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70-490: Oysterband (originally The Oyster Band ) is a British folk rock and folk punk band formed in Canterbury around 1976. The band formed in parallel to Fiddler's Dram , and under the name "Oyster Ceilidh Band" played purely as a dance band at first. The name Oyster comes from the group's early association with the coastal town of Whitstable , Kent , known for the quality of its oysters. Their first album, released under

140-535: 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

210-549: 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

280-465: 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

350-521: 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

420-708: 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

490-571: 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

560-477: A political theme, with reworkings of traditional standards such as "Hal-an-Tow". After the 1987 release Wide Blue Yonder Kearey left the band to be replaced by Chopper (real name Ray Cooper ). Subsequent albums included Ride , Little Rock to Leipzig and the June Tabor collaboration Freedom and Rain . Following this the band changed its name to Oysterband. Drummer Lee Partis (who for several years

630-464: 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

700-509: 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

770-471: 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

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840-445: A solo career. Adrian Oxaal , formerly of rock band James , replaced him on a few gigs late in 2012, and took over in 2013, although it was unclear whether he would become a full-time member of Oysterband. The band also featured Al Scott on bass at some gigs. Pete Flood, formerly of Bellowhead replaced Davies on drums. On 5 February 2024, John Jones, Alan Prosser and Ian Telfer announced on Facebook that Oysterband will be retiring as

910-483: A touring band, although they plan a 'long goodbye.' As Oyster Ceilidh Band As Oyster Band As Oysterband British folk rock British folk rock 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

980-492: 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

1050-432: 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

1120-486: 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

1190-501: 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

1260-472: 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

1330-595: 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

1400-838: The 2013 Celtic Connections festival, the Bridgewater Hall during the 2019 Manchester Folk Festival, the Wales Millennium Centre , Cardiff in 2015, and the Belfast Waterfront in 2018. In 2014, 2016 and 2017, the event was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Reviewing the 2014 Royal Albert Hall event, Colin Irwin remarked on how much more glamorous it had become since the first event fifteen years earlier. Between 2000 and 2012

1470-540: 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

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1540-416: 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

1610-540: The B-side of the " Tubthumping " single. But recent releases Deep Dark Ocean , Here I Stand , Rise Above and Meet You There have seen the band return to a softer, more melodic sound, while recent tours under the banner The Big Session have seen the band offer exposure to several young, emerging folk musicians like Dan Donnelly , The Handsome Family , as well as veterans such as June Tabor. James O'Grady ( Uilleann pipes , fiddle, flute, vocals) regularly appeared on

1680-472: The BBC oversee the process. The Folk Awards Committee selects a panel of 150 representatives from the British folk world, including broadcasters, journalists, record producers, festival organisers, venue bookers, record company directors, agents and promoters. The panellists vary slightly from year to year, with new panellists being invited (or self-applying) each year. The nominations in most categories are made by

1750-546: 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

1820-533: 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

1890-569: 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

1960-469: The Folk Awards ceremony since 2011, has its own independent selection process. The selection process has been the subject of criticism, with accusations of bias, cronyism, and lack of transparency. In 2012 The Independent reported that there had been at least two Freedom of Information requests to identify the panellists, which have been rejected by the BBC. The BBC and 7digital have responded that

2030-629: The Folk Awards were hosted by Mike Harding , and broadcast on BBC Radio 2 . Mark Radcliffe and Scottish Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis took over presenting the ceremony in 2013. In 2004 the awards were shown on television for the first time, on BBC Four . The event has been streamed live in audio and video on the BBC Radio 2 website, the BBC iPlayer and/or the BBC Red Button TV service. The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award has been included in

2100-487: 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

2170-625: 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

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2240-541: 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

2310-582: The Oyster Ceilidh Band name, was Jack's Alive (1980) on the Dingles record label. Subsequent albums, as "Oyster Band" (sometimes "The Oyster Band") were released on the band's own Pukka Music label: English Rock 'n' Roll: The Early Years 1800–1850 and Lie Back and Think of England , followed by 20 Golden Tie-Slackeners and Liberty Hall . The line-up of the band changed over these albums. The first recorded line-up was: When Chris Wood left

2380-508: The Oysters' albums and tours in the last few years. John Jones, James O'Grady and Ian Telfer provided vocals and instrumentation on Chumbawamba 's album A Singsong and a Scrap , and Oysterband provided vocals for the song "Hull or Hell" on The Boy Bands Have Won . In 2007, long-standing drummer Lee Partis took a break to concentrate on his work as a psychotherapist, counselling in prisons. In August 2008, he confirmed he would be leaving

