A Somerset Scrapbook

Songs, stories, music and traditions of the County of Somerset
Collected by Bob and Jacqueline Patten

Musical Traditions MTCD252

One of the lesser-known treasures of the late 1980s was Somerset Scrapbook, a modest book of delightful songs, stories, tunes and descriptions of village life and customs drawn from the extensive field collections of Bob and Jacqueline Patten.  It had an accompanying cassette, and my copy is almost worn out with playing over the years.

Musical Traditions are gaining a solid reputation for issuing material which is out of the ordinary way of things, and they should be congratulated for agreeing to republish the Pattens’ work as a digital book.  All the text and excellent photographs are here, plus fifty sound files of singers, melodeon and mouth-organ players, storytellers and talkers.  A treat for those interested in village traditions from the West Country, and a timely re-issue, especially as my cassette-player is on its last legs.  The Pattens have plenty more material, so can we hope for a follow-up?

Steve Roud, in EDS - 24.5.13

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