 Fairport Convention played their first concert at St Michael's Church Hall in Golders Green, North West London on 27 May 1967. Based in suburban north London, the group had coalesced around a bass guitar player and bandleader named Ashley 'Tyger' Hutchings.
The musicians convened for rehearsals at a house named Fairport, in Muswell Hill, North London the family home of rhythm guitarist Simon Nicol. Thus was born the name of a band that has endured for over four decades. As well as Hutchings and Nicol, there was lead guitarist Richard Thompson and Shaun Frater on drums. However, that initial line-up only played the one gig. A young drummer, Martin Lamble, was in the church hall audience and he convinced the band that he could do a better job than the incumbent. It was the first of a flurry of line-up changes that characterised Fairport's first fifteen years. The group soon augmented its line-up with a female singer, Judy Dyble (born Judy Aileen Dyble, 13 February 1949, in Wood Green, North London), which set it apart from the dozens of other bands springing up from the fast-moving youth culture of that summer. Fairport found no shortage of work and was soon a regular act at underground venues such as The Electric Garden, Middle Earth and UFO. The band had only been playing a few months when they caught the ear of Joe Boyd who secured them a contract with Polydor Records. Boyd suggested they augment the line-up with another male vocalist and so Iain Matthews (who had changed his surname from MacDonald and was spelling his forename 'Ian' at the time) joined the band and the first album, Fairport Convention, was recorded in late 1967 and released in June 1968. Later the band would play with guitarist and singer Nick Drake, who also had connections with Joe Boyd. At this early stage, Fairport looked to America (Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan) for material and inspiration. "The two lead vocalist approach appealed to us," Matthews recalls, "and because of our name and onstage presence, lots of people thought we were American, and we were not about to attempt to dispel that presumption." This led to the band being dubbed 'the British Jefferson Airplane'. The album did not sell many copies, and Boyd got them signed to Island Records. By the time the second LP, What We Did On Our Holidays, was released Judy Dyble had been replaced by Sandy Denny, a folk singer who had previously recorded as a soloist and with Strawbs. The third album, Unhalfbricking, featured a guest appearance by Birmingham folk fiddler Dave Swarbrick. This album, like its predecessor, mixed original material with contemporary songs by artists such as Mitchell and Dylan. Radio DJ John Peel was a staunch champion of Fairport's music. He played the band's albums on his influential BBC shows. Peel also recorded a number of BBC sessions which were later released as the album Heyday.
 Rock journalist Richie Unterberger writes in his book Eight Miles High:
Although folk-rock was well-established in the USA by 1968, Fairport Convention was the first English band to concentrate on bringing rock instruments and rock arrangements to traditional songs. Initially, the British press (and Fairport Convention's members) titled this mixture electric folk but the term 'folk-rock' soon became the norm, although it is a broader category than electric folk. Therefore, although other bands in the UK were experimenting with the folk-rock genre (including Strawbs and Pentangle), Fairport Convention are widely credited with 'inventing' English folk-rock. However, Fairport Convention was also developing in other ways. As as well as revivals of traditional material with modern instrumentation and rhythms, bandmembers were increasingly composing original material and Richard Thompson had developed into a talented and inventive guitarist. Fairport Convention even entered the singles charts with "Si Tu Dois Partir", a French-language version of Bob Dylan's "If You Gotta Go". The record just missed the top twenty but got the band (with guest triangulist, John Peel) a slot on Top Of The Pops, Britain's most popular television pop music programme at the time. On 12 May 1969, Fairport's van crashed on the M1 motorway on the way home from a gig in Birmingham. Martin Lamble - just 19 years old - and Jeannie Franklyn, Richard Thompson's girlfriend, were killed. The rest of the band suffered injuries of varying severity. The young musicians nearly decided to disband. But they didn't, and once recovered they went back into the studio. Matthews had left the band by then and Dave Mattacks took over the vacant drum stool. The resulting LP, Liege & Lief, was a classic. This was arguably Fairport Convention's finest album and it established British folk-rock as a distinct and influential genre, reaching number 17 in the UK album chart, where it spent fifteen weeks. Despite the triumph of Liege & Lief, Ashley Hutchings, quit to form Steeleye Span. To compound Fairport's problems, Sandy Denny also left the band. Dave Pegg took over on bass guitar and has been in the band ever since, an unbroken stint of 34 years. Sandy Denny was essentially irreplaceable, so the band decided to continue without a female singer. The Ashley Hutchings Website
is © 2002/2003/2004/2005/2006/2007/2008/2009
All Rights Reserved |  related internet links producer/writer. the man
responsible, along with
John Wood, for Fairport's
most successful recordings
the voice of Fairport, Fotheringay
and the only other person to sing
lead vocals with Led Zeppelin apart
from Robert Plant, plus a short,
very productive solo career.
still sadly missed
Fairports first woman vocalist
she's appeared at Cropredy a
number of times and she has
a wonderful website, and a
Myspace space too.
now here's a drummer who
can only be called incredible
Fairport knew him well as
did Steeleye Span, Paul McCartney
and Mary Chapin Carpenter
among others.
joined Fairport intime for the
first album, is one half of the
powerhouse harmonies on
the band's Meet on the Ledge.
post-Fairport he formed
Matthews Southern, later recorded the
wonderful record, Valley Hi
and performed with Andy Roberts
in Plainsong.
a founder member of Fairport
and he's still at it 40 some odd
years later.
a staunch champion of Fairport.
this BBC website is a memorial
to one of the most influential djs
on British radio.
Fairports lead guitarist,
solo performer in a career
that can only be described
as action packed
in a careet that has spanned
almost fifty years, Swarb has
worn many hats, Fairport,
solo, Whipper Snapper, Lazarus
and his continuing partnership
with Martin Carthy
 |
Fairport Convention |