Ep3: The Old Songs Podcast – ‘On Humber Bank’ ft. Ben Walker

The Old Songs Podcast

In this week’s episode, Jon chats to virtuoso guitarist, Ben Walker, about “On Humber Bank”, an old song that was collected aurally in 1877 and purports to be the suicide note of an abused woman. Ben came to the song via a collector called Ken Stubbs, known for recording traditional singers such as George Maynard and, in this case, Ern Baxter, and a recording housed on the Yorkshire Garland Group website sung by Maggie Graham. In particular, Jon wanted to chat about the processes that Ben goes through to re-envision a song of this nature in a modern context. For more info on the episode, head to: https://jonwilks.online/the-old-songs-podcast/ep3-the-old-songs-podcast-on-humber-bank-ft-ben-walker