Listen to CEO Beth Alden talking with the artist and curator of our latest exhibition, John Barleycorn Must Die.
Have you been to the fields? A personal top 10 of John Barleycorn and related songs
There is a vast amount of history behind the folk song John Barleycorn; written sources can be traced back to the 1500s, and its genealogy goes back further. But that, as they say, is another story and if you do want that story, I suggest you read Pete Wood’s 2009 essay John Barleycorn revisited: Evolution and Folk Song ).