Fairport Convention - comments

English Folk-Rock Band, playing songs and instrumentals, both traditional and contemporary. Over the years the line-up has changed many times.

Liner notes from "Chronicles" by David Suff, May 2004.

For nigh on four decades, FAIRPORT CONVENTION, long acknowledged as the inventors and flame-keepers of British folk-rock, have struggled through tragedy and numerous line-up changes. Their rich legacy of recordings made for Island between 1968 and 1976 captures one of Britain's finest and most creative ensembles at their heady peak. Many of their contemporaries sought to unite traditional folk and the new rock music. Despite their many vicissitudes, the group's music has continuously influenced and inspired current artists.

The Fairport story begins in a leafy North London suburb when a bunch of schoolboys got together at Simon Nicol's parent's house - "Fairport" - and decided to become a band. Briefly they were Tim Turner's Narration, then The Ethnic shuffle Orchestra, before finally settling on Fairport Convention. The original 1967 line-up comprised Ian Matthews: vocals, Judy Dyble: vocals, Ashley 'Tyger' Hutchings: bass, Richard Thompson: guitar/vocals, Simon Nicol: guitar/vocals and Martin Lamble: drums. Early Fairport music borrowed heavily from contemporary North American sources: from bands like The Lovin' Spoonful, The Youngbloods and the Byrds. They absorbed all of these musical flavours, refined them to create their own identity, and still managed to sound refreshingly English. During incredibly intense live performances, their instrumental prowess and self-deprecating humour, in equal measure, marked the ensemble out from their peers on London's 'Underground' club circuit. The teenage Richard Thompson's wildly expressive playing added life to the songs the band was learning from obscure import albums, notably an incendiary reading of The Butterfield Blues Band's 'East West'. They coon came to the attention of American producer Joe Boyd, then working for Elektra Records' London office and running the legendary UFO club. Boyd signed the fledgling group to his Witchseason production company and began organising gigs and their debut recording sessions.

Signed to Track Records, they released the charming 'If I had a Ribbon Bow' single and their self-titled debut album. 'Fairport Convention' is a remarkably assured debut for so young a group. Alongside their original songs, they introduced the then little known Canadian songwriter Joni Mitchell's 'Chelsea Morning', and American writers Emmitt Rhodes' 'time Will Show The Wiser' and Richard Farina's 'Reno Nevada' to a wider audience. The album was a cult favourite, but like the single, it did not sell well. Judy Dyble departed and was replaced by ex-Strawbs vocalist Sandy Denny. Already established on the folk-scene. Denny brought a strong traditional folk-feel to their work, which began to appear on the superlative 'What We Did On Our Holidays. The band's second album (their debut on Island Records) is an enormous step-up from its predecessor - much of their subsequent reputation rests upon their first four albums for the new label. With each album Fairport Convention defined and redefined their signature style.

Line-ups.

Lineup 1 (November 1967 - May 1968)

Album: "Fairport Convention" (1968)

Judy Dyble (vocals, autoharp, piano, recorder); Ian Matthews (vocals), 
Richard Thompson (vocals, guitars); Simon Nicol (vocals, guitars); 
Ashley Hutchings (vocals, bass); Martin Lamble (drums)

Lineup 2 (May 1968 - June 1969)

Album: "Heyday:BBC Radio Sessions (BBC 1968-69)" (1987)
Album: "What We Did on Our Holidays" (1969)
Album: "Unhalfbricking" (1969)

Sandy Denny (vocals, guitar); Ian Matthews (vocals), 
Richard Thompson (vocals, guitars); Simon Nicol (vocals, guitars); 
Ashley Hutchings (vocals, bass); Martin Lamble (drums)

Lineup 3 (September 1969 - November 1969)

Album: "Liege and Lief" (1969)

Sandy Denny (vocals, guitar); Dave Swarbrick (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), 
Richard Thompson (vocals, guitars); Simon Nicol (vocals, guitars); 
Ashley Hutchings (vocals, bass); Dave Mattacks (drums)

Lineup 4 (December 1969 - January 1971)

Album: "Full House" (1970)
Album: "Live at the L.A. Troubadour" (1970)

Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle, viola, mandolin); Richard Thompson (vocals, guitars); 
Simon Nicol (vocals, guitars, mandolin, dulcimer); 
Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); Dave Mattacks (drums, harmonium, bodhran)

