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76-473: 1971–1973, 1976–2002, 2005–2008, 2011–2014 The Albion Christmas Band : The Albion Band , also known as The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band , and The Albion Christmas Band , is a British folk rock band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings . An important grouping in the genre, it has contained or been associated with a large proportion of major English folk performers in its long and fluid history. The one constant in

152-535: A basis for their music, in contrast to the early modern and 19th century ballada that dominated the output of Fairport Convention. This followed the trend explored by Steeleye Span, and exemplified by their 1972 album Below the Salt . Acts in this area included Gryphon , Gentle Giant and Third Ear Band . In Germany Ougenweide , originally formed in 1970 as an acoustic folk group, opted to draw exclusively on High German medieval music when they electrified, setting

228-549: A clear interest in more traditional sounds on Minstrel in the Gallery (1975), but it was in 1977 with the release of Songs from the Wood (1977) that Anderson took the band into electric folk territory. All the songs on the album focused on rural life and, in addition to the normal electronic instruments and flute of the band, used mandolin, lute and a pipe organ. Two tracks, 'Hunting Girl' and particularly 'Velvet Green' followed

304-465: A consequence of this lack of interest the three Home Service albums released between 1984 and 1986 came out on three different independent labels (Jigsaw, Coda and Making Waves), which further dented their commercial prospects. In the later 1980s, things began to look much more positive for the genre. Despite formally disbanding in 1979, Fairport Convention staged what were initially called "reunion" concerts annually from 1980, which eventually evolved into

380-521: A decisive move away from traditional songs. It was a commercial failure and their last album for six years as they became a part-time touring band. However, in 1986 they produced Back in Line and since then, despite several line-up changes, they have continued to perform and have recorded eight more albums. Some bands like Stone Angel and Jack the Lad , who had disbanded in the 1970s, had reformed and resumed

456-708: A fourth album of entirely traditional material, Cruel Sister , in 1970, performed very much in the British folk rock mould. Similarly, Swarbrick's former playing partner, Martin Carthy , joined Steeleye Span in 1971 to the astonishment of many in the folk music world. Five Hand Reel , a band formed out of the remnants of Spencer's Feat, proved to be one of the more successful and influential folk rock bands. Releasing four albums with Topic/RCA records, they were popular in Europe, where they gave most of their performances. Unlike

532-754: A lead female vocalist in Cathy Lesurf of the Oyster Band , whose tones characterize most recordings from this era. An album from this relatively stable period was Light Shining (1983), on which most of the tracks were original material. However, the reputation of the album has since been marred by accusations that Hutchings plagiarized one of its songs, "Wolfe," from "Northwest Passage" by Canadian folksinger Stan Rogers . Shuffle Off (1983) followed, after which Nicol and Mattacks left to reform Fairport Convention. Phil Beer on guitar/fiddle/vocals, Doug Morter on guitar/vocals and Trevor Foster on drums joined

608-571: A living by playing to a small but committed audience. This meant that there were, by the later 1960s, a group of performers with musical skill and knowledge of a wide variety of traditional songs and tunes. A number of groups who were part of the folk revival experimented with electrification in the mid-1960s. These included the unrecorded efforts of Sweeney's Men from Ireland, the jazz folk group Pentangle , who moved from purely acoustic instrumentation to introducing electric guitar on their later albums, Eclection , who released one album in 1968, and

684-434: A recording contract with DJM Records, it led to her also being signed up by the company. The Fancy That LP was released in 1977, with Blue Angel released in 1979, under her real name. As she was singing backing vocals on Gerry Rafferty 's albums including City to City , she was able to use his backing band and producer Hugh Murphy to work on her albums. In 1979 she toured as a member of The Albion Band and as such

760-464: A recording or touring career. Hard rock and progressive rock bands such as Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull incorporated elements of folk music in their music, though they are not considered part of the folk rock movement. Led Zeppelin had shared a stage with Fairport Convention at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music in 1970. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page 's interest in the genre

836-524: A separate Christmas-themed incarnation (occasionally featuring Dunlop) The Albion Christmas Band that was first established in 2005. Initially Hutchings formed the band in April 1971 to accompany his then wife the singer Shirley Collins on her No Roses album. Dave Mattacks , Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol (from Fairport Convention), Lal and Mike Waterson (of The Watersons ) and Maddy Prior , were among twenty five credited backing musicians. On

