Ahead of the release of her debut album, No Human Tongue Can Tell, this Friday, Radie Peat has shared her new single Willow Garden. Throughout her debut, she has chosen folk songs that reflect female struggle, suffering, strength and endurance – from betrayal and abandonment to the horrors of gendered violence.
Radie’s rendition of Willow Garden includes a final verse she’d never come across before.
“This is a traditional murder ballad, mostly sung in America. There is evidence of its existence in Ireland in 1810 when the tune was noted in the bunting collection, without lyrics, but with the title ‘Rose Connolly’. We appear to have lost it since then in Ireland, but it survived very successfully in the Appalachians. The last verse was transcribed by Matt Kinman from “an old fella” he was living up the mountains with for a while, and I’ve never found it anywhere else. Thanks to Matt for writing it down for me in a dive bar in Sylva, North Carolina.”
The single is also accompanied by a live session for the Western AF video channel.
Album pre-order link – https://radiepeat.ffm.to/human