Andy and Jan Smith (The Smith Family)

Dave Cooper (Dando Shaft) writes " Anyone who frequented Acoustic, Folk and Country Music Clubs 

around Coventry and Warwickshire throughout the 60's and 70's would know Andy Smith. Multi instrumentalist and fabled bluegrass banjo player. With his sister Jan, The Smith Family and various ensembles including Down County Boys and the Ian Campbell Folk Group all featuring Andy's dynamic musical fluency across banjo, guitar, mandolin and fiddle. He also had one of the best high and lonesome vocals ever, creating with Jan those harmonies that only siblings can. His untimley death aged 61 in 2007 after more than twelve years with Lewy Bodies Disease took away a unique talent. We are delighted to offer this collection of songs from Andy's wife Barbara."  On his Rare Music site here http://raremusez.co.uk/music/index.php/component/maianmedia/?view=album&album=8

On Dave Cooper's Raremusez site you can download13 tracks by Andy and Jan for 55p each - (NOTE Raremusez site seems to have have gone down now!)
The tracks they offer are -


Tracks:
Little Birdie
Soul of A Man
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Hey Boys
Got Put A Rainbow In The Sky
Twin Banjo
Fly Around Cherokee
Hello City Limits
End Of A Long Lonely Day
Hesitation Blues
Baltimore Fire
Clouds
Walloping Window Blind

Andy Smith- Guitar, Banjo,Mandolin,Vocals
Mike Smith- Guitar,Banjo,Uke,Vocals
Jan Smith- Fiddle,Mandolin,Bottle-neck Guitar,Vocals
Steve Allcutt- String Base
John Fields- Fiddle, Mandolin

.......................................................................

Meanwhile, Marko Krnjulap has sent some live tracks by Andy and Jan recorded in the Old Dyers Arms folk club in Coventry in the 70's - My Love and I / Who's Gonna be your Man?.

Here they are - (and there may be some more coming later from Marko)

In 1969, Andy and Jan were guests (along with Jackie and Bridie) at the Coventry Arts Umbrella Club's Music Marathon in November 1969.

FOLK AT THE PITTS HEAD - COVENTRY

03/16/2007 (transferred fromthe Hobo Vox blog - now closed)

FOLK AT THE PITTS
CLUB REVIEW FROM COVENTRY'S FOLKS MAGAZINE NOV/DEC 1978 BY PETE WILLOW

The club is thriving as ever, recent guests being Mick Stuart, who included a lot of early blues and ragtime pieces

Folk at the Pitts with Mick Stuart playing that we don't often hear him play. He coped admirably with some

wild, but enthusiastic chorus singing from the audience. That was October 2nd. A fortnight later we had Kevin Demsey playing to packed room, having arrived at ten because of having to cope with football match traffic on his way back from his guitar class in Kenilworth. Kev was as good as ever, supported in some numbers by Dave Cooper. Dave Bennett was guest on October 30th and again the room was crowded after initial fears that some might be tempted to stay and watch Monty Python which was on the box that night! It was good to see Dave doing two excellent spots (or blemishes) instead of just hearing him play just the occasional number in between others acts at the Dyers Arms. All three acts will definitely be re-booked to appear in the near future.

Singer's nights have had a good atmosphere lately although it would be nice to see more singers and audience there. We usually find that the first hour is shared only by two or three singers and then by 9.30 we have to fit a lot in. Nevertheless the standard of the music is very good, but that's no surprise when regular singers include Mick Stuart, Pete Rigg, Rod Felton etc.


TIME TABLE FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS IS AS FOLLOWS -

Nov 13th - Black Parrot Seaside - innovators of Dull Wave, a shattering new artform as portrayed by this trilogy of combined etherialism, cosmic musicology and silly poetry.

Nov 20th - Singers Night / Workshop

Nov 27th - Tom Patterson and Dave Moreton, talented duo from Birmingham, specialising in traditional style music and original songs. Tom, born in Newcastle, plays guitar and sings and Dave plays some good instrumental guitar. They also play classical material. Visitors last year to the Woolpack Folk Club in Rugby may remember Tom as an occasional floor singer of unsurpassed excellence.

Dec 4th - Singers night / workshop.

Dec 11th - Special concert night featuring Inchiquin. A new local band with impressive line up; Lernie MIlhone Vocals, guitar, whistle. Cathie Keenan - Vocals, guitar, keyboards. Pat Kiely - fiddle, guitar, banourria, meleodian. Brendan McGranaghan - Mandolin, Bouzouki, guitar. Tommy Connolly - step dancing, whistle, fiddle. John Freeman - bass, vocals, guitar, mandolin.

Dec 18th - Party Night.

Dec 25th - Closed for Christmas.

Jan 1st - Closed for New Year Hangover!

Jan 8th - Gibb Todd (To Be Confirmed).

Folk at the Pitts meets every Monday Night at the Pitts Head, Far Gosford St. Coventry. The club is usually run on an informal basis with no stage or PA system. Admission being 30p each evening. December 11th will be an experimental concert night, using a stage and PA with admission being 50p. If the concert is successful, we'll probably try three or four a year, booking name acts.

Pete Willow

More of these editorials about the Pitts head can be found in the pdf copies of Folks magazine which can be found on this site.

The Bull's Head Folk Club

THE BULL'S HEAD FOLK CLUB - BRINKLOW - COVENTRY 1978
Article from FOLKS magazine Issue 4 Nov / Dec 1978 by Pete Willow and Jane.

http://bullsheadbrinklow.co.uk/
Brinklow fortnightly - Friday Nights -

The club opened on Friday 13th October, which far from being unlucky, proved to be an excellent singers

night with some high quality music being played to a packed room. Singers included Mick Stuart, Rod Felton, Al Wright, Pete Willow and Mick Tiernan. All in all a promising start for the club and it's nice to see that interest hasn't waned since the opening night.

On the 27th the guests were Pete and Sheila Rigg and the room was full to capacity, so that we had to put up Full House signs by 9.30pm! The atmosphere was very relaxed with Pete and Sheila on top form, playing some of their classic numbers, including Coalsmoke, The Owl and the Pussycat, He was Craze and some nice solo performances by each of them. Sheila singing her beautiful version of For Free and Pete playing an excellent ragtime guitar piece called Grace and Beauty. The variety of instruments they'd bought with them, mix and seven string guitars, mandolin, quindolin and double bass, meant that they'd had to ensure that thirty five strings were in tune before they began their set!

Some nice floor singing that evening included singer-songwriter Steve (Ollie) Barson, Maurice Kenny, Rob Armstrong Jill from Stafford and the very talented Karen Kileen from Nuneaton Folk Club, who, at ten years of age, must be the youngest folk club organiser and singer in the country.

We're very thrilled with the way the club has progressed so far and we're grateful to all musicians, singers and audience who have made it so successful. More superb evenings to come, we're sure, with Country Life appearing on 24th November (local trio with good arrangements of unaccompanied singing using traditional and modern material), Martin Jenkins (to be confirmed) on the 8th December and a Christmas Party on the 22nd December, featuring the New Modern Idiot Grunt Band, with food, goodies and a special Christmas prize for the raffle.

Into the new year, we have amazing Downes and Beer on January 5th. Floor singers are advised to come early if they want to play on this evening!