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912-484: A short tour, core members were joined by Richard Thompson and his then wife Linda Thompson . Several members contributed with Hutchings to the project Morris On (1972), including John Kirkpatrick , Richard Thompson and Dave Mattacks, and cumbersomely all their names appeared on the album cover. Hutchings was keen to make a permanent band from these musicians and the first attempt included Royston Wood , Steve Ashley , Sue Draheim , Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks in

988-509: A similar style, all played on a combination of electric instruments including Swarbrick's amplified fiddle, setting the template for British folk rock. The rapid expansion of British folk rock that followed in the wake of Liege & Lief in the 1970s came mainly from three sources. First were existing folk performers who now 'electrified', including Mr. Fox , formed around the acoustic duo Bob and Carole Pegg, and Pentangle, who having previously recorded largely without electrification, produced

1064-471: A smaller acoustic outfit that could play the still extensive network of folk clubs and other smaller venues. This move was also significant in indicating the way in which electric folk personnel had become assimilated into the folk revival. Almost all the members of Fairport Convention have toured the folk club circuit solo or in smaller units and the line up at Cropredy includes as many acoustic acts as electric. In 1980, Steeleye Span's Sails of Silver took

1140-753: A stage adaptation of British author Flora Thompson 's Lark Rise to Candleford , tracks from which were released as an album in 1980. In fact, while one line up of the band was working on the latter project at the National Theatre, Hutchings took a different line up on the road for a UK tour in the early summer of 1979. That version of The Albion Band featured Melanie Harrold on acoustic guitar and vocals, Barry Dransfield on fiddle, dulcimer and vocals, Ashley Hutchings on bass, Dave Mattacks on drums, Martin Simpson on guitar and banjo, and two electric guitarists, Andy Roberts and Doug Morter. The Albion Band

1216-492: Is Ritchie Blackmore with Blackmore's Night . Initially Celtic rock replicated electric folk, but naturally replaced the element of English traditional music with its own folk music. It was rapidly evident in all areas of the Celtic nations and regions surrounding England, as Ireland , Scotland , Isle of Man , Wales , Cornwall , and Brittany all saw the adoption and adaptation of the electric folk model. Through at least

1292-421: Is a British singer-songwriter, best known for her 1970s albums for DJM ( Fancy That and Blue Angel ) plus recording with Gerry Rafferty , and singing with Hank Wangford .In her early career, and even for her first album ( Fancy That ), she went under the name Joanna Carlin, so as not to be confused with the other singer Melanie . Harrold worked the folk clubs where she met Jasper Carrott . When Carrott got

1368-502: Is a compilation of tracks from the preceding three which excludes spoken word recordings. In July 2011, Hutchings announced that the Albion Band would be forming again, and for the first time he himself would not be a member. Instead he passed the baton to his son – the guitarist and singer Blair Dunlop . This new line-up also features a number of other current folk performers from a range of backgrounds reflecting earlier versions of

1444-432: Is not to say that all the proponents of electric folk totally abandoned American material, or that it would not be represented in their own compositions, but their work would be characterised by the use of traditional English songs and tunes and the creation of new songs in that style, using the format and instruments of a rock band with the occasional addition of more traditional instruments. The result of this hybridisation

1520-579: Is widely regarded that the success of " The House of the Rising Sun " by British band the Animals in 1964 was a catalyst, prompting Bob Dylan to go electric . In the same year, the Beatles began incorporating overt folk influences into their music, most noticeably on the song " I'm a Loser " from their Beatles for Sale album. The Beatles and other British Invasion bands, in turn, influenced

1596-486: The Cropredy Festival ("Fairport's Cropredy Convention") which remains (in 2022) a mainstay of the U.K. summer festival calendar and regularly attracts up to 20,000 attendees, by no means all of whom are Fairport Convention fans. When the band reformed in 1985 they were able to embark on increasingly lengthy and successful tours and produce a series of highly regarded albums. The reason for this recording revival

