9. Cy GrantCool Folk!
A generation of people grew up in the 1950s and 1960s seeing Cy Grant on TV every night after the news doing a topical calypso song he’d written that day. I still can’t quite believe that. It’s what we need now, given the news is so depressing at the moment! He’s a really extraordinary figure, from what was then known as British Guyana, and he’d trained as a barrister before he decided to focus on the music he’d always been making. He’s got this lovely voice, singing all sorts of folk songs on this album like ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone’ and a gorgeous version of the traditional, ‘Barbara Allen’. This was released in 1964 when he was at the height of his fame, and we shouldn’t forget him.