DOWN COUNTRY BOYS

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please put your hands together and welcome the Midland's first bluegrass band, the

Down County Boys”. There was a smattering of applause as the four twenty-something's launched into their first number in a seedy Coventry pub back in the mid Sixties."

http://www.downcountyboys.com/Down_County_Boys/index.html

The full history (and much more) of the Down Country Boys is on their website above.

Music Marathon, Coventry Arts Umbrella Nov 1969

How it all Started. http://downcountyboys.com/band-history/how-it-all-started-by-mike-rodgers/

The Original Down County Boys.     Mike Rodgers,  Martin Hollis,  Ken Harris, Andy Smith.

The Original Down County Boys.  
 Mike Rodgers,  Martin Hollis,  Ken Harris, Andy Smith.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please put your hands together and welcome the Midland’s first bluegrass  band, the Down County Boys”. There was a smattering of applause as the four twenty-something’s launched into their first number in a seedy Coventry pub back in the mid Sixties. The band played their total repertoire of four songs to a generally appreciative audience and then they were off stage discussing who’d forgotten the words or chord changes or who’d sung the wrong harmony. Not the most promising start for Britain’s longest running bluegrass band who were regularly voted Britain’s best in the Nineties when the British Country Music movement got around to organising their annual beauty parades.

The fact is that the music played that evening wasn’t even bluegrass, although it was well on the way to becoming so. Within three or four years, the band would be playing the most authentic bluegrass music that any British band has played, then or since, and by the Seventies would have learned how to entertain an audience as well as perform this exciting music. The band personnel would constantly change, with three of those first four musicians leaving before the end of the Sixties. In fifty Four years of almost continual existence, the band would go on to employ thirty one or so musicians, one having lasted only a month whilst the longest serving band member has clocked up almost forty eight years and is still going strong.

The four musicians who stepped out on stage that cold January night in 1964 – Ken Harris, Martin Hollis, Mike Rodgers and Andy Smith – could not have imagined that for the next fifty two years, the band would be the pre-eminent British bluegrass band who took their music all over the country, winning countless admirers of their informal but entertaining style. That the band would be the automatic choice for a whole generation of BBC radio producers who needed a bluegrass band for their programme. That the band would, in varying degrees, affect the lives of all the musicians who passed through it’s ranks. That the band would do so much to raise the profile of this unique music in this country and would inspire numerous other budding musicians to have the courage to start playing.

But, above all, their wildest imagination could not have foretold that if you were today to ask any Country Music fan to name a bluegrass band, the overwhelming majority would say “ The Down County Boys”.

The next generation, L-R      Bob Bruce, Fiddle.   Brian Curtis, Bass. Ken Harris, Guitar.  Dick Newton, Banjo.    Mike Rodgers, Mandolin.
As the band’s name suggests, there is a Northern Ireland connection in that Ken Harris, the original guitarist and lead singer, lived in the County Down end of Belfast before he and his wife moved to Coventry in the 1950’s. Ken had been interested in American country music for as long as he can recall, collecting records and tapes in those early days and buying himself a guitar and learning the rudiments of playing the music. Not with thoughts of ultimate fame and glory but, as with most musicians, simply because they enjoy playing.

Martin Hollis lived in Coventry and in the early Sixties was studying for his accountancy qualification. He played guitar and got to know Ken Harris through Andy Smith. Ken persuaded Martin to bring his guitar along and they would spend many hours listening to LP records trying to discern the chords, or the guitar notes or the harmony lines.

By the autumn of 1964, Ken had decided to organise a country music club in Coventry where anyone could come along each week and see various solo singers and groups performing the music. The problem was that, in those days, it was unheard of for one act to play for a whole evening and so it was important to get as many different acts together as possible. The regulars who appeared on the first night of the club at the end of September comprised the Ken Reader Trio, an ‘electric’ country group, Martin Perdine, a sometime aspiring pop music singer who’d moved over to play country music and Andy and Janet Smith, a brother and sister act with excellent harmony singing.


Early picture of the Down County Boys. This was taken in the Hotel Leofric in Coventry. 1964
Ken had found a room at the Swanswell Tavern, a down market pub in a somewhat seedy part of the city. But it had a room with a stage and probably held about fifty people and it was ideal for this new venture in that it was easy to get to and it was cheap to hire.

Also present on the opening night, sitting in the audience, was Mike Rodgers, a friend of Ken’s who had that very week moved from Lincolnshire to take up a job as an accountant in Rugby. He played mandolin but definitely not for public display. But Mike knew about bluegrass music and, although Ken and Martin had heard of it, they did not initially have his knowledge or enthusiasm. Mike had discovered the music through listening to early morning radio broadcasts from the American Forces Network in Germany. The programme was called “ Hillbilly Reveille”, which played country music, or ‘country and western’ as it was then called for American troops stationed in Germany. But the important thing was that the signature tune was a bluegrass instrumental called “ Cedar Grove “ played by Bill Clifton’s band and when he first heard it, the sound of it just knocked Mike sideways. Like most people first coming across bluegrass music, it was the sound of the banjo that was mind blowing. How could anyone play that many notes in such a short space of time and live ??

Mike had met Ken the previous year in London at a concert where an American country music duo were performing and the two of them had kept in touch. In fact it was the prospect of being near to this country music scene in Coventry that persuaded Mike to take the job in Rugby. He’d started playing mandolin as it gave him something to do whilst he awaited the results of his accountancy finals.

Within a few weeks of starting the Swanswell country music club, it became clear that more acts would be needed and Ken decided that a nice trio performing acoustic music would be just right and so “ Ken, Martin and Mike” were launched onto the public. That wasn’t without it’s trials and tribulations as Mike was quite adamant that he was not going to play mandolin in public but he’d reckoned without the powers of Ken’s persuasion. For about the next four or five weeks they would learn three songs on a Sunday in Ken’s living room and perform them on the following Thursday. After that they started repeating some of the earlier songs and so gradually built up a repertoire. This was what might be called acoustic country music but Ken was by now realising that it did not offer as many possibilities as bluegrass music which he was by now getting quite serious about.

Andy Smith, who played each week at the club with his sister Janet was a good musician. He came from a musical family and had various uncles who played folk music. One branch of the family had come from Lithuania and the influence of such a musical family had it’s effect on Andy. Certainly, of the founding members of the band, he was the most natural musician and could play a number of instruments.

For several years he and Janet had played in the local folk clubs. He would play guitar in the normal         way, and she would play a guitar held out flat in front of her in the way that a dobro is held. The strings were raised and tuned to an open chord which she changed by the use of a steel in her left hand whilst she strummed away with the other hand. It was an unusual sound but the main thing was that it  worked.

In any event, the reason that they were well regarded around the clubs was their singing. Brothers, or in this case brother and sister, can usually harmonise well and they carried on this tradition. Their choice of music was mostly English folk music with the songs of Euan McColl and Peggy Seeger being particular favorites.

Andy was starting to become a very good banjo player and Ken wanted that sound to add to the trio sound that they already had. He persuaded Andy to join and after several weeks of rehearsal the band decided that they were ready to play in public. Introducing “Ken, Martin, Mike and Andy” was too much of a mouthful and the band had to have a name. Agreeing to a name naturally took much longer than learning the material and the band was still undecided by the time they were ready for their debut. One of the suggestions had been “ The Down County Boys “ for the reason that Ken, the lead singer and spokesman, originated from County Down in Northern Ireland, another was “ The Warwickshire Travellers “ which was thought to sound ‘bluegrassy’. Came the moment of their debut and Martin Perdine, who was to introduce them on stage, listens to all of the bickering backstage and finally declares “Well, I’m damned if I’m going to introduce you as the Warwickshire Travellers” so The Down County Boys it was

                                                                 (and still is).

