Legacies

Lisa Null is a folksinger and songwriter who co-founded the influential label Green Linnet Records with the notable folksinger Patrick Sky in 1973. Having released two albums of British-American songs with guitarist Bill Shute in 1977 and 1980, 2013’s Legacies, a formidable double-album, was her first release in three decades. Null came to the project after various health issues; faced with the possibility of not recovering, she was inspired to make a recording that spoke to her own legacy, a collection of timeless folk songs paired with her own original songwriting. The album’s first half is composed of songs dated before the late 19th century; the second half features her new songs. The selections are warm, rich, and intimate, filled with favorites of American folk instrumentation—guitars, fiddles, banjos, and dulcimers, alongside flutes, concertina, and even the historic cittern. Altogether, Legacies is a dynamic release from an artist deeply versed in the canon of Anglo-American traditional music.