As a key figure in the British folk revival, this recording originally produced for Folkways in 1959 presents
Shirley Collins at a tender age of 23 recording under the eye of legendary Folkways producer and then partner
Alan Lomax assisted by pragmatic engineer Peter Kennedy. Recorded in London in a two-day marathon, the most distinctive voice in British folk song interpretation recorded this album of a cappella renditions of British and Irish tunes. Inflecting the collection with Appalachian gems she and Lomax had discovered in one of their legendary research jaunts the same year, False True Lovers is as vital a collection of this astonishing singer that exhibits the full spectrum of her interest and research into folk music tradition. As with the Sweet England collection re-issued in 2000 on Topic, her voice is captured in intimacy and naïveté that carried through her '60s landmarks Love, Death and the Lady and Anthems in Eden. This album is as striking as either masterpiece, a work of profound beauty. ~ Skip Jansen