Lucy and Kaye provide the commentary for Reiving and Bereaving.
The historic background to the ballads and their characters is provided by Kaye McAlpine. She is an expert on fact and fiction in ballads which contain hanging and burnings, contributed the chapter on traditional and reiver ballads for The Compendium of Scottish Ethnology and was a co-editor of the Scottish Text Society volume The Harris Repertoire.
Sir Walter Scott’s connection with the Borders, his collection of ballads and the other people involved with the Minstrelsy is Lucy Macrae’s remit. She is a singer and fiddle player, who is currently working on her phD on Scott, the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border and cultural memory.
Reiving and Bereaving 