By, Mike Rodgers.

Tribute to Folk-Comedian Dave Turner - The original British comedy folk performer

This post, like many on here was originally the Hobo Vox blog 09/17/2008 and then archived on Typepad when that blog shut down. It's now on here! Dave Turner was from Nottingham but had close associations with the Coventry folk scene...Thanks to Carol Dickens some of the material here.

Tribute to Folk-Comedian Dave Turner - The original British comedy folk performer


"Now Maggie Thatcher tells me

You gotta make some money

If you want to live in this land of milk and honey

But honey dried up

and the milk's gone sour

It's very hard to make the bread without the flour

Sometime I wonder what I'm a gonna do

Cos there's only one wheel on my wheelie bin blues."

To the Tune of Eddie Cochran's - Summertime Blues

By Dave Turner (From his My Space - http://www.myspace.com/daveturnernottingham

Influential folk comedian Dave Turner, author of many hilarious clawpicked satirical songs, passed away at

66 early in  September 2008. "He was the original British comedy folk performer," says brother Pete Turner. Although Dave was from Nottingham, not Coventry, Dave had associations with the Coventry folk circuit and was a friend of Coventry's top folk artist and guitar maker -Rob Armstrong (known for his own comedy song via The Modern Idiot Grunt Band - duo with Rod Felton in the 70's. This a small tribute to man and his music and I do recommend you have a listen to some of Dave Turner's songs on the new My Space site - they are very well performed and hilarious! 

As didn't know Dave personally, the material in this tribute has come from his partner - Carol Dickens and from his My Space site, but having listened to his songs on My Space, this is the passing of a very special comedy and folk talent who will be well known to many Coventry folkies.

FROM THE DAVE TURNER MY SPACE

TRIBUTES have been paid to a pioneer of the comedy folk scene.

Dave Turner, who died at the weekend aged 66, influenced the likes of Billy Connolly, Jasper Carrott

and Mike Harding during the 60s and 70s as one of the first folk musicians to introduce comedy into his live shows.

"There will be a bit of Dave that will carry on forever," says folk singer Fred Wedlock, the man behind the 1981 hit The Oldest Swinger In Town.

"They'll sing his songs forever and even if they don't sing his songs people will be listening to singers who were influenced by Dave. People like Jasper Carrot, Mike Harding and Billy Connolly. And myself."

Wedlock, who recorded two of his songs – The British Bobby and Robin Hood – met him in the mid-70s on the folk circuit. Click here!

"He stayed with me when he played in Bristol and I'd stay at his flat above a launderette in Hyson Green when I played in Nottingham."

He adds: "He wrote some very funny songs and he was a lovely, friendly, generous, gentle bloke. And a bit of a hippy, really."

Friends and contemporaries also included Jake Thackray, John Renbourn and Bert Jansch.

"He was the original British comedy folk performer," says brother Pete Turner.

Dave Turner was born in The Meadows and lived in Canada from the age of 10 -15. He worked as a miner for a number of years at Wollaton Colliery.

"He wrote songs down there," says Pete.

"I remember one about a pit pony that he looked after that he thought was being mistreated.

"But that was more of his serious ones. He was better known for his comedy songs.

"He started doing comedy folk on stage after listening to a record by an American called Jimmy Driftwood called Very Unfortunate Man."

He was already performing in folk clubs as part of a duet but was too nervous to go solo. During a gig at the Nottingham Folk Workshop in Heathcote Street in the early 60s, his musical partner left the stage.

"He said 'and now Dave will do a few solo songs'. He was bricking it," laughs Pete.

"But he did Very Unfortunate Man and everyone loved it. That was it."

As well as being a regular on the local circuit, Dave would tour the UK's folk clubs, playing the same clubs as Connolly, Harding and Carrott.

He also appeared on a bill with Tom Jones.

"Jasper Carrott banned him from the club he ran in Birmingham because he was too popular," says Pete.

Dave, who suffered ill-health from the early 90s, ran the Folk, Blues & Beyond night at the Running Horse for years and would introduce acts at the Golden Fleece's open mic night up until six years ago.

"About four years ago he contracted shingles in his right arm and, due to severe nerve damage, was unable to play the guitar again,"



And From Carol Dickens

Dave was a popular 'folk comedian extraordinaire' of the 60s and 70s, a friend and contemporary of Jake

Thackeray,  Fred Wedlock, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, Anne Briggs, Billy Connelly and many more.

He supported some major bands of his era, including 'Spirit' and 'the Crazy World of Arthur Brown'. A brilliant self-taught guitarist and artist, he influenced many other musicians.
Later he ran 'folk, blues and beyond' at the Running Horse and at the Golden Fleece. He was still introducing acts at the 'Fleece' open mic night up until about 6 years ago. Sadly about 4 years ago he contracted shingles in his right arm and ,due to severe nerve damage, was unable to play the guitar again.

If anyone has any 'Dave Turner' stories to tell or photographs to show you can contact us on here and we'll pass a message on to Carol or you can leave a comment below.

41 mins of live Dave Turner

Comments




I knew Dave very well when we lived in Nottingham back in the late '60s. I tried a few years back to get in contact with Dave but I couldn't find any way to get hold of him, and now that I have just found this site I am really sad that he is no longer with us, and that I never will. I have many lovely memories of Dave, and a great deal of material about him including live recordings that I made of some of his performances. I will be most happy to expand on all this if Carol or anyone else who is interested would like to get in touch with me at peter@eastdevonfolk.org

Posted by: PeteJurassic | 01/07/2012 at 05:15 PM

Fifty years of Coventry Folk - Pete Clemons

Fellow Coventry music historian - Pete Clemons with one of his latest and excellent articles for the Coventry Telegraph, sourced in part from this blog and the folk history articles of Pete Willow in Folks magazine, along with his own research.

Fifty Years of Folk!
by Pete Clemons.

WHEN you look back at Coventry and Warwickshire music history from the early 1960s it soon becomes apparent that folk clubs have been an important and plentiful part of it.

I completed a very quick straw poll of all the various folk clubs to have existed within Coventry and Warwickshire along with the different venues that had supported them during this period and the total easily reached 150. And this did not begin to include the various 'open mics', festivals, singarounds and acoustic sessions. One of the pioneers of the folk scene was Barry Skinner who sadly passed away in October 2012. Barry was one of the first professional folk singers, not only in Coventry, but also in England. He began his involvement in folk music in 1962 and opened the Coventry Folk Club with his group The Troubadours.

As far as I can research it, Coventry Folk Club opened at The Binley Oak in March 1962, although it seems one existed as far back as 1961 at the Umbrella Club. Either way, this means that we have just passed an impressive 50 years of performing a music style, enjoyed by a cross section of music lovers, and one that continues to flourish within the city.

The evidence for this dating comes from a letter Colin Armstrong, himself a stalwart of the Coventry music scene, recently showed me.

The letter dates from 1967 and is signed by Barry Skinner, and another of the founding members, Dave Coburn. It states, in the logo on the letter heading, when the club was formed. The letter then goes on to inform members that the club was moving from its then current home of The Craven Arms to the new one of The Queens Inn in Primrose Hill Street.


