Anne Briggs

In the history of pop and folk, few careers match the peculiar arc of Anne Briggs. A supremely gifted interpreter of traditional English folk songs whose voice stood out for its clarity and striking beauty, she exerted the strongest shaping force on an entire cohort of British women folksingers that includes Sandy Denny, Maddy Prior, June Tabor, and Linda Thompson. Norma Waterson, herself a central participant in the mid-1960s British folk revival, has acknowledged Briggs’s impact and observed that Anne Briggs alone altered the vocal approach adopted by English women folksingers. The anomaly lies in the scale of her discography: roughly thirty songs in total. At twenty-seven she ceased performing, reportedly because she could not bear the sound of her own recorded voice. Even as electrification overtook the genre, Fairport Convention and Pentangle reworked the British folk lineage, and additional singers (Sandy Denny among them) adopted the style she had originated, her reputation continued to grow while she declined to return to singing.

Briggs entered the world in Nottinghamshire in 1944 and first performed folk material while still a teenager. Within a few years she appeared regularly in neighborhood folk clubs; her decisive opportunity arrived via the Centre 42 tour of 1962. That tour, mounted by musicians and artists with trade-union backing, sought to bring politically progressive cultural programs to regions beyond London. Its format allowed local performers to audition for opening slots in each city. During one such audition Briggs was heard by Ewan MacColl, who persuaded her to abandon school and accompany the tour. On the road she also collaborated with MacColl’s associate Bert Lloyd, another foundational figure in the British folk revival. She regards Lloyd as her primary influence; his guidance is evident throughout her first EP, The Hazards of Love. Far from exploiting a young singer, Lloyd supplied the repertoire and steady encouragement she required. Recognizing an exceptional talent, he worked patiently to ease her well-known anxiety and capture several remarkable performances. Recording remained an insurmountable obstacle, however; her aversion to both the process and the results led her to withdraw from music three years before she turned thirty, by which time she was already celebrated as the preeminent figure in English folk song. She continues to reside quietly in England, neither recording nor appearing in public, yet her example endures. Guitarist Martin Carthy summed it up: “She didn’t mess about. There were no histrionics. There was no posing. There was no self-conscious style. She sang fluidly, easily, with tremendous passion.”