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1672-501: The Strawbs who developed from a bluegrass band into a "progressive Byrds" band by 1967. However, none provided a sustained or much emulated effort in this direction. Also products of the folk club circuit were Sandy Denny who joined Fairport Convention as a singer in 1968 and Dave Swarbrick , a fiddle player and session musician who reacted positively to the electric music he encountered while working with Fairport in 1969. The result

1748-407: The rock music and folk music cultures from which it originated. Some commentators have found a distinction in some British folk rock, where the musicians are playing traditional folk music with electric instruments rather than merging rock and folk music, and they distinguish this form of playing by calling it "electric folk". Though the merging of folk and rock music came from several sources, it

1824-472: The 'English' genre of folk tunes prevalent in the other popular bands, Five Hand Reel performed Scots and Irish songs and won Melody Maker ' s "Folk Album of the Year" in 1975. Second were groupings created directly by the members or former members of Fairport Convention, which can be seen as the nexus from which a family of organisations or performers emerged. Sandy Denny's short-lived group Fotheringay

1900-536: The 1980s Home Service , whose third album Alright Jack (1985) is often seen as representing another artistic highpoint for the genre. A much smaller group of English bands were formed in emulation of existing folk rock bands. Most often the model seems to have been Steeleye Span, as it was for the Cambridge group Spriguns of Tolgus , the Northumbrian band Hedgehog Pie and the Oyster Band , who started as

1976-704: The Albion Band. These members include Folk Award nominee Katriona Gilmore (Tiny Tin Lady, Gilmore/Roberts) on fiddle and vocals, vocalist, concertina player and guitarist Gavin Davenport (Crucible, Glorystrokes, Hekety), drummer Tom Wright (Eliza Carthy projects/Glorystrokes), and Tim Yates ( Blackbeard's Tea Party /The QP) on bass – only the second bass player in the band's history, and lead guitarist and relative newcomer Benjamin Trott. This line-up released an own label EP Fighting Room in 2011 and their first studio album Vice of

2052-627: The Albion name and focused on forming the Etchingham Steam Band with his wife Shirley Collins. However, in 1976 he pulled together a new Albion Band, this time with the aim of playing traditional dance music. It had a huge and unstable membership that included Simon Nicol, Graeme Taylor from Gryphon , the early musicians Phil Pickett and John Sothcott , fiddle player Ric Sanders , plus John Tams , one of folk music's most distinctive and highly regarded vocalists. The immediate result

2128-540: The American folk rock boom, such as " Nowhere Man " and " If I Needed Someone ". During this period, a number of electric bands began to play rock versions of folk songs and folk musicians used electric musical instruments to play their own songs, including Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of 1965. Folk rock became an important genre among emerging English bands, particularly those in

2204-416: The American model of folk rock electrification from about 1965 now adopted it, most obviously Pentangle, Strawbs and acoustic duo Tyrannosaurus Rex which became the electric combo T-Rex. It also pushed progressive folk towards more traditional material. Acoustic performers Dando Shaft and Amazing Blondel , both beginning about this time, are examples of this trend. Examples of bands that remained firmly on

2280-546: The Ballads and Blues Club in 1953. These clubs were usually urban in location, but the songs sung in them often hearkened back to a rural pre-industrial past. In many ways this was the adoption of abandoned popular music by the middle classes. By the mid-1960s there were probably over 300 folk clubs in Britain, providing an important circuit for acts that performed traditional songs and tunes acoustically, where they could sustain

2356-533: The Baltic folk music of Skyforger and the Scandinavian folk music of Korpiklaani . In Germany this trend is more closely associated with the neo-medieval music known as medieval metal . Fairport's Cropredy Convention (previously Cropredy Festival ) has been held every year since 1980 near Cropredy , a village five miles north of Banbury , Oxfordshire and attracts up to 20,000 fans. It remains one of

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2432-517: The Californian band the Byrds , who began playing folk-influenced material and Bob Dylan compositions with rock instrumentation. The Byrds' recording of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man " was released in April 1965 and reached #1 on the U.S. and UK singles charts, setting off the mid-1960s folk rock movement. The Beatles' late 1965 album, Rubber Soul , contained a number of songs influenced by

