The Red Barn
The Red Barn
A gothic murder ballad reimagined, told through women’s voices. The Red Barn unfolds like a period thriller of doomed love, haunted visions, and a story women refuse to let die.
Broken Creek discovered this song through the archival tapes of Australian folk legend Sally Sloane. The song was born in the 1826 London broadsheets, carried to Australia in by her grandmother, and sung by generations of women as a survival story and warning.
With the fretless banjo’s haunting, age-old tone and a searing fiddle, Broken Creek resurrect this ballad like a cinematic folk true-crime thriller.
All Bandcamp sales support Berry Street, providing vital family violence services across Victoria. In honouring women’s voices and the songs that once carried warnings and stories of survival, we extend that legacy of support to the present
About ‘The Red Barn’
Broken Creek’s new single The Red Barn is no ordinary murder ballad. Drawn from a true crime story that transfixed London in 1826, the song crossed oceans with Irish migrant families and was kept alive for generations by women singing in kitchens, around fires, and on verandahs.
Broken Creek unearthed this version through the crackling archival tapes of Australian folk legend Sally Sloane, held in the National Library of Australia. “It was like hearing a voice from the past,” recalls Lachlan (banjo) “These songs had been transmuted in the Australian bush from Irish heritage, carried down through women who often faced dangerous men, alone in the bush.”
“These ballads were survival stories” adds Erin, “they reminded women they weren’t alone.”
The Red Barn centres Maria Marten, murdered by her lover William Corder, and her step-mother, whose recurring visions of the crime site haunted her until justice was found. By foregrounding these women’s voices, Broken Creek reclaim the song as more than a blood-soaked ballad — it’s a testament to women’s resilience.
The track features the haunting, age-old tones of a fretless banjo, underscoring Erin’s aching vocal delivery. The song dissolves into Morning Star, a tune Sally Sloane herself played, creating a bridge between past and present.
“It’s not enough to just sing a murder ballad,” Erin explains. “We want to tell the women’s stories. Where are the songs of the women of the bush? They were definitely singing — and we want those voices heard.”
As part of the release, Broken Creek will donate all Bandcamp sales of The Red Barn to Berry Street, one of Australia’s largest independent family service organisations, providing vital family violence services across Victoria. In honouring women’s voices and the songs that once carried warnings and stories of survival, the band extends that legacy of support to the present. Berry Street offers crisis support, emergency accommodation, counselling, court advocacy, and long-term recovery, standing beside women, children, and families navigating the impacts of violence.
About the EP
The Red Barn is the lead single from Broken Creek’s forthcoming EP Folk from the Archive: Sally Sloane, a collection of six songs and tunes reimagined from the repertoire of Sally Sloane (1894–1982), one of Australia’s most important traditional singers. Recorded in the outback while on their first tour, Broken Creek dug into the archives to bring forgotten songs back to life with fresh interpretations.
“Australiana has been defined so much through men’s stories — the bush ballads about shearers and stockmen. We wanted to reimagine that. Sally Sloane showed us that women were singing in the bush too. Their songs are here, and they deserve to be sung again.”
