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The Elliotts of Birtley Pete Wood. Preface by Peggy Seeger. Todmorden: Herron Publishing, 2008. v + 228 pp. Illus. Music. Index. ISBN 978-095406-823-3. £15.99.
The Elliotts are a celebrated singing family from Birtley in the north-east of England. Jack Elliott, arguably the central figure over the past century, was born in 1907 in Barley Mow, then a hamlet situated between Birtley and Chester-le-Street. At the age of fourteen, Jack started at the 'Cotia pit (Harraton colliery) as a pony lad and putter, moving on to the cutters when he was seventeen. There he worked 'marrers' with his older brother Reece, a partnership lasting twenty years, up to the time Jack's injuries ended their face- work days. Both brothers were well-known pub singers in their local area. Jack's wife, Em, was also an excellent singer, and their children sang as well, particularly Pete and Doreen, their first and second children. The family has a musical ancestry going back at least three generations, with Jack's father being a melodeon player and Em's family musicians in the theatre, while musical talent has spread out laterally among various family relations. Jack himself was a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, banjo, mandolin, melodeon, mouth organ, and Jew's harp. He had a charismatic presence as a singer and storyteller.
In this first book-length treatment of the Elliotts, Pete Wood offers a detailed profile of the family, set within the local social context of the mining village in which they lived, and an assessment of their contribution to the popular culture of the North-East. He traces the family back to the Victorian period, tells of how Jack and Em brought up their four children, and situates their...