2508-530: The City , with double-bass player Olly Blanchflower. In the 1990s she released two albums ( The Last Leviathan and Instinctive Behaviour ) with Olly Blanchflower. She was also involved with the album Daphne's Flight , a 1996 collaboration between five female vocalists, instrumentalists and songwriters in the British folk and roots music scene: Christine Collister , Melanie Harrold, Julie Matthews , Helen Watson and Chris While . The collaboration resulted in

2584-487: The Incredible String Band , Pentangle , Strawbs , Nick Drake , Roy Harper , John Martyn and the original Tyrannosaurus Rex . Some of this, particularly the Incredible String Band, has been seen as developing into the further subgenre of psych or psychedelic folk . The advent of electric folk had profound effects on this developing strand of the folk genre. First, many existing acts, having avoided

2660-623: The London club scene towards the end of the 1960s. The skiffle movement, to which many English musicians, including the Beatles, owed their origins as performers, meant that they were already familiar with American folk music As they emulated the guitar and drum based format that had crystallised as the norm for rock music, these groups often turned to American folk and folk rock as the focus of their sound and inspiration. Among these groups from 1967 were Fairport Convention , who had enjoyed some modest mainstream success with three albums of material that

2736-541: The Oyster Band (latterly Oysterband), an increasingly heavy and politically aware folk rock unit who produced some of the best work in the genre in the 1980s and 1990s, merging into the developing folk punk and independent scenes. For a time electric folk threatened to break through to the mainstream, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s when Steeleye Span had a Christmas Top 20 hit single ("Gaudete") in 1973 and another Top 5 hit in 1975 (" All Around My Hat "). The album of

2812-800: The People in 2012. On 10 January 2014, Dunlop announced the friendly dissolution of the band "in the current incarnation", to allow its members to pursue individual projects. In his letter, he stated that they will undoubtedly work together in the future. While the primary Albion Band is no longer active, the Albion Christmas Band (still featuring Ashley Hutchings, Simon Nicol, Simon Care and Kellie While, with occasional appearances by Blair Dunlop) continues to release new albums, and mounts annual UK tours in November and December. Past members include: British folk rock British folk rock

2888-483: The agenda for future German electric folk. In Brittany, as part of the Celtic rock movement, medieval music was focused on by bands like Ripaille from 1977 and Saga de Ragnar Lodbrock from 1979. However, by the end of the 1970s almost all of these performers had either disbanded or moved, like Gentle Giant and Gryphon, into the developing area of progressive rock . One remaining but notable exponent of medieval folk rock

2964-401: The band's history has been the band leader Ashley Hutchings, founding member of two other English folk rock groupings Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span , and it has been the home for most of the projects of his long career, though in the 2011 incarnation of the band he has handed over the reins to his son Blair Dunlop . This version continued until 2014. Hutchings continues to perform in

3040-540: The band, and Under the Rose (1984), A Christmas Present From The Albion Band (1985) and The Wild Side of Town (1987) followed, the last of which was based on a five-part BBC television series presented by Chris Baines . The line-up then shifted with Martin Bell joining on violin before the release of Stella Maris in (1987). Martin Bell and Cathy Lesurf then left and the group were joined by Simon Care and John Shepherd. This

3116-475: The band. While Hutchings continued to pursue other projects he revived the Albion Band in an acoustic format for seasonal tours in 2005, allowing them to play smaller venues which could usually be easily filled. The line-up is based around Simon Nicol, Kellie While and multi-instrumentalist Simon Care. The results have been three further seasonal albums: An Albion Christmas (2005), Winter Songs (2006), and Snow on Snow (2008). A fourth album Traditional (2009)

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3192-502: The beginning of While and Matthews' long and productive partnership. It was also unusual for the lack of traditional folk instruments and the four were soon joined by violinist and mandolin player Chris Leslie for the last recording of this era Demi Paradise (1996), before Leslie left for Fairport Convention and While and Matthews for solo and joint projects. Live performances of this era have been released as Acousticity on Tour (2004) and Albion Heart on Tour (2004). The last phase of

3268-570: The border between progressive folk and progressive rock are the short lived Comus and, more successfully, Renaissance , who combined folk and rock with elements of classical music . While progressive folk as a genre continued into the late 1960s, it was overshadowed by electric folk and progressive rock, arguably, later to emerge in a new form. From about 1970 a number of performers inspired by electric folk, particularly in England, Germany and Brittany, adopted medieval and renaissance music as

