How To Academy Podcast Amy Jeffs – Stories of Love and Death From Traditional Ballads
Jan 23, 2026
Amy Jeffs, historian, folklorist and illustrator who reimagines traditional British ballads, guides listeners through centuries-old tales. She explores how ballads lived in daily life, their supernatural and murder themes, and the challenge of turning fluid oral songs into fixed prose. She also traces motifs like witchcraft, agency, transformation, and why these stories still resonate today.
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Multimedia Reframing Of Ballads
- Old Songs reframes ten traditional ballads as short stories paired with historical commentary and illustrations.
- Amy Jeffs combines text, art and music to explore ballads in word, image and melody.
Child's Monumental Ballad Scholarship
- Francis James Child compiled 500+ ballads, categorising them and tracing motifs across languages and literature.
- His work situates British ballads within a wider international and classical context.
Ballads Move From Fluid To Fixed
- Writing ballads down fixes forms that were originally fluid and adapted in live performance.
- Jeffs argues reinterpretation in prose is authentic because singers historically adapted ballads for audiences.