So every Saturday night for at least 18 months the Coventry Folk Club was the only one of its kind in existence. The next club of importance to spring up was the Tavern Folk Club in 1964. Founded by Ben Arnold, the Tavern Club held regular Sunday night sessions at The Swanswell Tavern.

Other notable clubs from those early years include the Balladeer Folk Club (known slightly later as The White Lion Folk Club) held at The White Lion in the Leofric Hotel, The City Arms Folk Club and The Taverners Folk Club in Nuneaton which held a regular club night on a Tuesday evening.

These clubs were not just confined to attracting the popular local folk musicians but they very quickly established themselves nationally. Visiting artists such as Shirley Collins, Sandy Denny, The Strawberry Hill Boys (later known simply as The Strawbs) and the Ian Campbell Folk Group all being guests at these clubs.

Toward the end of the 1960s the Coventry and Warwickshire folk scene was growing at a tremendous pace and it would be just too difficult to list all the clubs that sprang up around this time but one that I feel needs to be given a special mention would be the City Arms Folk Club in Earlsdon. This club first sprang up in 1966 and was initially hosted by Paddy Roberts.

However, by 1967 it was in the hands of popular musicians Rob Armstrong and Rod Felton who successfully ran this popular club for a good number of years. Rob and Rod would then go onto form the equally popular New Modern Idiot Grunt Band.

The 1970s continued where the 1960s left off and the city venues such as The Rude Bear Folk Club were now attracting musicians the calibre of rag time player Dave Bennett, guitarist and singer songwriter John Shanahan and the bluesy folk of Mick Stuart. There was also, by now, a rich mix of traditional folk, floor singers and comedy. The Rude Bear was another of Rod Felton's ventures but this time he was partnered by Dave Coburn and was one of those clubs that, for whatever reason, tended to change venue on a regular basis.


By now Rob Armstrong along with wife Pip had joined forces with Colin Armstrong to form Music Box who recorded the wonderful 'Songs of Sunshine' album. Another phenomenon was also happening. And this was that folk bands were going more and more electric as popularised, I guess, by Fairport Convention of whom current Coventry resident Dave Swarbrick was once a leading member. And Warwickshire was fortunate to have two of the most popular of these bands by way of Dando Shaft and Fresh Maggots, both of whom produced a series of critically acclaimed and wonderful albums. Another aspect to the folk scene in Coventry is the dancing. The Peeping Tom Ceilidhs still take place almost every month at the Massey Ferguson Social Club as they have done since 1976. Peeping Tom are a veteran folk-rock Ceilidh band and regarded as one of the finest in the country.


The early 1980s saw one of the more popular folk clubs in Coventry up sticks and move away to the surrounding countryside. The Wurzel Bush club had initially started at The Fletch in 1973 and attracted musicians like Noel Murphy, Hamish Imlach, Diz Disley, Martin Wyndham Reed, Magna Carta, Victoria Wood and Jasper Carrott and then moved out to Brinklow. The Wurzel Bush club eventually folded in 2007 after an incredible run of 35 years if you trace the club back to its roots.

The 1980s also saw the Kenilworth Folk Club set up the highly acclaimed and very popular Sunday night at the Burnt Post, a venue that some years later saw Coventry folk club moved to towards the end of the 1990s. A variety of diverse guests that included Sneaks Noise, Mick Cullen and Richard Digance performed there. Back in town regular club nights were continuing at The Biggin Hall on the Binley Road. These were organised by the Henley College club, and hosted by Folklore, and this was another club who tended to move on a regular basis and can claim the New Phoenix at the end of the 1970s and Alderman Callow school as past homes.

The onset of the 1990s saw the return of another popular out of town venue in the shape of The Denbigh Arms Folk Club, Monks Kirby.

The pub had originally been the home of The Gaels club back in 1968 and also where the origins of the Wurzel Bush were formed back in 1972.

Another long lasting club that was formed in its current format during the 1990s was the Bedworth Folk club. Today they continue to meet on the second Wednesday of every month and have residencies at the Old Black Bank and Bedworth Rugby club. Folk on the Fosse also held many successful sessions at various venues such as the Eathorpe Park Hotel and the Woodhouse and included guests such as The Oddsods, Meet on the Ledge, Kevin Dempsey and Gilly Darbey.

Of course you cannot talk about folk music in these parts without the name Pete Willow cropping up into conversation. For over 40 years he has been active as a soloist, band member, club organiser, promoter and journalist. In fact I have shamelessly based the title of this piece after an article Pete wrote many years ago when folk music in Coventry and Warwickshire was a mere 15 years old back in 1977.

And finally, to bring the story right up to date, the activities of folk clubs since the turn of the century need to be mentioned. Nowadays the venues may not be as plentiful but the regular nights are still as popular. The Tump Folk club, for example, began in life in 2002 in Brinklow before settling in its current home at The Humber.


Long established clubs, The Styvechale and Warwick folk clubs continue to hold regular singarounds and regular guests. Not so much traditional folk, but more acoustic sessions are regularly held at the Maudsley for their Ditch the TV events, the Royal Oak in Kenilworth folk pioneer: The late Barry Skinner for 'Kristy Gallacher presents' events and also at Taylor Johns House.

The local festivals are also very much part of the local scene. Held in July, Warwick Folk Festival has been going since 1979 while Bedworth Folk Festival is even older. It started in 1977 and takes place on the last weekend of November. Both attract big international names and entice thousands of visitors to the respective towns.

All in all a remarkable 50 years that has produced many clubs, many memories and many memorable moments. Thanks to all involved!

Folks Magazine No 9 Oct / Nov 1979

Coventry Folks magazine October / November 1979  - Edited by Pete Willow 

Folks No 10 December 1979 / January 1980

This was the final issue of  the Coventry Folks Magazine as editor Pete Willow had new commitments for 1980 and inspite of a request for people to continue the magazine, it obviously didn't happen.

Folks Magazine No 8 July / August 1979

This is Folks Magazine - the Coventry folk magazine edited by Pete Willow issue No 8, published July / August 1979. It features a great article on Coventry Luthier - Rob Armstrong. Some of the latter pages are missing from this issue but the article on Rob Armstrong is in full along with diagrams and photos of Rob.

Folks (Coventry Folk magazine) No 7 May June 1979

Folks (Coventry Folk magazine) No 7 May June 1979 - Edited by Pete Willow

Folks - Coventry Folk Club Magazine No6 March / April. 1979

Folks - Coventry Folk Club Magazine No6 March / April. 1979

Edited by Pete Willow.
It was the late 70's and Coventry's folk club scene had been thriving since the early 1960's. Folks magazine is a good reflection of that scene and its culture, guests and artists, history and humour. Presented here as historic documents.

Use navigation buttons on the pdf below to enlarge

or arrow to go to Google Drive to download free.

Folks - Coventry Folk Club Magazine No5 Jan / Feb. 1979

Folks - Coventry Folk Club Magazine No5 Jan / Feb. 1979

Edited by Pete Willow.
It was the late 70's and Coventry's folk club scene had been thriving since the early 1960's. Folks magazine is a good reflection of that scene and its culture, guests and artists, history and humour. Presented here as historic documents.

Use navigation buttons on the pdf below to enlarge

or arrow to go to Google Drive to download free.

