Traditional Dorset folk music and song associated with
Thomas Hardy and his work

THE MELLSTOCK QUIRE
Various Artists
FTB CD1 Bespoke CD-R in DVD case

11 tracks • 39 minutes • Re-issued 2003
8pp booklet of original notes

This record is an attempt to show the nature and variety of the local music which influenced Thomas Hardy during his youth. His father and grand-father were leaders of local church 'quires' and dance bands, and Hardy himself was a keen fiddler who played for dances with his father.
His novels and poems abound in references to local songs, carols and dance-tunes.

The versions played and sung here are drawn from manuscripts and books owned or collected by the Hardy family. The arrangements are either taken directly from these sources or made in the same style as those found in family books or similar compilations of the same period.

Originally issued as an LP in 1980.