Lineup 5 (January 1971 - December 1971)

Album: "Angel Delight" (1971)
Album: "Babbacombe Lee" (1971)

Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle, mandolin), 
Richard Thompson (vocals, guitars); Simon Nicol (vocals, guitars, viola, dulcimer); 
Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin, viola); 
Dave Mattacks (drums, electric piano, bass, vocals)

Lineup 6 (December 1971 - February 1972)

Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle, mandolin), 
Richard Thompson (vocals, guitars); Roger Hill (vocals, guitars); 
Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); Dave Mattacks (drums)

Lineup 7 (February 1972)

Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle, mandolin), 
Trevor Lucas (vocals, guitars); Jerry Donahue (guitars, vocals); 
Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); Tom Farnell (drums)

Lineup 8 (March - June 1972)

Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle, mandolin), 
Roger Hill (guitars, vocals); Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); 
Tom Farnell (drums)

Lineup 9 (June - July 1972)

Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle, mandolin), 
Dave Rea (guitars); Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); 
Tom Farnell (drums)

Lineup 10 (August 1972 - February 1974)

Album: "Rosie" (1973)
Album: "Nine" (1973)

Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle, viola, mandolin), 
Trevor Lucas (vocals, guitars); Jerry Donahue (guitars);
Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); 
Dave Mattacks (drums, percussion, keyboards, bass)

Lineup 11 (March 1974 - January 1975)

Sandy Denny (vocals, guitar); Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle, mandolin), 
Trevor Lucas (vocals, guitars); Jerry Donahue (guitars);
Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); Dave Mattacks (drums)

Lineup 12 (January - February 1975)

Sandy Denny (vocals, guitar); Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle, mandolin), 
Trevor Lucas (vocals, guitars); Jerry Donahue (guitars);
Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); Paul Warren (drums)

Lineup 13 (February 1975 - January 1976)

Album: "Rising for the Moon" (1975)

Sandy Denny (vocals, guitar, electric and acoustic piano); 
Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle, viola, mandolin, autoharp, guitar, dulcimer), 
Trevor Lucas (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Jerry Donahue (guitars);
Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); Bruce Rowland/ Dave Mattacks (drums, percussion)

Lineup 14 (February - August 1976)

Album: "Gottle O'Geer" (1976)

Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle); Bob Brady (piano); Dan Ar Bras (guitars);
Roger Burridge (mandolin, fiddle); Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); 
Bruce Rowland (drums)

Lineup 15 (September 1976 - August 1979)

Album: "Bonny Bunch of Roses" (1977)
Album: "Tipplers Tales" (1978)
Album: "Farewell, Farewell" (1979)

Dave Swarbrick (vocals, fiddle); Simon Nicol (vocals, guitars);
Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); Bruce Rowland (drums)

The 1981 Cropredy reunion took place at Broughton Castle. It appeared as

Album: "Moat on the Ledge: Live at Broughton Castle" (1982)

Lineup 16 (?1985)

Album: "Gladys' Leap" (1985)

Simon Nicol (vocals, guitar); Dave Pegg (bass, mandolin, bouzouki, vocals);
Dave Mattacks (drums, keyboards). Guests: Cathy Lesurf (vocals), 
Richard Thompson (guitar); Ric Sanders (violin)

Lineup 17 (1985 - 1996)

Album: "Expletive Delighted" (1986)
Album: "In Real Time: Live '87" (1987)
Album: "Red and Gold" (1989)
Album: "The Five Seasons" (1991)
Album: "The Woodworm Years" (1992)
Album: "Jewel in the Crown" (1992)
Album: "Old, New, Borrowed, Blue" (1996)

Simon Nicol (vocals, guitar); Maartin Allcock (guitars, bouzár, tambourine, 
accordion, keyboards, vocals, percussion); Ric Sanders (violins); 
Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, guitar, mandolin); Dave Mattacks (drums, percussion, 
glockenspiel, crotales, organ, synthesisers).

Lineup 18 (since 1997)

Album: "Who Knows where the Time Goes" (1997)
Album: "The Wormwood Years" (1997)
Album: "The Cropredy Box" (1998)
Album: "Close to the Wind" (1998)
Album: "The Wood and the Wire" (2000)

Simon Nicol (vocals, guitar); Ric Sanders (violins); Chris Leslie (fiddle, mandolin)
Dave Pegg (vocals, bass, mandolin); Gerry Conway (drums)

Last updated on 23/10/2010