Folks - Coventry Folk Club Magazine No4 Nov / Dec. 1978

Folks - Magazine of the Coventry Folk Club - The Pitts Head No4 November / December 1978 - Edited by Pete Willow.
It was the late 70's and Coventry's folk club scene had been thriving since the early 1960's. Folks magazine is a good reflection of that scene and its culture, guests and artists, history and humour. Presented here as historic documents.

Use navigation buttons on the pdf below to enlarge or arrow to go to Google Drive to download free.

Folks - Coventry Folk Club Magazine No3 Oct. 1978

Folks - Magazine of the Coventry Folk Club - The Pitts Head No3 October 1978 - Edited by Pete Willow.

It was the late 70's and Coventry's folk club scene had been thriving since the early 1960's. Folks magazine is a good reflection of that scene and its culture, guests and artists, history and humour. Presented here as historic documents.

Use navigation buttons on the pdf below to enlarge or arrow to go to Google Drive to download free.

Folks was originally posted on the Hobo site on Vox blogs c 2007 before it closed. They are now posted on this new hobo blog - the Folk section and here are some of the comments from the original site - although mostly now out of date. eg Pete Willow discovering his magazine Folks was mentioned and promising to send copies of the magazine - well here they are in successive posts.

Comments from Hobo on Vox blogs c 2007 / 8



[this is good] Amazed to come across this! I still have hard copies of every edition of Folks - somewhere in

Pete Willow in the 70's

the attic! I will see if I can dig them out. Arol and I were jointly responsible for the serialised story, The Adventures of Joe Folkie, featuring cartoons by Dennis Clarke - a ruthless expose of the sordid world behind the scenes of the glamorous, razzle-dazzle world of folk music. Incidentally, one of the covers depicted in this blog was a drawing by the late Hazel Lester who introduced me to the Coventry folk scene when I moved back to the city from London in the early 70s - I wonder of any reader of this blog remembers her!

Posted by: Pete Willow | 01/20/2007 

..........................

Oh I remember Hazel. She was pally with one of the Gnome Crew, Tony (?),There were negotiations to

Arol

expand our folk content and at her behest Tony took me out to a folk gig out in the country somewhere, could it have been Braunstone or Brinklow?
I can date this very well to the time we were thinking of relaunching as a monthly after some of the inner core burnt out (British Gnome store period)
I can visualise her now telling me something and raising my enthusiasm.
I know I filed the review but it never got into print.
Do dig out those issues, Pete and let me see something of them for the first time. If you can get them online somehow I can surprise Arol and this year's Christmas dinner and catch up.


Posted by: BroadgateGnome | 01/20/2007

.................................................

There's an evening of musical nostalgia on Sunday 22nd April when people who were active in the Cov folk scene in the 1970s play in a free concert at the Maudsley Hotel, Allesley Old Road, Coventry. The idea is for artisst to play the songs they used to perform then (although in some cases that probably hasn't changed that much!)

It's organised by Pete Grassby following a successful event last year. Guests include Rob Armstrong,Sean Cannon, Ninepenny Marl, Malc Gurnham, Ron Shuttleworth and yours truly - I'll be including one song with me old mucker Dennis Clarke.

It starts at 7.30pm. There's a charity raffle for cancer research.

Posted by: Pete Willow | 04/15/2007  

....................................

 [this is good]


Unfortunately I'm too far from Cov to come and watch this but a review, some piccys and some audio for the site would be welcome if the spirit is willing Pete! Will be uploading some more soon (grabbing globuals of time at the moment!).
Trev Teasdel

Posted by: HOBO - Coventry Music Magazine | 04/15/2007

Folks - Coventry Folk Club Magazine No2 Sept. 1978

Folks - Magazine of the Coventry Folk Club - The Pitts Head No2 September 1978 - Edited by Pete Willow.

It was the late 70's and Coventry's folk club scene had been thriving since the early 1960's. Folks magazine is a good reflection of that scene and its culture, guests and artists, history and humour. Presented here as historic documents.

Use navigation buttons on the pdf below to enlarge or arrow to go to Google Drive to download free.

Folks - Coventry Folk Club Magazine No1 Aug 1978

Folks No1 August 1978 - The magazine of the Coventry Folk Club - The Pitts Head  - edited by Pete Willow. PDF file

It was the late 70's and Coventry's folk club scene had been thriving since the early 1960's. Folks magazine is a good reflection of that scene and its culture, guests and artists, history and humour. Presented here as historic documents.

Use navigation buttons on the pdf below to enlarge or arrow to go to Google Drive to download free.

The Furey Brothers and the Old Dyers Arms

The Furey Brothers and the Old Dyers Arms

"Often a couple of the Fureys, a famous radical Irish band, would turn up in the back room of the

Old Dyers' Arms lineup in the early 70s.Davey Arthur, second left, with the
 Fureys: Paul, Finbar, Eddie

Old Dyers Arms for the Sunday afternoon folk session and wow everyone with their pro-republican songs. Mavis always allowed a drinking 'stayback' when they played, because invariably the room would be heaving with Guinness drinkers, which meant more money in her till. It was an exciting place to be in the mid 70's." Pauline Black from Black by Design

"The Fureys are an Irish male folk band of four brothers - Eddie, Finbar, Paul and George, from Ballyfermot, Dublin, and of Irish Traveler heritage. They have also been credited as The Fureys and Davey Arthur.

The group formed in 1978 and consisted initially of four brothers. Prior to the band two of the brothers

Finbar and Eddie Furey

toured as a duo known simply by their names as Eddie and Finbar Furey. Their brother Paul Furey had, together with Davey Arthur and Brendan Leeson, a band called The Buskers. Both were part of a successful tour through Germany called the "Irish Folk Festival", first in 1974, where they performed as The Furey Brothers and later as The Furey Family. Here they were joined by their father Ted, a famous fiddler, who was 73 at that time. Ted Furey had recorded a solo fiddle album Toss the Feathers released by the Outlet label in 1973.

In 1981, The Fureys released their most successful single "When You Were Sweet Sixteen", becoming a worldwide hit, reaching #14 on the UK Singles Chart, #1 on the Irish Singles Chart and #9 on the Australian Singles Chart. "The Green Fields of France" also gave them an Irish #1, remaining in the single charts for twenty eight weeks. They also had two Top 40 British albums called Golden Days and At the End of the Day.

Other notable songs include "Gallipoli", "The Red Rose Cafe", and "Steal Away". As of January 2008, the band is still recording and touring. In 2008 the band celebrated their 30th anniversary.

Finbar left the band to begin his own solo career and Eddie, George and Paul reformed with Davey Arthur to became a successful band. Paul Furey died suddenly in June 2002."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fureys

Seeing folk hero's free gigs at the Old Dyers in Coventry

Coventry Telegraph

THE return of folk legend Davey Arthur to Coventry for a gig in Chapelfields was a reminder of the halcyon

days when he performed free at the Old Dyers’ Arms just down the road in Spon End.

Davey and the Furey brothers cut their musical teeth at the renowned pub in the early 70s after decamping from their native Ireland. They went on to global fame, had hit records and played at some of the most famous venues in the world including Carnegie Hall in New York. But for their old Coventry pal Eddie McNulty, who put them up at his Coundon home and remained a lifelong friend, the memory of the Dyers’ sessions lingers as if it were yesterday.

