Child Ballads

If there be any rightness in this world, they will do a second album of Child Ballads.

What a brilliant way to familiarize modern folks with these traditional pieces. This couple breathes such life into each song.

this is a beautiful and heart bleeding song! This is my favortie version of it. The harmonies are beautiful. It makes me tear up but I love it! It tells a story and it is a timeless piece of music! love it!

Great album. However, the version of "Tam Lin" leaves out some important parts of the narrative. First, Janet comes to Carterhaugh seeking an herbal abortificant, which may help to explain Tam's displeasure. Tam Lin is a changeling—that is, he is a human that was exchanged in the cradle for one of The Folk and raised as one of them. Every 100 years, The Folk must pay a tithe to hell. This year, Tam fears it is him. The Fey troop rides out every Halloween, and Tam hopes to escape by having Janet hold him while the Fey queen tries to get her to let go by the transformations described in the song. When they must ride on, the queen wishes she "…had plucked out thy twa grey een (eyes) and put in twa o' wood…" so that, escaped, he had not seen the secrets of fairyland.

Tam Lin is a magical and touching song that to really appreciate you will need to listen to many times. Amazing that lyrics so old can come to alive.

if you are a fan of anais you will enjoy this album. everything she does is a true work of art and this is no different. the way anais and jefferson sing these songs you would think they wrote the songs themselves. musically a true joy.

i luv how the faces reverse as you look at the cover!