Mullingar mans fourth book hits the bookshelves in march

A Mullingar man living in Wolverhampton is to see his fourth book hit the bookshelves this March.
Soundcheck Books is the publisher of David Burke’s Singing Out: A Folk Narrative of Maddy Prior, June Tabor and Linda Thompson, which weaves the stories of British folk music’s best-known and best-loved women into a single tale.
Why this trio particularly? David explains: “Maddy Prior, June Tabor and Linda Thompson have both endured and evolved.
“The people’s relationship with the folk tradition may be capricious, but Maddy, June and Linda have remained resolutely committed to it while concurrently contemporising it.”
They all began in the folk clubs of the second folk revival in the 1960s but, while staying true to their roots, have never been afraid to try new things.
Maddy Prior MBE is renowned as the front woman of Steeleye Span, and has also collaborated with Shirley Collins, Mike Oldfield, The Carnival Band and June Tabor as The Silly Sisters.
June has often been labelled the grand dame of English folk music. Linda Thompson’s later career has largely been blighted by hysterical dysphonia, a condition that has stopped her singing for long periods.
However, her albums with ex-husband Richard Thompson remain classics of the genre.
David interviewed all three women for Singing Out, along with many others, including Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, Martin Carthy, Christy Moore, Martin Simpson, Rufus Wainwright, Ron Sexsmith and Pere Ubu’s David Thomas.
David, a past pupil of Coláiste Mhuire, worked as a journalist with the Topic newspaper and later with the Offaly Independent before moving to the UK in 1990.
He spent six years working in print, audio and television as part of the World Entertainment News Network. His features have appeared in the UK’s red tops and international publications such as Esquire (Japan) and Pop Rocky (Germany).
A television subtitler by day and contributor to R2 and Vintage Rock magazines by moonlight, he has authored three books, Crisis In The Community: The African Caribbean Experience Of Mental Health, Heart Of Darkness: Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska and A Sense Of Wonder: Van Morrison’s Ireland.