The music they played was amazing and musicians came from all over the country and Europe even to play with them,” he said.

“But for all the success they have had they are still the same great guys they were back then Eddie, now 66

and living in Tile Hill Village, first met Finbar Furey at a folk gig at the Cedars pub in Coundon in the late sixties and was “blown away” by the sound of the Irish pipes.

Finbar’s brother Eddie also came over and they lodged with their new found friend in Cedars Avenue. The others, including Davey Arther, soon followed and the house became the unofficial HQ for passing folkies, while the Dyres had taken on the mantle of spiritual home. At one point Davey Arthur combined both and lived in a caravan parked outside the pub.

As their fame grew, Eddie McNulty found himself on tour with the boys.
“I even played the bodhran – a one-sided drum – on one track recorded in Hamburg,” he recalled.
Eddie, a former Jaguar worker, is still in touch with the band members and was instrumental in getting Davey Arthur to bring his “Evening with” show to the Maudslay Hotel in Allesley Old Road. Like the old days, Davey stayed over and the two pals dropped in at the Dyres to share a pint and memories."

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/yourspace/2011/09/21/your-nostalgia-seeing-folk-hero-s-free-gigs-at-the-old-dyers-in-coventry-92746-29463068/

Pauline Black on the Coventry Folk Scene

This may be a surprise to those who only know Pauline Black as the lead singer of the Selecter, but Pauline Vickers (as she was known then) began her singing career on the Coventry Folk Scene -





- largely encouraged by the legendary Coventry ragtime guitar-player and folk club organiser - Dave Bennett.
Pauline (then known as Pauline Vickers).

First - Some extracts from Pauline's excellent and very revealing autobiography - Black by Design.
Available from Amazon here and well written and well worth a read!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Design-2-Tone-Memoir-Pauline/dp/1846687918

"My singing career began in 1976, a few months after my adoptive dad died......I returned to Coventry to pour my grief into my new hobby, singing"  - (armed with a Spanish guitar.).

Pauline gives an evocative description of the Old Dyers Arms from that time in Black by Design....

"The Old Dyers arms in Spon End was run by Mavis, ably assisted by her long suffering husband Barry. Mavis was a Yorkshire women of ample girth, whose backcombed beehive stood up proud as the foam on her pints. She ruled her clientele with an iron fist and pulled pints with the muscular dexterity of a wrestler, but most of all she was fun. Mavis and Barry were an entertaining double act, just like the sit com characters George and Mildred.

Often a couple of the Fureys, a famous radical Irish band, would turn up in the back room for the Sunday afternoon folk session and wow everyone with their pro-republican songs. Mavis always allowed a drinking 'stayback' when they played, because invariably the room would be heaving with Guinness drinkers, which meant more money in her till. It was an exciting place to be in the mid 70's."




Enter Dave Bennett
"The bloke who ran the backroom folk club was Dave Bennett. he was an excellent guitar player, with a penchant for John Martyn songs. During one Sunday evening session, he asked his girlfriend, who sported a blond, pudding bowl hairdo reminiscent of comedienne Victoria Wood, to sing. She chose a Donovan song, Colours (Yellow is the Colour of my True Love's Hair). As soon as she began, i knew i could sing as well as her, if not better. The blokes in the pub lapped it up. I decided then and there that the following week I would attempt a song at the Sunday afternoon session. probably a surfeit of bitter shandy influenced my decision. I spent the following week practicing singing while accompanying myself on guitar......"

Video of Dave Bennett and his Ragtime tunes

Pauline begins with Bob Dylan
" The first song i sang in public was Bob Dylan's 'Blowing in the wind'. I had typed the words out on a piece of paper and written in the relevant chord changes. My hands shook and my voice wobbled for the opening stanzas, but then i just forgot the audience was there and performed. i loved it. Polite applause greeted my rendition, but I could see that I had impressed Dave Bennett and Terry (her boyfriend). I didn't much care about the others in the room.

The following week I turned up to the session again. Dave smiled knowingly at me and said 'Bang one out Pauline'.

I'd chosen Bob Dylan's Girl from the North Country, complete with complicated finger picking. Dave winked at me after i finished and said the immortal words: "Yeah, you can stay".

My musical career began with those four words!

Tim Crowe
"Soon after my debut, I got to know another male singer who had an anarchic streak to his performance that I found captivating. His name was Tim Crowe. His after-hours party piece was a mean version of Brown Sugar; ...Tim had an idiosyncratic style of playing and singing that was beautiful to listen to. He had the knack of the best performers, the unique ablility to take a song and make it his own. His version of Leopard Skin Pill Box hat easily rivalled that of Dylan. I liked him - he was a maverick. Musically we supported each other. Sometimes he would get so raucous he would get thrown out of the pub. On those occasions i would leave too in solidarity..."

Expanding the Territory
"By the end of 1977, i outgrew the Dyers Arms. I was offered a gig in a folk club at the Golden Cup on Far Gosford Street. (we think this was the Pitts Head not the Golden Cup - see Folks magazine below - Ed) They needed a support act quickly, because somebody else had cancelled. I think I was chosen out of desperation, because no one else was available. I wasn't sure what was expected of me, until the guy who ran the evening and booked the acts said that ten songs would be enough and would i accept £10 for the performance? Ten songs! For ten pounds! A pound a song, what a result.

Ever the optimist, I dug out my songbook and settled my first set list: a few of mine, a couple of Joni Mitchell, some Bob Dylan and some Joan Armatrading. Most of them were far beyond my capabilities but I carried on, oblivious to any technical deficiencies that i had."

"My self confidence abounded.....by night i was pauline the singer / guitarist, clad in yellow linen shirt and brown corduroy dungarees, performing at any folk club that gave me a gig. i didn't try too hard to be anything very much. i just enjoyed myself.

I can't remember exactly how my first gig went, mainly because I was so nervous. there wasn't any PA system, so no enhancement was offered to my vocals or guitar playing. About 30 people sat quietly and dutifully applauded when I finished each song. What I hadn't reckoned on was what you're meant to say between songs during a set. I'd never played a whole set before.....the slick patter of a professional was replaced with innumerable 'ums and ahh's'....probably my novice stagecraft became very monotonous after the third song...but nobody complained ...to be honest the audience was waiting for the main attraction......Bert Jansch."

(

Below - Pauline Black going acoustic more recently.

 
One of Pauline's numbers was a self-penned macabre song called 'A Whore's Life' about the dreadful spate of killings around Bradford.

Pauline then goes on to described the path that led her to meet Charlie 'Aitch' Bembridge and her eventual recruitment into the Selecter.

................................
From Pete Willow's Folks magazine
Issue 1 August 1978
"A frequent visitor to the Pitts Head folk club, Far Gosford Street, is Pauline Vickers (Later Black), who

Pitts head up for sale!

will be making her first guest appearance at any club on September 14th, and I'm sure it will be the first of many. A nice lady with a voice that will make you sit up and take notice, she has in no time at all, progressed from a slightly nervous floorsinger to a highly competent artist. And with good looks thrown in she can't go fail."
September 4th - PAULINE VICKERS - First guest appearance of a local lady with a beautiful voice.
Well that prediction certainly didn't fail!

