Jarvis Cocker has made his first editorial acquisition in his role as editor-at-large for Faber and Faber, picking up JP Bean’s history of British folk clubs, Singing From The Floor.
The book was recommended to him by fellow Sheffield man Richard Hawley. Says Cocker: "When my friend Richard Hawley said he’d met "a man in a pub who had a book for me" I have to admit I was slightly dubious. But he was right. Singing From The Floor portrays an important movement in vernacular culture in the voices of the people who made it happen – and that’s not an easy task. Especially when the events in question took place many years ago and may have involved the consumption of alcohol. JP Bean has captured this moment before it is lost forever, and has made it live again on the page. He’s a very clever chap. Let’s raise a glass to him".
The publishers describe the book, which features interviews with Shirley Collins, Martin Carthy and Peggy Seeger (above) among others as: "[T]he story of an acoustic revolution that took place in Britain in the 1950s and ’60s. This was the folk revival, where a generation of musicians, among much drink and raucous cheer and influenced by the skiffle craze, rediscovered Britain’s own folk music tradition alongside the folk and blues coming over from America."
It will be published as part of their Faber Social series, and is set to come into print in April 2014; head to Faber’s site for more.