2450-616: The Ragged Kingdom tour, they were also joined on bass and guitar by Al Scott, who produced the album. On 8 February 2012, June Tabor and Oysterband won Best Traditional Song, Best Album and Best Group at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for Ragged Kingdom , with Tabor also winning Folk Singer of the Year. Ray Cooper announced in December 2012 that he would leave the band at the end of the Ragged Kingdom tour in February 2013, to pursue

2520-483: 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

2590-655: The award event since 2011, having previously been awarded in a separate ceremony, but its selection process remains independent. In 2016, Rhiannon Giddens became the first non-British winner of the 'Folk Singer of the Year' award. In 2020, there was no award ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The controlling body is the Folk Awards Committee, comprising two BBC staff, two from the production company 7digital Creative , and one external expert. Two Nominated Representatives, one from 7digital and one from

2660-503: The band permanently. The band then appointed Dilwyn Davies as replacement drummer. Following a 30th anniversary concert in December 2008 the band took a six-month sabbatical, during which John Jones and Chopper both made solo albums. The band returned to the studio in 2011, teaming up once again with June Tabor and releasing Ragged Kingdom in September at a sell-out concert at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall . For at least some dates on

2730-613: The band to go travelling in Canada, he was replaced on bass guitar by returning founder member Ian Kearey. Cathy Lesurf subsequently left to join Ashley Hutchings ' Albion Band , and Will Ward also departed so that by the time they recorded Lie Back and Think of England , the personnel had settled down to John Jones, Ian Kearey, Alan Prosser, Chris Taylor and Ian Telfer. For the album Step Outside they added Russell Lax on drums. Step Outside mixed self-penned songs, often with

2800-570: 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

2870-546: 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

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2940-401: 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

3010-448: 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 ,

3080-546: 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

3150-489: 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 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

3220-758: The idea of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards was conceived by the company in 1999, inspired by the Country Music Awards , and brought to the BBC, and The Guardian has attributed their creation to John Leonard, who formed Smooth Operations in 1995. The awards event has been staged in different regions of the United Kingdom, including The Brewery in London, The Lowry theatre in Salford , the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall during

3290-497: 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

3360-455: 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

3430-502: 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

3500-541: 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

3570-421: The main panel. They are now voted by a much smaller specialist panel of judges, appointed by the Folk Awards committee, whose identities are published. Broader categories, including the "Lifetime Achievement Award" and the "Good Tradition Award" are chosen by two rounds of votes by the Folk Awards committee only. These may not be awarded every year. The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award , although presented at

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3640-589: The merging of folk and rock music came from several sources, it 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

3710-434: 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 ,

3780-545: 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

3850-494: 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

3920-507: The panel. The four most-nominated artists go through to the second round. The winner is then selected from the nominees by a second vote among the same panellists. Since 2013, following criticism of the lack of transparency of the selection process, there have been some exceptions to this general process. The second round of the "Best Album" category is determined by a public vote, hosted on the BBC website. The two track categories, "Best Original Track" and "Best Traditional Track" were removed from

3990-432: The panellists are kept secret to avoid lobbying and bribery. A Folk Awards double-album, featuring music by most of the nominees, was released annually by the event's producers in collaboration with BBC Radio 2 and the record label and distribution company, Proper Music . In 2014, a posthumous award was introduced to celebrate the contribution of significant figures in folk music's past. Presenter Mark Radcliffe

4060-868: The previous year within the field of folk music , with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music . The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British radio station BBC Radio 2 . Award recipients have included Joan Baez , Cat Stevens , John Martyn , Steve Earle , The Dubliners , Martin Carthy , Billy Bragg , Shirley Collins , Kate Rusby , Cara Dillon , Eliza Carthy , Bellowhead , June Tabor , Oysterband , Aly Bain , Richard Thompson , Nancy Kerr , Seth Lakeman , Show of Hands , Lau , Tom Paxton , Don McLean , Ramblin' Jack Elliott , Nic Jones , Bella Hardy , Rhiannon Giddens , Norma Waterson , The Chieftains , Joan Armatrading and James Taylor . The awards are managed by independent production company Smooth Operations , now part of 7digital . Kellie While of Smooth Operations has stated that

4130-497: 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,

4200-478: 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

4270-524: 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

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4340-512: 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). BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during

4410-467: 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

4480-468: Was billed only by his forename) replaced Russell Lax for 1992's Deserters before Holy Bandits in 1993 propelled the band to the forefront of a booming folk rock scene alongside bands such as The Levellers . In the 1990s, the band adopted a more overtly political stance, recording the harder The Shouting End of Life and collaborating with Chumbawamba to record "Farewell to the Crown", released as

4550-631: 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

4620-410: 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

4690-429: 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

4760-500: 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

4830-400: 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

4900-554: 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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