3344-546: The distinction of being the only person ever to be invited to do guest vocals on a Led Zeppelin album. These influences would also appear on later albums, but reduced as the band returned to a hard rock sound from Presence (1976) onwards. As Led Zeppelin moved away from electric folk, another long term survivor of the British blues movement, Jethro Tull, began to move towards it. Ian Anderson had produced Steeleye Span's album Now We Are Six in 1974 and first demonstrated

3420-401: The early 1950s, it also attempted to produce a distinctively English music that was an alternative to the American dominance of popular culture , which was, as they saw it, displacing the traditional music of an increasingly urbanised and industrialised working class. Most important among their responses were the foundation of folk clubs in major towns, starting with London where MacColl began

3496-515: The emphasis away from electric instruments. In 1993 Hutchings decided to follow this trend turning the band into a small four piece unit comprising himself, Julie Matthews' replacement Chris While , original member Simon Nicol, and Ashley Reed on violin. This allowed them to play small folk club, pub and college venues and gave the Band a whole new direction, now drawing on contemporary songwriters like Beth Nielsen Chapman and Steve Knightley as well as

3572-448: The first half of the 1970s, as Celtic rock held close to folk roots, with its repertoire drawing heavily on traditional Celtic fiddle and harp tunes and even traditional vocal styles, but making use of rock band levels of amplification and percussion it can be considered part of the electric folk movement. However, as it developed into new derivatives and hybrids, including Celtic punk , Celtic metal , and other sorts of Celtic fusion ,

3648-546: The form of erotic folk ballads , much suited to Anderson's song writing interests. Two more albums followed in a similar vein: Heavy Horses (1978) and Stormwatch (1979) to form a loose folk rock trilogy, before Anderson moved into more electronic territory at the beginning of the 1980s. Ironically it was at this point that Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention would be the first of several members of that band to join Jethro Tull. Progressive folk developed in Britain in

3724-434: The full band would be based around a return to a more traditional rock format and the incorporation of two generations of musicians. Hutchings called in experienced guitarist and writer Ken Nicol and added newcomers Joe Broughton on fiddle and Neil Marshall on drums. Female vocals were supplied by Kellie While and Gillie Nicholls, who were guests on the first studio album of this era, Happy Accident (1998). Gillie Nicolls

3800-497: The initial electric folk pattern began to dissipate. In the mid-1980s a new rebirth of English folk began, this time fusing folk forms with energy and political aggression derived from punk rock. Leaders included The Men They Couldn't Hang , Oysterband , Billy Bragg and The Pogues . Folk dance music also became popular in the 1980s, with the English Country Blues Band and Tiger Moth. The decade later saw

3876-411: The internal songwriting talent of While and Hutchings. The first studio album of this period Acousticity (1993) had a more lively and contemporary feel, aided by Reed's energetic playing. In 1995 Reed left and Matthews returned to the band to add her vocal, instrumental and songwriting talents. The resulting album, Albion Heart (1995), is usually considered the best of this later period and marked

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3952-455: The key events in the UK folk festival calendar. After holding a successful open-air concert at Kentwell Hall , Suffolk in 2005, Steeleye Span decided to hold their own annual festival, known as Spanfest. Other, more traditional, folk festivals (Shrewsbury, Towersey, Cambridge and Sidmouth, to name but four) now routinely host performances by exponents of the folk-rock genre. When English bands of

4028-502: The late 1960s and early 1970s defined themselves as 'electric folk' they were making a distinction with the already existing 'folk rock'. Folk rock was (to them) what they had already been producing: American or American style singer-songwriter material played on rock instruments, as undertaken by Bob Dylan and the Byrds from 1965. They drew the distinction because they were focusing on indigenous (in this case English) songs and tunes. This

4104-541: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. The second revival in the period after the Second World War , built on this work and followed a similar movement in America, to which it was connected by individuals like Alan Lomax , who had fled to England in the era of McCarthyism . Like the American revival, it was often overtly left wing in its politics, but, led by such figures as Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd from

