Gwilym Davies - Folk Singer, Folk Song Collector, Speaker

Gwilym Davies - Folksinger, Speaker, Researcher

(photo - Rececca Abraham)
Gwilymphoto3

Songs of Southern England and America

Gwilym the singer

Despite his Welsh name and ancestry, Gwilym Davies is a Hampshire man who has been resident in Gloucestershire since the 1970s. He is an experienced singer of traditional songs and, when not singing unaccompanied, accompanies himself on melodeon, concertina, banjo or guitar. For more than 30 years, Gwilym has been tracking down and recording traditional singers, and more that half his repertoire is based on songs from those singers. He sings a large number of songs from the English traveller (gypsy) community which he has learnt first hand. Most of his English songs come from the south and south-west of England, and he also sings a number of songs from his collecting trips to the USA.

Gwilym is experienced in folk clubs, concerts, festivals radio and recording.

Gwilym the speaker

As well as singing, Gwilym is also an experienced speaker and can deliver talks on various topics, e.g.

"Across the Blue Mountains" - photos and recordings of Gwilym's 97-98 field trips to the Appalachian and Adirondack mountains of the USA. There is an article on this subject on the Musical Traditions website.
Folk Music in Gloucestershire - all aspects: song, morris, customs, etc.
Grainger in Gloucestershire - The classical composer Percy Grainger made several forays to the county to collect traditional songs. A presentation is available with the group PUZZLEJUG to present some of these songs, using some of the original cylinder recordings.

Gwilym the researcher

For 30 years, Gwilym has been taping traditional singers, mainly in Hampshire, Devon and Gloucestershire. His collection has been augmented recently by productive field trips in 97-98 to the USA. Most of his recordings have now been deposited with the National Sound Archive in London. There are several pages of research to check out, on this subject, namely:

Bibliography and discography:

"A Hampshire Collection" - booklet of 10 songs, 2 tunes and a mummer's play (1972)
"Grainger in Gloucestershire" - booklet of 10 songs and 2 tunes (1994)
"Let us be Merry" - Book and companion CD of folk carols and Christmas songs collected in Gloucestershire - compiled with Roy Palmer as co-editor. (1996)
"Cotswold Music - Vinyl LP with Green Willow Band. Songs and tunes of Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds.
"All our own work" - cassette with group Cottage Industry (1987)
"They don't write 'em like that any more" - CD as half of the duo "Two Dogs"
Various articles for folk magazines on researched topics.