''The Ballad of Shirley Collins'' is a 2017 British feature

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by

Rob Curry Rob Curry is a British film director, best known for his work on theatrical documentaries. His films include TEMPEST (released in UK cinemas in 2012), and Way of the Morris (co-directed with Tim Plester), which premiered at SXSW and was released ...

and

Tim Plester Timothy Marc Plester (born 10 September 1970) is a British actor, playwright, and filmmaker, best known for the documentaries '' Way of the Morris'' and ''The Ballad of Shirley Collins'' - plus a multifarious number of cameo roles for film and ...

. The film follows the return of 80 year old folk singer

Shirley Collins Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the British Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on ...

to the limelight as she records ''

Lodestar Lodestar is an archaic word for a star that guides, especially the northern pole star. Lodestar may also refer to: Art and entertainment * Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, an award given annually at the World Science Fiction Conventi ...

'', her first album for 37 years, juxtaposing this with the noted '

Southern Journey The Southern Journey is the popular name given to a field-recording trip around the Southern States of the US by ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. He was accompanied on the trip by his then-lover, English folk singer Shirley Collins. It resulted in th ...

' song-collecting trip Collins undertook in 1959 with noted ethnomusicologist

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music during the 20th century. He was a musician, folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activ ...

. The music recorded on the trip received renewed attention in 2000 with the release of the

Coen Brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, together known as the Coen brothers (), are an American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Among their most acclaimed works are '' Blood Simple'' (198 ...

O Brother Where Art Thou ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' is a 2000 satirical comedy-drama musical film written, produced, co-edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson, with Charles Durning, Michael Badalucc ...

, the soundtrack of which was built around the music archive from the trip. The film premiered at the

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...

in October 2017, before a UK theatrical release the same month. Its international premiere was at the

Rotterdam International Film Festival International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

in March 2018, followed by screenings including CPH:DOX and Revelation Perth. The film was launched in the US with screenings at the

Virginia Film Festival The Virginia Film Festival is a program of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The film festival is held annually during 4 days, usually in late October or early November. History Created in October 1988, the Virginia Festival of Am ...

and

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 ...

, and received a small 20 screen US release on 2 November 2018. An event tour following the route of

and

song-collecting trip accompanied the release. The tour featured bands including Anna and Elizabeth, The Local Honeys, Petunia, Sam Gleaves and Ned Oldham. Gleaves and Oldham had previously contributed songs to a Shirley Collins tribute compilation that was put together by producer Paul Williams in 2014 to support a crowdfunding campaign for the film. This was later released as the triple LP and CD Shirley Inspired by

Fire Records Fire Records was an American independent record label, set up in 1959 by Bobby Robinson. Amongst others, it released records by Lightnin' Hopkins, Elmore James, Buster Brown and Arthur Crudup. At one point it was thought Fire had issued the l ...

in 2015. The compilation featured more than 30 artists, including Ned Oldham's brother

Bonnie Prince Billy Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Brothers, Palace Son ...

, singer-songwriter

Angel Olsen Angel Olsen (born Angelina Marie Carroll; January 22, 1987) is an American singer-songwriter from St. Louis, Missouri who lives in Asheville, North Carolina. To date, Olsen has released six studio albums: ''Half Way Home'' (2012), ''Burn Your F ...

, Norwegian black metal band

Ulver Ulver (Norwegian for "wolves") is a Norwegian Experimental electronic music, experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album ''Bergtatt – Et eeventyr i 5 capitler, Bergtatt'', ...

and members of

The Mekons The Mekons are a British Post-punk band formed in 1976 as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of co ...

and

Adam and the Ants Adam and the Ants were an English Rock music, rock band that formed in London in 1977. The band existed in two versions, both fronted by Adam Ant, between 1977 and 1982. The first phase began when the band were founded in May 1977 and were call ...

, reflecting the diversity of artists outside the folk world who Collins music appeals to.

References

External links

*
Buy ''The Ballad of Shirley Collins'' on double-disc DVD

Watch ''The Ballad of Shirley Collins'' on Vimeo
2017 films 2017 documentary films British independent films Documentary films about singers Documentary films about women in music Documentary films about women in the United Kingdom 2010s English-language films 2010s British films 2017 independent films British musical documentary films English-language documentary films English-language independent films {{UK-documentary-film-stub