4180-574: The line-up, but the group failed to gel and he recruited a second band, turning to Martin Carthy , John Kirkpatrick, Sue Harris , Roger Swallow and Simon Nicol. The band remained fragile and split in August 1973, but an album was released retrospectively under the title Battle of the Field , on Island Records in 1976. Other material recorded by this line-up eventually appeared on the later BBC Sessions CD (1998). From 1974 to 1975, Hutchings abandoned

4256-434: The mid-1960s partly as an attempt to elevate the artistic quality of the folk genre, but also as a response to diverse influences, often combining acoustic folk instruments with jazz , blues and world music . As a result, it was already established in Britain, albeit a difficult to define and varied subgenre, before the advent of electric folk at the end of the 1960s. It can be seen as including performers such as Donovan ,

4332-485: The nadir of electric folk, when, in contrast to the mid-1970s only the Albion Band (with the associated Home Service) and the Oysterband remained as major exponents of the genre and this was perhaps their least productive period , although in part, at least, this was due to lack of major record company interest in the genre. Folk-rock has never been a major revenue earner for record companies, even in its 1970s heyday. As

4408-503: The nucleus of Home Service . Live material from this period has been released in Songs from the Shows (1997 and 1999) and The Guvnor , Vols 1–4 (1996–2004). Hutchings reformed the band around the nucleus of the remaining ex-Fairporters Nicol and Mattacks. He added three members of Cock and Bull (Dave Whetstone, Jean-Pierre Rasle and John Maxwell) and for the first time on record, opted for

4484-494: The old fashioned folk musicians of the preceding generation. All popular music trends have a generational problem as their audiences grow and might not be replaced, but for folk rock the discontinuity was very acute. One result was a further hybridisation with the development of folk punk among younger acts in the later 1970s, some of which, like the Pogues and The Levellers , achieved some mainstream success. The early 1980s were

4560-497: The same name was their most commercially successful, reaching no. 5 in the UK album chart in the same year. By comparison Fairport Convention released few singles and made very little impact on the British charts, although their albums sold well in the early 1970s. Liege & Lief reached no. 17 in 1969 and a later album, Angel Delight made the Top 10 in 1971. Most of their career, from that point until they initially disbanded in 1979,

4636-418: The unpromising Fiddler's Dram in 1978. Fiddler's Dram were often dismissed as "one hit wonders" for their single "Day Trip to Bangor", which peaked at no 3 in the UK and for their clear status as "Steeleye Span soundalikes". What was remarkable is that they proved to have a singer-songwriter of genuine talent in Cathy Lesurf , and after she had left for the Albion Band in 1980 the remaining members regrouped as

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4712-524: The use of reggae with English folk music by the band Edward II & the Red Hot Polkas , especially on their seminal Let's Polkasteady from 1987. In a process strikingly similar to the origins of electric folk in the 1960s, the English thrash metal band Skyclad added violins from a session musician on several tracks for their 1990 début album The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth . When this

4788-488: Was a full member of the band for the second outing Before Us Stands Yesterday (1999), but was then replaced by Kellie While for the recording of The Christmas Album later that year and for Road Movies (2001), their last studio project. Ken Nicol left to be replaced by Pete Zorn , but it was becoming increasingly hard to find venues of a suitable size and in 2002 it was decided to suspend the band. Their 1999 album Ridgeriders also saw them reunite with former members of

4864-537: Was a lively traditional based album The Prospect Before Us under the name The Albion Dance Band. In 1978 they shortened the name to The Albion Band (which has remained the basis of the group's identity since) and released, under Tams' direction, what is usually considered the finest album in the long history of the band Rise Up Like the Sun (1978). The band took part in a 1977 TV show Here We Come A-Wassailing and in 1978–9 collaborated with playwright Keith Dewhurst for

4940-469: Was an exchange of specific features drawn from traditional music and rock music. These have been defined as including: Traditional music : Rock music : Not all of these features are found in every song. For example, electric folk groups, while predominantly using traditional material as their source for lyrics and tunes, occasionally write their own (much as traditional musicians do). Melanie Harrold Melanie Harrold (born 5 May 1951)

