THE ORIGINAL Electric Muse was written by Karl Dallas (Melody Maker), Dave Laing (Let It Rock), Robert Shelton (New York Times) and Robin Denselow (The Guardian) and published in 1975.

It traced British folk music from its mid-1960s revival up till the mid-1970s. Sadly, only Denselow is alive to see its significantly updated publication accompanied by a wonderful 4-CD box set.

Its early chapters compare the 1960s British folk boom with the US, where folk music consisted of Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Hank Williams, Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash, Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan and The Byrds — not forgetting the 1920s and ‘30s musicians who recorded hillbilly, blues and gospel, music that Rolling Stone columnist Greil Marcus called “old weird America.”

The British folk revival began in the early 1960s with the likes of John Renbourn, Bert Jansch and Davy Graham, Shirley and Dolly Collins followed by Roy Harper, Al Stewart, the Incredible String Band and Donovan.

But it was Fairport Convention whose blend of British folk, US roots music and West Coast rock that created British folk rock.

The book picks up from 1975. with Steeleye Span, the Fairports, Richard Thompson and The Albion Band and covers the influence of punk, including Billy Bragg and The Pogues, experiments such as Global Village and Big Band Folk (Bellowhead), plus the influence of Americana on artists such as Joe Strummer.

The accompanying CDs are a 50-year treasure trove of historic tracks by the likes of the artists mentioned above, along with Davy Graham, Maddy Prior and Steeleye Span.

The last 30 years are defined by Eliza McCarthy, Imagined Village, The Levellers, Justin Adams, June Tabor and The Oyster Band, and other experimental folk artists and new recordings by Shirley Collins and Sam Lee, up to 2020, “the year,” Denselow says, “the music paused.”

The Electric Muse Revisited: The Story Of Folk Into Rock And Beyond is published by Omnibus Press, £18.99 and the accompanying CD box set is released on Good Deeds Records.