This collection features songs drawn from opposite corners of England which during the 20th century experienced catastrophic decline in their traditional local industries: Cornwall now relies heavily on tourism and Tyneside has become a center for science-based technology. Traditionally, both have maintained a proud tradition of community music-making and we feature sea songs with Cornish baritone Ben Luxon and the Holman-Climax Male Voice Choir, whilst much-loved Geordie bass Owen Brannigan sings airs from Tyneside, and patriotic songs (Heart of Oak, Bay of Biscay).

This pioneering choir under David Wulstan demonstrated a new way of performance and inspired a new generation of world-class choir directors. It's use of vibrato-less, high women's voices, one-to-a-part scoring, and above all it's strict approach to tempo, set the standard for most recordings since. 'It's very much the fruit of my time at Oxford and the influence of David Wulstan and Bernard Rose.' (Harry Christophers) 'Under the direction of Wulstan, some choirs decided that Tudor pitch was probably a minor third above today's. This theory is convincingly demonstrated. "The Clerkes of Oxenford opened our ears to a new and invigorating approach to Tudor church music" (Gramophone)