Fred Jordan

Fred Jordan (5 January 1922 – 30 July 2002 ) was a farm worker from Ludlow, Shropshire, and is noted as one of the great musically untutored traditional English singers. He was first recorded in the 1940s by folk music researcher Alan Lomax and, over subsequent decades endeared himself to the English folk-song revival movement. Jordan was awarded the English Folk Dance and Song Society's highest honour, the Gold Badge, "for distinguished and unique contributions to the folk performing arts" in 1995.

Early life Jordan was born in Ludlow, the youngest of 5 children. He mainly sang his songs in pubs.

First recordings Following the Second World War, Jordan was working for a blacksmith who heard that Alan Lomax was in the area, searching for songs in the way that Cecil Sharp had some 50 years earlier, and suggested that Lomax should listen to Jordan. Lomax made the first recording of his singing. In 1952 Peter Kennedy, working for the BBC on secondment from the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) made further recordings of Jordan on a farm at Diddlebury.

Recognition and critical acclaim Following these recordings Jordan became nationally recognised in folk music circles and left Shropshire for the first time in his life to sing on BBC programmes and in live performances at venues as significant as London's Royal Festival Hall and Manchester Free Trade Hall. He also toured Scotland at this time, meeting Hamish Henderson in Edinburgh. These performances led to him becoming a popular guest artist at folk clubs through the next two decades. He continued to work as a casual farm labourer, combining fencing, hedging, ditching and harvesting with his new career as a singer. With the growth of folk festivals he appeared before ever-larger audiences at festivals such as Keele, Cambridge, Bromyard and Sidmouth. His signature song became "The Farmer's Boy" which usually brought his concerts to an end. Jordan's voice was described by Peta Webb as having a "beautiful timbre and vibrato" and that he could "bring out the essence of a song through a wide range of subtle devices". Derek Schofield described him as having a "subtle and skilful use of melodic ornament". 2011 Lydia Noble 2012 Rosie Hood 2013 Jo Moore and Cuthbert Noble 2014 Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne 2015 Georgia Lewis 2016 Rowan Piggott 2017 Molly Pipe 2018 Sam Baxter 2019 Jon Doran

Selected discography Songs of a Shropshire Farm Worker – Topic Records LP, 12T150 (1966) When the Frost is on the Pumpkin – Topic Records LP, TS 233 (1974) In Course of Time – VWML cassette, 006 (1990) A Shropshire Lad – Veteran Records double CD, VTD148CD

Fred Jordan on compilation albums The following CD albums each contain one or more tracks sung by Jordan: Hidden English – Topic Records CD, TSCD600 My Ship Shall Sail The Ocean – Topic Records CD, TSCD652 O'er His Grave The Grass Grew Green – Topic Records CD, TSCD653 First I'm Going To Sing You A Ditty – Topic Records CD, TSCD657 They Ordered Their Pints Of Beer And Bottles Of Sherry – Topic Records CD, TSCD663 There Is A Man Upon The Farm – Topic Records CD, TSCD670 Come All My Lads That Follow the Plough – Topic Records CD, TSCD655 A Century Of Song – EFDSS CD, EFDSSCD02 The Birds Upon The Tree – Musical Traditions Double CD, MTCD333 Classic Ballads of Britain & Ireland Vol. 1 – Rounder Records CD, RCD1775 Old Boys (at Whitby Folk Week) – Whitby Folk Week CD, WFW 26CD.

In 2009 Topic Records included in their 70-year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten "We Shepherds Are The Best of Men" from Songs of A Shropshire Worker as track twelve on the second CD.