In Pauline's book she mentions the first gig as being at the Golden Cup, Far Gosford Street. Looking at Folks Magazine, it looks like this was the Pitts head instead as its advertised as her first paid gig. She's advertised as the main artist - no mention of Bert Jansch. Donald Gregory suggests the same thing in response to the article
"Donald Gregory I remember seeing her at the Old Dyers Arms. Then I saw her at the Pitts Head in Far Gosford St., which was apparently her first paid gig. It was the Pitts Head and not the Golden Cup (unless they were 2 separate events)  I definitely saw her at the Pitts Head. I don't remember Bert Jansch but I could have missed him.."


Trev Teasdel's Memories.
"About 1978 my friend Sue came up to visit and i took her to the Old Dyers Arms - Dave Bennett's folk club. Pauline got up to do a floor spot. I'd never seen her before but she seemed to break the mould in more than one way. Folk clubs back then were largely male dominated and white and often traditional. Pauline was none of those and bravely got up to sing not just the usual contemporary songs played in folk clubs but tackled numbers by the Stones and Joan Armatrading. I'd never heard a Stones number or a Joan Armatrading song played in a folk club before. I was most impressed as I loved the music of Joan Armatrading. As far as i remember she played Paint it Black but may have done Brown Sugar too. I thought it was very brave as some folk clubs are not tolerant of material from the rock or pop arena. Sue and I went over to give her the thumbs up, thinking she had good potential but never imagining that in a year's time she would become the queen of Ska!.

About a year or so later i went to a Lanchester Polytech gig. Neol Davies had a new band called Selecter I'd known Neol since the Umbrella club some 10 years before and went along to catch his latest band. I was surprised to see not only Pauline there but Neol talking to her. Things had clearly progressed and i assumed he'd persuaded her to do a solo spot. It was a great surprise then to see Pauline get upon stage with the band and without the guitar!  It was just prior to the release of On My Radio and although the songs had the Neol Davies sound I remembered from earlier bands like Mead they had this new sound and very danceable pulse we've come to know as Ska. In the past, in a student environment, you just listened to the band but this new music insisted that everyone move - it was impossible to stay still however self-conscious you felt! Pauline had dramatically upstaged her folk singing alter ego and soon On My Radio would be racing up the charts. The rest of course is history!"







 This is Pauline Black's Selecter with a song that returns to folk roots, based on a Woody Guthrie song -

Below, Pauline Black's first live solo appearence at Folk at the Pitts in Coventry, then known as Pauline Vickers.

Fresh Maggots

Fresh Maggots  (circa 1969 - 1971 ) Acoustic / Electro-acoustic /

Folk Rock -

Mick Burgoyne - vocals, lead guitar, 12-string guitar, glockenspeil, tambourines, tin whistles, violin
Leigh Dolphin - acoustic guitar

Influences: Led Zepplin, Taste, Deep Purple, Pentangle, Magna Carta, etc

Single: A: Car Song / B: What Would You Do (RCA 2150 1971)

Album - Fresh Maggots (RCA SF8205 Album:1971)

Re-released - Artist: Fresh Maggots - Hatched  Label: Sunbeam

"Fresh Maggots are going to be very, very big indeed, take it from me" Peter Jones - Record Mirror.

"Their range is incredible - their sound is amazingly full - they are good and very different" Caroline Boucher - Disc and Music Echo

01 Dole Song (0:00 - 3:27)
02 Rosemary Hill (3:28 - 7:02)
03 Quickie (7:03 - 8:24)
04 Everyone's Gone To War (8:25 - 12:19)
05 And When She Laughs (12:20 - 15:08)
06 Spring (15:09 - 18:32)
07 Balloon Song (18:33 - 22:28)
08 Guzz Up (22:29 - 24:06)
09 Who's To Die (24:07 - 28:02)
10 Elisabeth R (28:03 - 30:56)
11 Frustration (30:57 - 36:57)

"Fresh Maggots were a short-lived folk duo from Nuneaton, Warwickshire in England. It comprised Mick

Burgoyne and Leigh Dolphin, playing a variety of instruments including guitars, glockenspiel, tin whistles and strings.

The pair signed to Sparta Florida and released their only album through RCA (Neon) Victor, eponymously titled, in 1971 - when they were nineteen years of age. Although its release was preceded by some degree of anticipation, delays in publishing gradually saw interest wane. Upon its release, it was met with amicable reviews, however record sales did not reflect this, and pressing was de-commissioned soon after.

The resurgent popularity of folk music over the last decade reawakened interest in the band and Fresh Maggots was released on CD in 2006, under the Sunbeam label in the UK and Amber Soundroom in Germany, gaining a modest reputation in folk music circles and through internet radio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_Maggots"

Trev Teasdel's memories of Fresh Maggots

I booked Fresh Maggots for the Coventry Arts Umbrella Club to play the Friday night band spot from

10pm in the upstairs room. They were an unusual outfit - a duo as opposed to a band but they were no ordinary acoustic duo! For a start, the range of instruments they involved in their set was impressive and evocative and the use of fuzz electric guitar more than blurred the edges of  pre-conceived musical expectations. The band told me later they also had an early synthesizer version of the band in the style of Kraftwerk. In 1971 this was indeed innovative! However, I never got to hear the synth version of the band.

The song that stayed with me over the years until i heard their work again on Youtube was Rosemary Hill - written on site at Kenilworth's Rosemary Hill - a beautiful song but the all of the songs and the blurring of categories made the duo stand out. At that stage they were promoting their first and only album.

Not long after, in march of 1971, i went to Warwick University Arts festival, both to enjoy the music and also to read as one of the

Umbrella Poets. It was my first poetry reading and I was the youngest - dressed like a hippy while the other older poets were in tuxedos! I felt quite out of place and back then poetry readings involved silent respectful audiences. Even if you read a funny poem, there was mostly no laughter or applause. It was quite scary as you had no way to gauge the response to your work! After my reading, I decided not to stay and head into the main hall for the bands - wondering if my first ever reading was a success or failure! On the way out of the room I was pulled over by the girlfriends of Fresh Maggots who gave me some positive feedback - much appreciated at the time. We went off then to see the bands. The atmosphere outside the poetry room (Airport lounge) wasn't anywhere near as quiet and there was a fun - even carnival atmosphere - with street theatre - Pinter plays and music.

The reports of the festival at Warwick given by there girlfriends were so good Mick and Leigh wrote to me to ask me to help get them a gig at Warwick (see letter) and i remember going over to the student union office to sing their praises!  It wasn't any kind of burden as I really loved the music of Fresh Maggots and still do.We went off to see the bands and they told me they had come to try and get a gig at the University of Warwick for Fresh Maggots. I took them down to the Student Union office and told them about how well they had gone down at the Umbrella Club.

A year later I met Dennis Burns (Flood guitarist) at Shilton who, living in Nuneaton, not only knew the guys but roadied for them and played with them in other outfits. Much much later in 2007 Dennis found the Hobo site and on behalf of the guys created a Vox blog for Fresh Maggots. Some of the material here came from that site - now sadly closed down.

.................... more tracks on youtube.

The blurb in Umbrella News read “A rock group from Nuneaton as outrageous as their name, which promises good entertainment for devotees”.

Backbeat: Folk duo Fresh Maggots' album now sells for hundreds by Pete chambers - Coventry Telegraph Dec 13th 2012

"FORTY years ago a Nuneaton prog-folk duo released a single in Europe that effectively signalled the end of

their career. The record was 'The Car Song' by the deliciously titled Fresh Maggots, consisting of lifelong friends Leigh Dolphin and Mick Burgoyne. The band got their interesting name when reading the Tribune and spotting an advert for Riley's Sports shop proclaiming "Fresh maggots always available".

