White Hare * The Yarborough Hunt * Three Times Round Went Our Gallant Ship * When I Was Young In My Youthful Ways * Where Are You Goin' To My Pretty Maid *

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English Association football, football club based in Worcester, England, Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Southern Football League Premier Division Central, the seventh tier of English football. ...

* Young William The Ploughboy All of the recordings are currently available on the

website.

References

External links

The Percy Grainger Collection
, including digitisation of Taylor's performances (

)
Interview with Mary Taylor (daughter of Joseph Taylor), 1953
(

)
Return to Brigg Fair

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

, 2016 -

Jim Moray Jim Moray (born ''Douglas Oates''; 20 August 1981) is an English folk music, English folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Recording artist While studying classical composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire, Moray release ...

experiments with technology to bring the voice of Joseph Taylor and the Delius orchestral work together for the first time in over 100 years.
Brigg Fair - A memoir of Joseph Taylor by his grand-daughter E Marion Hudson