I was going to wait until we got a little closer to the release dates to post about Loreena McKennitt’s new album but then I realized that today is the day to post about it!
I’ve been a huge fan of Loreena McKennitt for years (her version of Greensleeves still makes me tingle) so I was very excited that she has a new album titled The Wind the Shakes the Barley out next month and as an added bonus, one of the songs on the new CD has a Tudor history connection. Several of Loreena’s previous albums have included poems or ballads set to music, such as The Lady of Shallot by Tennyson and the new album has The Ballad of Queen Jane, a popular ballad that dates from the 17th century. Folklorists have collected various versions of the ballad (I knew that folklore class I took a few years back would come in handy here someday!) and here is the version I’ve had in the poetry section of the site for ages: The Death of Queen Jane. Although the poem itself is not very historically accurate, I thought that the anniversary of Jane Seymour’s death would be an appropriate day to post about this.
You can listen to clips from the new CD on the Quinlan Road website and pre-order links to my Amazon affiliate store are below:
Thank-you so much for posting this – I absolutely love Loreena McKennitt and had no idea she had a new album coming out!!!! And a song about a Tudor as well, double YAY!! Now I can’t wait for November!