They got a lucky break while playing a gig in Wolvey Village Hall. In the audience that night was Mike Berry from Sparta Florida Music Company. He liked what he had heard and offered them a chance to demo their material in London. Just a week later the guys were signing a publishing contract in his Oxford Street office.

"It took a while before we got an actual recording contract," admits Leigh. Mike takes up the story. "We were playing a gig in Coventry when during the set there was a power cut. I had a transistor amplifier that ran on batteries, which I used to tune up with so we carried on the set. Afterwards two blokes came and told us they were from

RCA. A week later we were in London signing the record contract."

Their one and only album was recorded over a period of several months at The Radio Luxembourg studios in London.

What came out of those sessions was a unique blend of melodic acoustic folk juxtaposed with screaming fuzzed electric guitar all topped off by Mick's pure vocal style. It may sound a recipe for disaster but the whole thing worked perfectly, stunning guitar work providing the perfect crescendo for the quieter thought-provoking passages.

It's often hard to believe there are only two people making this music. The album cost 1,500 pounds to make (including 700 pounds for the string section).

The cover was shot in Blackwater Park in Buckinghamshire and designed by prog-rock cover-king 'Keef'. It hit the streets in autumn 1971. It included the song 'Who's to Die' which was inspired by a near fatal car accident in Coventry's Eagle Street, and the title of the song Rosemary Hill was inspired by the Kenilworth road of the same name.

The album gained some rave reviews and they supported the likes of Peter Hammill's Van der Graaf

Generator, Medicine Head and John Martyn. They also played two live Radio One shows and the famous Marquee Club supporting Wild Turkey.

Despite their success they were reluctant to leave their day jobs, which had a negative effect on their career. The single was released in the UK at the end of 1971, and in Europe in 1972 and that really should have been the last anyone would hear of them.

That happily wasn't the case, many years later the band were regularly being played on American radio, prompting the release of the album on CD in 1995 on Amber-sound.

Look on the net, and re-release versions (entitled 'Hatched') are selling for silly prices (around 25 pounds); the original 1971 album (if you can find it) goes for even sillier money, with some places asking the likes of 500 to 600 pounds!

Leigh remembers seeing them in the sale bin in Nuneaton's Woollies for 50p. "I can't believe I never bought any" he says!"

Although Fresh Maggots were short-lived and the album didn't sell first time around - it has become cult in the psychedelic / acid-folk circles as revealed on one of the sites with this review by Mason Jones - 

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/3058

" As a reviewer, having one's expectations dashed can be either a very sad affair or a pleasant surprise.

Fresh Maggots – a pair of young lads from Nuneaton, England – can be placed firmly in the latter camp. Hatched was many, many years ahead of its time with its combination of folk and fuzz-driven psych rock. Mick Burgoyne and Leigh Dolphin met as teenagers during the late '60s, both already gigging – Dolphin as an accomplished acoustic guitarist, Burgoyne on electric guitar, glockenspiel, and more – and teamed up to combine the rock and folk sounds they enjoyed. After only their second show as Fresh Maggots, they were signed to a management contract and proceeded to record their one and only album at the end of 1970. It took a year for the album to be released, and then, despite critical praise, it failed to sell primarily due to RCA's poor support and lack of promotion. And there ends the story, aside from the ever-escalating collector prices fetched by copies of the album and ongoing interest from fans who discover the band.

What makes the album stand out from the crowd is difficult to summarize. Dolphin's aptitude on the acoustic guitar, and Burgoyne's smooth vocals, are a good part of it, but clearly they were not alone in those departments at that time and place. Burgoyne's interjections of unexpectedly searing fuzz guitar could have felt gimmicky, but instead add a much-appreciated edge and energy to the songs, and his playing fits in tightly rather than feeling out of place. A song like "Balloon Song" could have been a light-hearted throw-away; instead, it's that most unusual of things, a rocking folk song.

"Rosemary Hill" is the album's strongest song: clear, chiming acoustic guitar and gorgeous vocals with

carefully orchestrated strings and glockenspiel that will lead you to sing along. It's odd that this is one of the cleaner songs, no electric guitar to be found, but it's also one that doesn't need anything more. "Dole Song" opens the album with strummed acoustic and a thick electric lead, a protest song of sorts – it even has a flute-led chorus – but it's no flower-power lament. "Frustration," as suits its name, contains some of the most memorable guitar interplay, with Dolphin's frenzied acoustic strumming interlocking with fast fuzzed leads by Burgoyne.


 Thanks to Sunbeam, the Fresh Maggots should now reach another new audience, and the label's done a very nice job with the reissue. Liner notes discuss the band's history and the songs, and the booklet also includes scanned press clippings, photos, and the original press release from 1971. As if that weren't enough (it's certainly more than most reissue labels manage), the CD includes seven bonus tracks that are anything but filler. The single B-sides are obvious choices, but it's the five live recordings that shine, demonstrating that the duo was more than able to do the songs justice at their shows."
By Mason Jones


Fresh Maggots invited were also invited to play Windsor Free Festival with Trilogy & A Band Called George a bit later on in 1973 / 4

These are the sleeve notes from the album “Fresh Maggots” (RCA Victor SRMC 1039), released in 1971)

"Fresh Maggots are just two people – 19 year olds Mick Burgoyne and Leigh Dolphin from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England – and long before this album was conceived they were inspiring music journalists to the sort of fulsome praise usually reserved for established stars.

Mick plays electric guitar with remarkable virtuosity and adds to their sound, glockenspiel, tambourine, violin and two tin whistles in harmony. Leigh contributes his considerable talent on acoustic guitar and writes the music to match Mick’s lyrics.

Between them and producer Mike Berry they have made an album which brings new life to the area of today’s music we call folk/ rock."

The tracks from our album have since been re-released, together with our single "Car Song/ What would you say" and seven bonus tracks, by Sunbeam Records on a CD entitled "Hatched" (SBRCD5002) and can be purchased from the following link:http://soundlinkmusic.com/cat

Hope you like our music.  Mick & Leigh .

Dennis Burns wrote one of their lyrics in my communications book in 1972 (although he doesn't now remember!)

WHEN SHE LAUGHS. By FRESH MAGGOTS

When she laughs her face lights up
Face lights up
When she laughs her face lights up
Face lights up
When she laughs the sun and moon
Are put to shame by the brightness of her smile
Of  her smile
And I love her, she’s all mine.

When she laughs she makes life worth while
Life worth while
When she laughs she makes life worth while
Life worth while
When she laughs all my problems swept away
By the brightness of her smile
Of her smile
And I love her she’s all mine.

When I’m sad she makes me laugh
Makes me laugh
When I’m sad she makes me laugh
Makes me laugh
When she laughs all my problems
Are swept away by the brightness of her smile
Of her smile
And I love her, she’s all mine.

Fresh Maggots are working on a new album for 2017-
You can keep up to date via their Facebook page HERE

As they are today...

Their place in the Coventry Music Museum

From their 2nd album  'Waiting for the sun' 2020

You can hear the new album on the link below.

https://novamusic.blog/fresh-maggots-waiting-for-the-sun/