5016-467: Was an extended interpretation of the song " A Sailor's Life ", which was released on their album Unhalfbricking . This encounter sparked the interest of Ashley Hutchings who began research in the English Folk Dance and Song Society 's library; the result was the band's seminal Liege & Lief (1969) which combined traditional songs and tunes with some written by members of the band in

5092-1018: Was featured in an edition of the BBC TV Arena arts programme which included live footage of the band performing at The Hexagon in Reading, Berkshire, recorded in June 1979. In the 1980s, she fronted the comedy country The Hank Wangford Band . She went under the name Irma Cetas ("the Vera Lynn of the North Sea Oilfields"). She also recorded the song "Holy Horses" on the Lovely In The Dances (Songs of Sydney Carter ) album, originally released in 1981 (and re-released on CD in 2009). The album featured artists such as Maddy Prior (whom Harrold toured with), Shusha and John Kirkpatrick . In 1988 she released an album, Live in

5168-631: Was first evident in the recording of " Gallows Pole " a traditional ballad on Led Zeppelin III (1970), which stands out among their usual output of blues orientated rock. At this time they also wrote the ballad " Poor Tom " which would surface on Coda (1982). It is more subtly manifested in their most famous album Led Zeppelin IV (1971), which contained elements of both American folk rock and English electric folk on ' Stairway to Heaven ' and most obviously on ' The Battle of Evermore ', on which Sandy Denny had

5244-410: Was largely American in origin or style, before a radical change of direction in 1969 with their album Liege & Lief , which came out of the encounter between American inspired folk rock and the products of the English folk revival . The first English folk music revival had seen a huge effort to record and archive traditional English music by figures such as Cecil Sharp and Vaughan Williams in

5320-429: Was one of declining profile and sales. The same was generally true of other electric folk outfits. The late 1970s and early 1980s were a time to either abandon the genre or fight a losing struggle for survival. The reason is often said to be the rise of punk rock , which reached a peak in 1977. It changed the ethos of popular music, overturning certainties about musicianship and songwriting and had no greater target than

5396-500: Was one of these and Steeleye Span was another, the latter formed as a traditionally focussed, but essentially electric outfit, by Ashley Hutchings after his departure from Fairport in late 1969. He left Steeleye Span after three albums and eventually formed the Albion Country Band , later the Albion Band, which broke up in 2002. The Albion Band in turn spawned one of the most musically talented British folk rock groups of

5472-400: Was partly because they abandoned the mainstream record business, instead focusing on growing their own audience and producing records independently on their own labels ( Woodworm and Matty Grooves ), ironically a development which the punk and post-punk era had helped to accelerate. The Albion Band survived initially by becoming involved in theatre productions and, from 1993, by downsizing to

5548-560: Was probably at the height of its mainstream profile at this point, with the single "Poor Old Horse" (a track from Rise Up Like the Sun ) being selected as a "Record of the Week" on BBC Radio 1 and the band getting its own BBC Arena documentary that explored their work. While Hutchings was more interested in pursuing theatrical possibilities, many members of the band wanted to be a touring and recording band and, despite critical acclaim, this line-up split. Tams, Taylor and Gregory went on to form

5624-465: Was taken up and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany , Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man , to produce Celtic rock and its derivatives, and has been influential in countries with close cultural connections to Britain. It gave rise to the genre of folk punk . By the 1980s the genre was in steep decline in popularity, but survived and revived in significance, partly merging with

5700-548: Was the most stable lineup in the band's history in terms of albums, producing three: I Got New Shoes (1988), Give Me a Saddle and I'll Trade you a Car (1989) and 1990 in the year of that name. In 1990 they were joined by singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Julie Matthews , but although they toured they produced no albums before her departure in 1993. Some sessions from this line-up surfaced as Captured in 1995. Trevor Foster and Phil Beer left and were temporarily replaced by virtuoso acoustic guitarist Keith Hinchliffe shifting

5776-554: Was well received they adopted a full-time fiddle player and moved towards a signature folk and jig style leading them to be credited as the pioneers of folk metal. This directly inspired the Dublin-based band Cruachan to use traditional Irish music in creating the Celtic metal subgenre. Attempts have been made elsewhere to replicate this process with examples ranging from the Middle Eastern folk music of Orphaned Land ,

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