Shirley Collins & Davy Graham – Folk Roots, New Routes

This collaborative 1964 album bridged two distinct musical worlds, sparking the British folk-rock explosion. Shirley Collins brought an unadorned, authentic southern English singing style handed down through generations of rural singers, while Davy Graham accompanied her on acoustic guitar using modal DADGAD tunings inspired by Moroccan music and American blues. The contrast between Collins's austere vocal purity and Graham's fluid, polyphonic fingerpicking created a bold, innovative hybrid that revitalised British traditional music.