An Introduction to June Tabor	

June Tabor was a student at Oxford (and appeared on University Challenge, no less), and has worked as both a librarian and a restaurateur. All of which imply intelligence, learning, taste and diligence – qualities she has brought, over decades, to her vocation as a singer. This CD might better be described as a retrospective, as it selects choice work reflecting her range and development from Airs and Graces, her debut in 1976, to Ragged Kingdom, her 2011 collaboration with Oysterband. An Introduction begins with a traditional song, ‘While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping’, and concludes with the Percy Sledge soul classic, ‘The Dark End of the Street’. In between come some of the best newer songs written in the folk idiom: Mike and Lal Waterson's strange and chilling ‘Scarecrow’, Bill Caddick's ‘Aqaba’, inspired by a scene from Lawrence of Arabia and the poet Les Barker's ‘Maybe Then I’ll be a Rose’.

Tabor has always worked with excellent, sympathetic musicians. Certain names recur, such as Martin Simpson (guitar), Andy Cutting (accordion) and Huw Warren (piano). They complement, rather than merely accompany, her beautiful, expressive voice. This she uses with consummate control. She sings ‘The Devil and Bailiff McGlynn’ with the dexterity of a rapper and the slave song ‘Shallow Brown’ as a jazz lament, while her version of ‘A Place Called England’ (with the Creative Jazz Orchestra) is almost anthemic. She is, as Elvis Costello observes in his liner notes, ‘simply one of Britain's greatest interpreters of popular song.’